U.S. History Exam Notes

  • Part of British policy known as mercantilism (C).
  • Aim: To ensure that trade benefitted the mother country through regulation.

Jacksonian Democracy

  • Key distinction: Increased political participation by the common man (C).
  • Philosophy believed that more people, particularly the lower classes, should have a say in government.

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

  • Articulated by President Monroe primarily to:
    • Warn European nations against further colonial ventures in the Western Hemisphere (D).
    • Signified America's intent to protect its sphere of influence in the Americas.

Transportation Developments (1790-1830)

  • Significant advancements that opened the West:
    • Turnpikes and canals (A).
  • These infrastructure developments facilitated trade and expansion.

Situation of Freedmen Post-Civil War

  • In the decade following the Civil War, the majority of freedmen entered into sharecropping arrangements with former masters or nearby planters (C).
  • This system was often exploitative, leading to a cycle of poverty.

Constitutional Questions After Civil War

  • A serious constitutional question was the political and legal status of the former Confederate states (C).
  • This issue was crucial in defining the Reconstruction era.

Supreme Court Decision: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

  • The decision sanctioned separate but equal public facilities for African Americans (B).
  • This landmark ruling upheld racial segregation laws for public facilities, reinforcing the framework of Jim Crow laws.