Chapter 4: a more simplified study guide - Google Docs
1. Jefferson's White House
a) 1800 Election: The 1800 presidential election resulted in a 73-vote tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, revealing a flaw in the Constitution's voting system.
b) House Decision & Hamilton: Alexander Hamilton convinced the Federalist-controlled House of Representatives to choose Jefferson over Burr.
c) Federalist Transition ("Revolution of 1800"): Despite controlling all government branches, the Federalists peacefully stepped down and respected the election results.
d) Smaller Government: Jefferson aimed to limit federal power by paying down national debt, cutting spending, ending the whiskey tax, and relying on local militias.
e) Keeping Unity: Jefferson chose to keep most Federalist policies in place to preserve peace and national unity.
2. The Louisiana Purchase
a) Citizens Owning Land: Jefferson believed a republic required land-owning citizens, prompting his support for western expansion.
b) Purchase Details: In 1803, Jefferson purchased the entire Louisiana Territory from Napoleon for $15 million, doubling the size of the United States.
3. Rising International Tensions
a) Barbary Pirates: Jefferson declared war against North African Barbary pirates who attacked American merchant shipping.
b) British Impressment: In 1806, Britain stopped American ships to search for deserters, and in 1807, fired on an American ship, killing three sailors.
c) Embargo Act of 1807: Jefferson passed the Embargo Act to halt trade, but it ended up hurting the American economy far more than Britain's.
4. The Supreme Court and Judicial Review
a) John Marshall's Tenure: John Marshall served as Chief Justice for over 30 years, establishing a strong Federalist influence following the Judiciary Act of 1801.
b) Marbury v. Madison (1803): Established the principle of judicial review by declaring an act of Congress unconstitutional for the first time.
5. War of 1812
a) Non-Intercourse Act: In 1808, President Madison replaced the failed embargo with a second trade policy aimed at Britain and France.
b) War Hawks: Congressmen Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun urged war to defend national honor and reputation.
c) Western Settler Grievances: Western farmers blamed the British for arming Native Americans and encouraging attacks on American settlements.
d) Battle of Tippecanoe: In 1811, William Henry Harrison defeated Tecumseh’s Native American coalition, breaking their alliance.
e) Bank Charter: A new 20-year charter for the National Bank was passed to help fund the upcoming war.
f) Early Campaign Failures: The first three American offensive attacks into Canada resulted in failure.
g) Burning of Washington (1814): British troops invaded Washington D.C. and set fire to the White House and the Capitol.
h) Star-Spangled Banner: Francis Scott Key wrote the national anthem on an envelope while witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry aboard a British ship.
i) Treaty of Ghent (1814): The treaty ended the war in a draw, restoring all pre-war territories to both sides.
j) Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson became a national war hero after winning the battle, which took place two weeks after the peace treaty was signed due to slow news travel.
6. Andrew Jackson and the Expansion of Democracy
a) Expansion of Suffrage: Voting qualifications eased between 1824 and 1828 as property requirements were dropped, increasing voters from 355,000 to 1.1 million.
b) Frontier President: Elected in 1828, Jackson became the first president from the western frontier without formal higher education.
c) Wealthy Planter Status: Despite his humble origins, Jackson grew to be a wealthy planter, slaveholder, and one of Tennessee’s richest men.
d) Majority Rule & Spoils System: Jackson advocated for majority rule by ordinary citizens and introduced the spoils system to award government jobs to political supporters.
7. Battling the National Bank
a) Bank Monopoly Controversy: Jackson campaigned heavily against the Second National Bank, viewing it as an unconstitutional monopoly that favored wealthy elites.
b) 1832 Veto & Panic of 1837: Jackson vetoed the bill to recharter the National Bank in 1832, a popular move that ultimately led to the financial Panic of 1837.
8. The Indian Removal Act
a) Indian Removal Act of 1830: Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act to fund the relocation of Native Americans from the Southeast to the Great Plains.
b) Trail of Tears (1838): Martin Van Buren sent the army to force 16,000 Cherokees west, leading to over 4,000 deaths from exposure, disease, and starvation.
9. Politics After Jackson
a) Rise of the Whig Party: The Whig Party formed in the mid-1830s to oppose Jackson's strong executive power and advocate for federal industrial growth.
b) Election of 1840 & Tyler Presidency: Whig candidate William Henry Harrison won in 1840 but died shortly after taking office, leaving John Tyler to assume the presidency.
c) Legacy of Jackson's Era: Jackson expanded executive power and popular democracy, but created strong political divisions and financial instability.
10. Manifest Destiny
a) Western Migration: By 1820, over 387,000 white settlers moved west of the Appalachian Mountains, growing to millions by the Civil War.
b) Coining "Manifest Destiny": John L. O'Sullivan declared in 1845 that Providence had given Americans the right to overspread the entire continent.
c) Early Settlers & Squatters: Pioneers settled unmapped western lands as squatters before government land sales were finalized.
d) Preemption Act: Federal laws allowed squatters to purchase up to 160 acres of surveyed land at $1.25 per acre before public auctions.
e) Wagon Trains: Emigrants mapped trails west, traveling in organized wagon trains that averaged 15 miles per day.
f) Native American Conflicts: Increased pioneer movement across native lands led to occasional conflicts and treaty negotiations.
g) Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851): The U.S. government established boundaries for Native American tribes in exchange for safe passage for white settlers.
h) California Gold Rush (1848–1849): The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill brought over 80,000 "Forty-Niners" to California, accelerating its path to statehood.
