Unit 4 Vocab (1800-1860) - except Ch 11

Question 1

Industrial Revolution

Answer 1

A period from 1790 to 1860, when the US reorganized work routines, built factories, and exploited a wide range of natural resources - shift to cheap labor and mass production of goods

Question 2

Division of Labor

Answer 2

A system put in place in the 1820s and 1830s that used multiple semiskilled workers to make goods, rather than 1 expert worker - cheaper and more efficient, but eroded workers independence and wages

Question 3

Mineral-based economy

Answer 3

A shift to coal and metal by the 1830s - manufactures ran their machinery with coal burning steam engines, and started fabricating many metal products

Question 4

Mechanics

Answer 4

Skilled craftsmen who invented and improved tools for industry - British government prohibited these people from migrating to America, to preserve their industrial domination

Question 5

Waltham-Lowell System

Answer 5

The system of recruiting thousands of women to work in factories - providing them with rooms in boarding houses and other activities. This was done since manufacturers could pay women less money for the same work

Question 6

Machine tools

Answer 6

Machines that made parts for other machines - allowed identical parts to be mass produced, and was pioneered by Americans

Question 7

Artisan Republicanism

Answer 7

The ideology of production based on liberty and equality - craft workers saw themselves as small scale producers, equal to one another and free to work for themselves

Question 8

Unions

Answer 8

A group of workers who banded together to bargain with their employers for more rights and freedoms

Question 9

Labor Theory of Value

Answer 9

The theory that the price of goods should reflect the labor needed to make them, and the income should primarily go to the producers (workers), not factory owners or merchants

Question 10

Market Revolution

Answer 10

The result of the huge increase in production of goods and the new transportation systems being constructed - caused a massive migration of people to the Greater Mississippi River Basin where they created an industrializing society similar to the Northeast

Question 11

Erie Canal

Answer 11

A 364 mile waterway connecting the Hudson River and Lake Erie - financed by the New York legislature in 1817. Allowed western producers to access eastern markets and the Atlantic, and eastern producers to access western markets - connected the region

Question 12

Middle Class

Answer 12

The group of people between the wealthy owners and propertyless laborers - huge expansion of this class during the Industrial Revolution. They were the mechanics, manufactures, traders, etc.

Question 13

Self-made Man

Answer 13

The man who made his fortune from nothing - became a central theme in popular culture, and inspired many to seek fortunes

Question 14

Benevolent Empire

Answer 14

The religious organizations created by the middle class, intended to promote conservative social reform and help those with poverty. Led by Congregational and Presbyterian ministers, the goal was to reduce alcohol and other vices that resulted in poverty - it created conflict as many poor people didn’t want to be told what to do

Question 15

Sabbatarian Values

Answer 15

The idea that nothing should be done on Sunday except for religion - the Benevolent Empire attempted to impose these values on society, which resulted in opposition from workers and freethinkers, as they didn’t want to be told how to spend their one leisure day

Question 16

Moral Free Agency

Answer 16

The central message of preachers like Finney, it said that man was a “free agent” who could choose salvation - it was a doctrine of free will, but was used to support religious conversion

Question 17

American Temperance Society

Answer 17

A society which was taken over by evangelical Protestants in 1832, and sought to curb the consumption of alcohol - employed revitalist methods and was a huge success

Question 18

Nativist Movements

Answer 18

A movement in which American-born citizens condemned immigration - in response to influx of Catholic and German immigration, and asserted the superiority of the Protestant religion and cultural values

Question 19

Franchise

Answer 19

The group of people who had the right to vote - the expansion of this population symbolized the Democratic Revolution

Question 20

Notables

Answer 20

The social “betters” of society, who dominated the political system - they were wealthy landlords, planters, and merchants

Question 21

Political Machines

Answer 21

A term to describe the political parties - run by professional politicians and efficiently wove together the interests of diverse social and economic groups

Question 22

Spoils System

Answer 22

The term critics used to describe Van Buren’s use of patronage, for he promoted thousands of his friends to government appointments - Van Buren argued that this was a fair system, as it would change based on who was in power

Question 23

Caucus

Answer 23

A meeting of party leaders, to organize and set policy

Question 24

American System

Answer 24

A system created by Henry Clay, which was an integrated mercantilist program of national economic development similar to the Commonwealth System - what he based his presidential candidacy on

Question 25

Internal Improvements

Answer 25

Public projects intended to improve overall life, like roads, canals, banks, and more

