AP US History Unit 3: Rise of American Democracy Key Terms

Vocabulary practice cards covering foundational terms, court cases, treaties, political shifts, and reform movements from AP US History Unit 3 (1801-1848).

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Court case that established the principle of judicial review, which allowed the Supreme Court to determine if federal laws were constitutional; struck down part of the Judiciary Act of 1789.

Louisiana Purchase

An 828,000-square-mile region purchased from France in 1803 for $15 million, which doubled the size of the United States, gave it control of the Mississippi River and New Orleans, and relied on loose construction of implied powers.

Impressment

The forceful drafting of American sailors into the British navy; over ten thousand Americans were impressed between 1790 and 1812, serving as the principal cause of the War of 1812.

War Hawks

Young Congressmen in the 12th Congress from the South and West led by Henry Clay and John Calhoun who demanded war with Britain to annex Canada, defend U.S. maritime rights, and end troubles with Native Americans.

Hartford Convention

1814 meeting of New England state leaders calling for restrictions on embargoes and limits on presidential tenure; its unpatriotic image contributed to the collapse of the Federalist Party.

Treaty of Ghent (1815)

Agreement that ended the War of 1812, returned all captured territory, left unresolved issues to future negotiation, and remained silent on the causes of the war.

Battle of New Orleans

Major battle of the War of 1812 fought after the war ended, in which American forces defeated the British, protected the city, and propelled Andrew Jackson to national prominence.

Adams-Onís Treaty

Agreement (also known as the Florida Purchase Treaty) where the U.S. paid Spain $5 million for Florida, Spain recognized U.S. claims to Oregon Country, and the U.S. surrendered claims to northern Mexico (Texas).

Market Revolution

Nineteenth-century transformation from an economy dominated by small farms and workshops to one producing for a distant cash market, marked by the emergence of a permanent working class.

Henry Clay

Leading statesman known as the "Great Compromiser" for his role in the compromises of 1820, 1833, and 1850; served as Congressman, Speaker of the House, senator, and secretary of state.

American System (1816)

Proposals by Henry Clay calling for a national bank, protective tariffs, and internal improvements with the goal of American economic self-sufficiency.

Second Bank of the United States

National bank organized in 1816 to hold federal tax receipts and regulate circulating money; became unpopular among western land speculators and farmers following the Panic of 1819.

Panic of 1819

Severe depression following post-war economic boom; caused when the Second National Bank called loans and raised interest rates to curb land speculation and inflation.

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Agreement authored by Henry Clay admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, while dividing the Louisiana territory at 36° 30' to close the northern section to slavery.

Monroe Doctrine

Policy proclamation declaring no new colonization in the Western Hemisphere, non-interference with existing colonies, and U.S. non-interference in European affairs.

John Marshall

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1801-1835) who incorporated Federalist ideas into the Constitution and established judicial review, granting the Court equality with other branches.

McCulloch v. Maryland

Supreme Court case that established federal law supremacy over state law by striking down a Maryland tax on the Baltimore branch of the Second National Bank.

Gibbons v. Ogden

Landmark ruling striking down a New York steamboat monopoly, expanding Congress's constitutional authority to regulate interstate commerce.

participatory democracy

A form of government combining direct and representative democratic elements, in which citizens participate individually and directly in political decisions affecting their lives.

John Quincy Adams

Secretary of state who helped purchase Florida and formulate the Monroe Doctrine, and later president who advocated activist government and economic nationalism.

"Corrupt Bargain"

Alleged agreement in the 1824 election where Henry Clay threw support to John Quincy Adams in the House of Representatives, and Adams subsequently appointed Clay as secretary of state.

Andrew Jackson

U.S. general and 7th President (1829–37) who won fame at Horseshoe Bend and New Orleans, served as the first president west of the Appalachians, and led Jacksonian Democracy.

Democratic Party

Political party born after the 1824 election when supporters of Andrew Jackson organized to prepare for the 1828 election.

Spoils system

Practice of appointing political supporters and loyalists to government positions as a reward; used by Andrew Jackson, who removed about 20 percent of office holders.

Tariff of Abominations

High 1828 tariff that raised rates on certain imported goods to an all-time high, prompting the nullification crisis of 1832.

Exposition and Protest

Secret document authored by Vice President John Calhoun asserting compact theory to argue the 1828 tariff was unconstitutional and South Carolina could refuse to collect it.

