apush ch 8 key terms

the directory

(Directoire exécutif) The committee of government ministers that exercised executive authority in France between 1795 and 1799.

quasi war

Diplomatic crisis triggered by the XYZ affair; fighting occurred between the United States and France between the early summer of 1798 and the official end of the conflict in September 1800, but neither side issued a formal declaration of war.

aaron burr

New York lawyer and vice-presidential candidate in 1796; he became Thomas Jefferson’s vice president in 1801 after the House of Representatives broke a deadlock in the Electoral College.

factionalism

In politics, the emergence of various self-interested parties (factions) that compete to impose their own views onto either a larger political party or the nation at large.

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

French foreign minister appointed by the revolutionary government in 1797; he later aided Napoleon Bonaparte’s overthrow of that government and served as his foreign minister.

xyz affair

A diplomatic incident in which American envoys to France were told that the United States would have to loan France money and bribe government officials as a precondition for negotiation.

nautralized

Granted full citizenship (after having been born in a foreign country).

alien and sedition acts

Collectively, the four acts—Alien Act, Alien Enemies Act, Naturalization Act, and Sedition Act—passed by Congress in 1798 designed to prevent immigrants from participating in politics and to silence the anti-Federalist press.

virginia and Kentucky resolutions

Statements that the Virginia and Kentucky legislatures issued in 1798 in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts; they asserted the right of states to overrule the federal government.

states’ rights

The political position in favor of limiting federal power to allow the greatest possible self-government by the individual states.

fries’s rebellion

A tax revolt by Pennsylvania citizens in 1799 that was suppressed by federal forces; leader John Fries was condemned to death for treason but received a presidential pardon from John Adams.

napolean bonaparte

General who took control of the French government in November 1799, at the end of France’s revolutionary period; he eventually proclaimed himself emperor of France and conquered much of the continent of Europe.

twelth amendment

Constitutional amendment, ratified in 1804, that provides for separate balloting in the Electoral College for president and vice president.

judiciary act of 1801

Law that the Federalist Congress passed to increase the number of federal courts and judicial positions; President Adams rushed to fill these positions with Federalists before his term ended.

john Marshall

Virginia lawyer and politician whom President Adams made chief justice of the Supreme Court; his legal decisions helped shape the role of the Supreme Court in American government.

supply and demand

The two factors that determine price in an economy based on private property: (1) how much of a commodity is available (supply), and (2) how many people want it (demand).

maybury vs madison

Supreme Court decision (1803) declaring part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional, thereby establishing an important precedent in favor of judicial review.

albert gallatin 

Treasury secretary in Jefferson’s administration; he favored limited government and reduced the federal debt by cutting spending.

saint domingue

Caribbean island originally named Hispaniola by Christopher Columbus and also known as Santo Domingo; today shared by the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

François Dominique Toussaint Louverture

Black revolutionary who liberated the island of Saint-Domingue, only to see it reinvaded by the French in 1802.

louisiana purchase

The U.S. purchase of Louisiana from France for $15 million in 1803; the Louisiana Territory extended from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains.

meriwether lewis

Jefferson aide who was sent to explore the Louisiana Territory in 1803; he later served as its governor.

william clark

Soldier and explorer who joined Meriwether Lewis as co-leader on an expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory; he was responsible for mapmaking.

sacajawea

Shoshone woman who served as guide and interpreter on the Lewis and Clark expedition.

unitarianism

A religion that denies the Trinity, teaching that God exists only in one person; it also stresses individual freedom of belief and the free use of reason in religion.

henry ware

Liberal Congregationalist who was elected senior theologian at Harvard College in 1805, making Unitarianism the dominant religious view at the previously orthodox stronghold.

gabriel’s rebellion

Attempted slave revolt led by a slave blacksmith in 1800; although a failure, the affair led to greater restrictions on African Americans both slave and free in the South.

African Methodist Episcopal Church

African American branch of Methodism established in Philadelphia in 1816 and in New York in 1821.

james forten

African American entrepreneur with a successful sail-making business in Philadelphia who provided leadership for black business enterprises and advocated both racial integration and equal rights during the Jeffersonian era.