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APUSH Part 2
Building the New Nation (1776-1860)
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Society of the Cincinnati | (established 1783): Exclusive, hereditary organization of former officers in the Continental Army. Many resented the pretentiousness of the order, viewing it as a vestige of pre-Revolutionary traditions. |
| Disestablished | To separate official state church from its connection with the govt. Following the Revolution, all states disestablished the Anglican Church, though some New England states maintained established Congregational Churches well into the nineteenth century |
| Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom | Measure enacted by the Virginia legislature prohibiting state support for religious institutions and recognizing freedom of worship. Served as a model for the religion clause of the first amendment to the Constitution. |
| Civic Virtue | Willingness on the part of citizens to sacrifice personal self-interest for the public good. Deemed a necessary component of a successful republic |
| Articles of Confederation | (1781) 1st American constitution that established US as a loose confederation of states under a weak national Congress, which wasn't granted power to regulate commerce or collect taxes. The Articles were replaced by a more efficient Constitution in 1789. |
| Old Northwest | Territories acquired by fed. govt from states, including northwest of Ohio River, east of Mississippi River, and south of Great Lakes. Management and sale of land in these territories of 1785/87 established precedent for future land acquisitions |
| Land Ordinance of 1785 | Provided for the sale of land in the Old Northwest and earmarked the proceeds toward repaying the national debt |
| Northwest Ordinance | (1787): Created a policy for administering the Northwest Territories. It included a path to statehood and forbade the expansion of slavery into the territories. |
| Shay's Rebellion | (1786): Armed uprising of western Massachusetts debtors seeking lower taxes and an end to property foreclosures. Though quickly put down, the insurrection inspired fears of “mob rule” among leading Revolutionaries. |
| Virginia Plan | “Large state” proposal for new constitution, calling for proportional representation in both houses of a bicameral Congress. The plan favored larger states and thus prompted smaller states to come back with their own plan for apportioning representation. |
| New Jersey Plan | (1787): “Small-state plan” put forth at Philadelphia convention, proposing equal representation by state, regardless of population, in a unicameral legislature. Small states feared that more populous states would dominate agenda under proportional system |
| Great Compromise | (1787) Term which reconciled NJ and VA plans at constitutional convention, gave states proportional rep. in House and equal rep. in Senate. Compromise broke stalemate at convention and led to compromises over slavery and Electoral College. |
| Common Law | Laws that originate from court rulings and customs, instead of legislative statutes. The US Constitution grew out of the Anglo-American common law tradition and thus provided only a general organizational framework for the new federal government. |
| Civil Law | Body of written law enacted through legislative statutes or constitutional provisions. In countries where civil law prevails, judges must apply the statutes precisely as written |
| Three-fifths Compromise | (1787): Determined that each slave would be counted as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of apportioning taxes and representation. The compromise granted disproportionate political power to Southern slave states |
| Anti-federalists | Opponents of the 1787 Constitution, they cast the document as antidemocratic, objected to the subordination of the states to the central government, and feared encroachment on individuals’ liberties in the absence of a bill of rights |
| Federalists | Proponents of the 1787 Constitution, they favored a strong national government, arguing that the checks and balances in the new Constitution would safeguard the people’s liberties. |
| The Federalists (book) | (1788) Essays written by Jay, Madison, and Hamilton and published during ratification debate in NY to lay out Federalists’ arguments in favor of new Constitution. These essays have been an important source for constitutional interpretation. |
| Bill of Rights | (1791): Popular term for the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The amendments secure key rights for individuals and reserve to the states all powers not explicitly delegated or prohibited by the Constitution. |
| Judiciary Act of 1789 | Organized the federal legal system, establishing the Supreme Court, federal district and circuit courts, and the office of the attorney general. |
| Funding at Par | Payment of debts, such as government bonds, at face value. In 1790, Alexander Hamilton proposed that the federal government pay its Revolutionary war debts in full in order to bolster the nation’s credit. |
| Assumption | Transfer of debt from one party to another. In order to strengthen the union, the federal government assumed states’ Revolutionary War debts in 1790, thereby tying the interests of wealthy lenders with those of the national government |
| Tariff | Tax levied on imports. Traditionally, manufacturers support tariffs as protective and revenue-raising measures, while agricultural interests, dependent on world markets, oppose high tariffs. |
