The Early National Period and Expansion: 1783-1859 (Handbook to Life in America)

The period from the American Revolution to the Civil War (or War between the States, as it came to be known in the defeated states of the south), has sometimes been treated as two periods: the Early National Period, from Independence through about 1830, and the Antebellum Period 1830–60, the age that preceded the Civil War. During the “four score and seven years” (87 years) from Independence to the Civil War, several contradictory trends were at work that affected the daily life of Americans.