Personal Unit 4 APUSH Terms

Turnpikes / National Road

Turnpikes were privately built toll roads. The National Road (begun 1811, Cumberland, MD west toward Ohio and beyond) was the first federally funded highway. Both lowered transport costs and encouraged westward migration and internal trade.

Erie Canal

363-mile canal from Albany to Buffalo, completed 1825 under Gov. DeWitt Clinton. Cut shipping costs dramatically, made New York City the nation's leading port, and tied the Midwest economically to the Northeast.

Steamboats

Robert Fulton's Clermont (1807) proved their commercial value. They allowed upstream river travel, sped up trade on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and boosted western commerce. Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) ruled on their regulation.

Corporations

Businesses legally treated as separate from their owners, with limited liability for investors. Made it easier to raise large amounts of capital for factories, canals, and railroads. States passed general incorporation laws in this era.

Railroads

Began in the 1830s (e.g., Baltimore & Ohio, 1830); about 30,000 miles of track by 1860. Faster and more flexible than canals, they linked the Northeast and Midwest, spurred iron and coal industries, and fueled market growth.

Samuel Slater

British immigrant called the "Father of the American Factory System." Memorized British textile machine designs and built a water-powered cotton mill in Pawtucket, RI (1790). His system relied heavily on family and child labor.

Lowell System

Textile factory model in Lowell, MA (Francis Cabot Lowell). Combined all stages of cloth production under one roof and employed young, unmarried farm women housed in company boarding houses with strict moral supervision.

Unions

Worker organizations formed to seek better wages, hours, and conditions. Early unions were mostly craft-based and faced legal challenges as "conspiracies." Growth of factories and falling wages spurred their rise in the 1820s-30s.

Commonwealth v. Hunt

1842 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision (Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw). Ruled that unions are legal and that strikes for legitimate goals are not criminal conspiracies, a major win for organized labor.

The Marshall Court

The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshall (1801-1835). Strengthened federal power and the judiciary through rulings like Marbury v. Madison (judicial review), McCulloch v. Maryland (implied powers), Gibbons v. Ogden (federal control of interstate commerce), and Fletcher v. Peck and Dartmouth College v. Woodward (protection of contracts).

Immigration - from where?

Mainly Ireland (fleeing the potato famine, 1845 onward) and Germany (economic hardship, failed 1848 revolutions). Irish settled in Northeastern cities and took low-wage jobs; many Germans settled in the Midwest. Their arrival (largely Catholic) fueled nativism.

Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge

1837 Taney Court decision. Held that a charter does not imply an exclusive monopoly unless it explicitly says so. Favored competition, economic growth, and community interests over vested corporate rights.

Worcester v. Georgia

1832 Supreme Court ruling that Georgia had no authority over Cherokee land; only the federal government could deal with Native nations. President Jackson refused to enforce it, and removal went forward.

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia

1831 Supreme Court case. Marshall ruled the Cherokee were a "domestic dependent nation," not a foreign nation, so they could not sue in federal court. The Court avoided deciding on the merits.

Know-Nothing Party

1850s nativist political party (officially the American Party) that grew from secret societies. Anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic, it wanted longer naturalization periods and to bar immigrants and Catholics from office. Collapsed over the slavery issue.

Panic of 1819

First major peacetime depression in the U.S. Caused by land speculation, tightened credit from the Second Bank of the U.S., and falling crop prices. Brought foreclosures and unemployment and fueled distrust of banks, especially in the West and South.

Election of 1824 / "Corrupt Bargain"

Four candidates (Jackson, J.Q. Adams, Crawford, Clay) and no electoral majority, so the House decided. Clay backed Adams, who won and then named Clay Secretary of State. Jackson's supporters called it a "corrupt bargain," energizing his 1828 run.

Tariff of Abominations

1828 high protective tariff on imports. Helped Northern manufacturers but hurt the South through higher prices and reduced British trade. Led John C. Calhoun to write the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, laying out nullification.

Age of the Common Man / Jacksonian Democracy

1820s-30s expansion of democracy for white men: property requirements dropped, more offices and presidential electors chosen by popular vote, and party nominating conventions. Symbolized by Jackson's election in 1828 as a "man of the people."

Spoils System

Practice of giving government jobs to political supporters after an election. Jackson defended it as rotation in office to prevent a permanent elite. Named from Sen. William Marcy's remark that "to the victor belong the spoils."

John Calhoun

South Carolina politician and VP under J.Q. Adams and Jackson. Leading champion of states' rights, nullification, and slavery. Broke with Jackson over the tariff and nullification, and later resigned the vice presidency (1832).

Nullification

Theory that a state can declare a federal law void within its borders. Advanced by Calhoun against the 1828 and 1832 tariffs. In the Nullification Crisis (1832-33), South Carolina nullified the tariff; Jackson threatened force (Force Bill) and a compromise tariff ended it.

Peggy Eaton Affair

1829-31 scandal in which cabinet wives (led by Floride Calhoun) snubbed Peggy Eaton, wife of Secretary of War John Eaton, over her reputation. Jackson defended her. Led to cabinet resignations, weakened Calhoun, and boosted Martin Van Buren.

Webster-Hayne Debate

1830 Senate debate. Robert Hayne (SC) defended states' rights and nullification; Daniel Webster argued the Union was perpetual and the Constitution was made by the people, not the states, ending with "Liberty and Union, now and forever."

