a special thanks to amy and scott

Hey, guys, it's Amy. I know, I know, you guys covered all of this stuff in detail already, but I figured I'd post my own notes Good luck tomorrow, guys!

Virginia Settlement

One of the New England colonies and chartered by James I in 1606, Virginia was founded to give the English territorial claims to America as well as to offer a colonial market for trade. Jamestown, became a prosperous shipping and tobacco producing colony and the colony developed the House of Burgesses, a bicameral legislature in 1619.

Joint Stock Company: A business owned by investors through control of stocks. Examples operated in England and dealt with colonial markets in America. Such companies organized and supported the colonies through charters from the British government and while they worked with the government they made private profits.

•Jamestown: The first successful settlement in the Virginia colony founded in May, 1607. Harsh conditions nearly destroyed the colony but in 1610 supplies arrived with a new wave of settlers. The settlement became part of the Virginia Company of London in 1620. The population remained low due to lack of supplies until agriculture was solidly established. Jamestown grew to be a prosperous shipping port when John Rolfe introduced tobacco as a major export and cash crop.

starving time: The period early in any settlements development when food and supplies are scarce due to lack of preparation, unfamiliarity with the surroundings, weather, and inability to successfully grow crops. The starving time usually cost a large percentage of the settlers lives and lasted for the first few years.

John Smith: Colonial leader who brought structure and stability to Jamestown during its starting years. As a member of the governing council of Virginia he was chosen to replace the previous president in 1608. Smith is credited with organizing trade with the Powhatan Confederacy and leading the colony through its roughest years.

John Rolfe: English colonist and farmer who greatly aided the colony. Rolfe is credited with introducing tobacco as a crop for export, which ensured the colony of profits as well as bringing eight years of peace between Indians and colonists through his marriage to Pocahontas.

purpose of Virginia: Virginia was founded primarily for the purpose of profit by the joint-stock owned Virginia Company of London. It was also important in giving England territorial claims in America to match Spanish and French expansion, and to also give England markets and resources in the New World.

indentured servants: People who promised their lives as servants in order to get to the colonies. The servants, who were usually white, worked for a certain amount of time so to pay off their debt. This practice led to social tensions with such eruptions as Bacon’s Rebellion and eventually was replaced by race slavery.

problems and failures of Virginia: Included trouble with Indians and a "starving time" in the winter of 1609 which the colony barely survived. Virginia also suffered from debt, a high death rate, fraudulent local officials, and more Indian trouble. The problems eventually made the Virginia Company go bankrupt.

headright system: System enacted first in Virginia then in Baltimore to attract people to the sparsely populated colonies. The system worked by granting large amount of land to anyone who brought over a certain amount of colonists. In Baltimore, anyone bringing five adults at their own expense would receive two thousand acres.

House of Burgesses: A regular assembly of elected representatives that developed in the Virginia colony in the 1630’s. The House of Burgesses was split into two chambers in 1650, creating the House of Burgesses and the Governors Council. The House was a bicameral legislature that was a model for our congress.

successes of Virginia: Virginia succeeded politically in terms of creating the House of Burgesses as a semi-democratic assembly and forcing governors to cooperate with the legislature. They did this through the power of the purse as governors did not control money, and therefore depended on the legislature for they salaries.

Cavalier: The group of supporters of Charles I in the English Civil War which lasted from 1642-1648. The term Cavalier continued to be used to mean any supporter of the British crown, especially Americans who were British sympathizers during the American Revolution.

•Bacon’s Rebellion: Colonial rebellion against the governor of Virginia in 1676. Nathaniel Bacon was the leader of the uprising protesting Governor Berkeley’s neglect of calls for a stronger military presence in the frontier to end problems caused by Indian hostility. The revolt succeeded in driving away the governor and it appeared it would achieve success when Bacon died shortly after the initial success before any progress was made and the rebellion dissipated.

Puritans

The Puritans first came to America in 1620 on the Mayflower. The Pilgrims, as they were called, were separating from the Anglican church and escaping religious persecution in England by escaping to America. Other Puritans soon flocked to America hoping to "purify" the Anglican Church and develop a colony which would be a model to the world ("a city upon a hill")

Calvinism: The teachings and doctrine of John Calvin, a leader in the Protestant reformation. Calvinism is unique in its rejection of consubstantiation, the Eucharist and in its doctrine of predestination, the belief that no actions taken during a persons life would effect their salvation. The Puritan colonies were based on Calvinist doctrine.

Church of England: The established church in England that is also known as the Anglican church. The Church of England was founded in 1534 by Henry VIII after a dispute with the Roman Catholic church over the annulment of his marriage which culminated in the Act of Supremacy, declaring the King to be the head of the church.

Mayflower Compact: Agreement made by the Pilgrims in 1620 when they landed at Plymouth. The compact created the Plymouth colony and made a civil government under James I based on the will of the colonists. The Compact was important in the early organization and success of the colony.

William Bradford: The second governor of the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts, he was elected over John Carver in 1621 and was reelected thirty times. He was important in the organization and success of the colony and kept a history of the development of the Plymouth colony that was published in 1856.

Pilgrims: The original group of puritan separatists that fled religious persecution in England and found refuge in what is now Massachusetts. The Pilgrims sailed across the Atlantic and reached America in 1620 where they founded the Plymouth colony and organized a government based on the Mayflower compact.