John C. Calhoun

Vice president under Adams and Jackson who authored Exposition and Protest, led the nullification fight (1832–33), and served as the primary voice for southern states' rights.

Nullification

Theory that states formed the Constitution as a compact and hold final authority to declare federal laws unconstitutional and refuse to enforce them.

Daniel Webster

Orator, constitutional lawyer, senator, and secretary of state who served as a major spokesman for nationalism and the union from the 1830s through the 1850s.

Indian Removal Act (1830)

Law authorizing the president to negotiate treaties with southeastern Native American tribes, trading their eastern lands for western territory and funding their relocation.

Trail of Tears (1838)

Forced 1838 march of roughly 18,000 Cherokees evicted from southeastern lands to Indian Territory (Oklahoma), resulting in nearly 25 percent dying from disease and exhaustion.

Pet banks

State financial institutions friendly to Jackson's administration that received federal deposits after Jackson vetoed the Second National Bank's re-charter and removed government funds.

Specie Circular

Executive order issued by Jackson requiring public land purchases to be paid only in gold or silver, contracting credit and precipitating the panic of 1837.

Martin Van Buren

U.S. president whose single term was ruined by the Panic of 1837, leading to his defeat in 1840 before later supporting the Free Soil Party.

Whigs

Political party formed in 1832 under Henry Clay to oppose Andrew Jackson, advocating internal improvements, protective tariffs, western land distribution, and a national bank.

Second Great Awakening

Religious revivals (1790–1840) emphasizing salvation through moral action and individual effort, laying the philosophical groundwork for 1830s social reform movements.

Charles Finney

Leading Second Great Awakening evangelist who advocated spiritual rebirth through individual effort and promoted the "utility of benevolence" to reform society.

Burned-over district

Region of New York State along the Erie Canal known for intense religious revivalism and reform, giving rise to groups like Mormons, Shakers, and Millerites.

Cult of Domesticity

Nineteenth-century belief that women held a distinct social role focused on moral and religious instruction within the home while remaining excluded from politics and business.

Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

1848 assembly in New York organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott that launched the American woman suffrage movement.

“Declaration of Sentiments”

Resolutions issued at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention modeled on the Declaration of Independence, calling for female suffrage and full social and economic equality.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Pioneer women's rights leader who co-organized the Seneca Falls Convention and spent her life advocating for women's suffrage.

Sarah and Angelina Grimke

Quaker sisters from South Carolina who moved north to lecture and write on women's rights and the abolitionist movement.

Lucretia Mott

Quaker reformer and co-organizer of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention active in both abolitionism and women's rights.

Susan B. Anthony

Women's rights advocate who partnered with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1851 to form the National Woman Suffrage Association after the Civil War.

voluntary organization

A group of citizens gathering together voluntarily to work toward a shared goal for the public good.

William Lloyd Garrison

Prominent abolitionist editor of The Liberator and founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

American Anti-Slavery Society

Abolitionist group founded in 1833 that utilized moral persuasion, rejected compensated or gradual emancipation, and welcomed female members.

Frederick Douglass

Escaped slave who became a leading black abolitionist spokesman, orator, and publisher of The North Star newspaper.

Compensated Emancipation

Proposal to eliminate slavery by paying slaveholders monetary compensation for freeing their enslaved property.

Gradual Emancipation

Method of ending slavery slowly over time, often by granting freedom to children born to enslaved mothers after reaching a specified age.

American Colonization Society

Organization established in 1817 that promoted sending freed African Americans to Africa and established the colony of Liberia in 1827.

American Temperance Society

First national temperance group, created in 1826 to promote total abstinence from alcohol through sobriety pledges and state prohibition laws.

Maine Law (1851)

The first statewide legislation restricting alcohol consumption, prohibiting manufacture and sale except for medical uses.

Romanticism

Cultural movement responding to the Enlightenment that stressed human perfectibility, emotion, nature, imagination, and subjectivity across literature, art, and philosophy.

Transcendentalists

Writers and thinkers who held that truth could be discovered through spiritual intuition rather than reliance on established authority.

Brook Farm

Transcendentalist utopian commune founded near Boston by George Ripley in 1841 where members shared work and literary study until it collapsed in 1847.

Horace Mann

Public education reformer and secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education who expanded school terms, formalized teacher training, and secularized curricula.

Dorothea Dix

Reformer who advocated for humane treatment of the mentally ill, successfully lobbying state legislatures to build insane asylums separate from prisons.