AmStud Second Quarter Test Review

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Supreme Court case that established judicial review, affirming the judiciary's role in determining the constitutionality of laws.

Federalists

Early political party (Hamilton/Adams) that favored a strong central government, a loose interpretation of the Constitution, and policies supporting commerce and manufacturing.

Democratic-Republicans

Early political party (Jefferson/Madison) that favored states' rights, a strict interpretation of the Constitution, and policies supporting an agrarian society.

Louisiana Purchase (1803)

Territory acquired by President Jefferson that doubled the size of the U.S. and required him to use a loose interpretation of the Constitution.

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

U.S. policy warning European powers to refrain from future colonization or interference in the Western Hemisphere.

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state; prohibited slavery in the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36°30' parallel.

Second Great Awakening

A religious revival movement that inspired Americans to work outside of government institutions to advance ideals, fueling major reform movements.

Temperance Movement

Reform movement seeking to moderate or ban the consumption of alcohol, often led by women.

Nativism

Anti-immigrant sentiment, driven by fear that new immigrants would take jobs; represented politically by the Know Nothing Party.

Manifest Destiny

The popular belief in the 1840s and 1850s that the U.S. was divinely ordained to expand its borders from coast to coast.

Mexican-American War

Conflict (1846-1848) resulting from U.S. westward expansion that led to the acquisition of the Mexican Cession territory, intensifying the slavery debate.

Emancipation Proclamation (1862)

Executive order issued by Lincoln that freed slaves only in the rebelling Confederate states, shifting the war's purpose to include the issue of slavery.

Anaconda Plan

The Union's strategic plan to defeat the Confederacy by blockading Southern ports and controlling the Mississippi River.

Union Advantages

Key factors contributing to Union victory: larger population, more factories, more extensive railroad network, and established government/military.

13th Amendment (1865)

Constitutional amendment that abolished slavery throughout the entire United States.

Freedman's Bureau

Federal agency established in March 1865 to aid newly-emancipated black freedmen and poor whites in the South during Reconstruction.

Black Codes

Laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War intended to restore pre-emancipation race relations, guaranteeing a stable labor supply and denying African Americans the right to rent land or vote.

Sharecropping

An exploitative agricultural system in the New South that replaced slavery, binding farmers to debt and ensuring a dependent labor supply for landowners.

Pacific Railroad Act (1862)

Federal law that provided subsidies and land grants to railroad companies, leading to the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad and rapid Western settlement.

Homestead Act (1862)

Federal law offering 160 acres of free land to settlers who would live on and improve it for five years, dramatically encouraging migration to the Great Plains.

Closing the Frontier

Declaration by the 1890 Census that a continuous line of settlement no longer existed, prompting discussions on American identity and expansion.

Indian Wars

A series of conflicts (e.g., Wounded Knee) between the U.S. Army and Native American tribes (1865-1890) over control of land, leading to Native displacement onto reservations.

Dawes Severalty Act (1887)

Law attempting to assimilate Native Americans by dissolving tribes and dividing communal land into individual family plots.

Chinese Immigrants

Key group who migrated to the West; instrumental in the California Gold Rush and building the Transcontinental Railroad.

Wyoming

Western territory that was the first to grant women the right to vote, reflecting the pioneering social reforms of the region.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws passed primarily in the South after Reconstruction that enforced racial segregation in public facilities, transportation, and schools.

Disenfranchisement

The use of policies like poll taxes and literacy tests by Southern states to strip African Americans of their voting rights after 1877.

Strict Interpretation

Belief that the Constitution should be followed word-for-word, limiting federal power to only expressed powers (e.g., used by Jefferson to oppose Hamilton's bank).

Loose Interpretation

Belief that the Constitution grants the federal government implied powers to carry out its expressed duties (e.g., used by Hamilton and later by Jefferson for the Louisiana Purchase).

Tariff

A tax on imported goods; a sectional issue opposed by Southerners (paying more for manufactured goods) but favored by Northerners (protecting industry).

