Chapter 14

Front 1

Commonwealth v. Hunt

Back 1

Massachusetts Supreme Court decision that strengthened the labor movement by upholding the legality of unions

Front 2

Ancient Order of Hibernians

Back 2

Irish semi-secret society that served as a benevolent organization for downtrodden Irish immigrants in the United States

Front 3

Awful Disclosures

Back 3

Maria Monk’s sensational expose of alleged horrors in Catholic convents. Its popularity reflected nativist fears of Catholic influence

Front 4

clipper ships

Back 4

Small, swift vessels that gave American shippers an advantage in the carrying trade. Clipper ships were made largely obsolete by the advent of sturdier, roomier iron steamers on the eve of the Civil War

Front 5

cotton gin

Back 5

Eli Whitney’s invention that sped up the process of harvesting cotton. The gin made cotton cultivation more profitable, revitalizing the Southern economy and increasing the importance of slavery in the South

Front 6

cult of domesticity

Back 6

Pervasive nineteenth-century cultural creed that venerated the domestic role of women. It gave married women greater authority to shape home life but limited opportunities outside the domestic sphere

Front 7

ecological imperialism

Back 7

Historians’ term for the spoliation of Western natural resources through excessive hunting, logging, mining, and grazing

Front 8

Erie Canal

Back 8

Erie Canal New York state canal that linked Lake Erie to the Hudson River. It dramatically lowered shipping costs, fueling an economic boom in upstate New York and increasing the profitability of farming in the Old Northwest

Front 9

factory girls

Back 9

Young women employed in the growing factories of the early nineteenth century, they labored long hours in difficult conditions, living in socially new conditions away from farms and families

Front 10

Industrial Revolution

Back 10

Shift toward mass production and mechanization that included the creation of the modern factory system

Front 11

Know-Nothing Party

Back 11

Nativist political party, also known as the American party, which emerged in response to an influx of immigrants, particularly Irish Catholics

Front 12

limited liability

Back 12

Legal principle that facilitates capital investment by offering protection for individual investors, who, in cases of legal claims or bankruptcy, cannot be held responsible for more than the value of their individual shares

Front 13

market revolution

Back 13

Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century transformation from a disaggregated, subsistence economy to a national commercial and industrial network

Front 14

McCormick reaper

Back 14

Mechanized the harvest of grains, such as wheat, allowing farmers to cultivate larger plots. The introduction of the reaper in the 1830s fueled the establishment of large-scale commercial agriculture in the Midwest

Front 15

Molly Maguires

Back 15

Secret organization of Irish miners that campaigned, at times violently, against poor working conditions in the Pennsylvania mines

Front 16

Patent Office

Back 16

Pate Federal government bureau that reviews patent applications. A patent is a legal recognition of a new invention, granting exclusive rights to the inventor for a period of years

Front 17

Pony Express

Back 17

Short-lived, speedy mail service between Missouri and California that relied on lightweight riders galloping between closely placed outposts

Front 18

rendezvous

Back 18

The principal marketplace of the Northwest fur trade, which peaked in the 1820s and 1830s. Each summer, traders set up camps in the Rocky Mountains to exchange manufactured goods for beaver pelts

Front 19

Self-Reliance

Back 19

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s popular lecture-essay that reflected the spirit of individualism pervasive in American popular culture during the 1830s and 1840s

Front 20

Tammany Hall

Back 20

Powerful New York political machine that primarily drew support from the city’s immigrants, who depended on Tammany Hall patronage, particularly social services

Front 21

transportation revolution

Back 21

Term referring to a series of nineteenth-century transportation innovations—turnpikes, steamboats, canals, and railroads—that linked local and regional markets, creating a national economy

Front 22

Turnpike

Back 22

Privately funded, toll-based public road constructed in the early nineteenth century to facilitate commerce