Antebellum America Flashcards

A set of 10 vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, historical events, and figures of the Antebellum America period based on lecture notes.

Louisiana Purchase

Territory in western United States purchased from France in 1803 for $15\text{ million}$, which doubles the size of the US.

Monroe Doctrine

A statement of foreign policy proclaiming that Europe should not interfere in affairs within the United States or in the development of other countries in the Western Hemisphere (North and South America).

Henry Clay's American System

A plan for economic growth that included support for a national bank, protective tariffs, and improving the country's transportation system by building roads and a canal network.

Indian Removal Act

An 1830 congressional act championed by Andrew Jackson that authorized the removal of Native Americans living east of the Mississippi River, leading to the "Trail of Tears."

Manifest Destiny

A nineteenth-century notion that the United States was destined to rule the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, spreading democracy and American culture.

Mexican-American War

A conflict from 1846 to 1848 ended by the Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo; the U.S. ended up with $55\%$ of Mexico's land, including California and the Southwest, for $15\text{ million}$.

Declaration of Sentiments

A document written at the Seneca Falls Convention that adapted the Declaration of Independence to include women and men (equal) as a basis for attaining civil, social, political, and religious rights for women.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

An 1857 Supreme Court decision that stated slaves were not citizens, living in a free state did not free slaves, and declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.

John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry

A failed scheme to arm slaves in Virginia where John Brown seized the federal arsenal; he was tried for treason and hanged, causing fear in the South.

Villiam Loyd Garrison

An important abolitionist leader who founded the abolitionist newspaper, the Liberator, and co founded the New England Anti Slavery Society.