AP US History G369 Unit 4: Rise of American Democracy Key Terms

Comprehensive vocabulary review flashcards covering key terms, historical figures, court cases, and political developments for AP US History Unit 4: Rise of American Democracy.

Adams-Onís Treaty (1819)

Also known as the Florida Purchase Treaty and the Transcontinental Treaty; under its terms, the United States paid Spain $\$5\text{ million}$ for Florida, Spain recognized America's claims to the Oregon Country, and the United States surrendered its claim to northern Mexico (Texas).

American System

A set of proposals by Henry Clay that called for a national bank, protective tariffs, and internal improvements, with the ultimate goal of American economic self-sufficiency.

Andrew Jackson

U.S. general who defeated the Native Americans at Horseshoe Bend and commanded the victory over the British at New Orleans; he became a national hero as a result of his record in the War of 1812 and later rode that fame to the presidency.

Battle of New Orleans

A major battle of the War of 1812 that actually took place after the war ended; American forces inflicted a massive defeat on the British, protected the city, and propelled Andrew Jackson to national prominence.

Chesapeake-Leopard Affair

Incident in 1807 that brought on a war crisis when the British warship Leopard attacked the American warship Chesapeake after the U.S. commander refused a demand to board and search for Royal Navy deserters. The attack killed or wounded 20 American sailors, resulted in four alleged deserters being impressed, and led many Americans to call for war.

Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819)

Supreme Court case in which the Court prevented New Hampshire from changing Dartmouth's charter to make it a public institution, ruling that the contract clause of the Constitution extended to charters and that contracts could not be invalidated by state law.

Embargo Act (1807)

Law passed by Congress stopping all U.S. exports until British and French interference with U.S. merchant ships stopped; it had little effect except to cause widespread economic hardship in America and was repealed in 1809.

Fletcher v. Peck (1810)

Supreme Court case that established the Court's power to invalidate state laws contrary to the Constitution by preventing Georgia from rescinding a land grant even though it had been fraudulently made.

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

Landmark Supreme Court case that struck down a New York law granting a monopoly to certain steamboats operating between New York and New Jersey, expanding the constitutional power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce while expanding federal power and limiting states' rights.

Henry Clay

A leading American statesman from 1810 to 1852 who served as a member of Congress, Speaker of the House, senator, and secretary of state, and made three unsuccessful presidential bids; known as the Great Compromiser for his role in the compromises of 1820, 1833, and 1850.

Impressment

The forceful drafting of American sailors into the British navy; between 1790 and 1812, over ten thousand Americans were impressed under the British claim that they were Royal Navy deserters, serving as the principal cause of the War of 1812.

John Marshall

Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835 who authored decisions incorporating Alexander Hamilton's Federalist ideas into the Constitution and established the principle of judicial review, giving the Court equality with the other branches of government.

Louisiana Purchase

An 828,000-square-mile region purchased from France in 1803 for $\$15\text{ million}$; it doubled the size of the United States, gave it control of the Mississippi River and New Orleans, and relied on Thomas Jefferson's uncharacteristic use of implied constitutional powers (loose construction).

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review, allowing the Court to determine whether federal laws were constitutional, struck down part of the Judiciary Act of 1789.

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Supreme Court case establishing the supremacy of federal law over state law by striking down a Maryland tax on the Baltimore branch of the Second National Bank, thereby strengthening federal supremacy, weakening states' rights, and promoting commercial interests.

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Settlement authored by Henry Clay that resolved a dispute over the spread of slavery: (1) Missouri became the twelfth slave state; (2) Maine became the twelfth free state; and (3) the Louisiana territory was divided at $36^\circ 30'$, closing the northern portion to slavery and allowing it in the southern area.

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

Foreign policy statement issued to counter European threats to newly independent Latin American nations, proclaiming: (1) no new European colonization in the Western Hemisphere; (2) non-interference with existing colonies; and (3) non-interference by the U.S. in European affairs.

Non-Intercourse Act (1809)

Legislation that replaced the Embargo Act by allowing American trade with all nations except Britain and France; it failed to halt foreign interference with U.S. shipping and was repealed in 1810.

Panic of 1819

A severe depression following the post-War of 1812 economic boom; triggered when the Second National Bank called loans and raised interest rates to dampen land speculation and inflation, creating sectional division between Eastern commercial interests and Western agrarian interests.

