APUSH UNIT III (PERIOD 4 1800-1848) VOCABULARY

Abolitionism

The antebellum reform movement advocating for the complete, immediate, and uncompensated end of chattel slavery in the United States.

American Colonization Society

An organization founded in 1816 advocating for the voluntary manumission of enslaved people and their relocation and settlement to West Africa, leading to the establishment of Liberia.

American System

An economic plan championed by Henry Clay that promoted national economic growth through high protective tariffs, a national bank, and federally funded internal improvements like roads and canals.

American Temperance Movement

A 19th-century reform campaign initiated in 1826 under Lyman Beecher and evangelical leaders demanding total abstinence from alcohol to reduce societal vice and moral decay.

Andrew Jackson

Seventh U.S. president and hero of the War of 1812; championed the 'common man,' dismantled the Second Bank of the United States, enforced Indian Removal, and asserted federal supremacy during the Nullification Crisis.

Bank War

The fierce political conflict between Andrew Jackson and Nicholas Biddle regarding the rechartering of the Second Bank of the United States, culminating in Jackson's veto and withdrawal of federal deposits.

Democratic Party (Jacksonian Era)

A political faction rooted in Jeffersonian ideals, backed primarily by small farmers, urban workers, and Southerners, opposing the national bank and federal funding for internal improvements.

Dorothea Dix

Antebellum reformer whose investigative reports and lobbying of state legislatures transformed the treatment of the mentally ill and established the first public mental asylums.

Eli Whitney

American inventor whose invention of the cotton gin revolutionized Southern agriculture and whose development of interchangeable parts transformed Northern manufacturing.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Pioneering feminist and reformer who co-organized the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention and drafted the 'Declaration of Sentiments,' arguing for women's suffrage and equal rights.

Embargo Act of 1807

A law passed under Thomas Jefferson that banned all American ships from foreign trade to compel Britain and France to respect maritime neutrality, devastating the New England economy.

Erie Canal

A 363-mile waterway completed in 1825 linking the Great Lakes with the Hudson River, dramatically reducing freight costs and integrating the Midwest with the Atlantic seaboard.

Hartford Convention

An 1814 secret meeting of New England Federalists to protest the War of 1812 and propose constitutional reforms; its timing coincided with the war's end, leading to the party's demise.

Henry Clay

Kentucky statesman known as 'The Great Compromiser'; advocated for the American System, served as Speaker of the House, and brokered both the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850.

Impressment

The British naval practice of forcibly enlisting American merchant sailors into military service, serving as a primary catalyst for the War of 1812.

Indian Removal Act

An 1830 federal statute authorizing the relocation of southeastern Native American tribes to designated lands west of the Mississippi River, resulting in the Trail of Tears.

Louisiana Purchase

The 1803 acquisition of vast western territory from France for approximately $15\text{ million}$, effectively doubling the geographic territory of the United States.

Macon's Bill No. 2

An 1810 law that reopened American trade with all nations, promising non-importation against either Britain or France if the other agreed to formally respect neutral shipping rights.

Marbury v. Madison

The 1803 landmark Supreme Court decision by Chief Justice John Marshall that established the doctrine of judicial review, enabling courts to declare federal laws unconstitutional.

Market Revolution

The dramatic early-19th-century economic shift from local subsistence production to a nationwide commercial economy fueled by advances in transportation, factories, and banking.

Brigham Young

Religious leader who succeeded Joseph Smith as head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, leading the Mormon migration westward to establish Salt Lake City.

Millerites

Followers of preacher William Miller who believed and proclaimed that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ would transpire between 1843 and 1844, later known for the 'Great Disappointment.'

Missouri Compromise

An 1820 congressional accord admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, while prohibiting slavery in remaining Louisiana Purchase lands north of latitude $36^\circ 30'$.

Monroe Doctrine

An 1823 declaration warning European powers against further colonization or intervention in the Western Hemisphere, pledging that the United States would not interfere in European conflicts.

Nat Turner's Rebellion

An 1831 armed revolt of enslaved people in Southampton County, Virginia that killed approximately 60 white residents, leading Southern legislatures to enforce stricter slave codes.

Non-Intercourse Act

An 1809 trade law replacing the Embargo Act that resumed American commerce with all foreign nations except Great Britain and France until either stopped violating neutral shipping.

Ohio and Mississippi Rivers

Key inland river networks that served as primary avenues of western trade and commercial distribution following the introduction of the steamboat.

Panic of 1819

The first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States, brought on by rampant western land speculation, a slump in cotton prices, and credit deflation by the Second BUS.

Panic of 1837

A severe economic depression prompted by unregulated state banking, land speculation, the demise of the national bank, and the enforcement of the Specie Circular.

Prosser's Rebellion

A planned 1800 armed insurrection by an enslaved blacksmith in Richmond, Virginia that was betrayed and suppressed prior to execution, prompting stricter legal constraints on Black Americans.

Putting-out System

A proto-industrial production method where merchant-capitalists distributed raw components to rural households to assemble into finished manufactured items before the rise of centralized factories.

Revolution of 1800

The presidential election in which Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams, marking the young nation's first peaceful transition of executive power from one political party to another.

Second Great Awakening

A widespread Protestant religious revival movement beginning around 1800 that emphasized emotional conversion, personal salvation, and moral agency, giving rise to numerous antebellum reform movements.

Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

The first organized gathering specifically dedicated to women's rights in the United States, resulting in the adoption of the Declaration of Sentiments.

Specie Circular

An 1836 executive directive by Andrew Jackson mandating that all purchases of public federal land be made strictly in gold or silver rather than paper currency.

Spoils System

The political practice institutionalized under Andrew Jackson of awarding federal government jobs and bureaucratic appointments to loyal party supporters and friends.

Tariff of Abominations

An 1828 protective tariff that placed steep duties on manufactured foreign goods to shield Northern industries, prompting outrage and nullification threats from South Carolina.

Transportation Revolution

The antebellum period of rapid technological and infrastructural development that connected regional economies via turnpikes, canals, steamboats, and early railroads.

Utopian Movements

Experimental 19th-century cooperative communities (such as the Shakers, Brook Farm, and Oneida) established to withdraw from mainstream industrial society and construct ideal moral orders.

Whig Party

A political faction formed in opposition to Andrew Jackson that favored strong congressional power, the American System, protective tariffs, and the Second Bank of the United States.

William Lloyd Garrison

Prominent radical abolitionist and editor of The Liberator, who rejected gradualism and advocated for the immediate, unconditional eradication of slavery.