Pierce Administration - Domestic Issues
Domestic Issues
During Pierce's presidency the United States still was more a collection of states, regions, and territories than a nation. Local rather than national issues dominated the peoples' attention. Although farming was a way of life for many Americans, the Jeffersonian ideal of a country dotted with small, self-sufficient, family-run farms was being swallowed up by the commercialization of agriculture. The gathering steam of the Industrial Revolution was responsible for this trend, as well as for the cities' higher material standards of living, unsafe working conditions, and pollution.
Waves of immigrants came from Ireland and Germany, giving rise to a strong anti-Catholic sentiment among the largely Protestant American people. Americans and immigrants alike continued to settle in unsettled territories in the West. They traveled as far as the rapidly growing city of Chicago, Illinois, by train, but the country still...
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