Puritans: Reform movement in the Anglican church in the 16th and 17th centuries and came to America in 1629. The movement aimed at purifying the church of corruption split into separatists, who wanted to end ties with the established church and non-separatists. Seeking religious freedom was a strong motivation for colonies in America.

•PILGRIMS VS. PURITANS: Pilgrims and Puritans were extremely similar in most practices and beliefs, but Pilgrims were a distinct group of puritans who were not only against the Anglican church but called for total separation from the church, a dangerous belief in religiously tense England. For this reason they fled the town of Scrooby, England, where they originally had assembled and ended up in Plymouth with intentions of creating a community free of English control.

Separatists vs. Non-Separatists: Separatists were a group of Puritans who advocated total withdrawal from the Church of England and wanted the freedom to worship independently from English authority. They included the Pilgrims who migrated to America. Non-Separatists sought to reform the Church from within.

Massachusetts Bay Colony: Colony created by the Massachusetts Bay Company. Under the leadership of John Winthrop, the colony was created to provide the world with a model Christian society. The colony was created in 1630 and it was governed through a General Court selected by church members.

•City Upon a Hill: Name given to the Puritan society that was to be created in the New World. The leader of the Puritan migration, John Winthrop planned to create a utopian society based on Puritanism that would have no class distinction and would stress the importance of community and church. The society was to be an example to all the world of what could be achieved. It was anticipated that once the world saw this great city it would follow it example.

Cambridge agreement: Plan used in 1629 to colonize America by allowing immigration of puritan settlers who would control the government and the charter of the Massachusetts Bay company. The agreement was based on the creation of a market for trade but instead developed a religiously based government.

Puritan Migration: The term given to the migration of Puritans to America in the early 17th century. Following the restoration of James I to the throne Puritans in England became persecuted and with the accession of Charles I to the throne the situation became worse. The puritans fled England and came to America to have freedom of religion.

John Winthrop: The first governor and one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and a member of the Massachusetts Bay Company. He played a key role in the puritan migration and intended to create a utopian society in America. He was elected governor twelve times and pursued a conservative religious and governmental policy.

saints: High standing members of the church who gained recognition and were put on a council that governed the congregation. Under Puritan doctrine, to become a saint the person had to be a member of the congregation and have been chosen by the church council.

New England Way: The Puritan dominance of New England and their desire to create a utopian society based on their doctrine created a distinct society in New England. Unlike other colonies, Puritans were guided by their religion and created a government and society tied to the church.

Covenant Theology: Christian Theology that stressed that a agreement was made by God with humans with the death of Jesus for the salvation of mankind. The theology differs from sect to sect, some assert that salvation is granted to all, some that its is earned and others that it can be achieved by faith alone.

conversion relation: Part of the Massachusetts Puritans practice, it was a requirement of new members. The Relation required that any member of the congregation must go through an examination before the congregation. Because of its unpleasantness, later generations did not go accept it and the half-way covenant was adopted.

Congregationalism: Protestant organizational system based on the freedom of each church to control its affairs. An offshoot of the separatist, it was continued by the pilgrims in America where it was adopted by the new churches as a way to maintain local independence. Congregationalism was part of the strong independence of the colonies.

Cambridge Platform: Agreement and plan formed by Puritans before they landed in 1629. The platform was the source for the Puritans of the government and organization for their colony, and it established a government under the authority of the King of England.

Contrast Puritan Colonies with others: Because most colonies were created with financial or political gains in mind, puritan colonies had a special distinction from them. The puritans came to American seeking religious freedom and had a strong work ethic enabling them to achieve a success not seen in other colonies.

dissenters: People objected to the accepted doctrine of the established church. The puritans who migrated to America were dissenters from the Church of England who created a new church in the colonies. Religious outcasts from the puritan church such as Ann Hutchinson and Roger Williams were also dissenters.

Anne Hutchinson, antinomianism: Early New England religious leader who founded the doctrine of antinomianism, the belief that the Gospel frees Christians from required obedience to laws. She was banished to Rhode Island in 1637 for her belief in antinomianism and her insistence on salvation by faith and not works.

Roger Williams, Rhode Island: Early colonial clergyman who founded the religiously tolerant colony of Rhode Island in 1636. Williams was banished from Massachusetts for his belief in religious freedom, he established a colony at Providence in 1636 that tolerated all dissenters and was in good relations with the Natives.

Massachusetts School Law: Law also Known as the Old Deluder Act of 1647, that replaced home education by creating a system in which small towns would have a person capable of teaching the children and every town of over one hundred homes would have a school. The law was a step towards creating a universal education system.

town meetings: The center of Colonial America political life especially in New England. Town Meetings were gatherings where all the voters in the town or nearby countryside would all congregate and go over issues that most interested them, such as town officers, and taxes for the following season.

Voting Granted to Church Members: The New England puritans developed a more democratic system of government than in England that gave the power to elect the governor to all male saints. The idea was furthered in 1644 when it adopted a bicameral court with elected delegates.

Half Way Covenant: A modification in the Cambridge Platform in 1662 that enabled people who had not experienced the conversion relation to become part of the congregation. With the later generations of Protestant settlers unwilling to undergo the conversion relation, church membership was threatened and the compromise was made.

