APUSH Unit 4 Quiz

Rise of a Democratic Society

Rise of a Democratic Society

Among the white majority in American society, people shared a belief in the principle of equality

• More precisely, equality of opportunity for white males

Politics of the Common Man

• Universal Male Suffrage - all white males could vote regardless of their social class or religion; political offices could be held by people in the lower and middle ranks of society

• Party Nominating Conventions - caucus were replaced by nominating conventions

• Popular Election of the President - South Carolina used the old system, all other states allow the voters to choose a state’s slate of presidential electors

• Two-Party System - campaigns for president now had to be conducted on a national scale; candidates needed large political parties

• Rise of Third Parties - Anti-Masonic and Woringmen’s party reached out to groups of people who previously had shown little interest in politics

• Elected Offices - much larger number of state and local officials were elected to office

• Popular Campaigning - politics became a form of local entertainment; candidates would often resort to personal attacks and ignore the issues

• Spoils System & Rotation of Officeholders - affirmed the democratic ideal that one man was as good as another and that ordinary Americans were capable of holding any gov. office

Difference between Caucus and Convention

• Caucus- a closed-door meeting of a political party’s leaders in Congress

• Conventions- party politicians and voters would gather in a large meeting hall to nominate the party’s candidates

Spoils System and Rotation of Officeholders

• SS- appointing people to federal jobs whether they had actively campaigned for the Democratic party; one’s not Democratic were fired and replaced

• RoO- limiting a person to one term in office and appointing deserving Democrat in his place

Election of 1824

Despite Jackson winning more popular and electoral votes than any other candidates, he lost to Adams

• Henry Clay used his influence in the House to provide J.Q. Adams with enough votes to win the election

John Quincy Adams

Alienated Jackson's followers when he asked Congress for money for internal improvements, aid to manufacturing, and a national university and an astronomical observatory

• Satisfied northern manufacturers but alienated southern planters

• “tariff of abominations”

Andrew Jackson

Not only dominated politics but also became a symbol of the emerging working and middle class

• Representative of all the people and the protector of the common man against abuses of power by the rich and privileged

• Aid of the common woman (Peggy O’Neale Eaton)

• Concept of democracy did not extend to American Indians (Indian Removal Act)

• Favored states’ rights but not disunion

• Attacked the bank by withdrawing all federal funds, transferred the funds to “pet banks”

• Specie Circular: required that all future purchases of federal lands be made in species rather than in paper banknotes

Worcester v. Georgia

High court ruled that the laws of Georgia had no force within Cherokee territory

Nullification Crisis

1832, South Carolina increased tension by holding a special convention to nullify both the hated 1826 tariff and 1832 tariff

• Passed a resolution forbidding the collection of tariffs within the state

Two Party System

Democrats:

• Jackson

• Limited gov.

• Free trade

• Opportunity for white males

• No national bank or high tariffs

• South and West

Whigs:

• Clay

• National bank

• Internal improvements

• Protective tariff

• New England and the Mid-Atlantic states

Election of 1836

• Whig strategy failed

• Van Buren took 58% of the electoral vote

Second Great Awakening

Caused new divisions in society between the newer, evangelical sects and the older Protestant churches

• Timothy Dwight’s campus revivals motivated a generation of young men to become evangelical preachers

• Charles G. Finney preached that every individual could be saved through faith and hard work

• Peter Cartwright would travel and attract thousands to hear their dramatic preaching at outdoor revivals

• Widespread belief that the world was about to end with the second coming of Jesus

• Mormons founded by Joseph Smith

• Active religious groups provided both the leadership and the well-organized voluntary societies that drove the reform movements of the antebellum era

The Transcendentalists

Challenged the materialism of American society by suggesting that artistic expression was more important than the pursuit of wealth

• Ralph Waldo Emerson argued for self-reliance, independent thinking, and the primacy of spiritual matters over material ones

• Henry David Thoreau used observations of nature to discover essential truths about life and the universe

• Brook Farm

• Helped to create a literature that was distinctively American

Brook Farm

`Goal to achieve “a more natural union between intellectual and manual labor”

• Community of people to live out the Transcendentalism ideal

• Atmosphere of artistic creativity, innovative school, and appeal to New England’s intellectual elite and their children

Temperance

Society tried to persuade drinkers to take a pledge of total abstinence

Cult of Domesticity

Idealization view of women as moral leaders

Seneca Falls Convention

First women’s rights convention in American history

• “Declaration of Sentiments” declared that “all men and women are created equal”

• Listed women’s grievances against laws and customs that discriminated against them