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This group provided political organization necessary to unite colonies in their opposition to parlaiment. It was orgainzed by New England patriot leader, Samuel Adams
Commities of Correspondance
Samuel Adams
This act stated that Parliament could legislate for the colonies in all cases. Passed just after the repeal of the Stamp Act, most colonists interpreted the act as a face-saving mechanism and nothing more. However, Parliament continually interpreted the act to its broadest extent and continued to try to legislate in the colonies.
Declaratory Act
Well I declare!
This was a group of Boston merchants and artisans that formed during the Stamp Act crisis to lead the public in attempts to drive the stamp distributors from the city. This was one of the first steps toward political organization in the colonies.
Loyal Nine
They wanted to live on cloud
This Act was enacted in 1765, requiring colonial assemblies to pay for certain supplies for troops stationed within their respective colonies. In 1767, New York, the colony in which the greatest number of troops were stationed, refused to comply with the law, provoking parliament to threaten the nullification of all laws passed by the New York colonial legislature.
Quartering Act
Give me a quarter for my service!
This term refers to the state of Anglo-American relations before the end of the French and Indian War. British Parliament did not interfere in the government of the colonies, and America existed in relative political isolation.
Salutary Neglect
OUCH!
This is a group of successors from the Loyal Nine as the leaders of the opposition to the Stamp Act. They brought a new level of sophistication to the mass demonstrations, prohibiting their followers to carry weapons and using strict discipline and military formations to direct the protestors.
Sons of Liberty
The father and his boy
This tax required Americans to buy special watermarked paper for newspapers and all legal documents. Violators faced juryless trials in vice-admiralty courts, just as under the Sugar Act. This act provoked the first truly organized response to British impositions.
Stamp Act
You can get this at the post office.
This taxation lowered the duty on foreign-produced molasses from six pence per gallon to 3 pence per gallon, in attempts to discourage smuggling. The act further stipulated that Americans could export many commodities, including lumber, iron, skins, and whalebone, to foreign countries, only if they passed through British ports first. The act also placed a heavy tax on formerly duty- free Madeira wine from Portugal. The terms of the act and its methods of enforcement outraged many colonists.
Sugar Act
sweeeet...
Parliament passed the Revenue Act of 1767 on July 2, 1767 and was often referred to ____________. The taxed glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea entering the colonies. The colonists objected to the fact that it was clearly designed more to raise revenue than to regulate trade in a manner favorable to the British Empire.
the Revenue Act
Rhymes with Avenue
In response to the Stamp Act, Patrick Henry persuaded the Virginia House of Burgesses to adopt several strongly worded resolutions that denied Parliament's right to tax the colonies. These resolutions persuaded many other colonial legislatures to adopt similar positions.
Virginia Resolves
It solves the problem
This concept was employed by Prime Minister George Grenville to explain why Parliament could legally tax the colonists even though the colonists could not elect any members of Parliament. This held that the members of Parliament did not only represent their specific geographical constituencies, but rather that they took into consideration the well being of all British subjects when deliberating on legislation.
Virtual Representation
u voted for me?
General search warrants, which allowed customs officers to search any building or ship they thought might contain smuggled goods, even without probable cause for suspicion. The colonists considered them to be a grave infringement upon personal liberties.
Writs of Assistance
Well if u insist
This man played a key role in the defense of Colonial rights. He had been a leader of the Sons of Liberty, and suggested the formation of the committees of correspondence. He was a crucial role in spreading the principle of colonial rights throughout New England.
Samuel Adams
mmm..beeer.
On March 5, 1770, a crowd led by sailor Crispus Attucks formed to demonstrate against the customs agents. When a British officer tried to disperse the crowd, he and his men were bombarded with rocks and dared to shoot by the unruly mob. After being knocked to the ground, one soldier finally did shoot, and others followed. Five people were killed, including Attucks, who is often considered the first casualty of the Revolutionary War
Boston Massacre
Blooody
In response to the Stamp Act, and representing a new level of pan-colonial political organization, on October 7, 1765, representatives of nine colonial assemblies met in New York City. The colonies agreed widely on the principles that Parliament could not tax anyone outside of Great Britain, and could not deny anyone a fair trial, both of which had been done in the American colonies.
Stamp Act Congress
A major group of ppl with a major tax
A prominent Boston lawyer who first became famous for defending the British soldiers accused of murdering five civilians in the Boston Massacre. He was origanally a delegate from Massachusetts in the Continental Congresses, where he rejected proposals for reconciliation with Britain. He served as vice president to George Washington and was president of the United States from 1797 to 1801.
John Adams
Second cousin of the beer guy
A Philadelphia printer, inventor, and patriot. He was also a delegate for the Second Continental Congress and a member of the committee responsible for helping to draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Benjamin Franklin
He drew the famous “Join or Die” political cartoon for the Albany Congress.
Prime minister of Parliament at the close of the French and Indian War. he was responsible for enforcing the Navigation Act and for passing the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Currency Act, and Quartering Act in the mid-1760s. He assumed, incorrectly, that colonists would be willing to bear a greater tax burden after Britain had invested so much in protecting them from the French and Native Americans.
George Grenville
VILLE!!
A radical colonist famous for his “Give me liberty or give me death” speech. He openly advocated rebellion against the Crown in the years prior to the Revolutionary War.
Patrick Henry
Oh ___! (candy)
Virginian planter and lawyer who eventually became president of the United States. he was invaluable to the revolutionary cause. In 1776, he drafted the Declaration of Independence, which justified American independence from Britain. Later, he served as the first secretary of state under President George Washington and as vice president to John Adams. he then was elected presidentin 1800 and 1804.
Thomas Jefferson
Rhymes with leffersome
A radical philosopher who strongly supported republicanism and civic virtue. His 1776 pamphlet Common Sense was a bestselling phenomenon in the American colonies and convinced thousands to rebel against the “royal brute,” King George III. When subsequent his radical writings, which supported republicanism and condemned monarchy, were published in Britain, he was tried in absentia, found guilty of seditious libel, and declared an outlaw in England
Thomas Paine
This guy was a real ___ in King George III's butt
British statesman who provided crucial leadership during the latter half of the French and Indian War. This man focused British war efforts so that Britain could defeat the French in Canada. Many have argued that without his leadership, Britain would have lost the war to the French and their allies.
William Pitt
Could be related to Brad..
Another Virginia planter and militia officer. he participated in the first engagement of the French and Indian War in 1754 and later became commander in chief of the American forces during the Revolutionary War. In 1789, he became president of the United States. Although he actually lost most of the military battles he fought, his leadership skills were unparalleled and were integral to the creation of the United States.
George Washington
eventually became the first president of the United States.
A congress convened by British officials in 1754 promoting a unification of British colonies in North America for security and defense against the French. Although this group failed to foster any solid colonial unity, it did bring together many colonial leaders who would later play key roles in the years before the Revolutionary War.
Albany Congress
“Join or Die.”
Two battles, fought on April 19, 1775, that opened the Revolutionary War. When British troops engaged a small group of colonial militiamen in these small town, the militiamen fought back and eventually forced the British to retreat, harrying the redcoats on the route back to Boston using guerrilla tactics. The battle sent shockwaves throughout the colonies and the world, as it was astonishing that farmers were able to beat the British forces. This battle marked a significant turning point because open military conflict made reconciliation between Britain and the colonies all the more unlikely.
Battle of Lexington and Concord
The bad chord
A 1777 British defeat that was a major turning point in the Revolutionary War. The defeat convinced the French to ally themselves with the United States and enter the war against Britain. Most historians agree that without help from France, the United States could not have won the war.
