unit 4

Question 1

John Adams

Answer 1

• Second President
• First Vice President
• Diplomat and signer of the Declaration of Independence
• Led the country through the XYZ affair, the Alien and Sedition Acts, and the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
• Kept the nation from war during his tenure as president

1797-1800

Question 2

XYZ Affair

Answer 2

• The United States wanted an end to French harassment of American shipping
• To settle the issue, French representatives demanded a bribe from the United States just to open negotiations with French Minister Talleyrand
• The United States refused the bribe and suspended trade with the French
• Led to the creation of the American Navy

1798

Question 3

Alien and Sedition Acts

Answer 3

• Legislation enacted by the Federalists to reduce foreign influenced and increase their power
• New hurdles to citizenship were established
• Broadened power to quiet print media critics
• The legislation was used to silence Jeffersonian Republican critics of the Federalists and was indicative of the poisoned relations between the two groups
• These acts tested the strength of the First Amendment and limited the freedom of the press
• The Federalists gained a reputation as being a less democratic group, quickening their demise as a political organization

1798-1799

Question 4

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

Answer 4

• Response by Jeffersonian Republicans to the Alien and Sedition Acts
• Included text written by Jefferson and by Madison
• Suggested that states should have the power within their territory to nullify federal law
• Stated that federal government had no right to exercise powers not specifically delegated to it
• The resolutions represented a future argument that would be used when secession and Civil War threatened the country
• Called into question the paradox of the Elastic Clause and the Tenth Amendment

1798-1799

Question 5

The Napoleonic Wars

Answer 5

• War between Napoleon’s France and the other European powers, led by Britain
• Both sides tried to prevent neutral powers, especially the United States, from trading with their enemy
• American ships were seized by both sides and American sailors were “impressed,” or forced into the British navy
• The United States was angered by this violation of the “freedom of the seas” principle, which holds that outside its territorial waters, a state may not claim sovereignty over the sea
• These violations would escalate and lead to the War of 1812

1799-1815

Question 6

Judiciary Act of 1801

Answer 6

• Created new judgeships to be filled by the president
• John Adams filled the vacancies with party supporters (“Midnight Judges”)
• Led to bitter resentment by the incoming Jeffersonian Republican Party
• Act would play a role in the case of Marbury v. Madison

1801

Question 7

Thomas Jefferson Presidency

Answer 7

• Third President
• Before becoming president, he served as the first Secretary of State
• First president to reside in Washington, D.C.
• Jefferson’s taking of office was called the “Revolution of 1800” as it was the first time America had changed presidential political leadership (Federalist to Jeffersonian Republican)
• His embodiment of the Jeffersonian Republican Party helped increase its strength, while weak leadership in the federalist Part was a reason for its demise
• His administration was responsible for the Embargo of 1807
• He presided over the Louisiana Purchase
• His politics were characterized by support of state’s rights

Question 8

John Marshall

Answer 8

Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1801-1835)
He was a Federalist installed by Adams
His decisions defined and strengthened the powers of the judicial branch and asserted the power of judicial review over federal legislation
His court made determinations that cemented a static view of contracts
His court’s decisions advanced capitalism
Significant cases included: Marbury v. Madison, Fletcher v. Peck, Dartmouth College v. Woodward, McCulloch v. Maryland, and Gibbons v. Ogden

1755-1835

Question 9

Marbury v. Madison

Answer 9

• William Marbury had been commissioned justice of the peace in D.C. by President John Adams
• His commission was part of Adams’ “midnight appointments” during his last days in office
• Marbury’s commission was not delivered, so he sued President Jefferson’s Secretary of State, James Madison
• Chief Justice John Marshall held that while Marbury was entitled to the commission, the statute that allowed Marbury’s remedy was unconstitutional, as it granted the Supreme Court powers beyond what the constitution permitted
• This decision paved the way for judicial review, which gave courts the power to declare statues unconstitutional

