US History Review

Vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes.

Shays' Rebellion

An armed protest by poor Massachusetts farmers in 1786.

Shays' Rebellion

Farmers were losing their farms because of high taxes and debt.

Shays' Rebellion

Proved the Articles of Confederation were too weak to handle a crisis. It led to the Constitution.

Republicanism

The belief that citizens should elect representatives to govern them.

Public Virtue

The idea that people should sacrifice their own interests for the country's good.

Federalists (during Ratification)

People who SUPPORTED ratifying the new, stronger Constitution.

Anti-Federalists

People who OPPOSED the new Constitution, fearing a strong government.

The Anti-Federalists' Biggest Demand

A Bill of Rights to be added to the Constitution.

The Great Compromise

Solved the argument between big and small states about representation.

The Great Compromise (The Solution)

Created a two-house Congress: The Senate (2 members per state) and the House (members based on population).

Three-Fifths (3/5ths) Compromise

Decided how to count enslaved people for representation and taxes.

Three-Fifths (3/5ths) Compromise (The Rule)

Every 5 enslaved people would count as 3 people for a state's population.

The Constitution

The document that replaced the Articles and created a stronger federal government.

Federalism

A system where power is SHARED between the national government and state governments.

Checks and Balances

A system that lets each branch of government limit the power of the other branches.

Example of Checks and Balances

A President can VETO a law passed by Congress.

The Bill of Rights

The First 10 Amendments to the Constitution.

Purpose of the Bill of Rights

To guarantee and protect the individual freedoms of citizens.

Alexander Hamilton's Main Vision

A strong central government and a nation based on manufacturing and trade.

Thomas Jefferson's Main Vision

Strong state governments and a nation based on farming (agrarian).

Hamilton's Plan: Debt Assumption

The national government would take over all the war debt from the states.

Hamilton's Plan: National Bank

Create a Bank of the United States to manage the nation's money.

Hamilton's Plan: Tariffs

Put taxes on imported goods to help American factories grow.

Loose Construction

Hamilton's idea: The government CAN do things not listed in the Constitution if they are "necessary and proper."

Strict Construction

Jefferson's idea: The government can ONLY do what the Constitution specifically says it can do.

Federalist Party (1790s)

Led by Hamilton. Favored manufacturing and a strong national government.

Democratic-Republican Party (1790s)

Led by Jefferson. Favored farming and states' rights.

"Revolution of 1800"

The election where Jefferson won, marking the first PEACEFUL switch of power between political parties.

Market Revolution

The switch from a local farm economy to a national market economy.

Second Great Awakening

A huge wave of religious revivals in the early 1800s.

Main Impact of the Second Great Awakening

It inspired major social reform movements.

King Cotton

A nickname for the Southern economy because it was completely dependent on cotton.

Cotton Gin

A machine invented by Eli Whitney that quickly cleaned cotton seeds.

Impact of the Cotton Gin

Made cotton extremely profitable and greatly INCREASED the demand for enslaved labor.

Abolitionist

A person who wanted to end slavery.

Immediatism

The radical idea to end slavery IMMEDIATELY, with no payment to slaveholders.

Cult of Domesticity

The popular 19th-century idea that a woman's place was in the home.

Separate Spheres

The idea that men belonged in the "public sphere" (work, politics) and women in the "private sphere" (home).

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

A law under the Articles that set up the process for new states and BANNED slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Virginia Plan

The "Large State Plan." Wanted representation in Congress based on POPULATION.

New Jersey Plan

The "Small State Plan." Wanted representation in Congress to be EQUAL for every state.

The Federalist Papers

A series of essays written to persuade people to ratify the Constitution.

Authors of The Federalist Papers

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.

Whiskey Rebellion

A 1794 farmer uprising in Pennsylvania against a federal tax on whiskey.

Outcome of the Whiskey Rebellion

President Washington led an army to stop it, proving the new government was STRONG.

Alien Acts

Laws passed by Federalists to make it harder for immigrants to become citizens.

Sedition Act

A law passed by Federalists that made it a CRIME to criticize the government.

Marbury v. Madison

The 1803 Supreme Court case that established JUDICIAL REVIEW.