Battle of Saratoga
TOGA! TOGA!
An incident that took place on December 16, 1773, when a band of Bostonians led by the Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as Native Americans and destroyed chests of tea aboard ships in the harbor. The Tea Party prompted the passage of the Intolerable Acts to punish Bostonians and make them pay for the destroyed tea.
Boston Tea Party
PARTTTAAAY
A meeting convened in late 1774 that brought together delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies (Georgia abstained) in order to protest the Intolerable Acts. Colonial leaders stood united against these and other British acts and implored Parliament and King George III to repeal them. This congress also created an association to organize and supervise a boycott on all British goods. Although the delegates did not request home rule or desire independence, they believed that the colonies should be given more power to legislate themselves.
First Continental Congress
prime world gathering!
A war—part of the Seven Years’ War fought in the mid-1700s among the major European powers—waged in North America from 1754 to 1763. The British and American colonists fought in the war against the French and their Native American allies. After the war, the British emerged as the dominant European power on the eastern half of the continent.
French and Indian War
hence the American name for the war
Those who chose to support Britain during the Revolutionary War. These people were particularly numerous in the lower southern states, but they also had support from Anglican clergymen, wealthy citizens, and colonial officials. Thousands served in ____ militias or in the British army, while others fled to Canada, the West Indies, or England. A large majority of black slaves also chose to support Britain because they believed an American victory would only keep them enslaved. Native Americans sided with the British, too, fearing that American settlers would consume their lands if the United States won.
Loyalists
Like a dog to their owner
An economic theory predominant in the 1700s that stipulated that nations should amass wealth in order to increase their power. Under this term, the European powers sought new colonies in the Americas, Africa, and Asia because they wanted sources of cheap natural resources such as gold, cotton, timber, tobacco, sugarcane, and furs. They shipped these materials back to Europe and converted them into manufactured goods, which they resold to the colonists at high prices.
Mercantilism
they sent merchants
Those who supported the war against Britain. In January 1776, the English émigré philosopher and radical Thomas Paine published the pamphlet Common Sense, which beseeched Americans to rebel against the “royal brute,” King George III, declare independence, and establish a new republican government. The pamphlet sold an estimated 100,000 copies in just a few months and convinced many Americans that the time had come to be free of Britain forever.
Patriots
A football team
An uprising led by the Ottawa chief Pontiac against British settlers after the end of the French and Indian War. Pontiac united several Native American tribes in the Ohio Valley and attacked British and colonial settlements in the region. The forces under Pontiac laid siege to Detroit and succeeded in taking all but four of the fortified posts they attacked. Although the British army defeated Pontiac’s warriors and squelched the rebellion, Parliament issued the Proclamation of 1763 as a conciliatory gesture to the Native Americans, recognizing their right to their territories.
Pontiac’s Rebellion
A cars fight
A meeting convened in 1775 by colonial leaders to discuss how to proceed after the recent Battle of Lexington and Concord. The Congress decided to try one last time to restore peaceful relations with Britain by signing the Olive Branch Petition. In the meantime, they prepared for national defense by creating a navy and the Continental Army and installing George Washington in command of the latter. At this point, many believed that war was inevitable.
Second Continental Congress
oh be gee it's in the question
He was an English Philosopher who influenced the thoughts and actions of American leaders in the revolutionary era. The author of Two Treatises of Government (1690),he attacked the theory of divine right of kings, arguing that the power of the state rested on the power of the people. Locke believed that governments were formed to protect the natural rights of men, and that overthrowing a government that did not protect these rights was not only a right, but also an obligation. His thoughts influenced many revolutionary pamphlets and documents, including the Virginia Constitution of 1776, and the Declaration of Independence. Additionally, his ideas about checks and balances and the division of church and state were later embodied in the U.S. Constitution.
John Locke
Be sure to lock the door@
rose up as the opponents of the Constitution during the period of ratification. They advocated a governmental structure that granted power to the states.
Anti-Federalist
I don't like the federal government
Adopted in 1777 during the Revolutionary War, these papers were the document that established the United States of America. They granted few powers to the central government and left most powers up to the individual states. The result was a weak, rather ill-defined state. These documents were replaced by the Constitution in 1789.
Articles of Confederation -
CONFIRMATION COMPLETE
Though the Anti-federalists were not able to block the ratification of the Constitution, they did make progress in ensuring that this document would be created. It was drafted by a group led by James Madison, was the collection of the first ten amendments to the Constitution, which guaranteed the civil rights of American citizens.
Bill of Rights
Mr. Bill
The Constitution set forth a government composed of 3 branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial. Each branch was given certain powers over the others to ensure that no one branch usurped a dangerous amount of power. This system, represented the solution to the problem of how to empower the central government, yet protect against corruption and despotism.
Checks and Balances
Gymnist use this beam to maintain
The bicameral legislative body set up by the Connecticut Compromise. The two houses of _____, the Senate and the House of Representatives, accorded to both the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan, in that membership numbers in the House were determined by state population, and representatives in the Senate were fixed at two per state.
Congress
Rhymes with Progress..
The document produced by the Constitutional Convention, and ratified by the states in 1789. As opposed to the Articles of Confederation, the document replaced it, It helped create a strong central government with broad judicial, legislative, and executive powers, though the extent of these powers were purposely reined in by the ___ itself.
Constitution
bases of our nation
Article I, Section VIII of the Constitution states that Congress shall have the power "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution...powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States." This____ was the point of much contention between those who favored a loose reading of the Constitution and those who favored a strict reading
Elastic Clause
RUBBER BAND
documents which contained a series of newspaper articles written by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton which enumerate the arguments in favor of the Constitution and against the Anti-federalists.
The Federalist Papers
papel
First rising to national attention during the process of ratification, they remained an important influence on the government throughout the Washington administration. Led by Alexander Hamilton, they believed in a strong central government at the expense of state powers.
Federalists
UNITY MAN!
this peace agreement provided for the removal of British troops from American land, and avoided the outbreak of war with Britain. While seen as unsuccessful by the majority of the American public, this agreement may have been the greatest diplomatic feat of the Washington administration, avoiding the outbreak of war.
Jay's Treaty
Mr. K's War was settled by Mr.__'s ____
was presented at the Constitutional Convention as an alternative to the Virginia Plan. It favored small states in that it proposed a unicameral Congress with equal representation for each state.
New Jersey Plan
less population more representatin (?)
In 1787 this defined the process by which new states could be admitted into the Union from the Northwest Territory. It forbade slavery in the territory, but allowed citizens to vote on the legality of slavery once statehood had been established. It was the most lasting measure of the national government under the Articles of Confederation, in that it established the model which would be used for admission of new states well into the future.
Northwest Ordinance
knid of like the things u hang on a christmas tree
Rising up as the opposition party to the dominant Federalists during the Washington administration,_______ claimed that liberty could only be protected if political power were rested firmly in the hands of the people and those government officials closest and most responsive to the people. They fought to overturn Alexander Hamilton's measures and distribute greater power to the states
Republicans
What Bush is
favored a strict reading of the Constitution and especially of the elastic clause, in order to limit the powers of the central government. Led by Thomas Jefferson, this group embodied the ideological core of the Republican Party
Strict Constructionists
The highest judicial body in the land, as created by the Constitution.
