APUSH Period 4 Essential People, Events, Circumstances, and Concepts

Abolitionism - Social movement of the pre-Civil War era that advocated the immediate emancipation of the slaves and their incorporation into American society as equal citizens.

American Colonization Society - Organized in 1816 to encourage colonization of free blacks to Africa; West African nation of Liberia founded in 1822 to serve as a homeland for them

American Anti-Slavery Society - Founded in 11833, the organization that sought an immediate end to slavery and the establishment of equality for black Americans. It split in 1840 after disputes about the role of women within the organization and other issues.

The Amistad - Ship that transported slaves from one port in Cuba to another; seized by the slaves in 1839. They made their way northward to the United States, where the status of the slaves became the subject of a celebrated court case; eventually most were able to return to Africa.

American System (Henry Clay) - Program of internal improvements and protective tariffs promoted by speaker of the House Henry Clay in his presidential campaign of 1824; his proposals formed the core of Whig ideology in the 1830s and 1840s.

Antebellum - ???

Bank War/ Second Bank of the United States (1816-1836) - Political struggle in the early 1830s between President Jackson and financier Nicholas Biddle over the renewal of the Second Bank's charter.

Barbary Wars - The first wars fought by the United States, and the nation's first encounter with the Islamic world. The wars were fought from 1801 to 1805 against plundering pirates of the Mediterranean coast of Africa after President Thomas Jefferson's refusal to pay them tribute to protect American ships.

Battle of New Orleans - Last battle of the War of 1812, fought on January 8, 1815, weeks after the peace treaty was signed but prior to the news' reaching America; General Andrew Jackson led the victorious American troops.

Cotton Gin (Eli Whitney) - Invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, the machine that separated cotton seed from cotton fiber, speeding cotton processing and making profitable the cultivation of the more hardy, but difficult to clean, shot-staple cotton; lead directly to the dramatic nineteenth-century expansion of slavery in the South.

Cotton Kingdom/ King Cotton - Cotton-producing region, relying predominantly on slave labor, that spanned from North Carolina west to Louisiana and reached as far north as southern Illinois.

Cult of Domesticity - The nineteenth-century ideology of "virtue" and "modesty" as the qualities that were essential to proper womanhood.

Denmark Vesey's Conspiracy - An 1822 failed slave uprising in Charleston, South Carolina, purported to have been led by Denmark Vesey, a free black man.

Dorthea Dix (prison reform) - An important figure in increasing the public's awareness of the plight of the mentally ill. After a two-year investigation of the treatment of the mentally ill in Massachusetts, she presented her findings and won the support of leading reformers.

Embargo Act - Attempt in 1807 to exert economic pressure by prohibiting all exports from the US, instead of waging war in reaction to continued British impressment of American sailors; smugglers easily circumvented the embargo, and it was repealed two years later.

Era of Good Feelings - Contemporary characterization of the administration of popular Republican president James Monroe

Erie Canal - Most important and profitable of the canals of the 1820s and 1830s; stretched from Buffalo to Albany, New York connecting the Great Lakes to the East Coast and making New York City the nation's largest port.

Feminism - Term that entered the lexicon in the early twentieth century to describe the movement for full equality for women, in political, social, and personal life.

Force Act - 1833 legislation, sparked by the nullification crisis in South Carolina, that authorized the president's use of the army to compel states to comply with federal law.

Franchise - The right to vote.

Fugitive Slaves - Slaves who escaped from their owners

Gabriel's Rebellion - An 1800 uprising planned by Virginian slaves to gain their freedom. The plot was led by a blacksmith named Gabriel, but was discovered and squashed.

Gag Rule - Rule adopted by House of Representative in 1836 prohibiting consideration of abolitionist petitions; opposition, led by former president John Quincy Adams, succeeded in having it repealed in 1844.

Gentlemen of Property and Standing - Well-to-do merchants who often had commercial ties to the South and resisted abolitionism, occasionally inciting violence against its adherents.

Gibbons v. Ogden - A 1824 U.S. Supreme Court decision reinforcing the "commerce clause" of the Constitution; Chief Justice John Marshall ruled against the state of New York's granting of steamboat monopolies

Haitian Revolution - A slave uprising that led to the establishment of Haiti as an independent country in 1804.

Harriet Tubman - Abolitionist who was born a slave, escaped to the North, and then returned to the South 19 times and guided 300 slaves to freedom.

Hartford Convention - Meeting of New England Federalists on December 15, 1814, to protest the War of 1812; proposed seven constitutional amendments, but the war ended before Congress could respond.

Impressment - The British Navy's practice of using press-gangs to kidnap men in British and colonial ports who were then forced to serve in the British navy.

Indian Removal Act - 1830 law signed by President Andrew Jackson that permitted the negotiation of treaties to obtain the Indian's land in exchange for their relocation to what would become Oklahoma.

Jacksonian Democracy/ Andrew Jackson -

Louisiana Purchase - President Thomas Jefferson's 1803 purchase from France of the important port of New Orleans and 828,000 square miles west of the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains; it more than doubled the territory of the US at a cost of only $5 million.

Manifest Destiny - Phrase first used in 1845 to urge annexation of Texas; used thereafter to encourage American settlement of European colonial land Indian lands in the Great Plains and the west and , more generally, as a justification for American empire.

Marbury v. Madison - First U.S. Supreme Court decision to declare a federal law - the Judiciary Act of 1801 - unconstitutional.

McCulloch v. Maryland - 1819 U.S. Supreme Court decision in which Chief Justice John Marshall, holding that Maryland could not tax the Second Bank of the US, supported the authority of the federal government versus the states.

Mill Girls - Women who worked at textile mills during the Industrial Revolution who enjoyed new freedoms and independence not seen before.

Missouri Compromise of 1820 - Deal proposed by Kentucky senator Henry Clay in 1820 t0 resolve the slave/free imbalance in Congress that would result from Missouri's admission as a slave state.

Monroe Doctrine - President James Monroe's declaration to Congress on December 2, 1823, that the American continent would be thenceforth closed to European colonization, and that the US would not interfere in European affairs.

Nat Turner's Rebellion - Most important slave uprising in nineteenth-century America, led by a slave preacher who, with his followers, killed about sixty white persons in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831.

Nationalism - identification with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations

Nativism - Anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic feeling especially prominent in the 1830s through the 1850s; the largest group of its proponents was New York's Order of the Star-Spangled Banner, which expanded into the American Party in 1854.

Nullification Crisis - The 1832 attempt by the State of South Carolina to nullify, or invalidate within its borders, the 1832 federal tariff law. President Jackson responded with the Force Act of 1833.

Panic of 1819 - Financial collapse brought on by sharply falling cotton prices, declining demand for American exports, and reckless western land speculation.

Panic of 1837 - Beginning of major economic depression lasting about six years; touched off by a British financial crisis and made worse by falling cotton prices, credit and currency problems, and speculation in land, canals, and railroads.

Paternalism - A moral position developed during the first half of the nineteenth century which claimed that slaves were deprived of liberty for their own "good". Such a rationalization was adopted by some slaveowners to justify slavery.

"The Peculiar Institution" - A phrase used by whites in the antebellum South to refer to slavery without using the word "slavery".

Pet Banks - Local banks that received deposits while the charter of the Bank of the US was about to expire in 1836. The choice of these banks was influenced by political and personal connections.

Porkopolis - Nickname of Cincinnati, coined in the mid-nineteenth century, after its numerous slaughter houses.

Revolution of 1800 - First time that an American political party surrendered power to the opposition party; Jefferson, a republican, had defeated incumbent Adams, a Federalist, for president.

Reform Movements - ???

Sectionalism - loyalty to one's own region or section of the country, rather than to the country as a whole.

Second Great Awakening - Religious revival movement of the early decades of the nineteenth century, in reaction to the growth of secularism and rationalist religion; they began the predominance of the Baptist and Methodist Churches.

Second Middle Passage - The massive trade of slaves from the upper south that took place between 1820 and 1860

South Carolina Exposition and Protest - The South Carolina legislature the justified nullification. The document drew on the arguments in the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798.

Spoils System - The term meaning the filling of federal government jobs with persons loyal to the party of the president; originated in Andres Jackson's first term.

Steamboats - Paddle wheelers hat could travel both up and down river in deep or shallow waters; they became commercially viable early in the nineteenth century and soon developed into America's first inland freight and passenger service network.

Tariff of Abominations - Tariff passed in 1828 by Parliament that taxed imported goods at a very high rate; aroused strong opposition in the South.

Tecumseh - A leader of the Shawnee tribe who tried to unite all Indians into a confederation to resist white encroachment on their lands.

Temperance - A widespread reform movement, led by militant Christians, focused on reducing the use of alcoholic beverages.

Trail of Tears - Cherokees' own term for their forced removal, 1838-1839, from the Southeast to Indian lands

Transcendentalists - Philosophy of a small group of mid-nineteenth-century New England writers and thinkers, including Ralph Waldo Emerson; they stressed personal and intellectual self-reliance.

Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 antislavery novel that popularized the abolitionist position.

Underground Railroad - Operating in the decades before the Civil War, a clandestine system of routes and safehouses through which slaves were led to freedom in the North.

Utopian Communities - Ideal communities that offered innovative social and economic relationships to those who were interested in achieving salvation.

War Hawks - A group of young congressmen, mostly from the west calling for war with Britain.

War of 1812 - War fought with Britain, 1812-1814, over issues that included impressment of American sailors, interference with shipping, and collusion with Northwest Territory Indians; settled by the Treaty of Ghent in 1814

Webster-Hayne Debate - U.S. Senate debate of January 1830 between Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Robert Hayne of South Carolina over nullification and states' rights.

Women's Suffrage - Movements to give women the right to vote through a constitutional amendment, spearheaded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton's National Woman Suffrage Association

Worcester v. Georgia - 1832 Supreme Court case that help that the Indian nations were distinct peoples who could not be dealt with by the states-instead, only the federal government could negotiate with them. President Jackson refused to enforce the ruling.