Unit 4 Vocab Flashcards
Thomas Jefferson
Democratic Republican; 3rd president of the US; elected in the Revolution of 1800
Aaron Burr
Democratic Republican; vice president to Jefferson; killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel
Strict interpretation
government only has the powers specifically granted to it by the Constitution; supported by Democratic Republicans
Loose interpretation
government can do what is best for the country even if the Constitution doesn’t explicitly state it
Twelfth Amendment
separate electoral votes for president and vice president; party ticket
Midnight appointments
Adams fills government positions with Federalists before leaving office
Marbury v. Madison
William Marbury sues James Madison or not certifying his federal appointment; Supreme Court ruled in Marbury’s favor but did not enact his right
John Marshall
chief justice of the Supreme Court (1801 - 1835); Federalist; established judicial review
Judicial review
Supreme Court can review/challenge the constitutionality of federal laws
Louisiana Purchase
US government buys Louisiana Territory from the French for $15 million; France accepts to pay for war
Essex Junto
group of New England Federalists who planned to secede from the US following the Louisiana Purchase
Quids
Republicans who criticized Jefferson for violating Republican principles after the Louisiana Purchase
Lewis & Clark
explored the trans-Mississippi West from 1804-1806; aided by Sacajawea; led to better knowledge of the area and better relations with Native Americans
Barbary Pirates
Jefferson sent US Navy to combat pirates in Tripoli
Chesapeake-Leopard Affair
British warship Leopard fired on US warship Chesapeake; 3 Americans were killed and 4 were impressed into the British Navy; raised anti-British sentiments in the US
Impressment
Britain captured US ships and declared that the sailors had deserted from the British Navy, forcing them to rejoin
Embargo Act of 1807
shut down America’s import/export business; severely damaged the economy (especially in the North)
Non-Intercourse Act of 1809
reopened US trade with most nations except for Britain and France (two largest trade partners)
James Madison
4th president of the US (Jefferson’s vice president) also known as the Father of the Constitution; elected in 1808 after Jefferson’s endorsement
Macon’s Bill No. 2
reopened trade with France and England, promising that if either nation renounced its interference with US trade then the other would be cut off
Napoleon’s deception
Napoleon agreed to the conditions of Macon’s Bill and the US cut off trade with Britain, but France continued to harass American merchant ships
War Hawks
Democratic Republicans who favored war with Britain; led by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun
Henry Clay
Secretary of State under Quincy Adams (corrupt bargain); War Hawk; lobbied for the American System
John C. Calhoun
Andrew Jackson’s vice president; War Hawk; supporter of nullification (states’ rights)
War of 1812
fought between the British and the US over British trade restrictions; byproduct of the conflict between France and Britain; “Mr. Madison’s War”
Tecumseh
Native chief who unified area tribes to stop American expansion into Illinois and Indiana; battled against William Henry Harrison in the Battle of Tippecanoe; supplied with weapons by the British
The Prophet
Tecumseh’s brother, Tenskwatawa; led a revival of traditional Native American religion and culture
Hartford Convention
Federalists met in Connecticut to discuss potential secession from the US during the War of 1812; led Federalists to be seen as traitors (demise of the Federalist Party)
Tariff of 1816
protected US manufacturers from competition brought by British goods; first protective tariff in US history
American manufacturing
states became more self-sufficient after the war since they couldn’t depend on trade with other nations
National Road
part of the American system; spanned from Maryland to Ohio & funded by the federal government
Henry Clay’s American System
programs enacted by James Madison to achieve American economic self-reliance; lobbied for by Henry Clay; protective tariffs, rechartering of National Bank
Era of Good Feelings
period after the demise of the Federalists in which the US had only one political party; ended with the election of John Quincy Adams in 1824
McCulloch v. Maryland
John Marshall rules that states cannot tax the National Bank; established precedence of national law over state law
Panic of 1819
financial scare caused by the National Bank tightening credit to prevent inflation; state banks closed and unemployment rose as land was foreclosed
John Quincy Adams
6th president of the US (son of John Adams); formerly Federalist; elected in 1824
Monroe Doctrine
policy of mutual noninterference between Europe and the Americas; ended colonization in the Western hemisphere and reserved the US right to control the hemisphere
Missouri Compromise
admitted Missouri as a slave state and carved out a portion of Massachusetts to form Maine, a free state, to keep the Union balanced; brokered by Henry Clay
Congressional caucuses
groups of US Congressmen that, in the past, were responsible for choosing their party’s nominees and electors
Demise of the caucus system
John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Andrew Jackson challenged the Democratic Republican caucus’s nominee for president (William H. Crawford)
