APUSH Period 4

 1790 - 1820s - SECOND GREAT AWAKENING 

• Belief in individual salvation, emotional preaching, and an emphasis on personal piety and moral reform

• Stimulated moral and philanthropic reforms → Temperance, emancipation and women’s rights

• Charles Grandison Finney - preacher and evangelist

• Lyman Beecher - advocate for moral reform and temperance.

1800 - “Revolution of 1800”

• Election was fought over issues including the Alien and Sedition Acts, the role of the federal government, and foreign policy

• Tie in electoral votes between Jefferson & Burr had to be resolved by the House of Representatives

• Jefferson called the election a revolution because it marked the first time that power in America passed from one political party to another peacefully

• Jefferson promised a decentralized government and to return to the “original spirit of 1776” 

1803 - Marbury v. Madison & the Marshall Court

• Established the principle of judicial review in Marbury v. Madison (1803). 

  • asserted Court's authority to review and invalidate laws passed by Congress that were deemed unconstitutional → stronger judiciary

• Expanded the powers of the federal government at the expense of the states → McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) upheld the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States and affirmed the supremacy of federal laws over state laws.

• Issued decisions that protected contracts and property rights in Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) →  states could not interfere with private contracts

1803 - Louisiana Purchase & Lewis & Clark Expedition

• Gave US control of the Mississippi River and port city of New Orleans

• Doubled size of US strengthened country materially and strategically

• Provided powerful impetus to westward expansion and confirmed doctrine of implied powers of federal constitution

• Purchased for $15 million

• Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the land, establish trade with Natives, and confirm sovereignty of US in the region

• Hard decision for Jefferson because he had a strict interpretation of constitution but it was too good of a good deal

  • Criticized because Constitution doesn’t say that president has the power to purchase territory

1807 -  Embargo Act

• In response to  British impressment of US ships → general embargo on all foreign nations enacted by US congress with intent of harming Britain and France during Napoleonic Wars 

• Intended to affect economy of belligerent nations but ended up gaining opposition in US and hurting US economy

• Resulted in smuggling

• Federalists opposed it

1807 - Fulton invents the steamboat

• Helped power industrial revolution

• Carried crops up and down rivers

• Clermont  – first steamship – demonstrated the practicality and efficiency of steam-powered boats for river and ocean travel.

• River towns were built near large southern plantations

1811 - Construction of Cumberland Road Begins

• Called “national Road:” Started in Maryland and ended in Illinois 

• First federally funded road in US

• Main debates was over the role of the federal government in funding and building infrastructure. 

  • Supporters of the Cumberland Road argued that the federal government had a responsibility to promote internal improvements to facilitate commerce and communication. 

  • Opponents argued that such projects should be left to the states.

  • debates also reflected sectional tensions: southern politicians opposed federal funding for internal improvements, arguing that such projects primarily benefited the northern states.

1812 -  War of 1812 begins 

• Caused by British practice of impressment ex. Chesapeake incident (Chesapeake-Leopard Affair)

• Federalists/Northerners generally opposed war

• Native Americans sided with British to secure independence

• Expansionist tendencies by war hawks like Calhoun & Clay (mostly from West & South)

1814 - Hartford Convention

• Federalist party met to discuss their grievances with the War of 1812

• Proposed constitutional amendments to protect their sections’ interests 

  • Wanted 2/3 majority for declarations of war and admitting new states and to limit presidents to a single term.

  • Talk of secession

• Allegations that some New England Federalists were signaling British ships with blue lights to aid them in war → Federalists lost popularity

1815 - War of 1812 Ends 

• Boost in manufacturing capabilities of US while cut off from trade

• Wave of nationalism → Era of Good Feelings

• Treaty of Ghent: No territory gained or lost

1815 - Henry Clay advocates for the “American System”

• National economic plan supported by Whigs

• High tariffs to protect American business and increase revenues, national bank, and federal subsidies to fund transportation projects

• Purpose was to assist America to become self sufficient while spurring economic growth

Early 19th century - MARKET REVOLUTION 

• Widespread mechanization of industry

• Southern economy: Cotton gin invented by Eli Whitney reduced labor of removing seeds → resurgence in importance of slavery

• Sewing machine invented by Singer and Howe →  mass production of clothing and a textile industry

• Telegraph invented by Samuel Morse

• Eli Whitney also invented interchangeable parts which enabled production of large numbers of identical parts quickly at a low price

• Low wages and lots of immigrant workers → decline in skilled labor

• Overall improvements in transportation, communication, and industry

1820 - Missouri Compromise

• By Henry Clay to keep balance between number of slave and free states

• Allowed Missouri to enter as a slave state while Maine entered as a slave state → line drawn west at 36’ 30

• Slavery was to be excluded from all new states in the Louisiana Purchase north of the southern boundary of Missouri (36’ 30)

• Soothed sectional tension over expansion of slavery until after Mexican-American War (1848)

1823 - Monroe Doctrine

• Warned European powers not to interfere in the affairs of western hemisphere → No further colonization allowed

• intended to protect the newly independent countries of Latin America from European intervention and to prevent European powers from reasserting control over territories in the Western Hemisphere.