Second Bank of the United States

National bank organized in 1816 modeled after the first Bank of the United States; it held federal tax receipts and regulated the circulating money supply, becoming deeply unpopular among Western farmers and land speculators following the Panic of 1819.

Treaty of Ghent (1815)

Agreement that ended the War of 1812 while remaining silent on the causes of the conflict; all captured territory was returned, and unresolved questions such as ownership of the Great Lakes were left to future negotiation.

War Hawks

Young members of the 12th Congress from the South and West, led by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, who demanded war with Great Britain to annex Canada, defend American maritime rights, and resolve conflicts with Native Americans in the Trans-Appalachian West.

Corrupt Bargain

An alleged deal during the disputed election of 1824 in which Henry Clay threw his support to John Quincy Adams in the House of Representatives, securing Adams the presidency, in exchange for Clay being appointed secretary of state.

Daniel Webster

Noted orator, constitutional lawyer, senator, secretary of state, and major spokesman for nationalism and the Union during the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s.

Democratic Party

Modern-day major political party with roots in the original Democratic-Republican Party; it coalesced after the disputed 1824 election around supporters of Andrew Jackson to prepare for and win the election of 1828.

Exposition and Protest

Document secretly authored by Vice President John C. Calhoun in 1828 arguing that states had the right to nullify federal laws under the compact theory, specifically targeting the Tariff of 1828 as unconstitutional.

"His Accidency"

Derisive nickname given to John Tyler by political opponents when he became the first vice president to assume the presidency following William Henry Harrison's death in 1841, reflecting his disputes with Whig leaders over national bank re-chartering, tariffs, and internal improvements.

Indian Removal Act (1830)

Federal legislation giving the president authority to negotiate treaties with southeastern Native American tribes, exchanging their eastern ancestral lands for territory west of the Mississippi River, and funding their relocation.

John C. Calhoun

Vice president under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson who secretly penned Exposition and Protest and led the nullification movement in 1832 and 1833, standing as the foremost champion of Southern states' rights from 1828 to 1850.

John Quincy Adams

Son of President John Adams and secretary of state who assisted in acquiring Florida and shaping the Monroe Doctrine; as president he championed nationalist economic policies and an activist government, later serving in the House of Representatives after losing reelection in 1828.

Market Revolution

Nineteenth-century economic transformation in which subsistence-level local economies of small farms and workshops shifted toward commercial production for distant cash markets, leading to the rise of a permanent working class and significant cultural, religious, and political shifts.

Martin Van Buren

U.S. senator, vice president, and president whose single term was derailed by the Panic of 1837, causing his defeat in the election of 1840; he later aligned with the Free Soil Party.

Nullification

Constitutional theory claiming that states formed the federal government via a compact, making them the ultimate arbiters of whether federal statutes are constitutional, giving states the right to invalidate federal laws within their boundaries.

Panic of 1837

A major economic depression lasting from 1837 to 1844 triggered by crop failures, European financial crises, and Andrew Jackson's financial policies following his dismantling of the Second Bank of the United States.

Pet banks

State-level banking institutions loyal to Andrew Jackson's administration where federal tax monies were transferred following Jackson's 1832 veto of the Second National Bank's re-charter and removal of government deposits.

Spoils system

The practice of granting public offices to partisan supporters and loyalists upon winning an election; Andrew Jackson was heavily criticized for this practice, although he replaced roughly 20 percent of federal officeholders during his administration.

Tariff of Abominations

Name applied to the Tariff of 1828 by Southern critics after it raised duties on imported goods to historic highs, directly sparking the nullification crisis of 1832 in South Carolina.

Trail of Tears (1838)

The forced displacement of approximately 18,000 Cherokee people from their homes in the Southeast to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma, during which nearly 25 percent died from exhaustion, disease, and harsh conditions.

Whigs

Political party established in 1832 in opposition to Andrew Jackson; led by Henry Clay, it campaigned against executive overreach and favored national banking, protective tariffs, federal internal improvements, and western land distribution before fracturing over slavery in the 1850s.

