Period 4 Content Vocabulary (1800-1848)

Revolution of 1800

The first peaceful transition of power from one political party to another when President John Adams was replaced by President Thomas Jefferson.

John Marshall

The fourth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. His decisions established the primacy of the judiciary and asserted that federal laws took precedence over state laws.

Aaron Burr

He served as the third Vice President of the United States after Congress broke the deadlock by declaring Thomas Jefferson the winner of the Presidential Election of 1800. He later murdered Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

Marbury v. Madison

A Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review in finding that parts of the Judiciary Act of 1789 were in conflict with the Constitution. For the first time, the Supreme Court assumed legal authority to overrule acts of other branches of the government.

Louisiana Purchase

The 1803 acquisition of French territory west of the Mississippi River that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. It nearly doubled the size of the United States and opened the way for future American expression west. It required President Jefferson to exercise powers not explicitly granted to him by the Constitution.

Lewis and Clark

Leaders of a scientific exploration of the trans-Mississippi West funded by Congress at the request of President Jefferson.

Embargo Act

An act of Congress that prohibited U.S. ships from traveling to foreign ports and effectively banned overseas trade in an attempt to deter Britain from halting U.S. ships at sea. The act caused grave hardships for Americans engaged in overseas commerce.

Battle of Tippecanoe

An attack on Shawnee Indians at Prophetstown in 1811 by American forces headed by William Henry Harrison, Indiana's territorial governor. The governor's troops traded heavy casualties with the confederacy's warriors and then destroyed the holy village.

Tecumseh

A Shawnee military leader. He attempted to unite the Native American tribes of the Northwest and the Southeast against the United States. He later fought for the British in the War of 1812 and was killed at the Battle of Thames.

Treaty of Ghent

The treaty signed on Christmas Eve 1814 that ended the War of 1812. It retained the prewar border of the United States.

Fletcher v. Peck

A Supreme Court case that concluded that the state of Georgia could not pass legislation invalidating a contract. This was the first time that the Supreme Court declared a state law to be unconstitutional and invalid.

Dartmouth College v. Woodward

A Supreme Court case that struck down a state law from New Hampshire as unconstitutional, arguing that a contract for a private corporation could not be altered by the state.

McCulloch v. Maryland

A Supreme Court case that asserted the dominance of national over state statutes. The court ruled that Congress had implied powers under the Necessary and Proper Clause of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution to create the Second Bank of the United States

Gibbons v. Ogden

A Supreme Court case that ruled that the New York monopoly of a steamboat company crossing the Hudson River to New Jersey was unconstitutional. Marshall established the federal government's broad control of interstate commerce.

War Hawks

A group of new young congressmen elected in 1810 from frontier states who were eager for war with Britain. Two prominent members were Henry Clay of Kentucky and John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.

John C. Calhoun

He was removed as Vice President of the United States due to his handling of the Eaton Affair. He was the leader of the Nullification movement in South Carolina and later went on the found the Whig Party. He was one of the most staunch defenders of the institution of slavery in the nation.

impressment

British practice of taking American sailors and forcing them into military service. One of the major causes of the War of 1812.

Nonintercourse Act

Following President Madison's repeal of the Embargo Act, this legislated provided that Americans could now trade with all nations except Britain and France.

Battle of Horseshoe Bend

March 1814 in present day Alabama, General Andrew Jackson defeated the Creek Indians and opened new land to white settlers.

Battle of New Orleans

January 8, 1815 a decisive military victory by Andrew Jackson over British forces. Even though the battle took place two weeks after the end of the War of 1812, Jackson was seen by many as a celebrated war hero as a result of the victory.

Rush-Bagot Agreement

An 1817 agreement between the United States and Britain that strictly limited the naval armaments of the Great Lakes and set the border between the U.S. and Canada.

Hartford Convention

A meeting of extreme Federalists in New England that discussed succeeding from the Union. The Treaty of Ghent and Jackson's victory at New Orleans led to the downfall of the Federalist Party as the members were labeled as unpatriotic.

implied powers

Powers not specifically mentioned in the constitution

Henry Clay

Nicknamed the "Great Compromiser" for his role in the Nullification Crisis, the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850, this Congressman from Kentucky unsuccessfully ran for President three separate times. He was a War Hawk in the lead up to the War of 1812. He conspired against Andrew Jackson in the Election of 1824 and was one of the founding members of the Whig Party.