Brattle Street Church: Church located in Boston, Mass. Completed in 1699. Thomas Brattle, a wealthy merchant and official of Harvard College organized the church against the will of Cotton Mather because of its closeness to the Church of England. The Church was strongly opposed to the Salem Witchcraft trials in 1692.

•SALEM WITCH TRIALS: The fear of witchcraft that came to a head in the 1691-1963, especially boiling over in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. This fear ended with the death of many innocent women. Most of the women were middle aged wives or widows. Many implicated others for fear of their lives. The Salem Witch Trials pinpointed the underlying tension that was coming to head in many colonies due to religion and social standings.

Puritan Ethic: Term that characterizes the strong sense of purpose and discipline that Puritans had. Part of the work ethic also resulted from a belief that wealth and success were a sign of saintliness and that idleness was a sin. This work ethic also helped the Puritans find success in the colonies and translated to an American colonial work ethic.

 Regionalism

As life in the colonies progressed, certain regions of America developed distinct characteristics and each had its own unique niche. The contrasts between the different regions were involving crops, religion, and control. The distinct regions were New England ,the Chesapeake Bay area, the southern colonies, the middle colonies, and the frontier.

•NEW ENGLAND: Region of the colonies lying on the northeast Atlantic Coast. It started as a highly religious, Puritan society, but eventually became a commercialized "Yankee" society. Of all the colonies, the New Englanders prospered the least, had the most overpopulated towns, and had the poorest soil. To make up for the lack of farming, New Englanders turned to fishing and the merchant marine, and by 1700, this was one of the largest industries in the colonies.

New England Confederation, 1643: A concord among the New England colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven in the years from 1643-1684. The union was for the purpose of ensuring safety and peace between the colonies. The confederation was used most effectively advising during King Phillips War.

•The Dominion of New England: Centralized government imposed upon the New England colonies by England in 1686 as a result of the Restoration monarchy’s need for control and renewed colonial interest. The Dominion was governed by New York governor Sir Edmund Andros. The consolidation was strongly opposed by the colonists because of the elimination of all colonial legislatures, and was ended by colonial insurrection.

Massachusetts Bay Company: Company in 1628 to govern the Massachusetts Bay Colony on granted by the Council of New England in America. Puritan settlers who founded their settlement at Boston first colonized the land, starting a trend of religiously independent settlements. The Company was dissolved in 1684.

Sir Edmund Andros: Political leader appointment as governor of the Dominion of New England in 1686. Andros was extremely unpopular because of his suppression of colonial legislatures, town meetings and enforcement of the Navigation Acts. Boston colonists forcefully removed Andros from office in 1689.

Thomas Hooker: Religious leader in colonial America and founder of Hartford, Conn. As a clergyman in Massachusetts, Hooker grew dissatisfied with the rigid practices and government of the Puritan church. In 1635 he lead a group of followers to start a more liberal colony in Hartford.

Saybrook Platform: A modified version of the Cambridge platform that was used by Connecticut Congregationalists and contained a more centralized church government. The government was for the colony at Saybrook of which John Winthrop’s son was governor.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut: The constitution of the Connecticut colony that was established in 1639. Written by Thomas Hooker and similar to the government of Massachusetts Bay, it contained a preamble and 11 orders. Following the puritan ideal, it put the welfare of the community above that of individuals.

Poor Richard’s Almanack: Publication written by Benjamin Franklin in 1732 that gained an immense following with its home remedies and practical wisdom. It can be said that Poor Richard’s Almanack helped define the American culture by giving them traditions and wisdom’s all their own, separate from Britain.

Phillis Wheatly: African American poet who was brought to America by slave traders at the age of eight and was bought by the Wheatly family. In 1767, at the age of 8, Phillis found her first fame while escorting one of the Wheatly’s in England. One of her works is "To the University of Cambridge in New England."

Ann Bradstreet: The first woman to write poems in colonial America and receive acclaim for them. She was born in 1612 as the daughter of the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her poems, which were published as The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America, asserted that women had the right to gain knowledge.

•SOUTHERN COLONIES: Region consisting mainly of the Carolinas and Georgia. The Southern Colonies were distinct from other colonies mostly on their dependence for slave labor and for farming. The main crop in the South was rice, leading to an absence of large cities in the south. But although most southern cities were tiny, Charleston became the fourth largest city in the colonies. The Southern Colonies were also the only colonies with a large population of blacks and an ethnically stratified society.

Culpeper’s Rebellion: Rebellion against the colonial government in Carolina in 1677. The rebellion was lead by John Culpeper and was directed against the government’s acceptance of English trade laws. The rebellion succeeded in disposing the governor and placing Culpeper in his position, but he was removed in 1679.

Georgia: Colony founded in 1733 by a charter granted to James Oglethorpe. The colony started with a settlement in Savanna created by Oglethorpe as a debtor’s colony. The high ideals of Oglethorpe, such as bans on slavery and rum, slowed growth as large settlement did not occur until after slavery was brought to Georgia.

James Oglethorpe: English soldier and founder of the colony of Georgia in 1733. Oglethorpe founded Georgia after a grant from King George II and settled with a small group on the Savanna River. Oglethorpe’s ideals in creating a debtors colony free of vice were a distinction from other colonies.

Tidewater vs. Piedmont: Two regions of contrasting economic opportunity. The Tidewater was along the coast, where most of the opportunity was in shipping and fishing. the Piedmont, on the other hand, was where farming took place. This contrast represented an East-West dichotomy to accompany the North-South one.

Maryland: Proprietary colony originally intended to be a refuge for English Catholics. Maryland was created in 1632 when Lord Baltimore (Cecilius Calvert) was given a land grant and created a manor based state with a headright system. However, Protestants formed a majority and the manors evolved into plantations.

sugar colonies: Colonies that produced sugar for England, like New Netherlands, New England, Virginia, Maryland, and the Caribbean. Sugar was produced because it could make people rich quickly because it was sold at very high prices. Sugar plantation owners liked to use black slaves because they were able to work harder and longer.

•CHESAPEAKE SOCIETY: Society characterized by few neighbors and isolated families whose lives depended on tobacco. Chesapeake society also revolved around fertile soil near navigable water because tobacco needed such an environment to be grown profitably. Because of this, most farms were located along Chesapeake Bay. Chesapeake society also had a powerful merchant class who controlled both export and import commerce. Slow urbanization also characterized society around the Chesapeake.

Lord Baltimore: Founder of Maryland who, in 1632, received a charter from King Charles I for a tract of land to the northeast of the colony of Virginia. It comprised the present-day states of Maryland and Delaware. He wrote the charter for the colony but died before he got it.

Maryland Act of Toleration: Act that resulted when the Catholics began feeling threatened by the overwhelming Protestant population. The Maryland Act of Toleration was passed in 1649 so all types of Christians could have equal political rights. Along with this equality Lord Calvert allowed a representative assembly for the Catholics.

Maryland’s Protestant Association: Group of Protestants in Maryland during late 1600s who controlled the lower house but not the upper, which the Catholics ruled. Eventually, after the Act of Religious Toleration was passed, the Protestant majority barred Catholics from voting and threw out the governor and repealed the act.

Huguenots: French Protestants. The enlightened and religiously skeptical spirit of the 18th century, however, was opposed to religious persecution, and during this time the French Protestants gradually regained many of their rights. The Huguenots slowed the colonization process for the French, because of the religious wars with French Catholics.

Carolinas: Colonies created when Charles II rewarded eight of the noblemen who had helped him regain the throne from the Puritan rule in 1663 by giving them land. North Carolina originated as an extension of Virginia and South Carolina came from planters from Barbados, who founded Charleston in 1670.

John Locke, Fundamental Constitution: Intricate constitution written by Cooper and John Locke in 1670, meant to stabilize the government of Carolina by basing the social rank on one’s "landed wealth." It formed the three orders of nobility with the proprietors at the top, the caciques in the middle, and the landgraves at the bottom.

Charleston: City that became the fourth largest city in North America. It was a place where the upper class could pass their time so they could stay away from the heat of their plantations. Many whites were lured to Charleston in hopes of reducing the black majority. These job seekers usually ended up competing for jobs with the black slaves.

staple crops of the South: The major staple crop of the south was rice, which was picked by African-American planters who were imported by the Dutch in 1616. Other crops were tobacco, indigo, various grains, wood, and skins. All of these products were exported to Europe and the west Indies. Most of the colonists’ profit came from farming.

•Middle Colonies: The middle colonies were Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, all of which produced iron, grain, flour, wood, and tobacco which were exported to Britain, Europe and the West Indies. Pennsylvania was built on the basis of being a religious haven for Quakers. New York was built upon the rule of James Duke of York who sent out John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret to be the first two proprietors of New Jersey.

Restoration Colonies: Colonies created following the Stuart restoration in 1660 when England again took interest in America. The colonies enabled England to control the East Coast, Carolina, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. These colonies had governments that made a social hierarchy geared toward a dominant wealthy class.

Primogeniture, entail: The practice of passing on land to a son, usually the eldest, when no will was left for the land. This practice became came over with the colonists and was introduced into common law, but it did not take long for the practice to die out in the colonies.

quitrents: Federal payments that the freeholders had to pay the people who were getting the land from proprietors. With the Restoration and the creation of Restoration Colonies, the dues were still enforced, with the money no longer going to the proprietors but instead to the king or queen as royal revenue.

SPG, Society for the Propagation of the Gospel: An organization founded in 1701 to serve the spiritual welfare of the colonists. After a visit to Maryland, Thomas Bray received a royal charter from King William for overseas missionary work. It was seen as a conspiracy, thus showing a fear of tyranny of the church and state.

Pennsylvania, William Penn: Pennsylvania was founded as a refuge for Quakers by William Penn in 1681. The Quakers believed that an "inner-light" allowed them to be on a personal level with God. Penn and his people did not experience a starving time which was very common for starting colonies. They started with a strong government.

Quakers: Religious movement founded in 1600 by a religious belief that divine revelation is immediate and individual and that all persons may perceive the word of God in their soul. They rejected a formal creed and regarded every participant as a potential vessel for the word of God. They were based in Pennsylvania.

George Fox: Preacher of the "inner-light" doctrine who spoke against formalized religion, mainly Presbyterianism, and advocated divine communion as he practiced it. He objected to political and religious authority, opposed war and slavery, and believed that all human actions must be directed by inner contemplation.

