Chapter 14: Foraging the National Economy (1790-1869)

Question 1

Self Reliance

Answer 1

• an essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson

- emphasizing the importance of the individual

Question 2

Rendezvous

Answer 2

• a meeting planned at a certain time and place
• the principle marketplace of the Northwest Fur Trade
• peaked in the 1820s and 1830s
• each summer, traders set up camp in the Rocky Mountains to exchange manufactured goods for beaver pelts

Question 3

Ecological Imperialism

Answer 3

• an aggressive and often heedless exploitation of the West
• settlers often killed species to the point of extinction and farmed the lands dry
• it was a hard land to live on
• sometimes the only way to survive and make a profit

Question 4

Ancient Order of Hibernians

Answer 4

• an Irish Catholic Fraternal Organization that required members to be Catholic and either Irish born or of Irish descent
• purpose was to act as guards to protect Catholic Churches from antiCatholic forces in the 19th century
• to assist Irish Catholic immigrants, especially those who faced discrimination or harsh coal mining working conditions

Question 5

Molly Maguires

Answer 5

• members of a secret Irish organization that have been proven responsible for coalfield crimes and kidnapping in the US
• rests largely upon allegations of one powerful industrialist

Question 6

Tammany Hall

Answer 6

• founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society
• Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in controlling New York City politics and helping immigrants, most notably the Irish, rise up in American politics from the 1790s to the 1960s

Question 7

Know Nothing Party

Answer 7

• group of prejudice people who formed a political party during the time when the KKK grew
• AntiCatholics and anti foreign
• The American Party
• fed off of fear and sensational stories
• idea of a melting pot was under fire

Question 8

Awful Disclosures

Answer 8

• a book written by Maria Monk

- explained how she was pretending to be a nun and saw sin inside Catholicism

Question 9

Cotton Gin

Answer 9

• invented by Eli Whitney in 1793
• sped up the process of harvesting cotton
• made cultivation more profitable
• revitalized the Southern economy
• increased the importance of slavery

Question 10

Patent Office

Answer 10

• Federal Government bureau that reviews patent applications
• A legal recognition of a new invention, granting exclusive rights to the inventor for a period of years
• in the Department of Commerce that keeps a record of patents and trademarks and grants new ones

Question 11

Limited Liability

Answer 11

• the liability of a firm’s owners for no more than the capital they have invested in the firm
• A form of business ownership in which the owners are liable only up to the amount of their individual investments

Question 12

Turnpike

Answer 12

• privately built road that charges a fee to travelers who use it

Question 13

Commonwealth vs. Hunt

Answer 13

• a landmark ruling of the MA Supreme Court establishing the legality of labor unions and the legality of union workers striking if an employer hired non-union workers
• case heard by the MA Supreme Court
• case was the first judgement in the US that recognized that the conspiracy law is inapplicable to unions and that strikes for a closed shop are legal
• also decided that unions are not responsible for the legal acts of their members

Question 14

Cult of Domesticity

Answer 14

• idealized view of women and home
• selfless caregiver for children
• refuge for husbands
• the ideal woman was seen as a teacher, self sacrificing, caregiver who provided a nest for her children and a peaceful refuge for her husband
• social customs that restricted woman to caring for the house

Question 15

Mechanical Reaper

Answer 15

• 1837
• invented by Cyrus McCormick
• a device that cuts grain
• Farmers could double crop size and cut grain
• McCormick’s invention that vastly increased the productivity of the American grain farmers

Question 16

Erie Canal

Answer 16

• headed up by New York governor Dewitt Clinton
• built only using state money
• linked western rivers with the Atlantic Ocean
• shipping costs from West to East dropped 20x
• Stole trade from the Mississippi River
• more goods flowed over the Erie Canal/Hudson River to New York City than down the Ohio and MIssissippi to New Orleans
• “Western” cities boomed, like Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago

Question 17

Clipper Ships

Answer 17

• hauled cargo to foreign nations, notably China
• long, sleek, very fast
• ruled the seas
• speed gave them much of the tea trade between the Far East and Britain
• replaced British steamships

Question 18

Pony Express

Answer 18

• established in 1860
• made to carry mail quickly from Missouri to Sacramento
• people would ride ponies to stations ten miles apart
• journey took 10 days
• enterprise died after 18 months
• boosted technology later leading to machinery

Question 19

Transportation Revolution

Answer 19

• improvements in roads, boats, canals, railroads
• roads enabled settlers and merchants to reach the west
• steamboats made commercial agricultural feasible in the west
• Erie Canal connected large cities to each other and made it easier to trade
• railroads connected burgeoning cities to rivers and canals

Question 20

Market Revolution

Answer 20

• a drastic change in the manual labor system originating in South but was moved to the North and later spread to the entire world
• traditional commerce became outdated with the transportation and industrial revolution
• the North started to have a more powerful economy that was starting to challenge the economies of some mid-sized European cities at the time

Question 21

Rugged Individualism

Answer 21

• the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook who promote the exercise of one’s goals and desires and so independence and self reliance