AP United States History - Unit 4

Market Revolution

The shift toward a national market economy, with more factory production, wage labor, and trade between regions.

Samuel Slater

An English-born mechanic who brought textile-mill technology to the United States and helped establish early American factories.

Cotton Gin / Eli Whitney

Whitney's 1793 invention quickly separated seeds from cotton fiber, making cotton more profitable and increasing demand for enslaved labor.

Industrial Revolution

The transition from hand production and small workshops to machine production and factories.

Lowell System

A textile-factory system in Lowell, Massachusetts, that employed young, often unmarried women in company-run mills and boardinghouses.

Panic of 1819

The first major U.S. economic depression, marked by bank failures, unemployment, falling prices, and foreclosures.

Internal improvements

Public projects such as roads, canals, and bridges intended to improve transportation and economic connections.

Erie Canal

A canal completed in 1825 linking the Great Lakes to the Hudson River, lowering shipping costs and boosting New York City.

Robert Fulton

Inventor and entrepreneur associated with the commercially successful steamboat Clermont, which demonstrated the value of steam-powered river travel.

National Road

A federally funded road that helped connect the eastern states with the trans-Appalachian West.

Era of Good Feelings

The period after the War of 1812 associated with one-party dominance and nationalism, despite growing regional disputes.

Corrupt Bargain

The accusation that Henry Clay helped John Quincy Adams win the 1824 presidential election in exchange for becoming secretary of state; the alleged deal is disputed.

American System

Henry Clay's economic program promoting a protective tariff, a national bank, and federally supported internal improvements.

Henry Clay

Kentucky politician known for the American System, the Whig Party, and efforts to compromise sectional disputes.

Whig Party

A political party formed in opposition to Andrew Jackson, criticizing executive power and generally supporting Congress, economic modernization, and a national bank.

Democratic Party

The party associated with Andrew Jackson that emphasized popular politics among white men, limited federal economic intervention, and opposition to the national bank.

Andrew Jackson

Seventh U.S. president; expanded presidential power, opposed the Second Bank, supported Indian removal, and became the central figure of Jacksonian Democracy.

Spoils System

The practice of awarding government jobs to political supporters after an election.

Indian Removal Act

An 1830 law authorizing the federal government to negotiate removal treaties that led to the forced relocation of Native nations from the Southeast.

Worcester v. Georgia

An 1832 Supreme Court decision affirming that Georgia could not impose its laws within Cherokee territory; the ruling was not effectively enforced by the federal government.

Trail of Tears

The forced removal of the Cherokee in 1838–1839 to Indian Territory; thousands died during the journey. Other Native nations also suffered forced removals.

Second Bank of the United States

A federally chartered national bank that regulated credit and currency; Andrew Jackson opposed it as favoring wealthy elites.

Bank War

Jackson's political struggle against the Second Bank, culminating in removal of federal deposits and the bank's eventual demise as a national institution.

Daniel Webster

Massachusetts senator and lawyer who defended the Union and federal authority, notably during the Nullification Crisis.

Pet Banks

State banks selected to receive federal deposits after Jackson removed them from the Second Bank.

John C. Calhoun

South Carolina politician who defended states' rights and became a leading advocate of nullification and Southern interests.

Tariff of Abominations

The nickname for the high 1828 tariff, which angered many Southerners who believed it raised costs and protected Northern manufacturers.

Nullification Crisis

The 1832–1833 confrontation over South Carolina's claim that it could nullify federal tariffs; Jackson opposed nullification and Congress passed a compromise tariff.

Second Great Awakening

A wave of Protestant religious revivals that encouraged personal conversion and inspired social reform movements.

Dorothea Dix

Reformer who campaigned for better treatment and public institutions for people with mental illness.

Temperance

A movement to reduce or prohibit alcohol consumption, often arguing that drinking harmed families and society.

Utopian Communities / Perfectionism

Experiments in creating ideal societies; perfectionists believed individuals and society could improve morally.

Mormons / Brigham Young

The Latter-day Saint movement was founded by Joseph Smith; Brigham Young later led many members west to Utah to escape persecution.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Writer and leading Transcendentalist who emphasized individual intuition, self-reliance, and connection with nature.

Henry David Thoreau

Transcendentalist writer who valued simple living and individual conscience; his works include Walden and an essay on civil disobedience.

Transcendentalism

An intellectual movement emphasizing intuition, individualism, nature, and spiritual truth beyond established institutions.

Horace Mann

Education reformer who promoted tax-supported public schools, teacher training, and improved school systems.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that U.S. expansion across North America was justified or inevitable; it often ignored the rights of Native peoples and Mexicans.

John L. O'Sullivan

Editor who popularized the phrase 'Manifest Destiny' in the 1840s.

Alamo

A mission-fort in San Antonio where Mexican forces defeated Texan defenders in 1836; it became a rallying symbol for Texas independence.

Martin Van Buren

Jackson's ally and successor as president; his administration faced the Panic of 1837 and a severe economic depression.

Panic of 1837

A financial crisis followed by a severe depression, with bank failures, unemployment, and business closures during Van Buren's presidency.

John Tyler

Vice president who became president after William Henry Harrison died in 1841; he often clashed with Whigs over economic policy.

James K. Polk

Expansionist president who oversaw Texas annexation, the Oregon boundary settlement, and the Mexican-American War.

Oregon Trail

Overland route used by migrants traveling west to Oregon and other destinations.

'54-40 or Fight!'

Expansionist slogan demanding the Oregon Country boundary reach latitude 54°40′; the U.S. ultimately settled the boundary at the 49th parallel.