Supreme Court
u can get the 1st part at taco bell
During the framing of the Constitution, Southern delegates argued that slaves should count toward representative seats, while the delegates of northern states, most of which had or would soon abolish slavery, argued that to count slaves as members of the population would grant an unfair advantage to the southern states. The result of this debate was the adoption of the ______, which allowed three-fifths of all slaves to be counted as people.
Three-fifths Clause
Not quite a rubber band
was the first major proposal covering representation presented to the Constitutional Convention. It proposed the creation of a bicameral legislature with representation in both houses proportional to population. It favored the large states, who would have a much weightier voice than the small states under this plan.
Virginia Plan
The small states proposed the New Jersey Plan in opposition.
The outspoken leader of the Federalists, He emerged as a major political figure during the Constitutional Convention, and during the period of ratification, as one of the authors of The Federalist Papers. As Secretary of Treasury under Washington,he spearheaded the government's Federalist initiatives, most notably through his proposals on the subject of public credit and the creation of the Bank of the United States.
Alexander Hamilton
mm..haaaamm...
HE played an important role in the establishment of the new government under the Constitution. One of the authors of The Federalist Papers, he was involved in the drafting of the Constitution, became the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court under Washington, and went on to negotiate Jay's Treaty with Britain to head off war in 1795.
John Jay
the treaty gives it away
Washington appointed ____, his first Secretary of War. Knox played a valuable role in the development of the executive branch. His most notable actions came in relation to the struggle with the Native Americans on the frontier, where he declared the Indian title to the land officially recognized by the US in the early 1790s.
Henry Knox
What a FOX!
He joined forces with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay as a Federalist leader during the Constitutional Convention and beyond. He was one of the authors of The Federalist Papers and, as a member of the first Congress, a staunch advocate of strong central government. However, after a string of Federalist measures that asserted the power of the national government over the state in questionable areas, he defected from the Federalist cause and became a critic of excessive central power. He joined Thomas Jefferson in leading the rising Republican Party.
James Madison
Originally planning to discuss the promotion of interstate commerce, delegates from five states met at this city in September 1786 and ended up suggesting a convention to amend the Articles of Confederation.
Annapolis Convention
Like Monstropolis
As economic depression struck Massachusetts, farmers were increasingly burdened by debt, a problem exacerbated by an increase in taxes. In August 1786, Western Massachusetts farmers organized in an attempt to shut down three county courthouses through violent means in order to prevent foreclosure proceedings. The rebellion was easily put down, but it alerted many to the weaknesses of the government under the Articles of Confederation.
Shays' Rebellion
shhh yy
Alexander Hamilton had pushed a high excise tax through Congress as part of his economic policy efforts. However, the tax affected western Pennsylvania distillers almost exclusively, and was administered by federal officials with little knowledge of or compassion for the situation of the small farmers. Violence broke out in July 1794. In a short period of time over one hundred men attacked a US Marshall, the chief revenue officer for Allegheny County saw his house and stables burned to the ground, and organized, militant farmers threatened to form a separate country. In a show of strength, George Washington himself, led a force of militiamen to crush the rebellion.
Whiskey Rebellion
no hint
Published on September 19, 1796, George Washington officially resigned the presidency after two terms, setting a precedent that would remain in place until FDR in the 1930s. The focus of the address was a warning that Americans should avoid the rise of political parties that the previous years had seen. He further advised future generations to maintain a policy of isolationism in foreign affairs.
Washington's Farewell Address
An influential planter and statesman from Virginia, this man proposed the resolution that led both to the formulation of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. He served as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, once serving as its president, and was one of a committee of three to review the Articles of Confederation for completeness before it was sent to the states for ratification. He later served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and received credit for drafting the 10th Amendment, which guaranteed states' rights.
Richard Henry Lee
Who was the last to ratify the articles of confederation
Maryland in 1781
A a diplomat to spain, he attempted to negotiate for American access to trade along the Mississippi River. Threatened by Americans moving westward, the Spanish diplomat recommended instead that Spain would establish trade with eastern U.S. ports, assist in removing Great Britain from the Great Lakes and assist in combating the Barbary Pirates. Southern and Western delegates in Congress viewed with contempt this plan that seemed to sacrifice their interests to the commercial interests of the Northeast.
Jay-Gardoqui talks
Proposed by Thomas Jefferson just a month after Virginia officially handed over western lands to congress, this ordinance established the process by which new lands would be divided into states, the process for surveying and sale, and the qualifications of new states to enter into Congress. This ordinance set the precedent to prohibit any attempts to colonize newly ceded lands.
Land Ordinance of 1784
This treaty, negotiated on behalf of the U.S. by Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and Samuel Adams, formally acknowledged the independence of the thirteen American colonies, and set the boundaries of the new nation at the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Mississippi River in the west, Florida in the south, and Canada in the north.
Treaty of Paris
OOO laa laa
A former governor of Indiana Territory and brigadier general in the U.S. Army who rose to national stardom when he defeated the Northwest Confederacy at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. He went on to be elected president in 1840.
William Henry Harrison
A hero of the war of 1812 and the Creek War who later entered the national political arena and became president in 1829. He was nicknamed “Old Hickory,” and was the first U.S. president to come from a region west of the Appalachians
Andrew Jackson
on the $20
A Virginia officer, lawyer, and Democratic-Republican who was elected president in 1816 and inaugurated the Era of Good Feelings. An excellent administrator, he bolstered the federal government and supported internal improvements, and was so popular in his first term that he ran uncontested in 1820. The “good feelings” ended, however, during the Missouri Crisis that split the United States along north-south lines. This man is most famous for his 1823 Monroe Doctrine, which warned European powers against interfering in the Western Hemisphere.
James Monroe
A group of acts passed in 1798, designed to restrict the freedom of foreigners in the United States and curtail the free press in anticipation of a war with France. These acts lengthened the residency time required for foreigners to become American citizens from five years to fourteen years and gave the president the power to expel aliens considered dangerous to the nation. It was passed simultaneously with the Sedition Act, and together they provoked the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, written the same year in protest. These resolutions stated that individual states had the right to nullify unconstitutional laws passed by Congress.
Alien Acts
FLYING SAUCER
Successors of the Anti-Federalists who formed a party under Thomas Jefferson’s leadership during Washington’s and Adams’s presidencies. They generally favored westward expansion, the formation of an agrarian republic, and an alliance with France, and were strict constructionists and advocates of states’ rights. Political battles between the ____________ and the Federalists were frequent during the first years of the nineteenth century. Though the federalist party died out during the War of 1812, the ___________________ lived on during the Era of Good Feelilngs and eventually became the Democratic party.
Democratic-Republicans
They were both major parties
A body of representatives appointed by states to cast their votes for president. The presidential candidate who receives the most of these type of votes, regardless of how many popular votes he or she receives, becomes president. The framers of the Constitution created this out of fear that the whimsical American masses might one day popularly elect someone “unfit” for the presidency.
Electoral College
A school u go to for electornics?
A liquor tax proposed by Alexander Hamilton in 1790 to raise revenue so that Congress could pay off all national and state debts. This taxation was immensely unpopular with western farmers, whose protests eventually culminated in the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794.
Excise Tax of 1791
a tiny chug
An agreement between the large and small states at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to create a bicameral (two-house) Congress with one chamber of delegates assigned based on population (the House of Representatives) and another chamber in which all states had two representatives regardless of population (the Senate). The agreement ended the deadlock among the states and set a precedent for compromise in American politics.
Great Compromise
This was better than good!