| Excise Tax | Tax on goods produced domestically. Excise taxes, particularly the 1791 tax on whiskey, were a highly controversial component of Alexander Hamilton’s financial program. |
| Bank of the United States | (1791): Chartered by Congress as part of Alexander Hamilton’s financial program, the bank printed paper money and served as a depository for Treasury funds. It drew opposition from Jeffersonian Republicans, who argued that the bank was unconstitutional |
| Whiskey Rebellion | Popular uprising of whiskey distillers in southwestern Pennsylvania in opposition to an excise tax on whiskey. In a show of strength and resolve by the new central government, Washington put down the rebellion with militia drawn from several states. |
| Reign of Terror | (1793–94) 10-month period of brutal repression when ~40,000 individuals were executed as enemies of French Revolution. While many Jeffersonians maintained faith in French Republic, Federalists withdrew their support once the Reign of Terror commenced. |
| Neutrality Proclamation | (1793): Issued by George Washington, it proclaimed America’s formal neutrality in the escalating conflict between England and France, a statement that enraged pro-French Jeffersonians |
| Battle of Fallen Timbers | (1794): Decisive battle between the Miami confederacy and the U.S. Army. British forces refused to shelter the routed Indians, forcing the latter to attain a peace settlement with the United States |
| Treaty of Greenville | (1795): Under the terms of the treaty, the Miami Confederacy agreed to cede territory in the Old Northwest to the United States in exchange for cash payment, hunting rights, and formal recognition of their sovereign status. |
| Jay's Treaty | (1794): Negotiated by John Jay in effort to avoid war with Britain, included British promise to evacuate outposts on US soil and pay damages for seized American vessels, in exchange, Jay bound US to repay pre-Revolutionary war debts and to abide by Britai |
| Pickney's Treaty | (1795): Signed with Spain which, fearing an Anglo-American alliance, granted Americans free navigation of the Mississippi and the disputed territory of Florida. |
| Farewell Address | (1796) Washington’s address at end of his presidency, warning against permanent alliances with other nations. He didn't oppose all alliances, but believed the young nation should forge alliances only on temporary basis, in extraordinary circumstances. |
| XYZ Affair | (1797) Diplomatic conflict between France and US when Americans were asked to pay bribe for privilege of meeting with French foreign minister. Many in US called for war; US sailors and privateers waged undeclared war against French merchants in Caribbean |
| Convention of 1800 | Agreement to formally dissolve the US treaty with France, originally signed during Revolutionary War. The difficulties posed by America’s peacetime alliance with France contributed to Americans’ opposition to entangling alliances with foreign powers. |
| Alien Laws | (1798): Acts passed by a Federalist Congress raising the residency requirement for citizenship to fourteen years and granting the president the power to deport dangerous foreigners in times of peace. |
| Sedition Act | (1798) Enacted by Federalist Congress to clamp down on Jeffersonian opposition; anyone convicted of defaming govt officials or interfering with govt policies liable to imprisonment and heavy fine. Drew heavy criticism from Republicans; act expired in 1801 |
| Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions | (1798-99) Secretly drafted by Jefferson and Madison for legislatures of KT and VA. Argued states were final judges of whether fed. govt overstepped its boundaries and could nullify (refuse to accept) national legislation deemed unconstitutional. |
| Revolution of 1800 | Electoral victory of Democratic Republicans over the Federalists, who lost their Congressional majority and the presidency. The peaceful transfer of power between rival parties solidified faith in America’s political system |
| Patronage | Practice of rewarding political support with special favors, often in the form of public office. Upon assuming office, Thomas Jefferson dismissed few Federalist employees, leaving scant openings to fill with political appointees. |
| Judiciary act of 1801 | Passed by the departing Federalist Congress, it created sixteen new federal judgeships ensuring a Federalist hold on the judiciary. |
| Midnight Judges | (1801): Federal justices appointed by John Adams during the last days of his presidency. Their positions were revoked when the newly elected Republican Congress repealed the Judiciary Act. |
| Marbury v Madison | (1803): Supreme Court case that established the principle of “judicial review”—the idea that the Supreme Court had the final authority to determine constitutionality. |
| Tripolitan War | (1801–05) 4-year conflict between the American Navy and the North-African nation of Tripoli over piracy in the Mediterranean. Jefferson, a staunch noninterventionist, reluctantly deployed American forces, eventually securing a peace treaty with Tripoli |
| Haitian Revolution | (1791-1804) A successful, violent uprising by enslaved Africans and free people of color against French colonial rule and slavery. Led by figures like Toussaint Louverture, resulted in abolition of slavery and Haiti as first independent Black republic |