Texas War for Independence

The 1835–1836 revolt in which Texas settlers and Tejanos fought Mexico; Texas became an independent republic in 1836.

Mexican-American War

The 1846–1848 war between the United States and Mexico, driven by territorial disputes and U.S. expansionism.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The 1848 treaty ending the Mexican-American War; Mexico ceded a vast area of land to the United States.

Mexican Cession

The large territory Mexico ceded to the United States in 1848, including present-day California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of several other states.

Gadsden Purchase

The 1853 U.S. purchase of land from Mexico in what is now southern Arizona and New Mexico; it falls just beyond the unit's main period.

California Gold Rush

The migration boom that began after gold was discovered in California in 1848, rapidly increasing settlement and population.

49ers

People who traveled to California in 1849 seeking gold.

Know-Nothing Party

A nativist political party that opposed immigration and Catholic influence, gaining prominence in the 1850s.

Frederick Douglass

Formerly enslaved abolitionist, writer, and speaker who argued forcefully against slavery and for equal rights.

Underground Railroad

A loose network of people, routes, and safe houses that helped enslaved people escape to freedom.

Harriet Tubman

A formerly enslaved woman who repeatedly returned to the South to guide enslaved people to freedom through the Underground Railroad.

William Lloyd Garrison

A radical abolitionist editor who published The Liberator and demanded immediate emancipation.

Cult of Domesticity

A cultural ideal that associated middle-class women's virtue with piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness in the home.

Declaration of Sentiments

The 1848 Seneca Falls document modeled on the Declaration of Independence that listed injustices against women and demanded equal rights, including suffrage.

Seneca Falls Convention

The 1848 women's rights convention in New York, widely regarded as a landmark of the organized women's rights movement.

Grimké Sisters

Angelina and Sarah Grimké, Southern-born sisters who became abolitionists and advocates for women's rights.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Women's rights leader who helped organize the Seneca Falls Convention and drafted the Declaration of Sentiments.

Susan B. Anthony

Women's rights and suffrage activist who worked for women's voting rights and broader equality.

Sectionalism

Loyalty to a region and its interests over the interests of the nation as a whole.

Jacksonian Democracy

The political era associated with Jackson, expanded voting rights for most white men, mass political participation, and stronger presidential leadership.

Universal white male suffrage

The expansion of voting rights to nearly all adult white men, generally without property requirements; women and most Black Americans remained excluded.

Indian Territory

Land west of the Mississippi River designated by the U.S. government for Native peoples forcibly removed from their homelands.

Texas Annexation

The United States' admission of Texas as a state in 1845, which increased tensions with Mexico and disputes over slavery.

Treaty of Oregon / Oregon boundary settlement

The 1846 agreement with Britain that set most of the U.S.–British North American boundary at the 49th parallel in the Pacific Northwest.

Second Party System

The period of competition between Democrats and Whigs, especially from the 1820s through the 1850s.

Spoils System criticism

Critics argued that patronage rewarded loyalty over qualifications and encouraged corruption in government.

Abolitionism

The movement to end slavery; abolitionists used speeches, newspapers, petitions, escape networks, and organizing.

Women's rights movement

The movement seeking greater legal, political, educational, and social equality for women.

Reform movements

Organized efforts to improve society, including abolition, temperance, public education, prison and mental-health reform, and women's rights.

Market economy

An economy in which goods, labor, and services are increasingly produced for sale and shaped by supply, demand, and prices.

Wage labor

Work performed in exchange for wages rather than primarily for household production or ownership of a farm or business.

Sectional economies

Different regional economic patterns: the North increasingly emphasized commerce and manufacturing, the South plantation agriculture and slavery, and the West farming and settlement.

Federal authority

The power of the national government in relation to state governments, a central issue during the Nullification Crisis.

States' rights

The idea that states retain significant powers and authority; it was used in different contexts, including Southern opposition to federal tariffs and defense of slavery.

Reform movement: abolition

Efforts to end slavery and the slave trade and to secure freedom and rights for Black Americans.

Reform movement: education

Campaigns to expand public schooling and improve teacher training, curriculum, and access to education.

Reform movement: temperance

Efforts to reduce alcohol use or promote abstinence.

Reform movement: women's rights

Efforts to expand women's access to education, property rights, legal equality, and voting.

Reform movement: mental health

Efforts led by reformers such as Dorothea Dix to improve care and conditions for people with mental illness.

Reform movement: utopian communities

Communities formed to experiment with alternative social, economic, or religious ways of living.

Reform movement: Transcendentalism

A cultural and intellectual movement that emphasized self-reliance, intuition, and nature.

American System: protective tariff

A tax on imported goods intended partly to protect domestic manufacturers from foreign competition.

American System: national bank

A federally chartered bank intended to stabilize currency and credit and support the national economy.

American System: internal improvements

Roads, canals, and other transportation projects intended to connect markets and encourage economic growth.

Panic of 1837 causes and impact

A financial crisis linked to credit speculation, banking instability, and policy choices; it led to widespread business failures and unemployment.

Impact of the Market Revolution on women

Factory wage work created new opportunities for some women, while prevailing gender norms restricted their rights and expectations.

Impact of expansion on Native Americans

U.S. settlement and removal policies dispossessed Native nations of land and caused forced migration, cultural disruption, and death.

Impact of the Mexican-American War

The United States gained extensive western territory, intensifying national conflict over whether slavery would expand.

Impact of reform movements

Reformers challenged slavery and social problems and sought changes in education, alcohol use, women's rights, and treatment of people with mental illness.7