1803

Question 10

Louisiana Purchase

Answer 10

• Purchased for $15 million from France
• Jefferson was concerned about the constitutionality of purchasing land without having this authority granted by the Constitution, so he employed the presidential power of treaty-making to make the purchase
• United States’ territory was doubled
• The purchase helped remove France from the western borders of the United States
• Farmers could now send their goods (furs, grains, tobacco) down the Mississippi River and through New Orleans, facilitating transportation to Europe
• The expansion westward created more states with Jeffersonian Republican representation to the point that the Federalists became a marginalized party
• Opened land to agrarian expansion, helping fulfill one of the tenets of Jefferson’s social ideology

April 30, 1803

Question 11

Lewis and Clark Expedition

Answer 11

• Expedition through the Louisiana Purchase and the West
• Departed from St. Louis and explored areas including the Missouri River, the Yellowstone River, and the Rockies
• Sacajawea, a Shoshone guide, helped them in their journey
• Opened up new territories to American expansion

1803-1806

Question 12

Embargo of 1807

Answer 12

• American declaration to keep its own ships from leaving port for any foreign destination
• Jefferson hoped to avoid contact with vessels of either of the warring sides of the Napoleonic Wars
• The result was economic depression in the United States, which angered the Federalists, who were well-represented in Northeast commerce and were hit hard by the financial downturn

1807-1809

Question 13

James Madison

Answer 13

• Fourth President
• His work before becoming president led him to be considered the “Father of the Constitution”
• Participated in the writing of The Federalist Papers
• In Congress, he wrote the Virginia Plan
• Was a Republican president in a Federalist-controlled Congress
• Faced pressure from “War Hawks” like Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun to get involved in the Napoleonic Wars and end the damaging embargo
• Led the United States into the War of 1812 and concluded the war in 1814

1809-1817

Question 14

Non-Intercourse Act

Answer 14

• Congress opened trade to all nations except France and Britain
• Trade boycott appeared to have little effect on curbing French and British aggression stemming from the Napoleonic Wars
• Though the Embargo Act was a protective measure, the Non-Intercourse Act re-engaged the United States in trade while continuing its stance against alliances with either France or Britain
• The Non-Intercourse Act was repealed in 1810

1809

Question 15

Fletcher v. Peck

Answer 15

• Marshall Court decision
• The first time state law was voided on the grounds that it violated a principle of the United States Constitution
• The Georgia legislature had issued extensive land grants in a corrupt deal
• A legislative session repealed that action because of the corruption
• The Supreme Court decided that the original contract was valid, regardless of the corruption
• Reaffirmed the sanctity of contracts

1810

Question 16

Expansion of Electorate

Answer 16

• Most states eliminated the property qualification for voting during this period
• African Americans were still excluded from polls across the South and most of the North
• The political parties established national nomination conventions

1810-1828

Question 17

Tecumseh

Answer 17

• Native American chief who was encouraged by British forced to fight against the pressured removal of Native Americans from Western territories
• William Henry Harrison destroyed the united NAtive American confederacy at Tippecanoe

1811

Question 18

Causes of the War of 1812

Answer 18

• British impressment of American sailors
• The United States suspected the British of encouraging Native American rebellion
• “War Hawk” Congressional leaders, such as Henry Clay and John Calhoun, pressed for intervention
• American frontiersmen wanted more free land, as the West was held by Native Americans and the British
• War Hawks also wanted to annex Canada and Florida
• Despite the Embargo Act and Non-Intercourse Act, hostilities could not be cooled
• Eventually, the United States sided with France against Britain

1812-1815

Question 19

War of 1812 Events

Answer 19

• Early victories at sea by the United States before it was overpowered by the British
• The United States’ Admiral Perry took Lake Erie with the navy
• Opened the way for William Henry Harrison to invade Canada and defeat the British and Native American forces
• Andrew Jackson led the American charge through the Southwest
• The Battle of New Orleans was a decisive conflict in which Jackson defeated the British; the battle was fought after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent

1812-1815

Question 20

Washington Burned

Answer 20

• During the War of 1812, a British armada sailed up the Chesapeake Bay and burned the White House
• Attack came in response to the American burning of Toronto
• The armada proceeded toward Baltimore; America’s Fort McHenry held firm through bombardment, which inspired Francis Scott Key’s “Defence of Fort McHenry” (later renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner”)

1814

Question 21

After the War of 1812

Answer 21

• Increased American nationalism
• Created high foreign demand for cotton, grain, and tobacco
• The country turned from its agrarian origins toward industrialization
• Led to depression in 1819 due to influx of British goods; Bank of the United States responded by tightening credit to slow inflation

Post-1814

Question 22

Rush-Bagot Agreement

Answer 22

• The Treaty of Ghent, which ended hostilities after the War of 1812, set the groundwork for this agreement by encouraging both sides to continue to study boundary issues between the United States and Canada
• Rush-Bagot was an agreement between Britain and the United States to stop maintaining armed fleets on the Great Lakes
• Served as the first “disarmament” agreement and laid the foundation for future positive relations between Canada and the United States

1817

Question 23

James Monroe

Answer 23

• Fifth President
• Led during the “Era of Good Feelings,” which was marked by the domination of his political party, the Democratic-Republicans, and the decline of the Federalist Party
• Established the Monroe Doctrine as a wide-ranging policy for foreign affairs
• National identity grew, most notably through the westward movement of the country and various public works projects
• The “Era” saw the beginnings of North-South tensions over slavery

1817-1825

Question 24

Monroe Doctrine

Answer 24

• Developed by President James Monroe
• Held that the United States would not allow foreign powers to establish new colonies in the western hemisphere or allow colonies to be influenced by outside powers
• America feared international influence because of a period of worldwide revolutionary fervor after Napoleon’s fall
• Another cause: Many Latin American countries were gaining independence from Spain, and the United States thought that these colonies might be taken over by other European powers, threatening American security
• The doctrine had a lasting impact beyond Monroe’s time in office; other presidents, from Coolidge to Kennedy, have invoked it to deal with their own foreign affairs issues

Introduced in 1823

Question 25

Convention of 1818

Answer 25

• Provided for boundary between the United States and Canada at the forty-ninth parallel
• Allowed joint occupancy of Oregon Territory by Americans and Canadians
• Permitted American fisherman to fish in the waters of Newfoundland and Labrador

1818

Question 26

McCulloch v. Maryland

Answer 26

• Marshall Court decision
• Determined that no state could control an agency of the federal government
• Maryland tried to levy a tax on a local branch of the United States Bank to protect its own state banks
• Supreme Court determined such state action violated Congress’s “implied powers” to operate a national bank
• Use of judicial review over state law made this a division of powers case

1819

Question 27

Dartmouth College v. Woodward

Answer 27

• Dartmouth College v. WoodwardMarshall Court decision
• Severely limited the power of state governments to control corporations, which were the emerging form of business
• New Hampshire legislature tried to change Dartmouth from a private to a public institution by having its charter revoked
• The Court ruled that the charter issued during colonial days still constituted a contract and could not be arbitrarily changed without the consent of both parties
• Reaffirmed the sanctity of contracts

1819

Question 28

Adams-Onis Treaty

Answer 28

• Helped define he United States-Mexico border
• The border that was under Spanish control had created conflict between the two countries
• Spain sold its remaining Florida territory to the United States and drew the boundary of Mexico to the Pacific
• United States ceded its claims to Texas, and Spain kept California and the New Mexican region
• United States assumed $5 million in debts owed by Spain to American merchants
• Later, lands kept by Spain would become battlegrounds for American expansion