An 1814–1815 meeting of delegates from five New England states in Hartford, Connecticut, to discuss possible secession from the Union due to discontent with the War of 1812. The delegates ultimately decided to remain in the Union but sent a petition to Congress, requesting amendments to the Constitution in order to alter the office of the presidency and to change the distribution and powers of Congress. None of their demands were met, however, because the petition arrived at Congress during celebrations over Andrew Jackson’s victory at the Battle of New Orleans and the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. Nonetheless, the convention demonstrated the sectional nature of the war and the growing differences between the North and the South.
Hartford Convention
take heart
A series of acts passed in the 1790s that attempted to smooth relations between the United States and Native American tribes along the western frontier. The act attempted to regulate trade between these groups and promised that the United States would acquire western lands only via treaties. Most American settlers ignored this bill, which produced bloody clashes between tribes and settlers.
Indian Intercourse Acts
HOW!
The first act that Congress passed, which created the tiered U.S. federal court system. The Supreme Court, under Chief Justice John Jay, was at the head of the court system, supported by three circuit courts and thirteen district courts. Even though this act strengthened federal judicial power, it also upheld local and state courts by stipulating that most cases heard in federal courts would be appeals cases.
Judiciary Act of 1789
An ordinance passed by the national Congress under the Articles of Confederation that established an efficient system to survey and auction lands west of the Appalachian Mountains.
Land Ordinance of 1785
An 1810 bill that restored U.S. commerce with Britain and France (after their interruption under the Embargo Act and Non-Intercourse Act) but threatened to revive the terms of the Non-Intercourse Act if either country failed to respect U.S. neutrality and shipping rights.
Macon’s Bill No. 2
What Ja' Makin'?
Also known as the small state plan, a proposal at the 1787 Constitutional Convention to create a unicameral (single-house) legislature in which all states would be equally represented. The New Jersey plan appealed to smaller states but not to more populous states, which backed the Virginia Plan to create a bicameral legislature in which representatives were apportioned by population. The Great Compromise solved the dilemma by creating a bicameral Congress featuring one house with proportional representation and another with equal representation.
New Jersey Plan
An 1809 act that replaced the ineffective Embargo Act in an attempt to revive the faltering American economy by boosting U.S. exports. The ________ banned trade only with France and Britain (unlike the Embargo Act, which banned exports completely) until both nations agreed to respect American sovereignty. When this bill also failed, Congress passed Macon’s Bill No. 2.
Non-Intercourse Act
A 1798 act (passed simultaneously with the Alien Acts) that banned all forms of public expression critical of the president or Congress. President John Adams approved the act, fearing the influence of French immigrants in the United States and also hoping the free speech ban would harm his political opponents, the Democratic-Republicans. Ironically, the act only made the opposition party stronger. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wrote the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions the same year in protest, arguing that individual states had the right to nullify unconstitutional laws passed by Congress.
Sedition Act
A term referring to the fact that each of the three branches in the American federal government has separate and distinct powers. The legislative branch, for example, has the sole ability to propose and pass laws, while the executive branch has the power to enforce those laws, and the judiciary the power to review them. The writers of the Constitution separated these powers to prevent any one part of the new government from becoming too powerful.
Separation of Powers
The December 1814 treaty that ended the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States. The treaty stated that the war had ended in a stalemate and that neither side had gained or lost any territory. Ironically, the Battle of New Orleans—the greatest American victory in the war—was fought about two weeks after the treaty had been signed, as General Andrew Jackson had not gotten word of the war’s end.
Treaty of Ghent
Two resolutions, passed in 1798–1799 and written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, that declared that the individual states had the right to nullify unconstitutional acts of Congress. The resolutions stated that because the individual states had created the Union, they also reserved the right to nullify any legislation that ran counter to their interests.
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
Also known as the large state plan, a proposal at the 1787 Constitutional Convention to create a bicameral (two-house) legislature in which delegates would be appointed according to the population of the state they represented. Large states with greater populations supported this plan, unlike small states, which backed the New Jersey Plan to create a unicameral legislature in which all states were equally represented. The Great Compromise solved the dilemma by creating a bicameral Congress featuring one house with proportional representation and another with equal representation.
Virginia Plan
A younger generation of statesmen, primarily from the West and South, who replaced the Founding Fathers in the first decade of the 1800s. This group favored westward expansion and a nationalist agenda and thus encouraged war against both the Northwest Confederacy and against Britain (in the War of 1812). Despite their early zeal, many ___________, such as Henry Clay, eventually settled down to become some of the most revered statesmen in American history.
War Hawks
A bribery scandal that caused public uproar during the Adams administration in 1798. After several naval skirmishes and French seizures of American merchant ships, Adams sent ambassadors to Paris to try to normalize relations. When the emissaries arrived, however, French officials demanded $250,000 before they would even speak with the Americans, let alone guarantee a truce. These officials outraged Congress and the American public. Adams’s popularity skyrocketed, and Congress braced for war. Although no war declaration was ever made, the United States and France waged undeclared naval warfare in the Atlantic for several years.
XYZ Affair
Adams dubbed the officals X, Y, and Z
The peak of British disrespect for American neutrality at sea, on June 22, 1807, The British naval frigate HMS Leopard followed the American naval frigate USS Chesapeake out of Norfolk harbor in Virginia, and opened fire upon it after a request to board had been denied. The Chesapeake, not prepared for battle, lost three men and had twenty wounded, and permitted the British to board. The British naval officers boarded, seized four men who had deserted the royal navy, hanged them from a yardarm, and sailed away. Jefferson responded with the Embargo Act.
Chesapeake-Leopard Affair
In response to the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, Jefferson endorsed the ____________, passed on December 22, 1807, which shut America off from the world economically by forbidding ships from leaving American ports to trade with other nations. He hoped the act would put economic pressure on the French, and especially the British. It did, but America suffered far more due to its economic isolation, and the ____________ was repealed on March 3, 1809.
Embargo Act
Established by Chief Justice John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison, the principle of __________held that the Supreme Court could declare an act of Congress unconstitutional.
Judicial Review
John Adams made a number of appointments to federal justice positions on his way out of office. One of those, the appointment of William Marbury as justice of the peace in the District of Columbia, was not delivered by midnight of his last night in office. Secretary of state James Madison refused to deliver the commission to Marbury, who asked the Supreme Court to issue a writ of mandamus ordering Madison to do so. Chief Justice John Marshall denied Marbury the writ, ruling that the Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional in granting the Supreme Court the power to issue such a writ. This established the principle of judicial review.
Marbury v. Madison
This man ran for president in 1800, chosen by the party to be Jefferson's vice president. However, every Republican elector voted for Jefferson and ___ so a tie ensued that had to be resolved by the House of Representatives. After a considerable struggle in the House, and ________'s refusal to withdraw, Jefferson became president, and _____ was politically dead. Later,__ would attempt to lead a bizarre conspiracy to attack Texas and secede from the Union. ____ also eventually killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
Aaron Burr
coooooold!
Two explorers were commissioned by Jefferson to explore the new territory of the Louisiana Purchase. They traveled 3,000 miles in two and a half years, collecting scientific data and specimens, and charting the territory to the west of the Mississippi. Their journey spurred much interest throughout the nation in further exploration and settlement in the West.
Lewis and Clark
This man earned the nickname "the lost pathfinder" due to his misadventures in exploring the headwaters of the Mississippi, and later the Arkansas River. It is suspected by many that his true mission in exploring the Arkansas may have been to investigate Spanish positions south of the American territory. His maps of the southern portion of the Louisiana Territory proved invaluable to future explorers and settlers.
Zebulon Pike
This man was the French foreign minister during Jefferson's presidency. He was instrumental in France's continued efforts to dominate and maipulate the US governments. In October 1797, it was he who perpetrated the XYZ Affair, sending anonymous agents to meet an American diplomatic envoy and demand a bribe for ______ before he would meet with them. Later, T_____ would negotiate the Louisiana Purchase, and after, attempt to stir up disputes between Spain and the US over the definitions of their borders in North America.
Charles de Tallyrand
He was the military commander of the Louisiana Territory; he sent Zebulon Pike on his exploration missions. Heavily involved in espionage, it is known that this man was on Spain's payroll for his part in trying to persuade southwestern settlers to secede from the Union. He entered into cahoots with Aaron Burr in Burr's attempted conspiracy, only to betray Burr to Jefferson.
James Wilkinson
This election marked the transition of power from Federalists to Republicans, and began a period of tearing down the Federalist style of government and building up a Republican framework.
Election of 1800
Negotiated in April 1803, the ___________ was one of the most important events in US history. It doubled the size of the nation, opening the west to exploration and settlement. With the ____________came the possibility of expansion and also the strife which would accompany the admission of new states from that region. Additionally, the ______________ created a period during which the US could not detangle itself from foreign affairs, as its borders were increasingly changing and called into question.
Louisiana Purchase
During the Texas Rebellion, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's Mexican force of 4,000 troops laid siege to the town of San Antonio, where 200 Texans resisted, retreating to this abandoned mission. After inflicting over 1,500 casualties on Santa Anna's men, the defenders of the ____ were wiped out on March 6, 1836. This building became a symbol of the Texans' determination to win independence.
The Alamo
was a major effort at quieting sectional conflict in pre-Civil War American politics. In terms of expansion, its most important clauses were those admitting California to statehood as a free state and dividing the remainder of the Mexican cession after the Mexican War into two sections, New Mexico and Utah, neither of which would be subject to restrictions on slavery.
Compromise of 1850
Passed in 1887, this act called for the breakup of the reservations and the treatment of Indians as individuals rather than tribes. It provided for the distribution of 160 acres of farmland or 320 acres of grazing land to any Indian who accepted the act's terms, who would then become a US citizen in 25 years. The act was intended to help the Indians to integrate into white society, but in reality helped to create a class of federally dependent Indians.
Dawes Severalty Act
The first canal project of the 1820s, the 363-mile ____was completed in 1825, connecting Buffalo, New York, on the Great Lakes, with Albany, on the Hudson River. The ____ made cost effective shipping possible via waterways from New York City to the West by way of the Great Lakes. The North and Northwest were soon crisscrossed by an extensive canal system which greatly improved domestic transportation and trade.
Erie Canal
This act was passed in 1830, granted President Andrew Jackson funds and authority to remove the Indians by force if necessary. He pursued a determined effort to coerce the Indians into expulsion.
Indian Removal Act
Journalist John L. O'Sullivan coined the phrase "________" in 1845. He wrote of "our ________ to overspread and to possess the whole of our continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty." ____________ referred to the belief of many Americans that it was the nation's destiny and duty to expand and conquer the West in the name of God, nature, civilization, and progress.
Manifest Destiny
In 1835, federal agents persuaded a pro-removal Cherokee chief to sign the Treaty of New Echota, which ceded all Cherokee land for $5.6 million and free transportation west. Most Cherokees rejected the treaty, but resistance was futile. Between 1835 and 1838 bands of Cherokee Indians moved west of the Mississippi along the so-called Trail __________________. Between 2,000 and 4,000 of the 16,000 migrating Cherokees died. The ________ became a symbol for the harsh treatment of the Indians at the hands of the federal government.
Trail of Tears
On May 10, 1869, the first ________ railroad was completed when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads joined their tracks at Promontory Point, Utah. The railroad rapidly affected the ease of western settlement, shortening the journey from coast to coast, which took six to eight months by wagon, to a mere one week's trip.
Transcontinental Railroad
___________was an amendment proposed to an appropriations bill regarding the West, which proposed that slavery be prohibited in all of the Mexican cession other than Texas. The _____ passed the House but stalled in the Senate, where it was the cause of further arguments between northern and southern politicians.
Wilmot Proviso
In the case of ______________, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokees comprised a "domestic dependent nation" within Georgia and thus deserved protection from harassment. However, the vehemently anti-Indian Andrew Jackson refused to abide by the decision, sneering "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it."
Worcester v. Georgia
This man is credited with the invention of the first effective steamboat, which he unveiled with his business partner, Robert Livingston, in New York in 1807. The Steamboat revolutionized river travel because it could move rapidly upstream, a feat no other type of watercraft could match.
Robert Fulton
This man was President of the United States from 1845 to 1849. He oversaw the annexation of Oregon and of Texas, and is credited with beginning the Mexican War in earnest. He was a firm believer in expansion and pursued his goals with vigor. However, many northerners saw him as an agent of southern will, expanding the nation as part of a plan to extend slavery into the West.
James K. Polk
This man became President of the United States in 1841, when William Henry Harrison died after a month in office. _______ and his secretary of state, John Calhoun, a fierce advocate for slavery, tried by dishonest and manipulative means to gain support for the annexation of Texas. The treaty they presented to the Senate for annexation was voted down, but the issue of annexation had risen to the fore of American politics.
John Tyler
The state banks that had risen up to financially support speculation and expansion had issued notes far in excess of what they could realistically redeem. In reaction to this situation, the Bank of the United States insisted that the state banks redeem all notes that had passed into the hands of the Bank of the US. In order to pay the Bank of the US, the state banks had to demand payment of debts by the farmers of the Midwest. The result was a vast restriction in the amount of circulating money, and a substantial cutback in the amount of credit offered farmers and speculators, dramatically slowing the economy. The _______________punctured the land rush and the agricultural boom that had been underway since 1815, and alerted farmers to the need for more effective transportation to distant markets.
Panic of 1819
After an excited Native American fired a rifle shot in a non-combat situation, US Army troops massacred 300 Indians, including seven children. The massacre was the symbolic final step in the war for the West, and after this event the Indians succumbed to the wishes of the federal government, resigning themselves to reservation life.
Wounded Knee
American island fortress that guarded Baltimore's Harbor. In 1814, it withstood British bombardment, inspiring Francis Scott Key to write the Star-Spangled Banner
Fort McHenry
Technique the British used to staff their ships. Sailors from other countries would be captured and forced to work for the British navy in a "press-gang" crew. Though certainly a British technique, it was not as prevalent as exaggerated by American propagandists.
Impressment
British laws requiring all ships wishing to trade with Europe to stop in a British port first.
Orders in Council
When a state or states leaves the union based on the argument that if the union no longer represents the interests of the state, it has a right ("States' Rights") to do so as a sovereign entity.
Secession
Sixth president of the United States (1825-1829) and leading formulator of American diplomacy.
John Quincy Adams
General who commanded the British forces in Canada during the War of 1812.
Isaac Brock
An American naval officer,_____'s small fleet won a celebrated battle against the British on Lake Erie.
Oliver Hazard Perry
August 24, 1814 battle in which British (under Ross) routed the Americans (under Winder) so quickly that it came to be called the "_________Races". This battle opened the way for the British to march to Washington, which they burned.
Bladensberg
Signed on December 24, 1815 in the Belgian town of Ghent, the ________ ended the War of 1812, returning the situation between the US and Britain to its status quo ante bellum (the way things were before the war).