Maysville Road veto

1830 Jackson veto of federal funding for a road located entirely within Kentucky. He called it unconstitutional and local, rejecting federally funded internal improvements and Henry Clay's American System.

Indian Removal Act

1830 law authorizing the president to exchange Native lands in the East for land west of the Mississippi. Used to force the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Choctaw, Chickasaw) from the Southeast.

Trail of Tears

1838-39 forced march of about 16,000 Cherokee from Georgia to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), enforced under Van Buren using the fraudulent Treaty of New Echota (1835). Roughly 4,000 died of disease, exposure, and starvation.

"Pet banks"

State banks chosen to hold federal deposits after Jackson vetoed the Second Bank's recharter (1832) and withdrew federal funds (1833). Many were politically connected, and they made risky loans, feeding speculation and inflation.

Whig Party

Formed in the 1830s to oppose "King Andrew" Jackson and executive power. Led by Henry Clay and Daniel Webster; supported the American System (tariffs, national bank, internal improvements). Won the presidency in 1840 and 1848, then collapsed over slavery in the 1850s.

Martin Van Buren

8th president (1837-41) and Jackson's VP and chosen successor. Known as the "Little Magician" and a builder of the Democratic party machine. His term was dominated by the Panic of 1837, and he lost in 1840.

Distribution Act

1836 law that distributed the federal budget surplus (largely from land sales) to the states. States spent the money on internal improvements, but the transfers drained federal funds and contributed to the Panic of 1837.

Specie Circular

1836 Jackson order requiring payment for public land in gold or silver. Intended to curb speculation, but it drained banks' hard-money reserves, caused land sales to fall, and helped trigger the Panic of 1837.

Panic of 1837

Financial crisis and depression lasting into the 1840s. Causes included the Specie Circular, land speculation, wildcat banking, and tightened British credit. Banks failed, unemployment rose, and Van Buren was blamed.

Independent Treasury Act

1840 Van Buren law that stored federal funds in government vaults (sub-treasuries) instead of private banks. Repealed by the Whigs in 1841 and reestablished in 1846.

Log Cabin Campaign

1840 Whig campaign for William Henry Harrison ("Tippecanoe and Tyler Too"). Portrayed Harrison as a humble frontier man and Van Buren as an aristocrat, though Harrison was wealthy. First modern mass-appeal campaign; Harrison won.

John Tyler

Harrison's VP who became president when Harrison died in April 1841 (first VP to succeed a deceased president). Nicknamed "His Accidency." Vetoed Whig bank bills and was expelled from the party; oversaw annexation of Texas (1845).

Henry David Thoreau

Transcendentalist author of Walden (1854) and "Civil Disobedience" (1849). Advocated simple living, individual conscience, and nonviolent resistance to unjust laws; jailed for refusing to pay a tax tied to slavery and the Mexican War.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Leading Transcendentalist writer and lecturer ("Nature," "Self-Reliance," "The American Scholar"). Promoted individualism, self-reliance, and intellectual independence from Europe.

Transcendentalism

1830s-40s New England philosophical and literary movement. Stressed intuition, individualism, nature, and the divinity within each person over strict religious doctrine and materialism. Influenced reform movements like abolition.

Shakers

Utopian religious community founded by Mother Ann Lee. Lived communally, practiced celibacy, believed in gender and racial equality, and were known for simple, quality furniture. Declined because members had no children.

Oneida

Utopian community in New York founded by John Humphrey Noyes (1848). Based on "perfectionism," communal property, and "complex marriage"; later became known for silverware manufacturing.

Edgar Allan Poe

Writer of dark, Gothic romanticism ("The Raven," "The Tell-Tale Heart") and pioneer of detective fiction. His focus on madness and death contrasted with the optimism of the Transcendentalists.

Temperance Movement

Reform effort to reduce or ban alcohol consumption, driven by religious revivalism and concern about family and work discipline. The American Temperance Society (1826) led it; the Maine Law (1851) banned alcohol. Many women were involved because of alcohol's effect on families.

Women's Rights

Movement for legal, educational, property, and voting rights for women, emerging from abolitionist and reform activity. Leaders included Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Gained organized momentum at Seneca Falls (1848).

Seneca Falls Convention

1848 New York women's rights convention organized by Stanton and Mott. Produced the Declaration of Sentiments, modeled on the Declaration of Independence, demanding equality including the right to vote.

Cult of Domesticity

Also "True Womanhood." Middle-class ideal that women should be pious, pure, submissive, and focused on home and family, with men in the public sphere ("separate spheres"). Limited women's roles but also justified their reform work.

American Colonization Society

Founded 1816 to resettle free Black Americans in Africa, leading to the founding of Liberia (1822). Supported by some white leaders who feared free Blacks, it was rejected by most Black Americans and by abolitionists.

William Lloyd Garrison

Radical abolitionist who founded the newspaper The Liberator (1831) and the American Anti-Slavery Society (1833). Demanded immediate emancipation without compensation and rejected colonization.

Nat Turner

Enslaved preacher who led a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia in 1831, killing about 55-60 white people. He was executed. Led to harsher slave codes in the South and increased Southern fear and censorship of antislavery ideas.

Dorothea Dix

Reformer who crusaded for humane treatment of the mentally ill. Her 1843 report to the Massachusetts legislature exposed abuses in jails and almshouses and led to new state asylums. Later served as Union Army superintendent of nurses.