APUSH unit 3 test

1824 Election

Election with no electoral majority; House of Representatives chose John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson after Henry Clay (Speaker) backed Adams — led to accusations of the “Corrupt Bargain.”

1828 Election

Rematch between Andrew Jackson (Democratic) and John Quincy Adams; Jackson won decisively, marking the rise of the modern Democratic Party and expanded white male suffrage.

Log-Cabin Campaign

1840 Whig campaign that portrayed William Henry Harrison as a humble “man of the people” who lived in a log cabin (though he was actually elite); used mass rallies and symbols to attract voters.

American System

Henry Clay’s economic plan (Whig-aligned): protective tariffs to support industry, a strong national bank, and federal funding for internal improvements to unify the national economy.

Anti-Masonic Party and the Workingmen’s Parties

Early third-party movements: Anti-Masons (1820s–1830s) opposed Freemasonry and helped pioneer national nominating conventions; Workingmen’s parties pushed labor reforms, public education, and rights for urban workers.

Indian Removal Act

1830 law signed by Andrew Jackson authorizing the forced relocation of Native American tribes east of the Mississippi to lands west (led to widespread dispossession).

John Tyler

Became president in 1841 after W.H. Harrison’s death; nominally a Whig but opposed many Whig policies, clashed with Congress, and was expelled from the party — set precedent for VP succession.

Nullification Crisis

1832–33 confrontation between South Carolina and the federal government over the Tariff of 1828; Calhoun supported state nullification, Jackson threatened force, and a compromise tariff averted secession.

Panic of 1837

Major economic depression that began in 1837 due to bank failures, speculative lending, the Specie Circular, and international factors — caused widespread unemployment and hardship during Van Buren’s presidency.

Spoils System

Political practice popularized by Andrew Jackson of awarding government jobs to loyal supporters and party members as patronage — increased party loyalty but also corruption.

Texas

Former Mexican territory that declared independence in 1836 after the Texas Revolution (led by Sam Houston); slavery and annexation became major national political issues in the 1840s.

William Henry Harrison

Whig; military hero (Tippecanoe) who won the 1840 election using the log-cabin campaign; died one month into his presidency, leading to John Tyler’s succession.

Harriet Tubman

African American abolitionist and key conductor of the Underground Railroad who personally led many enslaved people to freedom and later supported abolitionist and women’s rights causes.

Planter Aristocracy

Southern social and political elite made up of large slaveholding planters who dominated the economy, politics, and culture of the antebellum South.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

1852 antislavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe that dramatized the cruelty of slavery, galvanized Northern public opinion, and intensified sectional tensions.

William Lloyd Garrison

Radical abolitionist who published the newspaper The Liberator, called for immediate emancipation, rejected gradualism, and helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Industrial Revolution

Period of technological and organizational change (early-to-mid 1800s in the U.S.) marked by mechanization, factory systems, and a shift from artisanal to wage labor.

Market and Transportation Revolution

Rapid economic changes in the early 19th century: expansion of markets, commercialization of agriculture, and transportation improvements (canals, steamboats, roads, railroads) that knit the nation together.

"Self-made Man"

Cultural ideal of the 19th century celebrating individual initiative and upward mobility; popularized with stories of entrepreneurs and used to justify social mobility within market capitalism.

Benevolent Empire

Network of Protestant moral reform movements in the early-to-mid 1800s (temperance, moral suasion, sabbatarianism, education, prison reform) led by middle-class evangelicals.

Nativism

Political and social hostility toward immigrants (especially Catholics in the 1840s–1850s); favored native-born Americans and supported immigration restrictions (later the Know-Nothing movement).

Inventions during the 1800s

Key inventions: cotton gin (Eli Whitney), interchangeable parts (Eli Whitney), telegraph (Samuel Morse), steamboat improvements (Fulton), mechanical reaper (Cyrus McCormick), sewing machine, and railroads — all transformed production and transport.

Charles Grandison Finney

Influential revivalist preacher of the Second Great Awakening who promoted revivalism, moral reform, and the idea that people could actively shape their salvation and society.

Political Machine

Highly organized party organizations (urban bosses and networks) that mobilized voters, distributed patronage, and controlled city politics — often associated with corruption (e.g., Tammany Hall).