1819

Question 29

Eli Whitney

Answer 29

• Inventor and manufacturer
• Invented the cotton gin in 1793, revolutionizing the cotton industry and increasing the need for slaves
• Established the first factory to assemble muskets with interchangeable, standardized parts
• His innovations led to an “American system” of manufacture, where those laborers with less skill could use tools and templates to make identical parts; also, the manufacture and assembly of parts could be done separately

1765-1825

Question 30

King Cotton in the Early 1800s

Answer 30

• The new invention of the cotton gin separated the seeds from the fibers
• New states (such as Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas) began producing cotton
• Led to a boom in the cotton market, and its global effects crowned the staple as “King Cotton”
• The need for cotton encouraged westward expansion

Early 1800s

Question 31

Transportation Revolution

Answer 31

• Innovations included new construction of roads, additions of canals, and the expansion of the railroads
• Robert Fulton built the modern-day steamboat, transforming river transportation
• Henry Clay promoted internal improvements to help develop transportation
• The transportation revolution cheapened the market for trade and encouraged population movement west of the Appalachian Mountains

First half of the 1800s

Question 32

The Second Great Awakening and Protestant Revivalism

Answer 32

• A wave of religious fervor spread through a series of camp meeting revivals
• The “Burnt Over District,” an area in upstate New York, was the center of the movement
• Protestant revivalism rejected the CAlvinist doctrine of predestination and held instead that salvation was in the individual’s hands
• Revivalism was a reaction to rationalism, emphasizing strong nationalism and the improvement of society through social reform
• Revivalism included participation by women and African Americans, demonstrating the influence and growth of democracy
• Created diversity in American religious sects and some anti-Catholic sentiment

1790s-1840s

Question 33

Antebellum Reform

Answer 33

• Explosion in the number of colleges (Oberlin college in Ohio became the first do-ed college)
• Expansion of state-supported elementary schools and other public schooling, in part due to the leadership of Horace Mann
• Dorothea Dix led in the establishment of asylums of humane treatment of the insane
• Prisons were also reformed

1820-1860

Question 34

Dorothea Dix

Answer 34

• Social reformer who worker to help mentally ill
• Northeastern jails housed both criminals and the mentally ill in the same facilities
• Dix became determined to change this
• Her memorandum to the Massachusetts state legislature in 1842 led to the establishment of state hospitals for the insane

1802-1887

Question 35

The Lowell System

Answer 35

• A popular way of staffing New England
• Young women were hired from the surrounding countryside, brought to town, and housed in dorms in mill towns for a short period
• The owners called these “factories in the gardens” to spread the idea that these facilities would not replicate the dirty, corrupt mills in English towns
• The rotating labor supply benefited owners, as no unions could be formed against them
• The system depended on technology to increase production

1820s

Question 36

Slave Codes

Answer 36

• A series of laws that limited slave rights
• Slave owners were given authority to impose harsh physical punishment ans to control their slaves in any fashion they sought, without court intervention
• Prohibited slaves from owning weapons, becoming educated, meeting with other African Americans without permission, and testifying against whites in court
• Severely limited the rights of slaves

Question 37

Washington Irving

Answer 37

• In his time, he was the best-known native writer in the United States and one of the first American writers to gain fame throughout Europe
• His satire is considered some of the first great comic literature written by an American
• Stories included Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820)
• His writings reflected an increasing nationalism, as the stories were based in American settings

1783-1859

Question 38

Transcendentialism

Answer 38

• Movement to transcend the bounds of the intellect and to strive for emotional unity with God
• Believed that people were capable of unity with God without the help of the institutional church
• Saw church as reactionary and sitting to self-expression
• Included writers such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson

1820-1850

Question 39

Utopian Communities

Answer 39

• Movement that copied early European efforts at utopianism
• Attempt by cooperative communities to improve life in the face of increasing industrialism
• Groups practiced social experiments that generally saw little success due to their radicalism
• Included attempts at sexual equality, racial equality, and socialism
• Two of these communities were Brook Farm and Oneida