American System

The economic system of national economic development advocated by Henry Clay and adopted by John Quincy Adams, with a national bank to manage the nation's financial system; protective tariffs to provide revenue and encourage industry; and a nationally funded network of roads, canals, and railroads.

Second Bank of the United States

National bank with multiple branches chartered in 1816 for twenty years. Intended to hip regulate the economy, the bank became a major issue in Andrew Jackson's reelection campaign in 1832.

Missouri Compromise

A series of political agreements devised by Speaker of the House Henry Clay. Maine entered the Union as a free state in 1820 and Missouri followed as a slave state in 1821, preserving a balance in the Senate between North and South and setting a precedent for future admission to the Union. Most importantly, this bargain set the northern boundary of slavery in the lands of the Louisiana Purchase at the southern boundary of Missouri, with the exception of that state.

James Monroe

He was the third President in the "Virginia Dynasty." He had served as Secretary of State under President James Madison. He was President during the "Era of Good Feeling."

Adams-Onis Treaty

An 1819 international agreement in which John Quincy Adams persuaded Spain to cede the Florida territory to the United States, In return, the American government accepted Spain's claim to Texas and agreed to a compromise on the western boundary for the state of Louisiana.

John Quincy Adams

While serving as Secretary of State for President James Monroe he established the policy known as the "Monroe Doctrine." He defeated Andrew Jackson in the Election of 1824.

Panic of 1819

First major economic crisis of the United States. Farmers and planters faced an abrupt 30 percent drop in world agricultural prices, and as farmers' income declined, they could not pay debts owed to stores and banks, many of which went bankrupt.

Monroe Doctrine

The 1823 declaration that the Western Hemisphere was closed to any further colonization or interference by European powers.

National Road

Also known as the Cumberland Road, a paved highway and major route to the west extending more than a thousand miles from Maryland to Illinois. It was begun in 1811 and completed in the 1850s using both federal and state money.

John Deere

The inventor of the steel plow

Cyrus McCormick

The inventor of the mechanical reaper.

Erie Canal

A 364-mile waterway connecting the Hudson River and the Great Lakes. It brought prosperity to the entire Great Lakes region, and its benefits prompted civic and business leaders to Philadelphia and Baltimore to propose waterways to link their cities to the Midwest.

Robert Fulton

The inventor of the steamboat.

Samuel Morse

The inventor of the telegraph.

Eli Whitney

The inventor of the cotton gin and interchangeable parts.

Samuel Slater

An immigrant who arrived from England in 1789, he built the first textile mill using British technology in Providence, Rhode Island.

Waltham-Lowell System

A system of labor using young women recruited from farm families to work in factories in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The women lived in company boardinghouses with strict rules and curfews and were often required to attend church.

Market Revolution

The dramatic increase between 1820 and 1850 in the exchange of goods and services in market transactions. It reflected the increased output of farms and factories, the entrepreneurial activities of traders and merchants, and the creation of a transportation network of roads, canals, and railroads.

Commonwealth v. Hunt

1842, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that "peaceful unions" had the right to negotiate labor contracts with employers.

Universal White Male Suffrage

A result of the removal of property qualifications for voting.

Spoils System

The practice of dispensing government jobs in return for party loyalty. This practice was heavily embraced by Jacksonians.

Indian Removal Act

An 1830 law signed by President Jackson which forced the the resettlement of the "five civilized tribes" of the southeast to the newly established Indian Territory in the present day Oklahoma.

Worcester v. Georgia

An 1832 Supreme Court ruling that the laws of Georgia had no force within Cherokee territory. President Jackson responded by saying "John Marshall has made his decision: Now let him enforce it."

Trail of Tears

Forced westward journey of Cherokees from their lands in Georgia to present-day Oklahoma in 1838. Nearly a quarter of the Cherokees died en route.