Andrew Jackson

Seventh President; known for expanding executive power, promoting the "common man," and establishing the spoils system.

Spoils System

The practice of giving government jobs to political supporters and loyal party members, replacing previous officeholders.

Nullification Crisis

Sectional crisis during Jackson's presidency when South Carolina threatened to secede over high federal tariffs, asserting the right of states to nullify federal law.

Whig Party

Political party formed in the 1830s in opposition to the "tyranny" of President Andrew Jackson.

Transcendentalism

A philosophical and literary movement emphasizing intuition, individual self-reliance, and the spiritual connection to nature (e.g., Emerson, Thoreau).

Abolitionism

Reform movement dedicated to the immediate and complete end of slavery (e.g., William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator).

Cult of Domesticity

The prevailing 19th-century ideal that women's primary role was to maintain the home as a moral and spiritual sanctuary.

Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

The first major women's rights convention, which issued the Declaration of Sentiments calling for equal rights, including suffrage.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Key figure in the women's rights and suffrage movement, organized the Seneca Falls Convention with Lucretia Mott.

Utopian Communities

Various experimental communities (like Brook Farm or Oneida) established in the 19th century to reform society through shared living, labor, or unique social structures.

Wilmot Proviso

Failed 1846 proposal to prohibit slavery in all territory acquired from Mexico (The Mexican Cession).

Compromise of 1850

Agreement that admitted California as a free state, enacted a stronger Fugitive Slave Law, and applied popular sovereignty to the Utah and New Mexico territories.

Fugitive Slave Law (1850)

Part of the Compromise of 1850 that required federal officials to help capture and return runaway slaves, heavily resisted in the North.

Popular Sovereignty

The doctrine that the settlers of a given territory have the right to decide whether or not to allow slavery.

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Law that repealed the Missouri Compromise and applied popular sovereignty to the remaining Louisiana Purchase territory, leading to "Bleeding Kansas."

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

Supreme Court decision ruling that African Americans were not citizens and that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories.

Fort Sumter

Site of the first shots of the Civil War in April 1861, in Charleston, South Carolina.

Vicksburg

Major Union victory in 1863, securing control of the entire Mississippi River and splitting the Confederacy in two.

Gettysburg

Major Union victory in July 1863, marking the turning point of the war in the East, ending Confederate hopes of foreign recognition or a successful invasion of the North.

Copperheads

Northern Democrats who opposed the Civil War and advocated for an immediate peace settlement with the Confederacy.

Suspension of Habeas Corpus

Lincoln's controversial wartime action allowing the detention of individuals without being charged with a crime, used primarily to suppress dissent in border states.

14th Amendment (1868)

Defined citizenship for all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and guaranteed equal protection under the law.

15th Amendment (1870)

Guaranteed the right to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Radical Republicans

Congressional faction that advocated for harsh Reconstruction terms for the South, military occupation, and full political/civil rights for freedmen.

Tenure of Office Act (1867)

Law that led to the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson (though he was not removed from office).

Redeemers

Southern Democrats who regained political control in the South after 1877, committed to reversing Reconstruction policies and establishing the "New South" order.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

Southern vigilante group that used violence and intimidation to undermine Republican rule and Black political power during Reconstruction.

Comstock Lode

Major silver discovery in Nevada in 1859 that spurred massive migration of miners to the West.

Cattle Kingdom

The era of massive cattle ranching and long drives (like the Goodnight-Loving Trail) from Texas to railroad hubs in the North.

Barbed Wire

Invention that helped bring an end to the "Cattle Kingdom" by allowing farmers and ranchers to fence off open ranges and protect their property.

Wounded Knee

Site of the final major conflict of the Indian Wars in 1890, where the U.S. Army massacred approximately 300 Sioux men, women, and children.

Reservation System

Government policy that confined Native American tribes to designated areas of federal land, often in remote, undesirable locations.

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

Federal law that prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years, marking the first major restriction on immigration based on nationality/race.

