Ch 12 APUSH Vocab

Hudson River School

a group of painters- including Frederic Church, Thomas Cole, Thomas Doughty, and Asher Durand -who painter scapes of the unsettled Hudson Valley to emphasize America’s “wild nature” that set it apart from Europe

Sir Walter Scott

A British writer who was the most popular author for Americans in the 1820s, known for his historical novels set in 18th-century England and Scotland

James Fenimore Cooper

Known as the first great American novelist, he was known for his contemporary works that featured adventure and suspense and shared the challenges and dangers of westward expansion; He wrote the “Leatherstocking Tales,” a series with novels like The Last of the Mohicans (1826) and The Deerslayer (1841)

Walt Whitman

An American poet who celebrated democracy, liberation of the individual, and his own yearning for emotion fulfillment; He published his first work, Leaves of Grass in 1855

Edgar Allen Poe

A writer from the south known for the sad and macabre, with works like “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” showing the pain and horror of individualism

Herman Melville

Known as the greatest American novelist of his era, this man’s youth as a sailor inspired his works set at sea, including Moby Dick. His work reflected themes of searching for personal fulfillment and ambition leading to self-destruction.

Transcendentalists

A movement of New England writers and philosophers, driven by a theory of the individual and distinction between “reason” and “understanding,” and believing every individual should strive to “transcend” the limits of the intellect.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A former Unitarian pastor who led the transcendental movement, known for his insightful lectures and significant body of poetry and essays (“Nature,” “Self-Reliance,” “The American Scholar”)

Henry David Thoreau

A Transcendentalist known for Walden (1854) and his push for repudiating repressive forces in society. He was adamantly against slavery and even went to jail for his civil disobedience on the matter.

Resistance to Civil Government

An 1849 essay by Henry David Thoreau justifying his civil disobedience by claiming that the individual’s personal morality had the first claim to their actions, and a government denying that morality had no legitimacy

Brook Farm

An experimental living community established by transcendentalist George Ripley, with the mission of full opportunity for self realization; Residents shared equally in labor so that they could share equally in leisure

Nathaniel Hawthorne

An original resident of Brook Farm who based several works (The Blithedale Romance (1852)) on his negative experience there, and also wrote works like The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables on the price individuals pay for cutting themselves off from society

Charles Fourier

A French philosopher whose ideas of socialist communities received wide attention in America and inspired villages like Brook Farm

Robert Owen

This man founded the New Harmony social experiment in Indiana, with the goal of establishing social equality and education

Oneida perfectionists

residents of the Oneida community (1848) who rejected traditional gender roles and marriage, and practiced what they called “free love”

Shakers

Founded by Ann Lee in the 1770s, this group practiced complete celibacy, believed in a genderless god, and was a mainly matriarchal society; their name came from the dance they would perform to rid themselves of sin

Joseph Smith

This man wrote the book of Mormon, a religious text he claimed was a translation of a set of golden tablets he found in New York. It told the story of a lost tribe of Israel that somehow found its way to America, and were visited by Jesus

Brigham Young

Successor to Joseph Smith who led the Mormons to Salt Lake City after Smith’s death, where a permanent settlement was created

Charles Grandison Finney

An evangelistic Presbyterian preacher who argued against the idea of predestination and believed each person had the capability to achieve salvation through individual effort

Temperance

a movement that called for moderation or complete abstinence from alcohol, largely led by women

Washington Temperance Society

Six recovered alcoholics from Baltimore formed this group, drawing large crowds made up of mostly workers and advocating for abstinence

American Society for the Promotion of Temperance

a coordinating agency among various Temperance groups, they used revivalism techniques to preach sobriety

Phrenology

A “science” that originated in Germany and claimed one’s skull shape could indicate their character and intelligence

Oliver Wendell Holmes

A Boston essayist and physician who discovered contagion, or the transmission of illness from one person to another

Horace Mann

first Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education who lengthened the academic year, doubled teacher salaries, and enriched curriculum

Benevolent Empire

The time period with an influx of social welfare programs, including asylums, public education, abolition, etc

Asylum Movement

A movement that created institutions for social deviants, including criminals, debtors, the mentally ill, and paupers

Seneca Falls

A convention in New York where women such as Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B Anthony came together to discuss the question of women’s rights

Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions

A document drafted at Seneca Falls which argued that women were just as equal as men, demanded the right to vote and rejected the concept of separate spheres

Bloomer costume

A style of dress combining a short skirt with full length pantalettes worn by feminists

American Colonization Society

A group of white Virginians who worked to challenge slavery by proposing gradual manumission and compensation for masters

William Lloyd Garrison

A Massachusetts white man who wished to end slavery by allowing African Americans all the rights of American citizenship; he also founded the Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper

David Walker

A free Black man from Boston who published the 1829 pamphlet: Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizens, which spread the violent rhetoric that slaves should “kill or be killed”

Frederick Douglass

Born a slave in Maryland, this man escaped to Massachusetts and became the most renowned abolitionist and public speaker of his time. He was an activist for full social and economic freedom for black Americans, and founded the North Star newspaper

Amistad Case

Case where, in 1839, Africans destined for slavery in Cuba seized their ship and tried to return to Africa, but were intercepted by the US Navy and held as pirates. Abolitionist groups protested this and finally in 1841, the slaves were set free and went back to Africa

Prigg vs Pennsylvania

An 1842 case that ruled states need not enforce the 1793 law requiring the return of fugitive slaves to their owners

Liberty Party

An abolitionist political party who offered James G Birney as their presidential candidate, and stood for “free soil” or keeping slaves out of the territories

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

An 1852 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe which centered on a fictional black man and the struggles he faced in slavery