| Louisiana Purchase | (1803): Acquisition of Louisiana territory from France. The purchase more than doubled the territory of the United States, opening vast tracts for settlement. |
| Corps of Discovery | (1804–06) Adventurers, led by Lewis and Clark, sent by Jefferson to explore Louisiana Territory and find water route to Pacific. Brought back detailed accounts of West’s flora, fauna and native populations; demonstrated viability of overland travel |
| Orders in Council | (1806–07) Edicts issued by the British Crown closing French-owned European ports to foreign shipping. The French responded by ordering the seizure of all vessels entering British ports, thereby cutting off American merchants from trade with both parties. |
| Impressment | Act of forcibly drafting individual into military service, employed by British navy against American seamen in times of war against France, 1793–1815. Impressment was a continual source of conflict between Britain and the US in the early national period |
| Chesapeake Affair | (1807): Conflict between Britain and the United States that precipitated the 1807 embargo. The conflict developed when a British ship, in search of deserters, fired on the American Chesapeake off the coast of Virginia |
| Embargo Act | (1807) Enacted in response to British and French mistreatment of American merchants, banned export of all goods from the US to any foreign port. It placed great strains on American economy while barely affecting European targets, and was repealed in 1809 |
| Non-Intercourse Act | (1809): Passed alongside the repeal of the Embargo Act, it reopened trade with all but the two belligerent nations, Britain and France. The Act continued Jefferson’s policy of economic coercion, still with little effect. |
| Macon's Bill No.2 | Aimed at resuming peaceful trade with Britain/France, said if Britain or France repealed trade restrictions, US would reinstate embargo against nonrepealing nation. France offered to lift his, US declared embargo on Britain, moving closer to war |
| War Hawks | (1811–12) Democratic-Republican Congressmen who pressed Madison to declare war on Britain. Largely from South and West, war hawks resented British constraints on American trade and accused British of supporting Indian attacks against American settlements. |
| Battle of Tippecanoe | (1811): Resulted in the defeat of Shawnee chief Tenskwatawa, “the Prophet” at the hands William Henry Harrison in the Indiana wilderness. After the battle, the Prophet’s brother, Tecumseh, forged an alliance with the British against the United States |
| War of 1812 | (1812–15) Fought between Britain and the US largely over the issues of trade and impressment. Though the war ended in a relative draw, it showed America’s willingness to defend its interests militarily, earning young nation respect from European powers. |
| Battle of New Orleans | (January 1815): Resounding victory of American forces against the British, restoring American confidence and fueling an outpouring of nationalism. Final battle of the War of 1812. |
| Congress of Vienna | (1814–1815): Convention of major European powers to redraw the boundaries of continental Europe after the defeat of Napoleonic France |
| Treaty of Ghent | (1815): Ended the War of 1812 in a virtual draw, restoring prewar borders but failing to address any of the grievances that first brought America into the war. |
| Hartford Convention | (1814–1815): Convention of Federalists from five New England states who opposed the War of 1812 and resented the strength of Southern and Western interests in Congress and in the White House. |
| Rush-Bagot Agreement | (1817): Signed by Britain and the United States, it established strict limits on naval armaments in the Great Lakes, a first step in the full demilitarization of the U.S.-Canadian border, completed in the 1870s |
| Tariff of 1816 | First protective tariff in American history, created primarily to shield New England manufacturers from the inflow of British goods after the War of 1812. |
| American System | (1820s): Henry Clay’s three-pronged system to promote American industry. Clay advocated a strong banking system, a protective tariff and a federally funded transportation network. |
| Era of Good Feelings | (1816–1824): Popular name for the period of one-party, Republican, rule during James Monroe’s presidency. The term obscures bitter conflicts over internal improvements, slavery, and the national bank. |
| Panic of 1819 | Severe financial crisis brought on primarily by the efforts of the Bank of the United States to curb overspeculation on western lands. It disproportionately affected the poorer classes, especially in the West, sowing the seeds of Jacksonian Democracy. |
| Land Act of 1820 | Fueled the settlement of the Northwest and Missouri territories by lowering the price of public land. Also prohibited the purchase of federal acreage on credit, thereby eliminating one of the causes of the Panic of 1819. |
| Tallmadge Amendment | (1819) Failed proposal to prohibit importation of slaves into Missouri territory and pave the way for gradual emancipation. Southerners vehemently opposed the amendment, which they perceived as a threat to the sectional balance between North and South. |
| Peculiar Institution | Widely used term for the institution of American slavery in South. Its use in first half of the 19th century reflected growing division between North, where slavery was gradually abolished, and the South, where slavery became increasingly entrenched. |