Poll Tax

A payment required for voting, used in the South after Reconstruction to disenfranchise African Americans and poor whites.

Literacy Test

A requirement that voters prove they could read and write, used unfairly in the South to disqualify African American voters.

"New South"

The term used to describe the South's push for economic transition toward industrialization and modernizing their economy after the Civil War (often masked deep racial and economic continuities).

John Marshall

Longest-serving Supreme Court Chief Justice (1801-1835): decisions (like Marbury v. Madison) established the supremacy of federal law and strengthened the judicial branch.

Antietam

Major Civil War battle in Maryland (1862); the bloodiest single day in U.S. history. Union victory led to Lincoln issuing the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

Frederick Jackson Turner

Historian who argued in his Frontier Thesis (1893) that the Western frontier was crucial in shaping American democracy and national character.

Adams-Onís Treaty (1819)

Treaty where the U.S. acquired Florida from Spain and defined the boundary between the U.S. and New Spain.

Internal Improvements

Federal spending on roads, canals, and other infrastructure, an issue that divided Congress based on regional interests (often opposed by strict constructionists).

South Carolina Exposition and Protest

Pamphlet written secretly by John C. Calhoun arguing that states had the right to nullify the federal Tariff of Abominations.

Indian Removal Act (1830)

Law signed by Jackson forcing the relocation of Native American tribes (especially the Cherokee, Creek, and others) from their ancestral lands east of the Mississippi River.

Trail of Tears

The forced journey of the Cherokee and other tribes out of the Southeast in the 1830s, resulting in thousands of deaths due to disease and starvation.

Dorothea Dix

Reformer who advocated for better treatment of the mentally ill and worked to establish state-supported hospitals and asylums.

Horace Mann

The leading proponent of the Common School movement, advocating for tax-supported, compulsory public education for all children.

Underground Railroad

A network of abolitionists who helped thousands of escaped slaves travel to free states or Canada.

Abolitionist Martyrs

Refers to figures like Elijah P. Lovejoy (killed by a mob for his anti-slavery newspaper) and John Brown (executed after the Harpers Ferry raid), used to galvanize the movement.

Free Soil Party

Political party formed in 1848 dedicated to opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories.

Bleeding Kansas

Period of violent clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in the Kansas Territory following the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Crittenden Compromise (1860)

A last-ditch effort to prevent the Civil War by proposing a constitutional amendment to protect slavery where it existed and restore the Missouri Compromise line.

Gettysburg Address

Lincoln's famous 1863 speech redefining the purpose of the Civil War as a struggle to uphold the principles of liberty and equality expressed in the Declaration of Independence.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

A legal order requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or court; Lincoln suspended this during the Civil War.

Greenbacks

Paper money issued by the U.S. government during the Civil War to finance the conflict, not backed by gold or silver.

Congressional Reconstruction

The plan enacted by the Radical Republicans (1867-1877) that divided the South into five military districts and required states to ratify the 14th Amendment before rejoining the Union.

Carpetbaggers

Derogatory term used by Southerners for Northerners who moved to the South during Reconstruction, often to exploit the new political and economic opportunities.

Scalawags

Derogatory term used by Southerners for Southern whites who supported the Republican party and Reconstruction policies.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Federal law guaranteeing African Americans equal treatment in public accommodations, later ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1883.

Compromise of 1877

Informal deal that settled the disputed 1876 presidential election; Democrats accepted Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in exchange for the removal of federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction.

Long Drive

The process of cowboys herding cattle from Texas ranches north to railroad cow towns like Abilene, Kansas, before the proliferation of barbed wire.

WASP

Acronym for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, representing the dominant ethnic and religious group in American culture during this period.

Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)

Major Native American victory led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse over Colonel Custer's 7th Cavalry, though it was a temporary setback to U.S. forces.

Ghost Dance

A religious movement among Native Americans in the late 1880s that promised the return of the buffalo and the disappearance of white settlers, ultimately leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre