USA 1845-1877 Glossary Section 1 (Bill of Rights to Nativism)

Federal Bureaucracy

The back bone of the American government. An unelected body of about 500 departments, agencies, commissions and authorities. They carry out responsibilities that the elected Congress give them.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the constitution ratified in 1791 which guarantees individual civil rights of Americans in relation to their government. Notable ones for our course are 1st amendment - freedom of speech, religion and the press, 4th amendment - property rights, 10th amendment - states' rights to pass local state laws on anything that is not delineated in the constitution.

Checks and balances

The system whereby the three main offices of the federal government (executive, judicial and legislative) have defined powers/processes which allow them to check and limit the powers of the other bodies i.e. the President (executive office) can nominate Supreme Court Justices (judiciary) but these have to be ratified by Congress (the legislative office)

Platform

A set of principle goals or programmes which are supported by a political party in order to appeal to the general public.

Ticket

Similar to the above, candidates from a political party are said to be running on a particular ticket. In America, it is common for a party to choose a vice-presidential candidate who broadens the appeal of the party i.e. by getting an army general on side, or a northern moderate to support a southern candidate etc.

Article of faith

Something that a party believes very strongly. It is a binding principle which they will not surrender i.e. the Republican Party's article of faith was that they would not countenance the extension of slavery in America.

State militia

States organise their state defence parallel to the National Guard. They often answer to the governor of the state and are paid for through state funds, not federal government funds.

Electoral college

A body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast the votes for the election of the president and Vice President. Crucially, some states are worth more than others due to population size (similar to the HoR). Most states run on a first past the post system, so for example, if 50.1% of Texas' population voted Democrat, the electoral college would give all of its 38 electoral college votes to the Democrat candidate. In this way, you can win the presidency without winning the popular vote. Certain states are heavily targeted by candidates, some are traditionally loyal, and some can be notable swing states i.e. New York in the 1844 and 1848 elections.

Whigs

One of the two main political parties in the 1830s and 1840s. They traditionally stood for federal intervention, higher tariffs, banking reform, and progressive social campaigns such as temperance and (increasingly) abolitionism. Tended to get more support in the North. Was declared 'dead' by Lewis Campbell of Ohio in 1852 when Winfield Scott was defeated by Franklin Pierce in 1852 and the party was seen to be unable to keep its northern and southern wings united.

Democrats

Of go the two main political parties. Tended to be stronger in the South. Generally supported states' rights, limited federal government intervention, and the 'best form of government is the smallest form of government'. 1828-1856, won all but two of the presidential elections. Suffered internal strains (similar to the Whigs) over what it do concerning the Western territories.

Egalitarian

The belief that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities. There was a perception among many northerners that their society was more egalitarian than southern society in the 19th century.

Sectionalism

The restriction of your interests and well-being to a particular sphere, be it regional, geographical, political, religious, local etc. In our course - regional: North vs South.

Unionism

The belief that one should lay aside partisan or local interests in favour of the preservation of the Union of the states of America. The Unionist Party was born out of such beliefs following the Compromise of 1850.

Abolitionism

The movement to end slavery. Gathered pace in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Britain abolished the slave trade in 1833. Tended to receive support from women's and religious groups in America.

Manumission

The act of an owner freeing his or her slaves. Could be considered benevolent, or could be more pragmatic - i.e. if a slave was beyond the stage of usefulness.

Yankee materialism

The belief in the south that many in the north were conditioned by capitalism and desires for modernisation etc, which made them as selfish as slave owners.

Slave narratives

Rare accounts of slavery written by slaves themselves. Rare on the account that very few slaves were literate or received a formal education. Notable slave narratives in our course include: Frederick Douglass - Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, A slave and My Bondage and My Freedom. Solomon Northup Twelve Years a Slave , Harriet Jacobs - Incidents in the life of a slave girl.Henry Brown - Narrative of the life of Henry Box Brown

Missouri Compromise

Occurred in 1820 when Missouri petitioned to join the Union as a slave state. A compromise with key figures such as Henry Clay (Kentucky Senator) brokering a deal whereby Maine would enter in order to keep the free-state (and thus Senatorial) balance. This also set up the Mason Dixon line where Congress asserted that slavery could exist below it, but would not be permitted to extend above it.

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

A precursor to Nullification (1832) when Kentucky and Virginia drafted political statements in 1798 and 1799 respectively, taking the position that the federal Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional. It set out the premise that states had both the right and the duty to declare acts of Congress that were not authorised by the constitution as 'unconstitutional'.

Nullification Crisis

Occurred in 1832 in reaction to the 1828 'Tariff of Abominations'. Led by key voices from the South such as John C Calhoun and states such as South Carolina who argued that the federal tariff was damaging to their states' interests (cotton exports) and that they had to right to nullify this federal tariff. South Carolina stated that any efforts to collect the federal tax by force would lead to secession. President Jackson acted aggressively, but a reduction in the tariff and a peaceful resolution was brokered by key compromises such as Henry Clay.

King Cotton

A slogan indicating the economic and political importance of cotton which was used by any pro-secessionist Southerners to argue for the viability of secession as cotton was so vital to the southern economy and indeed the worldwide demand for it would protect the interests of the cotton states.