Andrew Jackson

This native of Tennessee was the military commander of U.S. troops in Battles of Horseshoe Bend and New Orleans during the War of 1812. He is the first President to win the popular vote and not win the White House. He was eventually elected President of the United States in 1828 where he drastically increased the power of the Presidency.

Corrupt Bargain

A term used by Andrew Jackson's supporters for the appointment by President John Quincy Adams of Henry Clay as his secretary of state, the traditional stepping-stone to the presidency. Clay had used his influence as Speaker of the House to elect Adams rather than Jackson in the election in 1824.

Tariff of Abominations

A tax on imports enacted in 1828 that raised duties significantly on raw materials, textiles, and iron goods. New York senator Van Buren hoped to win the support of farmers in New York, Ohio, and Kentucky with the tariff, but it enraged the South, which had no industries that needed tariff protection and resented the higher cost of imported goods.

Nullification

The constitutional argument advanced by John C. Calhoun that a state legislature or convention could void a law passed by Congress.

Webster-Hayne Debate

During the Nullification Crisis, this dramatic exchange of speeches between Senators from Massachusetts and South Carolina was a argument over whether or not states could ignore/nullify federal law.

Daniel Webster

A Senator from Massachusetts and co-founder of the Whig Party. He was a nationalist who argued against the theory of Nullification in a famous debate with Robert Hayne of South Carolina.

Nicholas Biddle

The President of the Second Bank of the United States.

Roger B. Taney

As acting Secretary of the Treasury under President Jackson, he removed all federal deposits from the 2nd National Bank. He was later appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by President Jackson.

William Henry Harrison

The Whig nominee and winner of the Presidential Election of 1840. He died of pneumonia less than a month after taking office.

Democratic Party

During our 2nd Party System these were the followers of President Andrew Jackson. They saw themselves as a continuation of the previous party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Whig Party

During our 2nd Party System these were the followers of Henry Clay. This party was formed in opposition to Andrew Jackson.

Specie Circular

An executive order in 1836 that required the Treasury Department to accept only gold and silver in payment for lands in the national domain.

Martin Van Buren

After serving as Secretary of State and then Vice President in the Jackson Administration, he was elected President of the United States. Unfortunately this Democrat's Presidency was tanked by the Panic of 1837.

Panic of 1837

A major economic crisis during the Presidency of Martin Van Buren. It was largely caused by the economic policies of the former President Andrew Jackson.

Utopias

Communities founded by reformers and transcendentalists to help realize their spiritual and moral potential and to escape from the competition of modern industrial society.

Shakers

One of the earliest religious communal movements in American history. They had about 6,000 members in various communities by the 1840s. They held property in common and kept women and men strictly separate (forbidding marriage and sexual relations.)

Oneida Community

A religious cooperative founded by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848. They were dedicated to an ideal of perfect social and economic equality, community members shared property and, later, marriage partners. Critics attacked the system of planned reproduction and communal child-rearing as a sinful experiment in "free love."

Antebellum

The period of time in the 19th century before the American Civil War.

Transcendentalism

A nineteenth-century intellectual movement that posited the importance of an ideal world of mystical knowledge and harmony beyond the immediate grasp of the senses. Leaders such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau called the for the critical examination of society and emphasized individuality, self-reliance, and nonconformity.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A New England essayist and philosopher. He was a leading voice of transcendentalism. He celebrated those who rejected tradition and practiced self-discipline and civic responsibility. He was one of the founders of the Brook Farm communal experiment. He wrote "The American Scholar" in 1837.

Henry David Thoreau

A follower of Ralph Waldo Emerson, this transcendentalist sought inspiration from the natural world. In 1854 he published "Walden." He advocated a thoroughgoing individuality, urging readers to avoid unthinking conformity to social norms and peacefully to resist unjust laws. He also published "Civil Disobedience" in 1849.

Walt Whitman

A transcendentalist poet inspired by Emerson. He wrote "In Leaves of Grass" in 1855. He believed the collective democracy assumed a sacred character.

Brooke Farm

A communal experiment founded by George Ripley in 1841 in Massachusetts. The goal of the transcendentalists that lived there was to achieve "a more natural union between intellectual and manual labor."