George Keith: Member of the Quaker church who told the Quakers that they needed a formal doctrine. His ideas were not accepted among the Quaker majority, so in 1692 he joined the Church of England. With his heresy conviction the Quaker population in Pennsylvania dropped, and the Anglican population and political power rose.

liberal land laws in PA: Laws that were set up by William Penn which were very liberal because that was his nature. The 1701 Frame of Government stated that the proprietors had no power to do mischief. Penn himself carefully oversaw land sales in the colonies to avoid improper disputes. This liberal planning ensured no starving time.

Holy Experiment: The main part of this theology that George Fox taught was that people had an inner light that could spiritually inspire their souls. He objected to political and religious authority, opposed war and slavery, and believed that all human actions should be directed by inner contemplation and a social conscience inspired by God.

1701 Frame of Government: The first set of laws set up in Pennsylvania which were written by William Penn. In his constitutional type document Penn preached "that the will of one man may not hinder the good of the whole company." The document was revised seven times and held a strong executive, and a limited lower legislative chamber.

New York: Dutch, 1664 English: Charles II gave his brother James title to all the Dutch lands in America in 1664. James became King in 1685 and appointed Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret as the first proprietors of New Jersey. For years to come there were conflicting claims to the territory and finally in 1702 it became a royal colony.

East/ West Jersey: They were colonies that resulted from the sale of the Jersey territory to Quakers. English settlers resisted the original proprietors’ authority, so in 1674 Berkeley sold his half to a union of Quakers. East Jersey then became dominated by Scottish Quakers whereas West Jersey became the home to many English Quakers.

patroon system: The system of feudal estates created by large New York landowners in the early 1700s. The estates were created in order to raise revenue by collecting tenant rents. Later, by about 1750, the patroon owners emerged as a class of landed elite, almost like the British landed aristocracy.

Peter Struyvesant: Dutch governor who was attacked by Charles II in 1664 so that the British could control North America. Struyvesant, whose army was already hurt from Indian attacks, peacefully surrendered and gave New Netherlands to Charles II, forming the New York and Jersey colonies with a large remaining Dutch population.

the middle colonies as a religious haven: William Penn founded Pennsylvania originally as a religious haven for Quakers who were not accepted elsewhere in 1681. Similarly, Maryland was founded by George Calvert in 1632 and served as a refuge for English Catholics. Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams in 1644 for dissenting Puritans.

crops in the middle colonies: The middle colonies rich level lands produced lengthy growing seasons and gave good bumper crops. The middle colonies were major exporting colonies because of their accessible sea ports. Their exports were rice, iron, grain, flour, wood, and tobacco which were shipped to Europe and the West Indies.

New York City and Philadelphia as urban centers: Both cities were the two biggest exporting cities in America thus making them rapidly growing urban centers. High population and bad sanitation allowed many of the people to catch viruses and diseases. Recessions hit frequently and the job force was very unstable.

Leisler’s Rebellion: Anti-Stuart rebellion in which Captain Jacob Leisler took command over New York in hopes of protecting it from Andros and other supporters of James II. In 1691, Leisler denied the passing of English troops to important forts, leading to his arrest and death when his enemies gained control of the government.

Benjamin Franklin: A notable American printer, author, diplomat, philosopher, and scientist, his contributions epitomized the Enlightenment. In 1731 he founded what was probably the first public library in America. He first published Poor Richard’s Almanack in 1732 and played a crucial role in the American Revolution and community.

John Bartram: Botanist who was known as the father of American Botany. Bartram traveled extensively through the colonies, observing wildlife, writing, collecting plants, and making maps. He performed important experiments involving plant hybridization and in 1728 he founded the first botanical garden in America near Philadelphia.

•FRONTIER: Area of land important in the development of a distinctly American culture and political life, as explained by Fredrick Turner’s Frontier Thesis. The frontier also offered limitless land, which democratized America by elimating the significance of voting property requirements. Finally, the frontier represented a raw environment that helped mold American civilization by giving it coarseness, strength, acuteness, pragmatism, and inventiveness.

North-South economic differences: The North was much more concerned with shipping, fishing, and industry whereas the South was based on an agricultural society. Also, the North had more towns, cities, and ports. In contrast, the South was characterized by cash crops, an aristocracy, and plantations.

 Red, White, and Black

With the colonization of certain regions in America came conflicts with the Native Americans and the earliest traces of slavery in America. Originally using African-Americans only as indentured servants, the growers and farmers eventually began to rely on African-Americans and Native Americans as a free source of labor.

Iroquois Confederacy: The joining of six sects of the Iroquoian family and of the Eastern Woodlands area. By the 1700s, the tribes in the confederacy were the Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, Mohawk, Seneca, and Tuscarors. By combining they were a stronger force against the colonists.

Native American Relations in the first settlements: Relations characterized by resistance to the expansion of English settlement, submission into "praying towns," and devastation through war and disease. Many of the Massachusetts Indians sought protection from Winthrop by selling their land and surrendering their independence.

Pequot War: So-called war consisting of clumsy plundering by Massachusetts troops and raids by Pequots in 1637. The colonists eventually won the alliance of rival tribes and waged a ruthless campaign. The war tipped the balance of military power to the English, opening the way to New England’s settlement.

King Phillips War: War between the Native American tribes of New England and British colonists that took place from 1675-1676. The war was the result of tension caused by encroaching white settlers. The chief of the Wampanoags, King Philip lead the natives. The war ended Indian resistance in New England and left a hatred of whites.

