AP US History Period 4 (1800-1848) Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering major political, economic, territorial, and social developments in U.S. History from 1800 to 1848 (Period 4).

Revolution of 1800

The peaceful transfer of presidential and legislative power from Federalist control to the Democratic-Republicans following Thomas Jefferson's election victory.

Louisiana Purchase

The 1803 treaty with France that acquired vast territory between the Mississippi River and Rocky Mountains for $15\text{ million}$, doubling the geographic size of the United States.

Marbury v. Madison

The landmark 1803 Supreme Court decision in which Chief Justice John Marshall established the doctrine of judicial review by declaring part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional.

Judicial Review

The power of the Supreme Court to evaluate actions of Congress, the president, or state governments and declare them unconstitutional.

Fletcher v. Peck

The 1810 Supreme Court case involving Georgia land fraud in which the Court declared a state law unconstitutional for the first time by holding that a state cannot invalidate a contract.

McCulloch v. Maryland

The 1819 Supreme Court case affirming that Congress possesses implied powers under the Constitution to create a national bank and that state laws cannot tax federal institutions.

Gibbons v. Ogden

The 1821 Supreme Court decision striking down a state-granted steamboat monopoly in New York, asserting broad federal power to regulate interstate commerce.

Era of Good Feelings

A period characterized by nationalism, optimism, and virtual single-party political dominance by Democratic-Republicans during James Monroe's presidency following the War of 1812.

Tariff of 1816

The first protective tariff in U.S. history, enacted by Congress to defend emerging domestic manufacturers against cheap post-war British imports.

American System

Henry Clay's economic platform consisting of protective tariffs, a national bank, and federally funded internal improvements to unite regional economies.

Panic of 1819

The first major financial depression under the Constitution, caused by credit tightening by the Second Bank of the United States, leading to widespread farm foreclosures and bank failures.

Tallmadge Amendment

A defeated congressional proposal calling for the prohibition of further slave introduction into Missouri and the emancipation of slaves' children at age $25$.

Missouri Compromise

An 1820 legislative agreement admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, while prohibiting slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of latitude $36^\circ 30'$.

Embargo Act (1807)

Jefferson's economic policy prohibiting U.S. merchant ships from sailing to foreign ports, which failed to stop British/French harassment and devastated the American shipping economy.

U.S. Foreign Trade (1805–1817)

The historical pattern of economic trade fluctuation showing steep declines in imports and exports caused by the Embargo Act of 1807 and the War of 1812.

Nonintercourse Act of 1809

An 1809 trade measure replacing the Embargo Act that reopened American commerce with all foreign nations except Britain and France.

War Hawks

A faction of young Democratic-Republican congressmen from southern and western frontier states, led by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, who pressed for war against Great Britain in 1812.

Vote on Declaring War in 1812

The congressional vote showing strong regional division, with South and West representatives favoring war and Northeast commercial representatives opposing it.

Treaty of Ghent (1814)

The peace agreement ending the War of 1812 on Christmas Eve 1814 that restored prewar territorial boundaries without addressing impressment or maritime rights.

Hartford Convention

An 1814 meeting of New England Federalists opposing the War of 1812 where radical calls for secession were rejected in favor of proposed constitutional amendments to restrict federal power.

Rush-Bagot Agreement (1817)

A U.S.-British disarmament pact strictly limiting naval armaments on the Great Lakes and establishing a precedent for an unfortified border between the United States and Canada.

Florida Purchase Treaty (1819)

An agreement, also known as the Adams-Onís Treaty, where Spain ceded Florida and its Oregon claims to the U.S. in exchange for $5\text{ million}$ in assumed claims and U.S. relinquishment of claims to Texas.

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

A foreign policy statement warning European powers against future colonization or political interference in the independent nations of the Western Hemisphere.

Market Revolution

The transformation of the U.S. economy from local, subsistence agriculture to a commercial, industrial system driven by mass production, technological innovations, and improved transportation.

Canal Building (1820–1840)

A era of major infrastructure expansion led heavily by the Northeast to construct artificial waterways linking western agricultural production with eastern urban markets.

Interchangeable Parts

Eli Whitney's system of mass-producing identical components to manufacture goods like rifles efficiently, forming the basis for northern industrial mass production.

Lowell System

A textile factory manufacturing model in Massachusetts that recruited young unmarried farm women to work in cotton mills and housed them in supervised company dormitories.

U.S. Manufacturing by Region (1860)

Census data showing the extreme industrial concentration in the North Atlantic region compared to the Old Northwest, South, and West prior to the Civil War.

Cult of Domesticity

A 19th-century middle-class ideal that viewed women as moral leaders in the home and guardians of household and family life separate from men's work sphere.

Commonwealth v. Hunt

An 1842 Massachusetts Supreme Court decision ruling that peaceful labor unions had a legal right to organize and negotiate employment contracts.

Universal White Male Suffrage

The removal of property ownership and religious qualifications for voting, allowing virtually all adult White males to cast ballots and hold public office.

Spoils System

The practice of rewarding party loyalists and campaign workers with federal government positions upon winning an election, championed by Andrew Jackson.

Tariff of Abominations

The 1828 high protective tariff law that satisfied northern manufacturers but provoked intense outrage among southern planters who claimed it unfairly favored northern industry.

Nullification Crisis

A political confrontation sparked by South Carolina's ordinance declaring the federal tariffs of 1828 and 1832 void within state borders, which was met by Andrew Jackson's Force Bill.

Indian Removal Act (1830)

Federal legislation signed by Andrew Jackson mandating the forced relocation of eastern American Indian tribes to designated lands west of the Mississippi River.

Worcester v. Georgia

An 1832 Supreme Court ruling holding that Georgia state laws had no force within sovereign Cherokee territory, a decision President Jackson refused to enforce.

Trail of Tears

The forced 1838 military relocation of 15,000 Cherokees from Georgia to western territories, during which approximately 4,000 Cherokees died from hardship.

Transcendentalism

A New England philosophical and literary movement emphasizing intuition, individual self-reliance, rejection of materialism, and spiritual communion with nature.

Second Great Awakening

A widespread movement of Protestant religious revivals in the early 19th century that promoted personal salvation through faith and hard work, fueling numerous social reform movements.

Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

The first national women's rights convention in U.S. history, held in New York, which drafted the Declaration of Sentiments calling for equal civil and voting rights for women.

The Liberator

An influential abolitionist newspaper founded in 1831 by William Lloyd Garrison advocating immediate emancipation without financial compensation to slaveowners.

Nat Turner's Rebellion

An 1831 violent slave uprising in Southampton County, Virginia, led by Nat Turner, resulting in the deaths of over 50 White people and subsequent harsh reprisals and tightened slave codes.