Worcester v. Georgia (1832)

Legal dispute in which the Cherokee challenged Georgia's anti-tribal laws and the Indian Removal Act as violations of federal treaties; President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the Court's ruling and prepared to use military force to execute tribal removal.

American Anti-Slavery Society

Abolitionist society founded in 1833 by reformers advocating immediate emancipation through moral persuasion without financial compensation to slaveholders; it promoted broad social reforms and admitted women as equal participants.

Abby Kelley

Abolitionist speaker in the American Anti-Slavery Society whose 1840 appointment to a previously all-male business committee triggered an organizational schism between William Lloyd Garrison and more conservative reformers.

American Colonization Society

Organization established in 1817 that promoted the relocation of freed enslaved African Americans to West Africa, founding the colony of Liberia in 1827.

American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society

Abolitionist group created in 1840 by the Tappan brothers after breaking with William Lloyd Garrison over his radical critique of the Constitution and churches; it pursued traditional political action through the Liberty Party.

American Society for the Promotion of Temperance

The nation's first major temperance organization, established in 1826, that dispatched traveling lecturers to promote total sobriety pledges and urge state governments to prohibit liquor manufacturing and sales.

Brook Farm

Transcendentalist utopian commune founded near Boston in 1841 by George Ripley centered around communal agricultural labor and intellectual discussion; it shuttered following internal disillusionment and an 1847 fire.

Compensated Emancipation

Antislavery proposal suggesting that the government purchase enslaved persons from their masters to alleviate slaveholder economic resistance to emancipation, implemented on a limited scale by select antislavery societies.

Cult of domesticity

Nineteenth-century ideological concept stating that women ought to concentrate on creating a moral, religious haven within the private domestic sphere while avoiding public arenas like commerce and politics.

Declaration of Sentiments

Resolutions adopted at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention patterned after the Declaration of Independence; it cataloged grievances against male dominance and demanded civil equality, economic rights, and female suffrage.

Dorothea Dix

Humanitarian reformer and former schoolteacher who campaigned tirelessly to expose the mistreatment of the mentally ill in prisons and poorhouses, persuading state legislatures to create dedicated asylums.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Early leader of the women's rights movement who co-organized the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 and championed female suffrage and legal rights throughout the nineteenth century.

Frederick Douglass

Prominent escaped slave, orator, and author who founded the antislavery periodical The North Star, serving as America's preeminent African American spokesperson from the 1840s until his death in 1895.

Gradual Emancipation

Strategy for ending slavery by emancipating children born to enslaved mothers upon reaching adulthood, allowing the institution to die out over time; commonly adopted in northern states following the Revolutionary War.

Horace Mann

Public education crusader and secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education who expanded school years, established professional teacher training (normal schools), and secularized curricula.

Liberty Party

Antislavery political party founded in 1840 that campaigned to ban slavery in federal territories and the District of Columbia; it nominated James G. Birney in 1840 and 1844 before folding into the Free Soil Party in 1848.

Lucretia Mott

Quaker reformer and antislavery activist who worked alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton to convene the landmark Seneca Falls Convention in 1848.

Maine Law (1851)

The nation's first statewide temperance statute prohibiting the production and retail sale of alcoholic beverages except for medicinal purposes.

Sarah and Angelina Grimke

Quaker sisters from South Carolina who relocated to the North to lecture against slavery and advocate for women's equality; Angelina married abolitionist Theodore Dwight Weld.

Second Great Awakening

Protestant evangelical revival movement between 1790 and 1840 that emphasized human free will, moral reform, and personal salvation, providing the ideological basis for the antebellum reform era.

Susan B. Anthony

Women's rights reformer who partnered with Elizabeth Cady Stanton starting in 1851 to champion female suffrage and co-found the National Woman Suffrage Association; the Nineteenth Amendment is commonly named in her honor.

Transcendentalists

New England philosophical and literary figures who asserted that ultimate truth transcends empirical observation and established authority, relying instead on inner spiritual intuition.

William Lloyd Garrison

Radical antebellum abolitionist who published the weekly antislavery newspaper The Liberator and helped establish the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Coerce

To persuade or convince an unwilling party by utilizing extreme force or threats.

Judicial review

The Supreme Court's authority to review legislation and executive orders to determine whether or not they are valid or constitutional.

Nullify

To make void, or invalidate.