Tuscaroras and Yamasees: Two opposing Indians tribes whose disunity lead both to destruction. The Tuscaroran people were defeated by the colonists with the help of the Yamasees in 1713, and the Yamasees were themselves defeated around 1715. Both tribes were scattered and soon disappeared.

praying towns: Towns set up by puritan missionaries for Indian converts to spread puritan Christianity, the first of which, Natick, was founded in 1651. As the Indian population in the east waned, assimilation as "Praying Indians" became the only option besides retreating farther west.

Beaver Wars: Wars that resulted from furious trading and hunting of Beaver pelts by the Dutch, the French, and the New Netherlands. The Overhunting of Beavers sent prices so high in 1742 that the Dutch armed the Iroquois and what resulted was bloody battles against Pro-French tribes.

•SLAVERY BEGINS: Followed the exploration of the African coast and the establishment of a slave trade Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The slave trade then moved in to America as the development of a plantation system in Virginia offered a market for slavery and the first slaves arrived there in 1619. Slavery remained small among the colonies, however because it was not yet profitable for slavery under the conditions. As trade and agriculture grew and a plantation system grew so did slavery.

Barbados Code: Code adopted by Carolina in 1696 to control slaves at the will of their masters. It was often noted as an inhumane code but the society revolved around slaves, so laws like this were created in order to keep control in the society. White owners relied on force and fear to control the growing black majority in the Carolinas.

Maryland Slave Code, 1661: The first actual definition by the colonies of slavery as a "lifelong, inheritable, racial status." It was issued by Maryland in 1661 in order to set up a distinct place for the slaves in the society. Out of the Maryland Slave Code of 1661 came the establishing of other slave codes that set up strict legal codes.

Stono Rebellion: Slave uprising in South Carolina in 1739, in which twenty slaves robbed guns and ammunition from the Stono River Bridge along with killing civilians. Officials suppressed the rebellion and stopped any more chaos and damage. It was a significant encounter because it caused white apprehension and led to a new slave code.

Salutary Neglect

Britain’s absence in colonial America due to pressing issues in England left the colonies alone for the most part to govern themselves. During this time they flourished and developed a British origin, yet with a distinctly American flavor. It was because of this absence that the colonies became more self sufficient and eventually it led them to a feeling of individuality that they feared losing, thus bringing forth the Declaration of Independence after a series of events.

mercantilism: features, rationale, impact on Great Britain, impact on the different colonies: Economic policy prevailing in Europe during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries under which governmental control was exercised over industry and trade in accordance with the theory that national strength is increased by a majority of exports over imports. The colonies adopted mercantilism as business in which the mother country could benefit.

triangular trade: Trade that takes place between three places is called triangular trade. Colonial trade was not very triangular because the Navigation Acts forced American merchants to trade only with Britain. However, the Americans still managed to smuggle goods with the French Caribbean and India.

consignment systems: A system of drafting sailors into the British navy. The British could freely use the soldiers at their convenience by the rules of this draft. The draft caused many problems in the life of young American men. Many teenagers tried to avoid the draft by giving false information about themselves.

Molasses Act, 1733: Legislation by the British Parliament for taxing and imposing shipment restrictions on sugar and molasses imported into the profitable colonies from the West Indies. It was meant to create profitable trade as a protective tariff, but it was never meant to raise revenue.

Woolens Act, 1699; Hat Act, 1732: Iron Act, 1750: Act specifying certain enumerated goods—principally tobacco, rice, and indigo—that the colonists could export only to another English colony or to England. These were attempts to prevent manufacturing in the British colonies that might threaten the economy of England.

Currency Act, 1751: Act passed by British Parliament that affected the colonies by adjusting the currency. The point of this attack was to raise revenue for Great Britain. It was a clear example of how Salutary Neglect was coming to an end with the French and Indian War.

Currency Act, 1764: Another Act passed by the British Parliament that affected the colonies and was meant to raise revenue for Great Britain. It was very similar to the other previous Currency Act but this act was targeted towards the people and raising the taxes so that the Parliament could make more money.

Magna Carta, 1215: A charter granted by King John, that exactly established the relationship between the kings and barons and guaranteed ideas of free commerce, the right to a fair trial, and the right to a trial by your peers. Many of the base rights in the United States Constitution are included in it.

Petition of Right, 1628: Petition given to Charles I by parliament, asking him to stop sending soldiers to live in private citizens homes, stop taxing without its consent and stop declaring martial law in a time of peace. This occurred partially because Charles was trying to pay off his war debt.

Habeas Corpus Act: Act saying that a person can not be held in prison without being charged and tried. They put this into effect to help stop innocent people from being thrown into jail with no specific reason why. This idea was adopted into our Constitution in Article 1, Section 9. It can only be revoked in time of rebellion.

Navigation Act, 1651: Parliament passed this legislation in 1651 in order to protect English trade from foreign competition. It was only temporary and it stated that goods imported or exported by the colonies in Africa and Asia must be shipped out or imported only by English vessels and the crews must be 75% British. It also helped U.S. capitalism.

Navigation Act, 1660: This Parliamentary act renewed the 1651 act and specified certain innumerable articles which could be exported only to the English or to another English colony in 1660. Among these goods were tobacco, rice, and indigo. American shipbuilding thus prospered and there was a stable protected market for producers.