Treaty of Ghent
Meeting in late 1814 of discontented New England Federalists to discuss their grievances with the War of 1812. Some members contemplated secession, but the _______________ was generally more moderate than that. When the war soon ended, the ____________ suggested to many that the Federalist Party was full of traitors, and the Federalist Party fell into decline as a result.
Hartford Convention
Also called the Battle of Tohopeka; 1814 battle in which Andrew Jackson crushed the Creek Indian resistance once and for all, ending his Indian campaign and becoming a national military hero.
Battle of Horseshoe Bend
October 5, 1813 battle in which General Harrison won a decisive victory over the combined British and Indian forces in Ontario, Canada. Tecumseh was killed in this battle. This victory helped make Harrison even more popular after Tippecanoe.
Battle of the Thames
November 7, 1811 victory by General Harrison, in which he destroyed the headquarters of Tecumseh's Indian confederation. Although the US forces suffered heavy losses, Harrison was considered a victor and a hero, and he used the slogan "______ and Tyler Too!" in his later successful bid for the presidency.
Tippecanoe
An ardent women’s rights activist from the 1840s to the end of the century. She spoke out tirelessly against racial and gender inequality and also supported the temperance movement.
Susan B. Anthony
President of the Bank of the United States during the 1820s and 1830s. ____exerted significant influence over the American economy through his position. Andrew Jackson, however, despised ____ and the wealthy whom he represented and eventually destroyed the Bank by withholding all federal deposits.
Nicholas Biddle
Vice president to both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, who also led the movement to nullify the 1828 Tariff of Abominations. Shortly after Congress passed the tariff, _______wrote an anonymous essay entitled “South Carolina Exposition and Protest” that urged southern legislators to declare the tax null and void in their states. This Nullification Crisis was the greatest challenge the nation had yet faced and illustrated the emerging sectional differences.
John C. Calhoun
A schoolteacher from Massachusetts who spearheaded the campaign to establish publicly funded asylums to help the mentally ill. ____’s report on the state of the mentally disabled in the state’s prisons convinced legislators to build the first asylums. She traveled tens of thousands of miles to promote her cause.
Dorothea Dix
An American essayist and philosopher who was one of the leading Transcendentalists in the 1830s through 1850s. His essays, such as the famous “Self-Reliance,” made him one of the nation’s most popular practical philosophers.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
A former lawyer who applied his sharp wit and intellect to preach evangelism throughout the North during the 1830s. __________ camp-style meetings put thousands of people into a frenzy during his fifty-year crusade. He encouraged women to lead groups in prayer and railed against the evils of slavery and alcohol.
Charles G. Finney
An American surveyor and explorer who, days after Congress declared war on Mexico in 1846, went about taking control of the territory of California. In January 1847, after only a few minor battles, California surrendered to _____. Many accused him of being an agent of President James K. Polk and believed his presence in California to have been more than a coincidence. ____ later ran unsuccessfully for president in 1856 as the first presidential candidate for the fledgling Republican Party.
John Frémont
A radical abolitionist who advocated the immediate emancipation of all slaves in the United States. ______’s infamous magazine, The Liberator, earned him many enemies in the South.
William Lloyd Garrison
A champion of public education who served as secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education in the 1830s. ___ supervised the creation of many new tax-supported schools and fought for better curriculum, higher pay for teachers, and more teacher qualifications.
Horace Mann
Inventor of the mechanical mower-reaper, which had an enormous impact on Western agriculture in the 1840s and 1850s. Whereas American farmers had primarily been planting corn, the mower-reaper allowed them to plant wheat, which was a far more profitable crop. As farmers planted more and more wheat, they began to ship their surpluses to manufacturing cities in the North and Northeast.
Cyrus McCormick
A Democratic-Republican from Virginia who was elected president in 1816 and inaugurated the Era of Good Feelings. An excellent administrator, ___bolstered the federal government and supported internal improvements. The nation was so united under his first term that he ran uncontested in the election of 1820. The good times ended, however, during the Missouri crisis, which effectively split the United States into North and South. __ is most famous for his 1823 Monroe Doctrine, which warned European powers to stay out of Latin American affairs.
James Monroe
A New Yorker who founded the Mormon church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) after claiming to have received a new set of gospels from an angel. _____________ attracted a large following but was forced to move to the Midwest to escape persecution for the Mormons’ acceptance of polygamy. After he was murdered by a mob, his disciple, Brigham Young, led thousands of Mormons to the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The Mormon Church was one of the more successful new religions to sprout during the wave of revivalism in the first half of the 1800s.
Joseph Smith
One of the first American feminists. Stanton joined Susan B. Anthony in the mid-1800s to call for social and political equality for women. She helped organize the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 and drafted the convention’s Declaration of Sentiments.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
A Mexican War hero who became the second and last Whig president in 1848. In order to avoid controversy over the westward expansion of slavery in the Mexican Cession, Taylor campaigned without a solid platform. He died after only sixteen months in office and was replaced by Millard Fillmore.
Zachary Taylor
Secretary of state to Andrew Jackson who went on to become the Democratic president in 1836. ____'s term was plagued by a depression that arose after the financial Panic of 1837. _______, believing that the economy had worsened because federal funds were being stored in smaller banks, pushed the Divorce Bill through Congress to create an independent treasury. _____lost by a large margin to William Henry Harrison in the election of 1840 and later ran again, unsuccessfully, as the Free-Soil Party candidate in 1848.
Martin Van Buren
A senator from New Hampshire, renowned for his oratory and for his ardent belief in the American System. A leading statesman of his day,_______allied with Henry Clay in 1834 to form the new Whig Party. As Whigs, he and Clay campaigned for progressive new reforms and attempted to limit westward expansion. he also served two stints as secretary of state.
Daniel Webster
cotton gin and interchangable parts
Eli Whittney
A movement spearheaded by Speaker of the House Henry Clay that called for internal improvements, higher protectionist tariffs, and a strong national banking system. The system’s supporters, including Daniel Webster, succeeded in chartering the Bank of the United States in 1816 and creating both the Tariff of 1816 and the steeper Tariff of Abominations in 1828. They also funded the Cumberland Road from Maryland to Missouri and supported the construction of various other roads and canals.
American System
A small-scale 1838–1839 turf war, fought between American and Canadian woodsmen in northern Maine, that almost erupted into a larger war between Britain and the United States. The _______convinced both countries that settlement of northern Maine territorial disputes had to be negotiated promptly. The dispute was resolved by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, negotiated by Secretary of State Daniel Webster and Lord Ashburton of Britain, which established a permanent border between Maine and Canada.
Aroostook War
A private bank, chartered in 1816 by proponents of Henry Clay’s American System, that provided the fledgling United States with solid credit and financial stability in the 1820s and 1830s under the leadership of Nicholas Biddle. Many in the West and South, however, despised the Bank because they saw it as a symbol for aristocracy and greed. In 1832, Andrew Jackson initiated the Bank War by vetoing a bill to renew the Bank’s charter. He eventually destroyed the Bank in the 1830s by withholding all federal gold and silver deposits and putting them in smaller banks instead. Without any reserves, the Bank withered until its charter expired in 1836. Deprived of stable credit, the blossoming financial sector of the economy crashed in the Panic of 1837.
Bank of the United States
A brief 1832 war in Illinois in which the U.S. Army trounced Chief Black Hawk and about 1,000 of his Sauk and Fox followers, who refused to be resettled according to the Indian Removal Act.