| Missouri Compromise | (1820): Allowed Missouri to enter as a slave state but preserved the balance between North and South by carving free-soil Maine out of Massachusetts and prohibiting slavery from territories acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, north of the line of 36°30'. |
| Corrupt Bargain | Alleged deal between presidential candidates John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay to throw election, to be decided by House of Rep, for Adams. Though never proven, accusation became rallying cry for Andrew Jackson, who had a plurality of popular vote in 1824 |
| Spoils System | Policy of rewarding political supporters with public office, first widely employed at the federal level by Andrew Jackson. Practice was widely abused by unscrupulous office seekers, but it also helped cement party loyalty in the emerging two-party system. |
| Tariff of Abominations | (1828): Noteworthy for its unprecedentedly high duties on imports. Southerners vehemently opposed the Tariff, arguing that it hurt Southern farmers, who did not enjoy the protection of tariffs, but were forced to pay higher prices for manufactures |
| Nullification Crisis | (1832–33): Showdown between President Andrew Jackson and South Carolina legislature, which declared 1832 tariff null and void in SC and threatened secession if fed govt tried to collect duties. Was resolved by compromise negotiated by Henry Clay in 1833. |
| Compromise Tariff of 1833 | Passed as a measure to resolve the nullification crisis, it provided that tariffs be lowered gradually, over a period of ten years, to 1816 levels |
| Force Bill | (1833): Passed by Congress alongside the Compromise Tariff, it authorized the president to use the military to collect federal tariff duties. |
| Indian Removal Act | (1830) Ordered removal of Indian Tribes residing east of Mississippi to newly established Indian Territory west of Arkansas and Missouri. Tribes resisting eviction were forcibly removed by American forces, often after prolonged legal or military battles |
| Trail of Tears | (1838–1839): Forced march of 15,000 Cherokee Indians from their Georgia and Alabama homes to Indian Territory. Some 4,000 Cherokee died on the arduous journey. |
| Black Hawk War | (1832): Series of clashes in Illinois and Wisconsin between American forces and Indian chief Black Hawk of the Sauk and Fox tribes, who unsuccessfully tried to reclaim territory lost under the 1830 Indian Removal Act |
| Bank War | (1832): Battle between President Andrew Jackson and Congressional supporters of the Bank of the United States over the bank’s renewal in 1832. Jackson vetoed the Bank Bill, arguing that the bank favored moneyed interests at the expense of western farmers. |
| Anti-Masonic Party | (1826) Founded in NY, gained influence in New England and mid-Atlantic in 1832 election, campaigned against politically influential Masonic order, a secret society. Anti-Masons opposed Andrew Jackson, a Mason, and drew support from evangelical Protestants |
| Pet Banks | Popular term for pro-Jackson state banks that received the bulk of federal deposits when Andrew Jackson moved to dismantle the Bank of the United States in 1833 |
| Specie Circular | (1836): U.S. Treasury decree requiring that all public lands be purchased with “hard,” or metallic, currency. Issued after small state banks flooded the market with unreliable paper currency, fueling land speculation in the West. |
| Panic of 1837 | Caused by bank failures, high grain prices, and Jackson’s efforts to curb overspeculation on west lands and transport improvements. President Van Buren proposed “Divorce Bill,” which pulled treasury funds out of banking system, contracting credit supply. |
| Alamo | Fortress in Texas where four hundred American volunteers were slain by Santa Anna in 1836. “Remember the Alamo” became a battle cry in support of Texan in dependence. |
| Goliad | Texas outpost where American volunteers, having laid down their arms and surrendered, were massacred by Mexican forces in 1836. The incident, along with the slaughter at the Alamo, fueled American support for Texan independence |
| Battle of San Jacinto | (1836): Resulted in the capture of Mexican dictator Santa Anna, who was forced to withdraw his troops from Texas and recognize the Rio Grande as Texas’s Southwestern border. |
| Self-Reliance | (1841): Ralph Waldo Emerson’s popular lecture essay that reflected the spirit of individualism pervasive in American popular culture during the 1830s and 1840s |
| Rendezvous | 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. |
| Ecological Imperialism | Historians’ term for the spoliation of Western natural resources through excessive hunting, logging, mining, and grazing. |
| Ancient Order of Hibernians | (mid-nineteenth century): Irish semisecret society that served as a benevolent organization for downtrodden Irish immigrants in the United States. |
| Molly Maguires | (1860s–1870s): Secret organization of Irish miners that campaigned, at times violently, against poor working conditions in the Pennsylvania mines. |
| Tammany Hall | (established 1789): Powerful New York political machine that primarily drew support from the city’s immigrants, who depended on Tammany Hall patronage, particularly social services |
| Know-Nothing Party | (1850s): Nativist political party, also known as the American party, which emerged in response to an influx of immigrants, particularly Irish Catholics. |
| Awful Disclosures | (1836): Maria Monk’s sensational expose of alleged horrors in Catholic convents. Its popularity reflected nativist fears of Catholic influence. |