1820-1850

Question 40

Romanticism

Answer 40

• A belief in the innate goodness of man, nature, and traditional values, rooted in turn-of-the-century Europe
• Emphasized emotions and feelings over rationality
• Reaction against the excesses of the Enlightenment led to a growing push for social reform

1800s

Question 41

Missouri Compromise

Compromise of 1820

Answer 41

• Henry Clay’s solution to deadlock over the issue of accepting proposed new state, Missouri
• At the time, the Senate was evenly divided between slave and free states
• A slave state of Missouri would tip the balance of power
• John Tallmadge added an antislavery amendment meant to prohibit the growth of slavery into Missouri and to free slaves already in Missouri when they had reached a certain age.
• The TAllmadge Amendment caused the Senate to clock the Missouri Compromise and sparked heated debate about the future of slavery
• To settle the dispute, northern Massachusetts became a new free state (Maine)
• The legislative section prohibiting slavery in Missouri was replaced by a clause stating that all land of the Louisiana Purchase north of thirty-six-thirty north latitude would prohibit slavery

1820

Question 42

Denmark Vesey

Answer 42

• A slave who won enough money in a lottery to buy his own freedom
• Gained wealth and influence in South Carolina
• Accused of using church get-togethers to plan a violent slave revolt
• Vesey and thirty-four other slaves were hanged
• Some historians doubt the conspiracy was real

1767(?)-1822

Question 43

Gibbons v. Ogden

Answer 43

• Marshall Court decision
• Determined that only Congress may regulate interstate commerce, including navigation
• Ogden received a monopoly to operate a steamboat between New York and New Jersey; New York granted him the monopoly through Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston
• Gibbons received the same rights through Congress
• Supreme Court decided that the state monopoly was void
• Use of judicial review over state law made this a division of powers case

1824

Question 44

Hudson River School

Answer 44

• Group of American landscape painters
• Parts of increasing American nationalism following the War of 1812
• The influence of the European Romantic movement led many American artists to paint their homeland
• Depicted important landscapes such as Niagara Falls, the Catskills, the Rocky Mountains, and the Hudson River Valley
• Artists included Thomas Doughty, THomas Cole, George Inness, and S.F.B. Morse

1825-1875

Question 45

James Fenimore Cooper

Answer 45

• American novelist born in Burlington, New Jersey
• His writing was influences by the American frontier and America’s landscapes
• His works include The Last of the Mohicans (1826), The Water-Witch (1830), and The American Democrat (1838)
• His work, along with that of writers like Washington Irving, helped form the foundation for distinctive American literature

1789-1851

Question 46

John James Audubon

Answer 46

• Romantic-era artist
• Member of the Hudson River School, a group of landscape painters
• Demonstrated the emotion of nature, especially birds and animals
• In 1886, a nature organization took his name

1785-1851

Question 47

“The Corrupt Bargain”

Answer 47

• Four presidential candidates: Henry Clay (Speaker of the House), John Quincy Adams (Secretary of the State), Andrew Jackson (1812 war hero), and William Crawford (Secretary of the Treasury)
• Jackson won the popular vote but did not win the majority of the electoral vote, and as a result, the election went to the House of Representatives
• In the House of Reps. vote, Henry Clay threw his support to Adams, who would go on to win the presidency
• Adams gave Clay the post of Secretary of State
• Accusations of a “corrupt bargain” were made by Jackson, but they are considered to be largely untrue

1824

Question 48

John Quincey Adams Presidency

Answer 48

• Sixth President
• His supporters called themselves National Republicans (Jackson supporters labeled themselves Democratic Republicans)
• Led an active federal government in areas like internal improvements and Native American affairs
• His policies proved unpopular amidst increasing sectional interest and conflicts over states’ rights
• After his presidency, he served in the House of Representatives, where he forced debates against slavery and against the Jacksonian policy of removing certain Native American tribes

1825-1829

Question 49

“Tariff of Abominations”