Corrupt bargain
Quincy Adams promised Clay position of Secretary of State if he swayed Congressional votes to his side; neither he nor Jackson received the majority of popular or electoral votes
States’ rights
favored by Democratic Republicans; thought that a central federal government was too powerful
Implied powers
political powers granted to the US government that aren’t explicitly stated in the Constitution
Democratic Party
coalition of state political organizations, newspaper publishers, and community leaders supporting Andrew Jackson after the election of 1824
Coffin Handbill
accused Jackson of murdering his enlisted men during the Indian Wars
Spoils system
trading jobs for political favors; Jackson replaced government officials with his political supporters after being elected
Jacksonian Democracy
replaced Jeffersonian Republicanism; extended voting rights to all white men
Universal white manhood suffrage
all white men could vote, even those who did not own property
Indian Removal Act
forced the resettlement of thousands of Native Americans; passed by Congress in 1830 under the Jackson administration (who sympathized with Western settlers)
Trail of Tears
the forced relocation of thousands of Cherokees from Georgia to Oklahoma after gold was discovered on their land; many died from sickness and starvation on the journey
Worcester v. Georgia
ruled that the laws of Georgia had no force within Cherokee territory and they could not be removed; Jackson ignored the ruling and expelled them anyways
Nullification
individual states have the right to disobey federal laws if they find them to be unconstitutional; supported by Calhoun but opposed by Jackson
Tariff of Abominations
passed during the Adams administration but caused the nullification debate during Jackson’s presidency
Tariff of 1832
meant to solve the Tariff of Abominations but failed to lower rates to an acceptable level
Force Bill
Jackson’s reaction to South Carolina banning the collection of tariffs; authorized the president to use whatever forced deemed necessary to enforce federal tariffs
Second Bank of the United States (BUS)
originally established by Alexander Hamilton, failed during the Jackson administration because he vetoed its rechartering
Pet banks
state banks in which Jackson deposited federal funds while trying to fail the National Bank
Nicholas Biddle
president of the National Bank; managed the crisis while Jackson was downsizing
Specie Circular
required future purchases of government land to be made in specie (gold and silver); Jackson distrusted paper money and it soon lost its value
Panic of 1837
caused by inflation due to Jackson’s insistence on “hard currency;” Whigs blamed Democrats
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
a revolt led by enslaved preacher Nat Turner in which 55 whites were killed; led to the implementation of more slave codes
Slave codes
prevented black people from congregating and learning how to read; response to Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Whigs
loose coalition known for their opposition to one or more Democrat policies
Government activism
Whigs favored government involvement in social issues; contrary to Democratic lassez-faire beliefs
Martin Van Buren
8th president of the US (Jackson’s 2nd vice president); took over during the Panic of 1837 and was known as “Martin Van Ruin”
William Henry Harrison
first Whig president (Tippecanoe) elected in 1841; died of pneumonia after one month in office; “Log Cabin and Hard Cider” campaign in 1840 emphasized his humble origins
John Tyler
10th president of the US (Harrison’s vice president); disliked by the Whigs because he claimed to be one but went against their beliefs; “the president without a party’
Market economy
people trade their labor/goods for cash, which they use to buy other people’s labor/goods
Boom-and-bust cycles
alternating phases of economic growth and decline
Cotton gin
invented by Eli Whitney; made seed removal from cotton plants easier; caused a drastic increase of slave labor in the South
Interchangeable parts
invented by Eli Whitney; products are manufactured with the same parts; boosted mass production + manufacturing
Machine-tool industry
produced specialized machines for growing industries like textiles and transportation
Assembly line production
dividing the labor into a number of tasks and assigning each worker one task
Power loom
automated the weaving process & sped up manufacturing; less dependent on individual labor
Samuel Slater
“Father of the American Industrial Revolution;” designed the first American textile mills
Lowell system
guaranteed factory workers housing, cash wages, and participation in social/cultural events organized by the mill
Labor unions
organized to protect the rights of factory workers as working conditions worsened
Clothing manufacturers
transformed textiles into finished products
Retailers
sold clothing and other manufactured products in stores
Brokers
acted as middlemen, buying and selling raw and finished products and trafficking them among manufacturers and retailers
Commercial banks
lent money to everyone so the system kept running
Transportation industry
grew out of necessity to ship manufactured goods
Erie Canal
constructed in 1825; linked the Great Lakes region to New York and thus to European shipping routes
Canal Era
