Unit 6b - Expansion and Reform - The Age of Jackson and Reform

Suffrage

The right to vote. Between 1824 and 1828 many states reduced or got rid of the property requirements for white males to vote. This led to an increase in democracy in the United States and led the way for Andrew Jackson's presidential election.

Spoil System

The practice of handing out government jobs to supporters; replacing government employees with the winning candidate's supporters. Andrew Jackson believed in rule of the majority and fired many Whig supporters and replaced them with his own people who were loyal to the Democratic-Republican Party.

Caucus System

A system in which members of a political party meets to chose their party's candidate for president or decide policy. Some people replaced this system with the national nominating convention where delegates from the states selected the presidential nominee.

The Nullification Crisis

South Carolina threatened to secede from the Union when Congress passed the Tariff of 1828. South Carolina believed the tariff favored the North. The state tried to nullify the law. Congress debated the validity of nullification. Andrew Jackson opposed nullification as an act of treason. Congress passed the Force Bill which gave the president power to use the military to enforce acts of Congress. Henry Clay eventually pushed through a compromise that would reduce the tariff. This stopped civil war for the moment. It highlighted the growing division between the North and South over economic issues.

Secede

To leave or withdraw. South Carolina threatened to secede the union after the Tariff of Abominations was passed.

Tariff of Abomination

This protective tariff increased the tax on imported goods. South Carolina blamed the Tariff of 1828 for their economic problems.

Haynes v. Webster Debate

During the Nullification Crisis Senators Robert Haynes and Daniel Webster debated the issue of nullification. Haynes championed states' rights to nullify the law. Webster defended the Union and that states did not have the right to nullify laws.

Andrew Jackson

1812 war hero, he was the United States' first self-made man. He was born in Tennessee and worked his way up to be a lawyer and a wealthy plantation owner. He was an enslaver and encouraged the United States to commit genocide against Native Americans. He defended the Union and Constitution during the Nullification Crisis. He encouraged Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act and actively sought to destroy the Second National Bank of the United States.

Indian Removal Act of 1830

An act passed by Congress to relocate Native Americans from their tribal lands to the Great Plains in the unorganized territory. The act provided monetary compensation in return for their relocation. Some tribes actively fought back physically and legally. All tribes were eventually moved either by choice or by force. This act is considered part of the genocide the United States committed against Native American tribes.

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia

The Cherokee was considered one of the five civilized tribes because they had adopted aspects of western culture. They sued the state of Georgia to remain on their land. John Marshall's court ruled in favor of the Cherokee Nation. Andrew Jackson would not enforce the ruling of the Supreme Court.

Trail of Tears

Andrew Jackson's protégé Martin Van Buren enforced the Indian Removal Act and had the United States military forcibly remove Cherokee Indians who remained in Georgia. Over 4,000 Cherokee died during the relocation.

Jackson v. the National Bank

Andrew Jackson did not believe that the Second National Bank was constitutional and believed that it favored the wealthy. When Whigs tried to re-charter the bank Jackson vetoed it. He also actively pulled money from the Second National Bank and put in in "pet banks." Pet banks were state banks that printed more paper money and without the Second National Bank to regulate it helped contribute to the Panic of 1837.

President Martin Van Buren

Democratic-Republican successor of Andrew Jackson who believed that the government should have limited intervention. He did little to help United States citizens during the Panic of 1837, which encouraged people to vote for the Whig Party in the Election of 1840.

"Tippecanoe and Tyler Too"

The slogan used by war hero William Henry Harrison and John Tyler for presidency as the Whig candidate in the Election of 1840. Harrison holds the record for the shortest presidency. VP John Tyler became president after Harrison but frequently blocked Whig legislation.

German and Irish Immigrants

The new wave of immigration between 1815 and 1860. German's were fleeing political turmoil and violence. Irish immigrants were fleeing the Irish Potato Famine and poverty. German immigrants often came with money and were able to move west and buy farms. Irish immigrants were poor and often stayed in major northern cities which had a high demand for unskilled labor to work in the factories.

Nativism

Anti-immigrant feelings. Nativists were often hostile towards immigrants and believed that immigrants took jobs away from native-born Americans. Many nativists were Protestants who disliked Irish Catholics and pushed to ban immigration.

The Know-Nothing Party

A nativist party started in the 1850s to combat immigration. This was a secret party and members were told to answer, "I know nothing," when questioned about the party. Also known as the American Party.

The Second Great Awakening

Church leaders worked to call people back to the Christian religion and held outdoor meetings called revivals. At these revivals ministers encouraged people to readmit God into their daily lives. Charles Grandison Finney was one of the most famous ministers who lead the revivalism movement.

