Jackson/Manifest Destiny/Reform Vocabulary List

Andrew Jackson

The seventh U.S. president who supported the “common man” but signed the Indian Removal Act.

Spoils System

giving government jobs to political supporters after an election.

Indian Removal Act

A law that allowed the forced relocation of Native Americans west of the Mississippi River.

Trail of Tears

The deadly forced march of Native Americans to western lands.

Nullification Crisis

A conflict where South Carolina tried to cancel federal tariffs.

Missouri Compromise

A law that balanced free and slave states and limited where slavery could expand.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that the U.S. was meant to expand west across the continent.

Oregon Trail

A trail used by settlers traveling west to Oregon, California, and Utah.

Mexican American War

A war between the U.S. and Mexico that gave the U.S. large western lands.

Gadsden Purchase

U.S. purchase of land from Mexico for railroads in the Southwest.

Wilmot Proviso

A proposal to ban slavery in lands taken from Mexico.

California Gold Rush

A mass migration after gold was discovered in California in 1848.

Second Great Awakening

A religious revival that inspired social reform movements.

Horace Mann

The leader of the public school reform movement.

Temperance Movement

A movement to reduce or ban alcohol.

Abolition Movement

The movement to end slavery.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

A slave uprising in Virginia that led to harsher slave laws.

William Lloyd Garrison

An abolitionist who published the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator.

Frederick Douglass

A former slave who became a famous abolitionist speaker and writer.

Women’s Rights Movement

The movement for women’s equality and the right to vote.

Seneca Falls Convention

The first women’s rights convention in the U.S.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

A leader of the women’s rights movement and author of the Declaration of Sentiments.

Sojourner Truth

A former slave who fought for abolition and women’s rights.

Susan B. Anthony

A major leader in the fight for women’s right to vote.