Answer 49

• Tariff bill with higher import duties for many goods bought by southern planters
• John C. Calhoun, John Q. Adams’s Vice President , anonymously protests his own leadership’s bill, suggesting that a federal law harmful to an individual state could be declared void within that state
• This suggestion of nullification would be utilized by other states and would escalate hostilities, leading to Civil War

1828

Question 50

John Calhoun

Answer 50

• Vice President to both John Q. Adams and to Adams’s political rival, Andrew Jackson, who defeated Adams in 1828
• Champion of states’ rights
• Author of an essay, “The South Carolina Exposition and Protest,” advocating nullification of Tariff of 1828 and asserting the right of the states to nullify federal laws
• Later, as a senator, he engaged Senator Daniel Webster in a debate over slavery and states’ rights, demonstrating the ideas that would drive the country to the Civil War

1782-1850

Question 51

Andrew Jackson

Answer 51

• Seventh President
• Following the War of 1812, he invaded Spanish Florida to quell Native American rebellions
• After the treaty for the War of 1812 had already been signed, he defeated a British force that had invaded New Orleans, safeguarding the Mississippi Rive
• Popular president due to his image as the self-made westerner
• His form of leadership, known as Jacksonian Politics, called for a strong executive, relied on the party system, and emphasized states’ rights
• Implemented the Spoils System approach to civil service
• Signed the Indian Removal Act, which provided for federal enforcement to remove Native American tribes west of the Mississippi

1829-1837

Question 52

Spoils System

Answer 52

• Andrew Jackson’s method of turning over the civil servant jobs to new government officials
• “Rotation in office” was supposed to democratize government and lead to reform by allowing the common people to run the government
• This system had been in place long before Jackson, but his name is tied to it because he endorsed its usage
• In general, officials were not replaced by those loyal to the new administration, and they were not always the most qualified for the positions
• Over the span of several presidential terms, the system led to corruption and inefficiency
• It was ended with the passage of the Pendleton Act

1828

Question 53

Alexis de Tocqueville

Answer 53

• French civil servant who traveled to and wrote about the United States
• Wrote Democracy in America, reflecting his interest in the American democratic process and appreciation of American civil society
• Assessed the American attempt to have both liberty and equality
• Provided an outsider’s objective view of the Age of Jackson

Early 1830s

Question 54

Mormonism

Answer 54

• Religion founded by Joseph Smith, Jr.
• Smith claimed to have received sacred writings; he organized the Church of Jesus of Latter Day Saints
• Smith described a vision from God in which God declared specific tenets of Christianity to be abominations
• Because of these claims and unusual practices such as polygamy, Mormons were shunned
• Eventually, Mormons formed community near Great Salt Lake under Brigham Young’s leadership
• Settlement became the state of Utah

1830

Question 55

Webster-Hayne Debate

Answer 55

• Debate in the Senate between Daniel Webster (MA) and Robert Hayne (SC) that focused on sectionalism and nullification
• Came after the “Tariff of Abominations” incident
• At issue was the source of constitutional authority: Was the Union derived from an agreement between states or from the people who had sought a guarantee of freedom?
• Webster stated, “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable”

1830

Question 56

Nat Turner

Answer 56

• Slave who led an insurrection in Southampton, Virginia, in 1831
• Influential among local slaves as a preacher
• Believe it was his destiny to lead slaves to freedom
• Led approximately sixty in revolt, first killing the family of his owner and then killing fifty-five whites in the surrounding neighborhood
• The revolt was put down and Turner, some of his conspirators, and several free African Americans were executed
• Led to stricter slave laws in the South and an end to the Southern organizations advocating abolition