other regions tried to replicate the success of the Erie Canal; none performed as well and most failed; ended by 1850
Steamships
freight carriers powered by steam engines; traveled faster than normal ships but sometimes exploded
Railroads
first built in the 1830s but slow to develop since different lines couldn’t be connected
Gauge
the width of railroad track; different for many tracks
Telegraph
primitive telephone system that allowed for long-distance communication
Morse code
alphabet used in telegraphs; letters are represented by combinations of long and short signals
Manifest Destiny
the American belief in a God-given right to the Western territories
Texas
formerly part of Mexico; settlers allowed to move if they became Mexican citizens (few actually did)
Alamo
Mexican troops led by Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, killing most of the Texians and Tejanos inside
Republic of Texas
briefly an independent country after split with Mexico
Oregon Territory
attracted thousands of settlers during the early 1840s
Gold rush
the discovery of gold in the California mountains in 1848 caused over 100,000 people to make their way to the state in just 2 years
Sectional strife
regions fostered dislike for each other because of vast cultural, social, and economic differences
North
industrialization; technological advances in communications, transportation, industry, and banking; legal slavery uncommon
South
agrarian economy(cash crops); sought westward movement; hierarchical society; slavery-dependent
West
commercial farming, fur-trapping, and real estate speculation; distrusted the North; egalitarian society; avoided the slavery issue
Distribution of wealth
large disparity in the North and South; elite few control most of the personal wealth
Middle class
tradesmen, brokers, and other professionals; beneath the elite; many rose from the working class
Working class
worked in factories or as domestic servants; just above the poverty level
Poverty
most often recent immigrants; numbers swelled in 1840s/50s with an influx of Irish & German immigrants
Cult of Domesticity
the notion that men should work while women kept house and raised children
Immigration waves
Irish went to northern cities and Germans went to the west; viewed with hostility by the working class for fear of having their jobs stolen
Southern paternalism
belief that the slave system benefited all its participants, even slaves
Yeomen
majority of landowners in the South, owned little to no slaves (5 on average); subsistence farmers
Landless whites
“white trash” who either farmed as tenants or hired themselves out as manual laborers
Free blacks
descendants of enslaved people freed by their masters or freed for having fought in the Revolutionary War
Forty-Niners
prospectors in the California gold rush of 1849
Squatters
settlers who ignored the requirement to buy land; moved onto unoccupied tracts and claimed them as their own
Fur trading
common commercial enterprise on the western frontier; traders known as “over-mountain men” and were constantly one step ahead of farming families
Second Great Awakening
period of religious revival among Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists; caused by fear of the new market economy
Temperance societies
encouraged a complete abstinence from the consumption of alcohol and advocated for its prohibition
Shakers
utopian group that splintered from the Quakers; believed in gender/racial equality and celibacy
Compromise of 1850
series of measures proposed by Henry Clay; California admitted as a free state, Texas borders established, slave trade abolished in District of Columbia, Fugitive Slave Act enacted
Hudson River School
first distinct school of American art; influenced by European romanticism
Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)
founded by Joseph Smith in 1830; persecuted for controversial beliefs like polygamy and migrated to Utah to settle
Seneca Falls Convention
women’s rights convention held in upstate New York in 1848; organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott; birth of the women’s rights movement
National Woman Suffrage Association
founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton; wanted a constitutional amendment to secure votes for women
Horace Mann
secretary on the Massachusetts Board of Education; pushed for public education reform
American Colonization Society
established in 1816; an antislavery group that sought to repatriate enslaved people to Liberia
Immediatists
wanted emancipation right away
William Lloyd Garrison
white immediatist; published the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator in 1831
Gag rule
suppressed discussion of the slavery issue and prevented Congress from passing any new legislation pertaining to slavery; made many Northerners abolitionists
David Walker
free black abolitionist from Boston; his Appeal to the Colored People of the World called for black unity to end slavery
Frederick Douglass
escaped slave who gained fame as a writer and advocate of freedom and equality; published The North Star in the 1840s
Harriet Tubman
escaped slavery and returned south repeatedly to help more than 300 enslaved people escape via the underground railroad
Underground railroad
a network of hiding places and “safe” trails utilized by enslaved people escaping from their masters
Sojourner Truth
charismatic black speaker who campaigned for emancipation and women’s rights