Judicial Review

The power of the Supreme Court to rule a law unconstitutional.

Industrial Revolution

The shift from making things by hand to making them with machines in factories.

Erie Canal

A man-made waterway in New York that connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.

Significance of the Erie Canal

Revolutionized transportation and made New York City a huge commercial center.

Factory System

A system of production where all work is done under one roof in a factory.

Waltham-Lowell System

An early factory system that hired young, single women to work in textile mills.

Eli Whitney

The inventor of the cotton gin and interchangeable parts.

Interchangeable Parts

The idea of making identical, standardized parts for mass production.

Indian Removal Act

A 1830 law signed by Jackson to move Southern Native American tribes to the west.

Worcester v. Georgia

The Supreme Court case where the court sided WITH the Cherokee tribe.

Jackson's reaction to Worcester v. Georgia

He ignored the court's decision and forced the removal anyway.

Trail of Tears

The forced march of the Cherokee tribe to Oklahoma, where thousands died.

Paternalism (in slavery)

The false idea that slaveholders were like "fathers" caring for their enslaved "children."

Yeoman Farmer

An independent, small farmer who owned their own land. Most did not own enslaved people.

"Slave Power"

A term used by northerners for the political power of the wealthy slave-owning class.

William Lloyd Garrison

A radical white abolitionist who published the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator.

Slave Narratives

Autobiographies written by formerly enslaved people, like Frederick Douglass.

Women's Suffrage

The movement to get women the right to vote.

Anti-Catholicism

Widespread prejudice against Catholic immigrants, especially the Irish.

Nativism

The policy of protecting the interests of native-born inhabitants against those of immigrants.

Transportation Revolution

A period of rapid development in roads, canals, and especially railroads.

Communications Revolution

A period of rapid development in communications, led by the telegraph.

Steam Power

The key energy source of the early industrial era, powering factories and transportation.

Capital (Economics)

Money used for investment in businesses.

Limited Liability

Legal protection for investors so they can only lose the money they invested.

Robert Morris

Proposed the "Impost Plan" (a national tax) under the Articles to pay debts; it failed.

Committee of Five

The group chosen to draft the Declaration of Independence.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Argued that states could NULLIFY (cancel) federal laws they thought were unconstitutional.

"Gag Rule"

A rule in Congress that blocked all discussion of anti-slavery petitions.

The Amistad Case

A Supreme Court case where kidnapped Africans who mutinied on a ship were ruled to be free.

American Colonization Society

A group that wanted to send free Black people to a colony in Africa (Liberia).

"Burned-Over District"

An area in Western New York known for intense religious revivals.

Charles Grandison Finney

The most famous preacher of the Second Great Awakening.

Joseph Smith

The founder of the Mormon Church.

Horace Mann

A leader of the movement for free public schools ("Common Schools").

Ten-Hour Movement

An effort by early labor unions to get the workday limited to 10 hours.

Spirituals

Religious folk songs created by enslaved people, often with hidden meanings about freedom.

Trickster Tales

Folktales in slave culture, like Br'er Rabbit, that celebrated using wit to defeat power.

Eminent Domain

The government's power to take private land for public use, with payment.

Tariff

A tax on an imported good.

Debt Assumption

The part of Hamilton's plan where the national government took on state war debts.

Upper South vs. Lower/Deep South

Upper South sold enslaved people to the Lower/Deep South, which was the heart of "King Cotton."

Francis Cabot Lowell

A businessman who created an advanced factory system in his textile mills.

Richard Allen

A Black minister who founded the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church.

Letters from an American Farmer

An early book by Crèvecoeur that tried to define American identity.

Metamora

A popular play about a Native American hero, famous during the era of Indian Removal.

James Fenimore Cooper

Wrote The Leatherstocking Tales; was the first very successful American novelist.

"Penny Press"

Cheap newspapers that appeared in the 1830s, creating mass media.

Millerites

A religious group that followed William Miller and believed the world would end in 1844.

1840 Abolitionist Schism

A split in the abolitionist movement over the role of women.

"Hiring-Out" System

An enslaver renting an enslaved person to work for someone else in a city.

Southern Code of Honor

A social rule for elite Southern white men about defending their honor, often with duels.