U.S. History: Women's Rights, Jacksonian Democracy, and 19th Century Reforms

Seneca Falls Convention

First women's rights convention in the U.S., led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Lucretia Mott.

Declaration of Sentiments

Document that came out of Seneca Falls, modeled after the Declaration of Independence.

Women's rights movement

Tied to abolitionism and other antebellum reforms.

McCulloch v. Maryland

Supreme Court case that determined whether Maryland could tax the Bank of the United States.

Necessary and Proper Clause

Clause used by the Court to uphold the Bank's constitutionality (implied powers).

Federal supremacy

Principle affirmed by the McCulloch v. Maryland decision over the states.

Charles Grandison Finney

Evangelical preacher central to the Second Great Awakening.

Salvation

Comes through free will and individual choice according to Finney's core belief.

Second Great Awakening reforms

Inspired abolition, temperance, women's rights, and social reform.

Lowell Mills

Textile factories in Massachusetts employing young women.

Lowell workers' conditions

Faced long hours, wage cuts, strict rules, and harsh discipline.

Market Revolution

Significance of the Lowell Mills representing early labor protests.

Bank War

Jackson vetoed the recharter of the Second Bank of the U.S., calling it elitist.

Presidential power expansion

Jackson asserted executive authority over Congress in defending 'the people.'

Historians' debate on Bank War

Whether Jackson was a champion of democracy or a reckless tyrant.

The Alamo

Texian defenders were killed by Santa Anna's army.

Remember the Alamo

Became a rallying cry for independence during the Texas Revolution.

Annexation of Texas

Linked to sectional tensions over whether slavery would expand into new territory.

Lincoln's Spot Resolutions

Questions challenging Polk to prove that Mexico had started the war on U.S. soil.

Whigs' opposition to Mexican War

Saw it as an unjust expansionist war to spread slavery.

Lincoln's stance on expansion

Linked territorial expansion to the slavery issue (e.g., Wilmot Proviso).

David Walker

Free black abolitionist who wrote Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World.

Walker's message

Immediate abolition of slavery, resistance if necessary.

South's reaction to Walker's Appeal

Banned distribution, feared slave uprisings, cracked down on abolitionist literature.

War of 1812 causes

British impressment of sailors, War Hawks pushing for war, British aid to Natives.

War of 1812 effects

Rise of nationalism, Era of Good Feelings, weakened Native resistance.

Federalist Party after War of 1812

Discredited by the Hartford Convention → Federalist decline.

Hard Cider Campaign

Campaign run by William Henry Harrison (Whigs) using imagery of log cabins and hard cider.

Significance of 1840 election

Marked the rise of modern campaigning, mass politics, and image-based appeals.