Frontier mentality

Officially defined by Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893 stating that American democracy and the American national psyche was defined by the American frontier. Americans were inspired by the work of the early settlers, mountain men and homesteaders who constantly pushed boundaries in their quest for manifest destiny, and this outward looking mentality helped define the progress of the nation. Therefore once the coast-to-coast frontier was achieved, America looked to 'new frontiers' in their domestic and foreign policy in the 20th century. Essentially the thesis shows the nationalistic pride of Americans in conquering and 'civilising' the territories of America.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that it was American's god given duty to go West. The settlers had god's blessing, and in settling new territories Americans were extending the boundaries of their great democratic experiment of Christian, federal democracy. The phrase was officially coined by New York journalist John O'Sullivan in 1845, but can also be identified as a key platform of Democrat Polk's 1844 presidential campaign.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Signed in February 1848 it finalised the Mexican war whereby Mexico ceded territory that is modern day Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. This was 525,000 square miles and 55% of Mexican territory. The American government also took on responsibility for the claims of American citizens (mostly Texans) against Mexico and America had to pay Mexico $15million.

Wilmot Proviso

An unsuccessful Congressional proposal pushed forward by John Wilmot (Democrat from Pennsylvania) in 1846 (during the Mexican War) stating slavery should be barred that any territory. It passed the House, but was blocked in the Senate where the South held more representation. The very suggestion of it deeply angered many southerners who were fighting in far greater numbers in the Mexican War than northern Americans.

The Platform of the South

Also known as the Calhoun Doctrine, a position strongly endorsed by Calhoun and other southerners in angry response to the Wilmot Proviso which argued that southerners had the right to take their property anywhere in America, including the territories. Thus invoking the 4th amendment to the constitution.

Polk's Southern bias

The belief that emerged amongst northerners that Polk (a slave owner from Tennessee) was pursuing a pro-southern agenda i.e. in provoking and waging a costly war in Mexico whilst settling for land in the north through treaty instead (the Oregon Treaty with Great Britain).

Fugitive Slave Law 1793

An act of Congress which gave effect to the Fugitive Slave clause of the constitution which guaranteed that slave owners could employ agents or attorneys to seek out and 'recoup' their slave property from free states. It passed the House 48-7 in February 1793 with 14 abstaining.

Fugitive Slave Law 1850

A strengthening of the 1793 slave law which was one of the concessions of the North to the South as part of the 1850 Compromise. The tighter terms included: no jury trial for slaves, an increase in the penalty sum from $500 to £1000 if someone was found to be helping a slave, posses were allowed to enlist the help and support of any nearby citizens in capturing a slave (thus making the whole population culpable/complicit) judges were given $10 if they found in favour of the slave owner whereas only $5 if they found in favour of the 'slave' thus leading to calls that this was tantamount to bribery.

Personal Liberty Laws

Local state laws that many increasingly pro-abolitionist states passed to counter the Fugitive Slave Acts and to prohibit officials from seizing slaves. States with Personal Liberty laws included Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Vermont.

Vigilance committees

A group of private citizens formed to help protect slaves and prevent them being recaptured, they would spread the word about incoming posses of slave catchers etc and provided safe houses for slaves.

1850 Compromise

A Compromise struck in 1850 by key players such as Daniel Webster and Henry Clay to overcome the Congressional gridlock and sectional infighting that arose in 1848-9 due to Taylor's inadequate presidency and debates over jurisdiction of the territories won from the Mexican War. Cly's proposal failed to pass the House in July 1850, and compromise was only passed eventually by Stephen Douglas who broke the bill down into its component parts in order to coax enough moderates to support the measures. Terms included: a strengthened FSA, California to enter the Union as a free state, Utah and New Mexico to be organised as territories using popular sovereignty to determine their future status, the slave trade (but not slavery) was abolished in Washington D.C., the boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico was resolved and the federal government agreed to pay Texas's debt to New Mexico.

Abolitionist Literature

Literature (including slave narratives) that argued through biography or a plot line against slavery on moral principles

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe (the daughter of a minister from Ohio) first serialised in an abolitionist magazine in 1851. Published in 1852, it sold 300,000 copies in the United States in its first year, and 1 million in Great Britain. It attempted to show the realities of slavery and to emphasise the importance of Christian love. Queen Victoria is said to have wept when she read it, and Abraham Lincoln on meeting Beecher Stowe quipped that she was the 'little lady' who had started the Civil War. It certainly hardened northern attitudes regarding the legitimacy and morality of slavery and also spawned a wave of anti-Uncle Tom literature in the South.

Nativism

The policy of protecting native born or established immigrants' rights and interests against those of incoming immigrants. There was a wave of nativism in America in the 1840s - 1850s as immigration levels rose to approx 2.2million in the decade 1840-1850. Largely this immigration came from Ireland and also China (railroad workers). This led to the rise of anti-immigration parties such as the Know Nothings.

Know Nothings

Also known as the 'American Party' they were primarily anti-catholic, xenophobic, hostile to immigration. They believed that there was a 'Romanist' or 'papist' plot afoot to unseat the rights of native born white Protestants. Initially started as a secret society (hence the name Know Nothing as members would protest that they 'knew nothing') they succeeded in a number of local and Congressional elections in the 1840s, but profited in particular from the collapse of the Whig Party in the 1850s. However, as their numbers grew (to approximately 1 million) they struggled to keep different wings in the North and the South united over broader issues beyond immigration i.e. the Kansas-Nebraska Act and control of the territories.

North West Ordinance

a law passed by Congress in 1787 that specified how western lands would be governed it guaranteed that the land around the Great Lakes would be free of slavery and set a precedent for Congressional intervention in the territories.

3/5ths clause

the clause that stated that slaves counted as 3/5 of a person when speaking of state population for representation

Nat Turner's Rebellion

a slave rebellion led by Nat Turner that took place in Virginia in 1831

55

The number of whites killed in the Nat Turner Rebellion

William Lloyd Garrison

1805-1879. Prominent American abolitionist, journalist and social reformer. Editor of radical abolitionist newspaper "The Liberator", and one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

The Liberator (1831)

Abolitionist newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison

Wendell Phillips

Orator & associate of Garrison; influential abolitionist lecturer.