Black Hawk War
An area in the state of new york which spurred new religions such as the mormon church and onedia company in th 1830s and also reform movements in the 1840s
Burned-Over District
An 1821 Supreme Court ruling that set an important precedent reaffirming the Court’s authority to review all decisions made by state courts. When the supreme court of Virginia found the Cohen brothers guilty of illegally selling lottery tickets, the brothers appealed their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Marshall heard the case and ruled against the family. Though he concurred with the state court’s decision, he nonetheless cemented the Supreme Court’s authority over the state courts. This case was one of many during the early 1800s in which Marshall expanded the Court’s and the federal government’s power.
Cohens v. Virginia
A tariff, proposed by Henry Clay, that ended the Nullification Crisis dispute between Andrew Jackson and South Carolina. The compromise tariff repealed the Tariff of Abominations and reduced duties on foreign goods gradually over a decade to the levels set by the Tariff of 1816.
Compromise Tariff of 1833
A scandal that arose during the election of 1824 that tainted John Quincy Adams’s entire term in office. When neither Adams nor his opponent, Andrew Jackson, received enough electoral votes to become president, the election was thrown to the House of Representatives. Speaker of the House Henry Clay, who hated Jackson, threw his support behind Adams, which effectively won him the presidency. When Adams later announced Clay as his new secretary of state, Jackson and the American people cried foul. Adams was accused of having made a ________________and the political fallout rendered him politically paralyzed during his term.
The “Corrupt Bargain”
A federally funded road, also known as the National Road, that was completed in 1837 and then expanded several times throughout the antebellum period. When finally completed, the Cumberland Road stretched all the way from Maryland to Illinois. It was a one of the most significant internal improvements made under Henry Clay’s American System.
Cumberland Road
An 1819 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the right of private institutions to hold private contracts. When the New Hampshire state legislature revised Dartmouth College’s original charter from King George III, the college appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that even though the college’s contract predated the Revolutionary War, it was still a legal contract with which the state of New Hampshire could not interfere. This precedent asserted federal authority and protected contracts from state governments.
Dartmouth College v. Woodward
An 1810 Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that the Georgia state legislature could not cancel a contract that a previous legislature had already granted. The decision by Chief Justice John Marshall protected the permanence of legal contracts and established the Supreme Court’s power to overrule state laws.
Fletcher v. Peck
An 1833 bill that authorized the federal government to use military force to collect tariff duties. The bill demonstrated Andrew Jackson’s resolve to end the 1832–1833 Nullification Crisis in South Carolina.
Force Bill
An order that the House of Representatives, beleaguered by the growing abolitionist movement in the North, passed in 1836 to ban further discussion of slavery.
Gag Resolution
An 1824 Supreme Court ruling that declared that the state of New York could not grant a monopoly to a company engaged in interstate commerce. Chief Justice John Marshall thus exerted federal power by upholding that only the federal government had the right to regulate interstate commerce according to the Constitution.
Gibbons v. Ogden
A term referring to infrastructure projects, mostly involving transportation, that were key features of Henry Clay’s American System. Scores of canals and roads were dug to link the East with the West during the period from 1816 to 1852. The most famous of these were the Erie Canal and the Cumberland Road.
Internal Improvements
A party, known formally as the American Party, of nativist Americans who wanted to stop the tide of foreign immigrants from Ireland and Germany entering the United States in the 1840s and 1850s. The Know-Nothings nominated former president Millard Fillmore in the 1856 presidential election. Members of the American Party were so secretive that they often claimed to “know nothing” whenever questioned, hence the nickname.
Know-Nothing Party
A northern abolitionist party that formed in 1840 when the abolitionist movement split into a social wing and a political wing. The party nominated James G. Birney in the election of 1844 against Whig Henry Clay and Democrat James K. Polk. Surprisingly, the Liberty Party siphoned just enough votes away from Clay to throw the election to the Democrats.
Liberty Party
An 1851 law that prohibited the sale, manufacture, and consumption of alcohol in the state of Maine. The law, a huge victory for the temperance movement, encouraged other states in the North to pass similar prohibitory laws.
Maine Law
An 1820 compromise, devised by Henry Clay, to admit Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. The compromise maintained the sectional balance in the Senate—twelve free states and twelve slave states—and forbade slavery north of the 36° 30' parallel. It ended a potentially catastrophic dispute and tabled all further slavery discussions for the next couple of decades.
Missouri Compromise
A financial panic, caused in part by overspeculation in western lands, that slid the U.S. economy into a decade-long depression. Farmers in the West and South were hit hardest, but the depression’s effects were felt everywhere. The panic helped bring an end to the Era of Good Feelings.
Panic of 1819
A war fought by the U.S. Army against members of the Seminole tribe in Florida who refused to be resettled west of the Mississippi River in the late 1830s.
Seminole War
An essay, written anonymously by Vice President John C. Calhoun, that called on the southern states to declare the 1828 Tariff of Abominations null and void. The essay encouraged South Carolina legislators to nullify the tariff, pitting the state against President Andrew Jackson in the most serious internal conflict the nation had yet faced. This Nullification Crisis is regarded as one of the stepping stones that eventually led to Civil War.
“South Carolina Exposition and Protest”
Resolutions introduced in 1847 by Congressman Abraham Lincoln, who, unconvinced that the Mexican army had attacked U.S. forces unprovoked, demanded to know the exact spot where Mexicans had attacked. Lincoln’s persistence—and the confusing answers that Democrats gave—suggested that General Zachary Taylor, or perhaps even President James K. Polk himself, had provoked the attack and initiated the Mexican War.
Spot Resolutions
An 1819 act passed by the northern-dominated House of Representatives in an attempt to curb westward expansion of slavery. The act declared that Missouri could be admitted to the Union as a slave state, but only on the condition that no more slaves enter the territory and that its existing slaves gradually be freed. Outraged southern legislators, who wanted to push slavery westward, blocked the act in the Senate, throwing Congress into a logjam. The crisis eventually was resolved by the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
Tallmadge Amendment
A tariff passed by John Tyler that brought duties on foreign manufactured goods down to the level of the Compromise Tariff of 1833.
Tariff of 1842
A treaty between the United States and Britain that established a fixed border with Canada from Minnesota to the Rocky Mountains. The treaty also declared that both countries would occupy the Oregon Territory jointly until 1828. Though not highly regarded at the time, the treaty is considered one of John Quincy Adams’s most important achievements as secretary of state to James Monroe.
Treaty of 1818
The extension of voting rights to nearly every white American male during the antebellum period. In the early United States, men had had to meet certain property-ownership and literacy qualifications in order to vote, but during the 1830s and 1840s, more and more states eliminated these restrictions. As more men in the poorer classes were able to vote, the Democrats received a huge boost in popularity.
Universal Manhood Suffrage
An 1846 tariff that lowered tariff rates, which had climbed higher and higher after their brief reduction in 1842.
Walker Tariff
A party formed in 1834 under the leadership of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. The Whigs, named after an anti-British party during the Revolutionary War era, promoted a platform of social reform (education, prison, temperance, and so on), abolition of slavery, and limited westward expansion. Several Whig candidates ran and lost against Martin Van Buren in the election of 1836, but the party rebounded four years later when they put William Henry Harrison in the White House.
Whigs
A pro-Southern Democrat who became the fifteenth president of the United States in 1856. _________ defeated John Frémont of the new Republican Party and former president Millard Fillmore of the Know-Nothing Party in one of the most hotly contested elections in U.S. history. During his term,he supported the Lecompton Constitution to admit Kansas as a slave state, weathered the Panic of 1857, and did nothing to prevent South Carolina’s secession from the Union.