Hudson River School

An American artistic movement which expressed the Romantic Age's fascination with the natural world. Thomas Cole and Frederick Church emphasized the heroic beauty of American landscapes, especially in dramatic scenes in New York state and the western frontier wilderness.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Anti-Transcendentalist author of The Scarlet Letter.

Herman Melville

An intense critic of transcendentalism. This novelist wrote "Moby Dick" in 1851 which argued that the quest for spiritual meaning in nature brings death, not transcendence.

Second Great Awakening

Unprecedented religious revival that swept the nation between 1790 and 1850; it also proved to be a major impetus for the reform movements of the era.

Charles Grandison Finney

A young Presbyterian minister who conducted emotional revival meetings that stressed conversion rather than doctrine. He preached that God would welcome any sinner who submitted to the Holy Spirit. His ministry drew on and accelerated the Second Great Awakening.

Lyman Beecher

One of the leading New England Congregationalists of the 2nd Great Awakening. He rejected predestination and affirmed the capacity of all men and women to choose God.

Mormonism

Also known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, followers based their beliefs on a book of Scripture that traced a connection between American Indians and the lost tribes of Israel. Followers faced persecution which led to them to eventually fee the United States.

Joseph Smith

The founder of the Mormon Church in New York in 1830. He was murdered by an anti-Mormon mob in Nauvoo, Illinois.

Brigham Young

The second leader of the Mormon Church. He led the Mormon migration out of Illinois and founded New Zion (present-day Salt Lake City).

Benevolent Empire

A broad-ranging campaign of moral and institutional reforms inspired by evangelical Christian ideals and endorsed by upper-middle-class men and women in the 1820s and 1830s.

American Temperance Society

A society invigorated by evangelical Protestants in 1832 that set out to curb the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Dorothea Dix

A reformer and advocate for penitentiary reform and for better treatment of the mentally ill.

Thomas Gallaudet

A reformer who founded a school for the deaf.

Horace Mann

The leading advocate of the common public school movement. As the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, he worked for compulsory attendance for all children, a longer school year, and increased teacher preparation.

Franchise

the right to vote

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

A well educated daughter of a New York judge. She was an early abolitionist. Along with Lucretia Mott she organized the Seneca Falls Convention.

Susan B. Anthony

A Quaker and a temperance activists and abolitionist. She later joined with Elizabeth Cady Stanton to demand full female suffrage.

Seneca Falls Convention

The first women's rights convention in the United States. Held in New York in 1848, it resulted in the Declaration of Sentiments which called for giving women the right to vote.

Cult of Domesticity

The social customs that restricted women to caring for the household and children. The idealized view of woman as moral leaders in the home.

Declaration of Sentiments

A document produced at Seneca Falls, NY in 1848 that is considered the founding document of the women's suffrage movement. This document declared that "all men and women are created equal" and listed women's grievances against laws and customs that discriminated against them.

American Colonization Society

Founded in 1817, this organization established an African American settlement in Monrovia, Liberia as a place to transport people freed from slavery back to Africa.

Abolitionism

The social reform movement to end slavery immediately and without compensation that began in the United States in 1830s.

Frederick Douglass

The leading black abolitionist of the 19th century. A former slave and excellent public speaker who started the antislavery journal The North Star.

William Lloyd Garrison

A New England abolitionist. He called for the immediate and unconditional emancipation of slavery in the United States. He wrote an anti-slavery newspaper called "The Liberator" and founded the New England Anti-Slavery Society.

Underground Railroad

An informal network of whites and free blacks in the South that assisted fugitive slaves to reach freedom in the North.

Sojourner Truth

United States abolitionist and feminist who was freed from slavery and became a leading advocate of the abolition of slavery and for the rights of women.

David Walker

He was a black abolitionist who called for the immediate emancipation of slaves. He wrote the "Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World." It called for a bloody end to white supremacy. He believed that the only way to end slavery was for slaves to physically revolt.

Nat Turner

A slave preacher in Southampton County, Virginia.
In 1831 he led the only successful slave revolt in American History.

Denmark Vesey

1822, a free African American and leader of the AME Methodist Church in Charleston, SC. He led a plot to seize ships in the harbor and sail to freedom. He was executed along with his fellow conspirators before the plan was enacted.