| Cotton Gin | (1793): 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. |
| Patent Office | 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. |
| Limited Liability | 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. |
| Commonwealth v. Hunt | (1842): Massachu setts Supreme Court decision that strengthened the labor movement by upholding the legality of unions. |
| Cult of Domesticity | 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 |
| McCormick reaper | (1831): 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 largescale commercial agriculture in the Midwest |
| turnpike | Privately funded, toll-based public road constructed in the early nineteenth century to facilitate commerce. |
| Erie Canal | (completed 1825): 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 |
| Clipper Ships | (1840s–1850s): 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. |
| Pony Express | (1860–1861): Short-lived, speedy mail ser vice between Missouri and California that relied on lightweight riders galloping between closely placed outposts. |
| Transportation Revolution | Term referring to a series of nineteenthcentury transportation innovations—turnpikes, steamboats, canals, and railroads—that linked local and regional markets, creating a national economy |
| Market Revolution | Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century transformation from a disaggregated, subsistence economy to a national commercial and industrial network. |
| The Age of Reason | (1794): Thomas Paine’s anticlerical treatise that accused churches of seeking to acquire “power and profit” and to “enslave mankind.” |
| Deism | Eighteenth century religious doctrine that emphasized reasoned moral behavior and the scientific pursuit of knowledge. Most deists rejected biblical inerrancy and the divinity of Christ, but they did believe that a Supreme Being created the universe. |
| Unitarians | Believe in a unitary deity, reject the divinity of Christ, and emphasize the inherent goodness of mankind. Unitarianism, inspired in part by Deism, first caught on in New England at the end of the eighteenth century |
| Second Great Awakening | (early nineteenth century): Religious revival characterized by emotional mass “camp meetings” and widespread conversion. Brought about a democratization of religion as a multiplicity of denominations vied for members |
| Burned-Over District | Popular name for Western New York, a region particularly swept up in the religious fervor of the Second Great Awakening. |
| Mormons | Religious followers of Joseph Smith, who founded communal, oligarchic religious order in 1830s, known as Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. After facing hostility from non-Mormons, moved west and established flourishing settlement in Utah desert |
| Lyceum | (From the Greek name for the ancient Athenian school where Aristotle taught.) Public lecture hall that hosted speakers on topics ranging from science to moral philosophy. Part of a broader flourishing of higher education in the mid-nineteenth century |
| American Temperance Society | Founded in Boston in 1826 as part of a growing effort of nineteenth-century reformers to limit alcohol consumption. |
| Maine Law of 1851 | Prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcohol. A dozen other states followed Maine’s lead, though most statutes proved ineffective and were repealed within a decade |
| Women's Right Convention (Seneca Falls) | (1848): Gathering of feminist activists in Seneca Falls, New York, where Elizabeth Cady Stanton read her “Declaration of Sentiments,” stating that “all men and women are created equal.” |
| New Harmony | (1825–27) Communal society of around 1000 members, established in New Harmony, Indiana by Robert Owen. The community attracted a hodgepodge of individuals, from scholars to crooks, and fell apart due to infighting and confusion after just two years. |
| Brook Farm | (1841–1846): Transcendentalist commune founded by a group of intellectuals, who emphasized living plainly while pursuing the life of the mind. The community fell into debt and dissolved when their communal home burned to the ground in 1846. |
| Oneida Community | One of the more radical utopian communities established in the nineteenth century, it advocated “free love”, birth control, and eugenics. Utopian communities reflected the reformist spirit of the age. |
| Shakers | (established 1770s) Called “Shakers” for lively dance worship, emphasized simple living and were expected to practice celibacy. First moved to America from England by Mother Ann Lee, there were 6000 members by 1840, by 1940s, movement had mostly died out. |
| Hudson River School | (mid-nineteenth century): American artistic movement that produced romantic renditions of local landscapes. |
| Minstrel Shows | Variety shows performed by white actors in blackface. First popularized in the mid-nineteenth century. |
| Transcendentalism | (mid-nineteenth century): Literary and intellectual movement that emphasized individualism and self-reliance, predicated upon a belief that each person possesses an “inner light” that can point the way to truth and direct contact with God. |
| "The American Scholar" | (1837): Ralph Waldo Emerson’s address at Harvard College, in which he declared an intellectual independencefrom Europe, urging American scholars to develop their own traditions. |
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