The Book of Mormon

A new religious group also called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their leader Joseph Smith wrote their religious texted called "The Book of Mormon" after the Angel Gabriel visited and showed Smith golden plates written by God. He was able to convert thousands. People persecuted Mormons for their religious beliefs like polygamy. Joseph Smith was murdered and Brigham Young took over as leader of the church. They eventually moved West to escape persecution. Example of a new Christian religious group that emerged during this time period.

Utopia

A community based on a vision of a perfect society sought by reformers. People grouped together and moved away to establish their own societies. Brook Farm in Massachusetts and the Onedia Community in upstate New York were two well-known utopian communities. The Shakers tried to establish a religious utopia and believed that men and women were equal. They did not believed in marrying or having children and could only adopt or convert people to expand. 2 Shakers still remain in the United States.

Romanticism

A literary, artistic, and philosophical movement that started in Europe and came to the United States in the late 1700s early 1800s. It emphasized the imagination, emotions, and the individual above society. This movement helped to spark American Transcendentalism.

Transcendentalism

An American form of Romanticism that emphasized the relationship between humans and nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were leaders of this movement and believed that spiritual things were more important than material things. They also emphasized the importance of the individual conscience. The penny press and authors of the day helped to create the early signs of a common culture in the United States.

Dorothea Dix

Helped to reform conditions for the treatment of people with mental disabilities and prisoners. She wrote the Massachusetts Legislature to say that people with mental illnesses should not be kept with prisoners. She also believed that both the mentally ill and prisoners could be rehabilitated to work as functioning members of society. Dix helped create asylums, special institutions for people with mental illnesses. While conditions were still poor they were better than prison.

Benevolent societies

Religious groups that worked to spread the word of God and tried to fix social problems. Lyman Beecher and other individuals encouraged people to volunteer to improve the United States.

Temperance Movement

Temperance encouraged moderation or abstinence from consuming alcohol. Many reformers blamed crime, disorder, and poverty on alcohol. By the 1830s, several groups like the American Temperance Union formed to try and prohibit the sale of alcohol. States and local communities started to ban the sale of alcohol within their boundaries.

Penitentiary

Facilities started to try to rehabilitate prisoners to make them active, contributing members of society. These penitentiaries tried to reform prisoners.

Education Reform

Reformers during this time believed that the government should fund schools because education was necessary for democracy to survive. Horace Mann in Massachusetts helped to reform the education system and it quickly became a model for other states. Reformers wanted all children to go to school and learn how to read, write, do math, and instill a basic worth ethic. These schools were open to all and were supported by taxpayers. Schools were normally kindergarten to 5th grade.

Women's Education

Women like Catharine Beecher and Emma Willard wanted to offer women more educational opportunities. The first higher education institute for women was Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in Massachusetts. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to receive a medical degree.

True Womanhood/ Cult of Domesticity

As factories increased, the division of work between men and women grew. Work was now separate from the home. Society began to believe that women should stay at home and raise moral charitable children. This belief wanted women to rule the domestic or home world.

Seneca Falls Convention

Women who opposed the idea of true womanhood advocated for the equality of men and women met at Seneca Falls to organize the women's movement. This was the start of the Women's Suffrage movement.

Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions

A document based on the Declaration of Independence that discussed the rights of women and the equality of women to men. By a very slim margin, they added a resolution that women should be allowed to vote.

Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Two leaders of the women's movement. They argued for the equality of men and women. They also were active in the Women's suffrage movement.

Gradualism

The theory that slavery should be ended slowly over a long period of time. Supporters believed this would allow the Southern economy time to adjust.

American Colonization Society

People did not believe ending slavery would end racism and believed it was better to send freed African Americans back to Africa. The American Colonization Society sent enslaved people and African Americans back to the colony of Liberia in Africa.

Abolition

The idea that slavery should be immediately ended and that enslavers should not be compensated. Abolitionists believed that slavery was immoral.

William Lloyd Garrison

A white abolitionist, he printed an antislavery newspaper called "The Liberator" that attacked slavery and promoted abolition. He also suggested immediate emancipation of enslaved people. He helped form the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Emancipation

The act or process of freeing enslaved persons.

Frederick Douglass

African American leader who published an abolition newspaper called "The North Star." Douglass was a former enslaved man who self-emancipated to freedom. He was a prominent public speaker.

Sojourner Truth

African American leader who gained her freedom when New York ended slavery. She spoke out against slavery and advocated for the government to give women the right to vote.