Era of Good Feelings, Jacksonian America, Manifest Destiny (1815-1848)

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key political events, judicial decisions, economic developments, technological innovations, and territorial expansions from the Era of Good Feelings, Jacksonian America, and Manifest Destiny (1815-1848).

Era of Good Feelings

A period of national pride and political unity following the War of 1812 under President James Monroe, marked by a single dominant political party and rising national spirit

American System (Henry Clay)

A federal economic plan designed to unite the nation's regions through protective tariffs, a national bank, and internal transport improvements like roads and canals

Tariff of 1816

A protective tax placed on foreign imports to increase the cost of European products and encourage Americans to buy domestic goods

Second Bank of the United States

A federally chartered national bank created in 1816 to establish a nationwide currency and facilitate interregional business growth

Erie Canal and National Road

Government-funded transportation routes built to connect eastern shipping centers with western farms, significantly lowering freight costs and speeding up migration

McCulloch vs. Maryland (1819)

A Supreme Court ruling stating that states could not tax federal institutions, thereby confirming implied constitutional powers and the supremacy of federal law

Gibbons vs. Ogden

A Supreme Court decision establishing that only the federal government, not individual states, holds the authority to regulate interstate commerce

Adams-Onis Treaty (1819)

An agreement in which Spain ceded Florida to the United States

Monroe Doctrine

A policy declaration warning European powers against future colonization or military interference in the independent nations of the Western Hemisphere

Missouri Compromise of 1820 (36' 30' line)

A political agreement that admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state while banning slavery in remaining northern territories above the 36' 30' parallel

"Corrupt Bargain" (Election of 1824)

The accusation made by Andrew Jackson's supporters that Henry Clay used his influence in the House of Representatives to secure John Quincy Adams the presidency in exchange for a Cabinet position

Democratic-Republican Party/Democratic Party

The political party formed around Andrew Jackson to represent common citizens, farmers, and working-class Americans against political elites

Spoils System

Jackson's practice of replacing former government employees with his own loyal supporters.

Tariff of Abomindations (1828)

A high import tax hated by Southern planters, who felt it enriched Northern manufacturing at the expense of Southern trade

Nullification Theory (John C. Calhoun)

The state-rights doctrine arguing that sovereign states held the legal authority to reject or declare void any federal law they deemed unconstitutional

Force Bill (1833)

A law passed by Congress allowing President Jackson to use the U.S. military against South Carolina to collect federal tariff duties if state officials resisted

Bank War and "Pet Banks"

President Jackson's aggressive campaign to dismantle the Second National Bank by vetoing its charter renewal and redistributing federal funds into loyal state-chartered banks

Whig Party

A political party formed in opposition to Andrew Jackson's expanding executive powers, favoring Henry Clay's American System and active federal involvement in the economy

Indian Removal Act of 1830

A law authorizing the federal government to negotiate treaties and forcibly relocate Southeastern Native American tribes to designated lands west of the Mississippi River

Worcester vs. Georgia (1832)

A Supreme Court decision recognizing the Cherokee Nation as a distinct political community protected from state control, though President Jackson refused to enforce the ruling

Trail of Tears

The forced 800-mile march of thousands of Cherokee to western territories, during which roughly a quarter of their population died from cold, hunger, and disease

Market Revolution

The mid-19th-century economic shift in which Americans transitioned from self-sufficient home manufacturing to purchasing and selling goods in a national market system

Capitalism and Entrepreneurs

An economic system based on private ownership of property, driven by risk-taking individuals who invest personal capital into businesses to earn profits

Industrial Revolution/Factory System

The transformation from handcrafted production to mechanized mass production using powered machinery inside dedicated industrial factories

Lowell Textile Mills

Early New England textile factories that mechanized all stages of cloth making under one roof, using a workforce primarily composed of young farm women

Cotton Gin (Eli Whitney)

An invention that quickly separated seeds from short-staple cotton, dramatically boosting crop yields and entrenching slave-based plantation agriculture in the South

Telegraph (Samuel F.B. Morse)

A communication device that transmitted coded electrical messages over copper wires, enabling instant long-distance communication across the nation

Steel Plow (John Deere)

A heavy-duty agricultural tool designed to cut cleanly through tough Midwestern prairie soil, reducing the animal power required to clear new farmland

Mechanical Reaper (Cyrus McCormick)

A horse-drawn farm implement that allowed a single farmer to harvest grain far faster than by hand, accelerating large-scale commercial farming in the West

Specialization/Cash Crops

An agricultural transition where farmers stopped growing everything needed for family survival to focus on raising one or two profitable crops for sale in regional or global markets

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century belief that the United States was divinely ordained to expand its territory across the North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean

Jacksonian Democracy

The political movement and shift in government perception during Andrew Jackson's presidency that championed the common citizen over established elites and expanded political participation for ordinary white males.

Gold Rush (Forty-Niners)

A mass migration of prospectors, known as forty-niners, who flocked to California in 1849 following the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in search of fortune.

Westward Trails (Santa Fe Trail/Oregon Trail)

Major overland routes originating in Independence, Missouri, that pioneers and merchants traveled in wagons to expand trade into the Southwest or settle fertile lands in the Pacific Northwest.

Texas Revolution

An 1835-1836 armed rebellion by Anglo settlers and Tejanos against the Mexican government after President Antonio López de Santa Anna revoked local powers and suspended the Mexican constitution.

Republic of Texas

The independent sovereign nation, also known as the "Lone Star Republic," formed in 1836 under President Sam Houston after Texas won its independence from Mexico.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The 1848 peace agreement ending the Mexican-American War in which Mexico established the Rio Grande as the Texas border and ceded vast southwestern lands to the United States for $15 million

Mexican Cession

The territory ceded (givenup) by Mexico to the United States under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, encompassing present-day California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.