James Buchanan
A former Senator from Mississippi who was selected as the first president of the Confederacy in 1861. Overworked and underappreciated by his fellow Confederates, _______ struggled throughout the Civil War to unify the Southern states under the central government they had established.
Jefferson Davis
An influential Democratic senator and presidential candidate from Illinois. Douglas pushed the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act through Congress to entice railroad developers to build a transcontinental railroad line in the North. The act opened Kansas and Nebraska territories to slavery and thus effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820. A champion of popular sovereignty, he announced his Freeport Doctrine in the Lincoln-Douglas debates against Abraham Lincoln in 1858. Although _______ was the most popular Democrat, Southern party members refused to nominate him for the presidency in 1860 because he had rejected the Lecompton Constitution to make Kansas a slave state. As a result, the party split: Northern Democrats nominated Douglas, while Southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckinridge. In the election of 1860, Douglas toured the country in an effort to save the Union
Stephen Douglas
The Union’s top general in the Civil War, who went on to become the eighteenth U.S. president. Nicknamed “Unconditional Surrender” Grant, he waged total war against the South in 1863 and 1864.
Ulysses S. Grant
A very caoutioious civil war general but defeated lee in 1862
Mc Chlennan
Lincoln eventually fired McClellan, however, after the general began to criticize publicly the president’s ability to command. In 1864, McClellan ran for president as a Peace Democrat on a platform for peace against Lincoln but was defeated.
Emancipation Proclamation.
Fourteenth president of the United States, elected in 1852 as a proslavery Democrat from New England. Pierce combined his desire for empire and westward expansion with the South’s desire to find new slave territories. He tacitly backed William Walker’s attempt to seize Nicaragua and used the Ostend Manifesto to try to acquire Cuba from Spain. Pierce also oversaw the opening of trade relations with Japan, upon the return of Commodore Matthew Perry, and authorized the Gadsden Purchase from Mexico in 1853.
Franklin Pierce
William Tecumseh Sherman
. Sherman, like Grant, understood that the war would only truly be won when the Union forces had broken the will of the Southern public to fight. Sherman is best known for the total war he and his expedition force waged on the South during his March to the Sea.
A senator from Massachusetts who delivered an antislavery speech in the wake of the Bleeding Kansas crisis in 1856. In response, Sumner was caned nearly to death by South Carolinian congressman Preston Brooks on the Senate floor. The attack indicated just how passionately some Southerners viewed the popular sovereignty and slavery issue

A senator from Massachusetts who delivered an antislavery speech in the wake of the Bleeding Kansas crisis in 1856. In response, Sumner was caned nearly to death by South Carolinian congressman Preston Brooks on the Senate floor. The attack indicated just how passionately some Southerners viewed the popular sovereignty and slavery issue
Charles Sumner
A violent crisis that enveloped Kansas after Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. After the act passed, hundreds of Missourians crossed the border to make Kansas a slave state. Outraged by the intimidation tactics these “border ruffians” used to bully settlers, many Northern abolitionists moved to Kansas as well in the hopes of making the territory free. Tensions mounted until proslavery men burned the Free-Soil town of Lawrence, Kansas. John Brown and a band of abolitionist vigilantes countered by killing five men at the Pottawatomie Massacre in 1856. In many ways, Bleeding Kansas was a prelude to the war that loomed ahead.
Bleeding Kansas
A group of hundreds of Missourians who crossed the border into Kansas, hoping to make Kansas a slave state after Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. The border ruffians rigged the elections to choose delegates for the Kansas constitutional convention, with the aim of making Kansas a new slave state. They succeeded and drafted the proslavery Lecompton Constitution in the winter of 1857. Outraged, many Northern abolitionists settled in Kansas to counter the border ruffians. The territory erupted into a civil war that became known as Bleeding Kansas. In 1858, the Senate rejected the Lecompton Constitution on the grounds that the elections had been rigged.
“Border Ruffians”
A party formed by disgruntled Northern abolitionists in 1848, when Democrats nominated Lewis Cass for president and Whigs nominated the politically inept Zachary Taylor. Former president Martin Van Buren became the Free-Soil candidate for president, campaigning for the Wilmot Proviso and against popular sovereignty and the westward expansion of slavery. Van Buren received no votes in the electoral college but did detract enough popular votes from Cass to throw the election to Taylor.
Free-Soil Party
A law passed under the Compromise of 1850 that forced Northerners to return runaway slaves to the South. Angered by the fact that many Northerners supported the Underground Railroad, Southerners demanded this new and stronger Fugitive Slave Act as part of the compromise. The act was so unpopular in the North that federal troops were often required to enforce it. One slave in Boston, Massachusetts, had to be escorted by 300 soldiers and a U.S. Navy ship. The law, like the Dred Scott v. Sanford decision, drove the North and South even further apart.
Fugitive Slave Act
An October 16, 1859, raid by John Brown, the infamous Free-Soiler who had killed five proslavery men at the Pottawatomie Massacre. This time around, Brown stormed an arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (present-day West Virginia), with twenty other men. He hoped the raid would prompt slaves throughout Virginia and the South to rise up against their masters. There was no rebellion, though, and Brown and his men found themselves cornered inside the arsenal. A long standoff ensued. Half the raiders were killed and the rest, including Brown, captured. After a speedy trial, Brown was convicted of treason and hanged. Although his death was cheered in the South, he became an abolitionist martyr in the North.
Harpers Ferry Raid
The Kansas constitution that resulted when hundreds of proslavery border ruffians from Missouri crossed into Kansas after the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 and rigged the elections to choose delegates for the Kansas constitutional convention. The border ruffians succeeded and submitted the proslavery Lecompton Constitution in the winter of 1857. After taking office that same year, pro-Southern president James Buchanan immediately accepted the constitution to make Kansas a new slave state. Democrat Stephen Douglas, however, rejected the Lecompton Constitution in the Senate on the grounds that the elections had been rigged. The South denounced Douglas as a traitor when a new (and more honest) vote in Kansas overwhelmingly made the territory free. Kansas was admitted into the Union after the Civil War began.
Lecompton Constitution
A Northern abolitionist party formed in 1840 when the abolitionist movement split into a social wing and a political wing. The Liberty Party nominated James G. Birney in the election of 1844 against Whig Henry Clay and Democrat James K. Polk. Surprisingly, the Liberty Party detracted just enough votes from Clay to throw the election to the Democrats.
Liberty Party
A Northern party, also nicknamed the “Copperheads” after the poisonous snake, that criticized Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. The Peace Democrats did not particularly care that the Southern states had seceded and wanted to let them go in peace. The Copperheads nominated George McClellan for president in 1864 on a peace platform but lost to Lincoln and the Republican Party.
Peace Democrats
The idea that citizens in the West should vote to determine whether their respective territories would become free states or slave states upon admission to the Union. Popular sovereignty was first proposed by presidential candidate Lewis Cass in 1848 and later championed by Stephen Douglas. The Whigs and the Republican Party flatly rejected popular sovereignty, because they opposed the westward expansion of slavery.
Popular Sovereignty
The killing of five proslavery men near Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas, by John Brown and a band of abolitionist vigilantes in retaliation for the burning of Free-Soil Lawrence, Kansas. Neither Brown nor any of his men were brought to justice. Instead, border ruffians and other proslavery settlers responded in kind and sparked the “Bleeding Kansas” crisis. Eventually, the entire territory became embroiled in a bloody civil war that foreshadowed the war between the North and South.
Pottawatomie Massacre