11. The Texas War for Independence
a) Mexican Independence: Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821 but struggled to govern its northern borderlands.
b) Stephen F. Austin: Stephen Austin led the initial 300 American families into Texas under a land grant deal with Mexico.
c) Mexican Colonization Laws: Mexico offered cheap land and tax exemptions to American settlers willing to convert to Catholicism and obey Mexican laws.
d) Growing Tensions: Cultural differences, slavery issues, and new Mexican tariffs led to Austin's arrest and Texas declaring independence in 1836.
12. The Alamo and the Goliad
a) Sam Houston's Command: Sam Houston took command of the Texan army while Santa Anna marched North to crush the rebellion.
b) Battle of the Alamo: A small force of 180 Texan rebels held off Santa Anna's army for 13 days before being completely overwhelmed.
c) The Goliad Massacre: Mexican forces executed over 300 Texan prisoners at Goliad, rallying Texas forces under the cry "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!"
d) Battle of San Jacinto: Sam Houston launched a surprise attack on Santa Anna’s camp, capturing him and forcing him to recognize Texas's independence.
13. Texas and the 1844 Election
a) Delayed Statehood: Congress rejected initial Texan requests for annexation out of fear of expanding slavery and provoking war with Mexico.
b) Election of 1844: James K. Polk won the presidency on an expansionist platform promising to annex Texas and acquire Oregon and California.
14. The Mexican-American War
a) Border Dispute: Tensions flared over disputed territory between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande.
b) Outbreak of War: Polk ordered U.S. troops across the Nueces River, sparking a skirmish that prompted Congress to declare war in May 1846.
c) Opposition to War: Dissenters like Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass questioned the justice and necessity of invading Mexico.
d) Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848): Mexico ceded over 500,000 square miles of territory to the U.S. for $15 million, extending the nation to the Pacific Coast.
e) Manifest Destiny Realized: The U.S. successfully expanded from "sea to shining sea," opening new ports for Asian trade.
15. Early Industry
a) The American System: Henry Clay championed protective tariffs, a national bank, and internal improvements to build an integrated national economy.
b) Transportation Revolution: The construction of roads, turnpikes, and canals (like the National Road) dramatically lowered shipping costs and linked markets.
c) Erie Canal: Completed in 1825, the Erie Canal linked the Great Lakes to the Hudson River, making New York City a primary trade hub.
d) Steamboats and Railroads: Robert Fulton’s steamboat and the growth of railroads revolutionized travel speed and inland trade volume.
16. The Industrial Revolution
a) Rise of Factories & Free Enterprise: Manufacturing moved from small home workshops to large power-driven factories supported by low-regulation free enterprise.
b) Cotton Gin: Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793, speeding up seed removal and massively expanding southern cotton production.
c) Textile Mills: Francis Lowell built integrated textile mills in Massachusetts, introducing mass production of cotton cloth.
d) The Telegraph: Samuel Morse developed the telegraph in 1844, allowing instantaneous long-distance communication across the country.
e) Labor Unions: Industrial workers began organizing into early unions to protest long hours, low wages, and unsafe factory conditions.
f) Urbanization Problems: Rapid urban growth created severe overpopulation, disease outbreaks, poor sanitation, and fire hazards in major cities.
17. Slavery's Impact on the North and the South
a) Northern Economy & Abolition: Northern states abolished slavery by 1804 and developed an economy based on trade and industrial manufacturing.
b) "King Cotton": Cotton became the South's primary export, creating an economy heavily dependent on enslaved labor.
c) Slave Trade Expansion: Despite the end of the foreign slave trade in 1808, the internal slave trade caused the enslaved population to grow to nearly 4 million by 1860.
18. The Conditions of Slavery
a) Slave Codes: Enslaved people were legally classified as property and forbidden from owning property, learning to read, or testifying in court.
b) Everyday Life & Culture: Enslaved people developed strong cultural, religious, and family ties to cope with severe physical labor and harsh oppression.
c) Plantation Gang System: Most enslaved field hands worked under the grueling gang system from sunrise to sunset under strict overseers.
d) Free African Americans: Hundreds of thousands of free African Americans lived in both North and South, yet still faced widespread legal and social discrimination.
e) Family Separations: The internal slave trade routinely split up families through forced auctions and sales.
f) White Population Breakdown: The vast majority of white Southerners were small farmers; only a tiny percentage belonged to the wealthy planter elite.
g) Slave Demographics: Enslaved African Americans made up roughly one-third of the total Southern population by 1850.
h) Methods of Resistance: Enslaved people resisted through work slowdowns, tool breaking, running away, and occasional armed rebellions.
i) Fear of Uprisings: Southern whites lived in constant fear of slave rebellions, leading to stricter surveillance and harsher punishment.
j) Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831): Nat Turner led a violent slave revolt in Virginia that killed nearly 60 white residents, leading to widespread terror and harsher slave laws across the South.
19. The Era of Reform
a) Benevolent Societies: Mid-1800s reform movements, influenced by religious revivalism, formed benevolent societies to tackle social issues.
b) Asylum & Prison Reform: Dorothea Dix crusaded for better conditions for the mentally ill, leading to the creation of dedicated state asylums.
c) The Temperance Movement: Reformers blamed alcohol for social ills, leading to state-level laws restricting or banning liquor sales.
d) Educational Reform: Horace Mann and other leaders pushed for tax-funded, public elementary education to create an informed electorate.