Revolution of 1800: Electoral victory of Democratic Republicans over the Federalists, who lost their congressional majority and the presidency. The peaceful transfer of power between rival parties solidified faith in America’s political system.

Judiciary Act of 1801: Passed by the departing Federalist Congress, it created sixteen new federal judgeships, ensuring a Federalist hold on the judiciary.

midnight judges: Federal justices appointed by John Adams during the last days of his presidency. Thier positions were revoked when the newly elected Republican Congress repealed the Judiciary Act.

Marybury v. Madison: Supreme Court case that established the principle of “judicial review”- the idea that the Supreme Court had the final authority to determine constiuttionality.

Tripolitan War: Four-year conflict between the American navy and the North African nation of Tripoli over piracy in the Mediterranean Jefferson, a staunch noninterventionist, reluctantly deployed American forces, eventually securing a peace treaty with Tripoli.

Louisiana Purchase: Aquisition of Louisiana Territory from France. The purchase more than doubted the territory of the United States, opening vast tracts for settlement.

Corps of Discovery: Team of adventurers, led by Meriwether Lewis and WIlliam Clark, sent by Thomas Jefferson to explore Louisiana Territory and find a water route to the Pacific. Louis and Clark brought back detailed accounts of the West’s flora, fauna, and native population, and their voyage demonstrated the viability of overland travel to the West.

Orders in Council: Edicts issued by the British crown closing French-owned European ports to foreign shipping. The French responded by ordering the seizure of all vessels entering British ports, thereby cutting off American merchants from trade with both parties.

impressment: Act of forcibly drafting an individual into military service, employed by the British navy against American seamen in times of war against France, 1793-1815. Impressment was a continual source of conflict between Britain and the United States in the early national period.

Chesapeake affair: Conflict between Britain and the United States that precipitated the 1807 embargo. The conflict developed when a British ship, in search of deserters, fired on the American Chesapeake off the coast of Virginia.

Embargo Act: Enacted in response to British and French mistreatment of American merchants, the act banned the export of all goods from the United States to any foreign port. The embargo placed great strains on the American economy, while only marginally affecting its European targets, and was therefore repealed in 1809.

Non-Intercourse Act: Passed alongside the repeal of the Embargo Act, it reopened trade with all but the two belligerent nations, Britain and France. The act continued Jefferson’s policy of economic coercion, still with little effect.

Macon’s Bill No. 2: Aimed at resuming peaceful trade with Britain and France, the act stipulated that if either Britain of France repealed its trade restrictions. the United States would reinstate the embargo against the nonrepealing national. When Napoleon offered to lift his restrictions on British ports, the United States was forced to declare an embargo on Britain, thereby pushing the two nations closer toward war.

war hawks: Democratic-Republican congressmen who pressed James Madison to declare war on Britain. Largely drawn from the South and West, the war hawks resented British constraints on American trade and accused the British of supporting Indian attacks against American settlements on the frontier.

Battle of Tippecanoe: Resulted in the defeat of Shawnee chief Tenskwatawa, “the Prophet,” at the hands of William Henry Harrison in the Indiana wilderness. After the battle, the Prophet’s brother, Tecumseh, forged an alliance with the British against the United States.

Thomas Jefferson:

Sally Hemmings:

Albert Gallatin:

John Marshall:

Samual Chase:

Napoleon Bonaparte:

Robert R. Livingston:

Toussaint L’Ouverture:

Meriwether Lewis:

William Clark:

Sacajawea:

Aaron Burr:

James Wilkinson:

James Madison:

Tecumseh:

Tenskwatawa (“the Prophet”):