Question 26

Corrupt Bargain

Answer 26

After Henry Clay used his influence to thwart Jackson’s election, in favor of Adams, he was appointed to secretary of state (the stepping stone to president) - Jackson and his supporters called this a corrupt bargain, and vowed to oppose Adams and Clay

Question 27

Consolidated Government

Answer 27

A powerful and potentially oppressive national administration - Van Buren declared Henry Clay’s American System to be this

Question 28

Tariff of Abominations

Answer 28

The southern term for the tariff of 1828, which significantly raised duties on raw materials, textiles, and iron goods - enraged the South

Question 29

Nullification

Answer 29

The argument that a state has the right to void a law passed by Congress within its borders - contested issue

Question 30

States rights

Answer 30

The idea that since state-based conventions had ratified the Constitution, sovereignty law in them, not the people - little support for this in the text of the Constitution. It was used to support nullification

Question 31

Second Bank of the United States

Answer 31

Founded in Philadelphia in 1816, it had a 20 year charter and its most important role was to stabilize the nation’s money supply and prevent inflation

Question 32

Indian Removal Act of 1830

Answer 32

Created by Jackson, it created the Indian Territory and promised money/reserved land to natives who would give up their ancestral holdings - forced removal of natives from the east

Question 33

Trail of Tears

Answer 33

The forced Cherokee march from Georgia to Indian Territory - 3,000 Indians died of starvation and exposure along the way, a huge percent of the total population

Question 34

Classical liberalism/laissez-faire

Answer 34

The idea that the government should have a very limited role in the economy - literally means “hands-off”, it was supported by Jackson

Question 35

Whigs

Answer 35

A second national party created in mid-1830s, the Whigs were the more liberal party, supported by northern merchants and urban cities - Whigs and Democrats competed fiercely for the next 2 decades, and each appealed to a different cultural group

Question 36

Panic of 1837

Answer 36

An economic recession caused by the reduction in British money sent to the US, and the drop in world cotton prices - state governments defaulted on debts, and it started a major depression

Question 37

Specie Circular

Answer 37

A declaration passed in 1836, which required the treasury to only accept gold and silver for payment for internal land - critics mistakenly charged that this caused the Panic of 1837

Question 38

Ethnocultural politics

Answer 38

The practice of voting along ethnic and religious lines - became a prominent feature of American life

Question 39

Coastal Trade

Answer 39

The trade in slaves from the Atlantic coast to the huge market in New Orleans - it was highly visible, northern abolitionists condemned it

Question 40

Inland System

Answer 40

The other slave trade route, it was when traders marched from rural town to town looking for slaves in the northern south, then marched them to markets in the Deep South - more extensive than the coastal route but less visible

Question 41

Chattel principle

Answer 41

The principle that slaves were the moveable property of their owners, and their body and soul belongs to that person

Question 42

Benevolent Masters

Answer 42

The way many slave masters saw themselves - believed they were committed to the welfare of their slaves and that they preserved family and relations among them - others were more honest about the human cost of slavery

Question 43

Republican Aristocracy

Answer 43

The affluent planters of the South - the equivalent of the nobility in other countries, they were the head of society and politics

Question 44

“Positive good” Argument

Answer 44

The argument that slavery was a beneficial institution because it gave white elite an elegant lifestyle and provided tutelage to the genetically inferior Africans

Question 45

Gang labor system

Answer 45

The system in the Deep South where masters with 20 or more slaves organized disciplined teams supervised by an overseer who would order them around doing tasks - it increased productivity, but was harder on the slaves than the previous task system

Question 46

Slave Society

Answer 46

A society in which the institutions of slavery affects all aspects of life - the South was an example

Question 47

Alamo

Answer 47

A base in Antonio defended by Texas garrison, Mexican president Santa Anna led an army to capture it and wiped out the garrison. But American newspapers romanticized the event to arouse anti-Mexican sentiment, causing many adventures to flock to Texas to defend its claim of independence

Question 48

Secret Ballot

Answer 48

The system of voting secretly on a ballot, rather than by voice - it was a more democratic system

Question 49

Black Protestantism

Answer 49

A new form of Protestantism created by African-Americans, it ignored doctrines of original sin and predestination, and preachers didn’t use biblical passages calling for unthinking obedience

Question 50

Task system

Answer 50

The slave system in place during the Revolutionary Era, it was where slaves had to complete a precisely defined job each day at their own pace - many worked hard and finished in early afternoon, after which the rest of the day was theirs