Navigation Act, 1663: This Parliamentary act disallowed colonial merchants from exporting products like sugar and tobacco anywhere except to England and from importing goods in ships not made and produced by the English. Along with the 1660 act, it was passed to help English commercial interests in 1663 but helped the U.S.

Navigation Act, 1696: This was the fifth and final Parliamentary Navigation Act. It allowed for methods of enforcing the acts, provided more penalties for evasion, and introduced use of vice-admiralty courts. It was passed in 1696 in an effort to strengthen its effect on colonists. It was felt much more harshly by the colonists and led to hostility

admiralty courts: These were courts that were created to bring sailors to trial for going against the navigation acts. They were often held away from the colonies, a fact that the colonies viewed as being unconstitutional. Also, the courts awarded judges money for every conviction, thus judges became more apt to find people guilty.

merchants/markets: People and places involved in the trading system of the colonies were merchants and the markets with which they traded. The Navigation Acts opened up British markets to American merchants, and the number of merchants increased during the 1750’s as well.

•BOARD OF TRADE, (of the Privy Council): This board was part of the Privy Council which was one of the committees formed by the British Parliament In 1793 Britain’s Privy Council sent out orders that any foreign ships caught trading with the French Islands located in the Caribbean to be automatically captured and taken away. They deliberately waited to publish these instructions so that American ships would be seized, causing over 250 ships were captured.

Robert Walpole: Statesman who is considered Britain’s first prime minister. He entered the English Parliament in 1701 and became a well known speaker for the Whig Party. In 1708 he was named Secretary of War. In 1739 he declared war on Spain, which caused division in his party (Whigs) for support for him in elections.

the Enlightenment: A period in the 1700s when a new method of thought was employed. It was a time when great minds awoke and started thinking, affecting the colonies as well as Europe. Some beliefs brought to the forefront were the laws of nature, optimism, confidence in human reason, and deism. Its ideas lead to revolutionary ideas.

John Locke’s Ideas: John Locke was a philosopher that supported Colonial America. He criticized the "divine right" kings had and believed that the people should have a say and that the supreme power should be state power, but only if they were governed by "natural" law. His ideas can be seen in the Constitution.

John Peter Zenger Trial: Trial involving the founder of the New York Weekly Journal , who received money from influential town members. So when Zenger published articles by his contributors that criticized Colonial government he was arrested and put on trial. He was announced not guilty, his success paving the way for freedom of the press.

•COLONIAL GOVERNMENT: Characterized by regular assemblies and appointed militia, law, and local administration. Often, these were dominated by the colonial elite despite liberal qualifications for male voters. Because of low voter participation and indifference toward politics, colonial government only truly flourished in the major seaports. The most significant development of colonial government was the rise of the assembly and the limiting of the power of governors.

Rise of the lower house: In Colonial America the lower house had increasingly equal if not more power than the upper house. The house had the power of the purse which led them to being the more dominant house. More common people could get into government than before and make a difference which helped build the foundations of America.

•PROPRIETARY, CHARTER, ROYAL COLONIES: These are three ways one could come upon owning land in Colonial America. One such way was for a company to give out land so an area would become populated. Kings and Queens could also give away land as well as people having property passed on to them, therefore having an influence on decisions the new powers would make. All of these ideas helped shape America’s way of government life.

colonial agents: Representatives sent by Great Britain to the colonies during the 17th and 18th centuries. They would observe the colonies and then send the information back to England. The problem is by the time it got back to England the information that had once been true was now old and wrong.

Glorious Revolution: When Mary and William over run James II in England in 1688, British citizens saw this as a win in liberty for parliament would have more control than ever. Moderate uprising that came out of the Colonial America during this time ended with William and Mary taking apart the Dominion of New England.

Bill of Rights, 1689: Bill that said no Roman Catholics could hold a position of king or queen in England. It also made it illegal for a monarch to postpone laws, have a standing army, or levy taxes without the okay of the British Parliament. The colonies then interpreted the law and used it against the British (levy tax).

Great Awakening

A series of religious revivals swept through the colonies in the 1730s. Key players were Theodore Frelinghuysen, William and Gilbert Tenant, Jonathan Edwards, and George Whitefield. Through the awakening emerged the decline of Quakers, founding of colleges, an increase of Presbyterians, denomenationalism, and religious toleration.

Jonathan Edwards - Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, A Careful and Strict Enquiry into. . . That freedom of Will: Sermon about how one must have a personal faith and relationship with Jesus Christ to gain salvation instead of an afterlife in hell. The sermon also used the fury of the divine wrath to arouse religious fervor.

George Whitefield: English clergyman who was known for his ability to convince many people through his sermons. He involved himself in the Great Awakening in 1739 preaching his belief in gaining salvation. Coming from Connecticut, most of his speeches were based there. His presence helped raise the population by about 3000 people.

William Tennent: Presbyterian minister who played a chief role in the Great Awakening in Central New Jersey by calling prayer meetings known as the Refreshings around the 1730’s. Another one of his significant projects was the founding of his influential Log College which had teachers educated in all areas of study.

Gilbert Tennent: American Presbyterian minister, in 1740 delivered a harsh sermon, "The Dangers of Unconverted Ministry," in which he criticized conservative ministers who opposed the fervor of the Great Awakening. The result was a schism (1741) in the Presbyterian church between the "Old Lights" and the "New Lights," led by Tennent.