Corrupt Bargain

Charge made by Andrew Jackson’s supporters after the 1824 election: Henry Clay’s support for John Quincy Adams in the House led to Adams appointing Clay as Secretary of State, which Jacksonians called a “corrupt bargain.”

Tariff of 1828

Also called the “Tariff of Abominations”; a high protective tariff favored by Northern manufacturers but hated in the South because it raised prices and hurt Southern exports, fueling sectional conflict.

Second Bank of the U.S.

National bank (rechartered 1816) that regulated currency and credit; Andrew Jackson opposed it as elitist, vetoed its recharter, and withdrew federal deposits — sparking the “Bank War.”

Trail of Tears

Forced 1838–1839 removal of the Cherokee Nation from the Southeast to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma); thousands died on the march — a result of the Indian Removal policy.

Classical liberalism

19th-century ideology emphasizing individual liberty, private property, limited government, and free markets; influenced economic and political arguments for limited state intervention.

Whig Party

Founded in the 1830s to oppose Jackson’s “executive tyranny”; supported Congressional authority, the American System (tariffs, bank, internal improvements), and moral reform — drew support from businessmen, planters, and reformers.

Specie Circular

1836 executive order by Jackson requiring that payment for federal land be made in specie (gold or silver), intended to curb land speculation but contributed to the Panic of 1837.

John Quincy Adams

6th U.S. President (1825–1829); associated with the National Republican/Adams faction, advocated internal improvements and a strong national government, and was accused of benefiting from the “Corrupt Bargain.”

Andrew Jackson’s Presidency

(1829–1837) Marked by expanded democracy for white men, use of the veto, the spoils system, Indian Removal, the Bank War (opposition to the Second Bank), and strong presidential authority — founder of the Democratic Party.

Roger B. Taney

Jacksonian jurist appointed Attorney General and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; as Chief Justice he supported states’ rights and wrote major opinions that reflected Jacksonian influence.

Transcendentalism

Philosophical and literary movement (1830s–40s) led by Emerson and Thoreau emphasizing individual intuition, nature, self-reliance, and resistance to social conformity.

Utopian Societies

Intentional communities of the 19th century (e.g., Brook Farm, Oneida, Shakers) that experimented with communal living, cooperative economies, and social reform to create ideal societies.

Mormonism and roots

Religious movement founded by Joseph Smith (Book of Mormon) in the 1820s–30s; after persecution, Brigham Young led followers to Utah to establish a communal religious society (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

Underground Railroad

Informal network of free Blacks, white abolitionists, and safe houses that helped enslaved people escape to freedom in the North or Canada; key figures included Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass.

Married women’s property laws

Mid-19th-century legal reforms in some states that allowed married women to own property, keep wages, and have limited legal rights — early steps toward women’s legal independence.

Seneca Falls Convention

1848 first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, NY, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott; produced the Declaration of Sentiments demanding equal rights, including suffrage.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Leading transcendentalist writer and lecturer who promoted individualism, self-reliance, and the moral authority of nature — influential in American intellectual life.

Henry David Thoreau

Transcendentalist author of Walden and Civil Disobedience who advocated simple living in nature and nonviolent resistance to unjust laws.

Margaret Fuller

Transcendentalist writer, feminist, and editor who promoted women’s education and intellectual equality; influential in early women’s rights thought.

Walt Whitman

Poet whose Leaves of Grass celebrated democracy, the individual, and the American experience; influenced American literary nationalism and democratic ideals.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

1831 slave uprising in Southampton County, Virginia led by Nat Turner; resulted in harsher slave codes, widespread fear in the South, and increased repression of enslaved people.

Dorothea Dix

Social reformer who campaigned for improved treatment of the mentally ill and for state-run mental hospitals; led major 19th-century prison and asylum reforms.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Leading organizer of the women’s rights movement, principal author of the Declaration of Sentiments (Seneca Falls), and longtime advocate for suffrage and legal equality.

Susan B. Anthony

Prominent organizer and activist for women’s suffrage and women’s rights who worked with Stanton and others to build a national movement and later the National American Woman Suffrage Association.