Unit 4: Building a New National Political System (1800–1848)

The election of $1800$ demonstrated a peaceful transfer of power between the Democratic-Republicans and Federalists, described by Thomas Jefferson as a bloodless revolution.
A tie between Jefferson and Aaron Burr in the Electoral College required $35$ ballots in the House of Representatives to resolve.
The $12 ext{th}$ Amendment ( $1804$ ) was passed to require separate electoral votes for president and vice president.
Federalists remained influential through the judiciary and midnight appointments by John Adams, leading to major Supreme Court battles.
Jeffersonian ideals focused on agrarianism, strict construction of the Constitution, and reduced federal spending.

The Louisiana Purchase ( $1803$ ) doubled the United States' size after Jefferson negotiated the territory from France for geopolitical security.
Jefferson used the president's power to negotiate treaties to justify the purchase, despite his strict constructionist views.
The New England Federalists of the Essex Junto opposed the expansion, fearing a loss of regional political influence.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, aided by Sacajawea, explored the territory to assess commercial opportunities and note foreign military presence.

Tensions with Britain over impressment and maritime rights led to the Embargo Act of $1807$ , which failed economically and caused widespread smuggling.
The War of $1812$ resulted from conflicts over maritime rights, frontier safety, and British support for Native resistance led by figures like Tecumseh.
The Hartford Convention ( $1814$ – $1815$ ) caused the rapid collapse of the Federalist Party as they appeared unpatriotic.
Following the war, James Monroe presided over the Era of Good Feelings, characterized by one-party rule and rising nationalism.
Henry Clay proposed the American System, featuring protective tariffs, a national bank, and federal support for internal improvements like roads and canals.
The Adams-On%%ís Treaty ( $1819$ ) acquired Florida from Spain, and the Monroe Doctrine ( $1823$ ) warned European powers against new colonization in the Americas.
The Missouri Compromise ( $1820$ ) admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, prohibiting slavery north of latitude $36^{\circ}30'$ in the Louisiana Territory.

Marbury v. Madison ( $1803$ ): Established the doctrine of judicial review, granting the Supreme Court power to declare laws unconstitutional.
McCulloch v. Maryland ( $1819$ ): Upheld the constitutionality of the national bank using the "Necessary and Proper Clause."
Gibbons v. Ogden ( $1824$ ): Expanded federal power to regulate interstate commerce.
Worcester v. Georgia ( $1832$ ): Ruled that Georgia law had no force within Cherokee territory, though the ruling was not enforced by the executive branch.

Transportation shifted from subsistence to a commercial market economy through the National Road, steamboats, and the Erie Canal, the latter being completed in $1825$ .
By $1855$ , shipping costs fell to $\frac{1}{20}$ and transit time to $\frac{1}{5}$ of what they were in $1825$ .
Samuel Morse demonstrated the telegraph in $1844$ , allowing immediate long-distance coordination of prices and demand.
Industrialization in the North was driven by the power loom ( $1813$ ), interchangeable parts, and the Lowell system of textile labor.
In the South, Eli Whitney's cotton gin ( $1793$ ) linked northern manufacturing to the expansion of plantation slavery.

The election of $1824$ was decided by the House of Representatives, leading to accusations of a "corrupt bargain" between John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay.
The Second Party System emerged featuring the Democrats (supporters of Andrew Jackson) and the Whigs (supporters of Henry Clay and government activism).
In the Nullification Crisis, South Carolina used the South Carolina Exposition and Protest ( $1828$ ) to argue against the "Tariff of Abominations."
Jackson's Bank War resulted in the veto of the Second Bank of the United States recharter in $1832$ and the relocation of funds to "pet banks."
The Indian Removal Act ( $1830$ ) led to the forced relocation of the Five Civilized Tribes, including the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears.
The Specie Circular and the end of the bank contributed to the Panic of $1837$ , which damaged the presidency of Martin Van Buren.

The Second Great Awakening emphasized individual responsibility and moral improvement, fueling movements like temperance and education reform led by Horace Mann.
Abolitionism shifted toward "immediatism" in the $1830\text{s}$ with William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator and the leadership of Frederick Douglass.
The Seneca Falls Convention ( $1848$ ) issued the Declaration of Sentiments, framing women’s rights as a political extension of American ideals.
Transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau emphasized intuition and skepticism toward materialism.
Nat Turner's rebellion ( $1831$ ) led to harsher slave codes and the House "gag rule" regarding antislavery petitions.

Manifest Destiny represented the belief that U.S. expansion across the continent was inevitable and justified.
The Republic of Texas won independence in $1836$ , but annexation was delayed until $1845$ due to concerns over slavery and war with Mexico.
The Oregon Treaty ( $1846$ ) set the boundary with Britain at the $49\text{th}$ parallel.
The Mexican-American War ( $1846$ – $1848$ ) ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ceding much of the Southwest and California to the United States.
The Wilmot Proviso ( $1846$ ) attempted to ban slavery in the newly acquired territories, heightening sectional conflict.