1800-1831

Question 57

Tariff of 1832 and the Order of Nullification

Answer 57

• The tariff favored Northern interests at the expense of Southern ones
• Calhoun led a state convention calling for the Order of Nullification, which declared that the tariff laws were void and that South Carolina would resist by force any attempt to collect the tariffs
• Jackson, though a supporter of states’ rights, defended the Union above all, and asked Congress to issue a new bill to give him authority to collect tariffs by force
• Jackson encouraged his allies to prepare a compromise bill so that the federal government would not lose its image of control and so that South Carolina could come back down from nullification
• Henry Clay presented his Compromise Tariff of 1833 and South Carolina withdrew the Order, but tensions between the federal government and state governments grew

1832

Question 58

Biddle’s Banks

Answer 58

• Andrew Jackson objected to the Bank of the United States created by Alexander Hamilton
• Jackson felt that the Bank had great influence in national affairs but did not respond to the will of working and rural class people
• Henry Clay wanted the Bank to be a political issue for the upcoming presidential election in 1832 against Andrew Jackson
• Nicholas Biddle, chairman of the Bank, worked with Clay to re-charter the Bank four years earlier than it was due
• Jackson vetoed the measure, increasing his popularity

1832

Question 59

Texas

(before the Battle of the Alamo)

Answer 59

• Mexico refused to sell Texas to the United States, which had given up its claims to Texas in the Adams-Onis treaty
• Texas had been a state in the Republic of Mexico since 1822, following a revolution against Spain
• Mexico offered land grants for immigration to the area, and many Americans responded and came to Texas, increasing population and revenue in Texas
• Southerners moved to Mexico with interest in becoming slave masters, but the presence of slavery angered the Mexican government
• When the population changed, Mexico’s power began to erode
• Stephen Austin worked to first make Texas a Mexican state and later independent of Mexico

1800s-1836

Question 60

Battle of the Alamo

Answer 60

• During Texas’s revolution against Mexico, Fort Alamo was attacked by the Mexican Army and 187 members of the Texas garrison were killed
• Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, a Mexican military and political leader, was victorious
• “Remember the Alamo” was the garrison’s battle cry in its fight for independence

February 24-March 6, 1836

Question 61

Sam Houston

Answer 61

• Leader of Texas independence
• Defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto and claimed independence
• Houston asked both President Jackson and President Van Buren to recognize Texas as a state, which they denied out of fear that a new slave state would be formed

1793-1863

Question 62

Gag Rule

Answer 62

• Forbade discussion of the slavery question in the House of REpresentatives
• Stemmed from Southern members’ fear of slave emancipation
• Led to increased discussion by Southern conventions of ways to escape Northern economic and political hegemony

1836-1844

Question 63

The Panic of 1837 and Specie Circular

Answer 63

• Recession caused by President Jackson’s drastic movement of federal bank deposits to state and local banks
• Led to relaxed credit policies and inflation
• Jackson demanded a Specie Circular, which required that land be paid for in hard money and not paper or credit
• Recession lasted into the 1840s

1837

Question 64

The Charles River Bridge Case

Answer 64

• Demonstrated that a contract could be broken to benefit the general welfare
• Jackson’s chief justice, Roger Taney, held that a state could cancel grant money if the grant ceases to be in the interests of the community
• Served as a reversal of Dartmouth College v. Woodward

1837

Question 65

Trail of Tears

Answer 65

• Worcester v. Georgia was a response to Jackson’s Indian Removal Act
• Cherokees in Georgia claimed to be a sovereign political entity
• Native Americans were supported by the Supreme Court, but Jackson refused to enforce the court’s decision
• By this point, Cherokees had largely met the government’s demands to assimilate into Western-style democratic institutions
• Still, Cherokees were forced to give up lands to the east of the Mississippi and travel to an area in present-day Oklahoma
• The migration’s effects were devastating as hunger, disease, and exhaustion killed about 4,000 Cherokee

1838-1839

Question 66

Horace Mann

Answer 66

• American educator who was the first secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education
• Suggested reforms in education
• Made available hight-quality, no-cost, nondenominational public schooling
• The system has lasted to present day, and as a result, Mann has been called father of the American public school