• largely symbolic at the time of its announcement → US did not have military might to enforce it

1823 - Stephen Austin granted land in Texas

• Austin traveled to San Antonio to request a land grant from Mexican governor and was granted permission to settle American families if they converted to Catholicism & obeyed Mexican laws

• Slavery outlawed in Mexico, but Americans brought slaves anyway →issue of slavery led to delay in annexing Texas

1824 - The Election of 1824 and the “Corrupt Bargain”

• No candidate won a majority of the electoral votes  → decided by the House, as outlined in the 12th Amendment to the Constitution.

• 4th place in votes, Clay supported Adams who secured the electoral votes needed → appointed Clay as his Secretary of State

• Supporters of Jackson, who had won the popular vote and had the most electoral votes but not a majority, claimed Adams and Clay had made a "corrupt bargain" 

• End of Era of Good Feelings which had begun after the War of 1812 

1825 - Erie Canal completed

• Doubters called it “Clinton’s Big Ditch”

• Built from Hudson River to Lake Erie → improved economy of New York

• funded primarily by the state of New York through government bonds but also received federal support in the form of land grants and loans from the federal government

• Decreased cost of transporting goods

1828 - Jackson becomes president & uses the “spoils system”

• Referred to as “rise of common man” 

• Spoils system - president appointed his/party’s loyal supporters to positions rather than based on merit

• Founded the Democratic party (2nd 2 Party System) with Whigs in opposition

1828 - 1833 -  Tariff of Abominations & the Nullification Crisis

• Protective tariff passed by Congress designed to protect industry in the North → negative impact on the South, which relied more heavily on imported goods

• Nullification crisis - Calhoun (vice president) proposed nullification which declared the tariff unconstitutional and unenforceable

  • Tensions between state and federal authority

• Jackson viewed nullification as a prelude to secession & issued Force Bill (empowered the President to use the military to enforce federal laws in states that refused to comply) but ultimately agreed to reduce tariff

1830s - Jackson Battles the US Bank

• Jackson claimed the national bank was unconstitutional. He argued that the bank favored the wealthy elite and concentrated too much economic power in the hands of a few.

• Retaliated against it by removing federal deposits and placing them in “pet” state banks

• Vetoed the bill to recharter the bank

• Specie Circular – executive order that required payment for government land to be made in gold or silver

• Actions led to Panic of 1837 faced by successor Van Buren

1830s - Indian Removal and the Trail of Tears

• Worcester v. Georgia (1832)  – Jackson and the state of Georgia refused to abide by the decision that recognized Cherokee sovereignty. Jackson reportedly said, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it," highlighting his opposition to the Court's decision and his support for states' rights.

• Indian Removal Act: Authorized the president to grant “unsettled” lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Cherokee lands in Georgia

• Trail of Tears - Cherokee tribe was forced to migrate to Oklahoma

  • Devastating effects: Hunger, disease, exhaustion

1830s - Transcendentalism 

• American philosophical movement: emphasized individualism, self-reliance, and the inherent goodness of people and nature. 

• primarily a philosophical and literary movement, many Transcendentalists were also involved in social reform movements, such as utopian movement, abolitionism and women's rights

• Emerson: Essay “Self Reliance;” valued nature & non-conformity

• Thoreau: simple live (“Walden”) & Skepticism of authority (“On  Civil Disobedience”)

1831 - William Lloyd Garrison founded Liberator Newspaper

• Most widely circulated anti slavery newspaper

• Advocacy of "immediate and complete emancipation of all slaves"

• Radical abolitionist – burned a copy of the Constitution in protest on July 4, 1854 criticizing that slavery was enshrined in this document of a so-called democracy

• Est. American Anti-Slavery Society

1840 - Election of 1840 & rise of mass democracy

• "Log Cabin and Hard Cider" campaign used by the Whig Party to promote William Henry Harrison against the incumbent President Martin Van Buren →  use of populist imagery and slogans to appeal to the common people.

  • "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too"

• Removal of property requirements for voting (universal white male suffrage) → Mass rallies and parades drew large crowds, and voter turnout reached record levels.

1836 - Lone Star Rebellion

• Tensions led to war between American Texans & Mexico. 

• Mexican General Santa Anna led troops to subdue the rebellious Texans. 

• After a defeat at the Alamo, Texans led by Sam Houston defeated Mexico & proclaimed the “Lone Star Republic”

  • Sam Houston served as its first president. 

  • Texas remained an independent republic for nearly a decade before being annexed by the United States in 1845

1837 - John C. Calhoun claimed slavery is a “positive good” 

• Claimed that it benefitted slaves and owners & that conditions were better for slaves in South than for “wage slaves” in the North

• Attempt to justify an inhumane institution upon which plantation owners were dependent and have invested millions

1841 - 1845 - Tyler Presidency

• Harrison died after 32 days → first VP to fill void by president’s death

• Clashed with Whigs & expelled from the party after vetoing bill to re-est. The national Bank → Candidate without a party

• With support of president-elect Polk, secured annexation of Texas

1840s - Influx of Irish & German Immigrants 

• Mostly Irish & German (“Old Immigrants”)

• Let to Nativism → Know Nothing Party