The wealthy get wealthier

Franchise

The right to vote in public elections.

Notables

Wealthy, powerful, and highly respected elites who dominated local and national politics.

Political Machine

A highly organized group of insiders that directs a political party.

Caucus

Meeting held by a political party to choose candidates, make policies, and enforce party discipline.

Demographic Transition

A theory that explains how a country’s population changes over time as it modernizes industrializes.

Republican Motherhood

Idea that American women had a special duty to raise their children to be good, patriotic citizens on the new republic.

American Colonization Society

Organization founded in 1816 to send free Black Americans and freed slaves to live in West Africa.

Missouri Compromise

Law passed by U.S. Congress to keep an equal balance of power between states where slavery was legal vs. where it wasn’t.

American System

Economic plan from the early 1800s designed to make the U.S. economically independent and united.

Unternal Improvements

Government funded public works such as roads and canals

Corrupt bargain

1824 U.S. presidential election where Andrew Jackson won the most popular and electoral votes, but lost the presidency due to a backroom political deal.

Tariff of Abomination

High federal tax on imported goods passed by the U.S. government to protect northern factories.

Spoils System

A political practice where a winning party rewards its loyal supporters with government jobs instead of choosing people based on their qualifications.

Nullification

Legal theory that individual U.S. states have the right to cancel or refuse to enforce federal laws they believe are unconstitutional

Second Bank of the United States

Federally authorized national bank operating in PA. from 1816-1836, to manage federal funds and stabilize the national economy