Old Lights, New lights: Two groups of ministries who frequently had heated debates on the issue of God during the Great Awakening. The Old Lights rejected the Great Awakening and the New Lights, who accepted it and sometimes suffered persecution because of their religious fervor.

Harvard University: University located in Cambridge, Mass. that was founded in 1636 on a grant from the Mass. Bay Colony. The school was originally organized to educate ministers because of the scarcity of clergy and lack of an educational institution in the new colony. The university eventually developed a more secular format

effects of the Great Awakening on religion in America: Long term effects of the Great Awakening were the decline of Quakers, Anglicans, and Congregationalists as the Presbyterians and Baptists increased. It also caused an emergence in black Protestantism, religious toleration, an emphasis on inner experience, and denominationalism.

Great Britain Versus France

With America as a new prospect for both France and Great Britain, tensions grew between the two countries. The result was a series of wars like King William’s War, Queen Anne’s War, the War of Jenkin’s Ear, King George’s War, and the French and Indian War.

Changes in land Claims of 1689, 1713, 1763: Before 1689 almost all of the land belonged to Spain, and France with Britain only starting. Then by 1713 France was dominating the North America and Britain was spreading up and down the coast. In 1763 with the Treaty of Paris, Britain became the overwhelming power.

Differences between French and British colonization: The French mostly had fur traders and posts in North America so they could get goods, they were more inland and made friends with the Indians. While the English were settling for good on the shore, making homes and government- they were all there to start a new life.

Why Great Britain eventually won: When William Pitt joined the British leaders he turned things around. He began to treat the Americans like equals or allies instead of subordinates. This lead Americans to feel a sense of pride and a renewed sense of spirit that sent them into several victories that made France eventually concede.

King William’s War: In Europe a war fought between the Grand Alliance and France which also embroiled the colonies. The entire war was battled over who would reign in England. In the colonies the Indians were fighting for the French. In 1697 fighting ceased due to the Peace of Ryswick which restored Port Royal to the French.

Queen Anne’s War: The second of the four imperial wars that were fought between Britain, France and Spain. It took place from 1702-1713. Though many Spanish colonial towns were captured and burned by English forces, American colonists met with military failure creating a feeling of dependence on Britain. The war ended with Peace of Utrecht.

Peace of Utrecht: Treaty that ended Queen Anne's War in 1713. Due to this treaty France had to give up Acadia, Newfoundland and the Hudson Bay territory to England but got to keep Cape Breton Island. The treaty also introduced a period of peace in which the American colonists experienced growth economically and politically.

War of Jenkin’s Ear: This war was British versus Spain. It was fought in Georgia and North Carolina. Lieutenant Governor William Gooch led Virginia’s 400 men into the whole 3000 men colonial army and after their Colonel died Gooch succeeded him. When they attacked Cartagena it proved disastrous, though Gooch wouldn’t report it that way.

King George’s War: War fought between Britain and France and Spain. It took place not only in Europe but also in North America with American colonists supporting the British with thousands of troops. In the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle Britain gained lands in India but lost Louisburg, which embittered Anglo-American relations.

•FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR: The French and Indian war was fought between Britain and France. It lasted from 1754-1760, with the colonies supporting Britain and the Indians supporting France. This war spanned three different continents and it was the main factor in the ending of "salutary neglect." This war planted the seeds of misunderstanding between Britain and the colonies and indirectly was one of the causes of the Revolutionary War. Britain came out victoriously with the Treaty of Paris.

Coureurs de Bois- Unlicensed trader who traded illegally with Indians. Many young men seeing only the prospective wealth left their families and traded illegally with Indians, some even married into the tribes. They also enlisted Indians in the French Army. These Coureurs de Bois were important in setting up fur trade in Canada.

Francis Parkman: Francis Parkman was one of the prominent historians of his time (1823-1893). Most of his work concerned the conflict that arose between France and Britain for land in Colonial America. Later on in his career he went west and traveled with tribes, such as the Sioux, which ended with the book, The Oregon Trail.

Albany Plan of Union, Benjamin Franklin: Colonial confederation based on the ideas of Franklin calling for each town to have independence in a large whole, known as a Grand Council. It was used for military defense and Indian policies and set a precedent for later American unity.

Edward Braddock: Braddock was the General of all the British Troops (French and Indian War), he led an attack against Fort Duquesne, never reaching his destination for they were attacked by the Monongahela River where 900 of his 1200 men were wounded or killed. Braddock was wounded at this battle and died soon afterwards.

William Pitt: Prime minister for Britain, who helped Britain bounce back after the Revolutionary War and who lead the war effort against France. Pitt had two terms, 1783 to 1801 and 1804 to 1806. He was considered a moderate, with the backing of the king and the parliament. Pitt’s time in office became a foundation for future prime ministers.

Fort Duquesne: This was the fort that General Braddock tried to take during the French and Indian War but him and his troops were slaughtered in an ambush at the Monongahela, where 900 of the 1200 troops were wounded or killed. Later General Amherst captured the fort.

Wolfe, Montecalm, Quebec- the Plains of Abraham: The battle of the French and Indian War, between General Wolfe and General Montecalm in which both were killed . It ended with the capturing of Quebec and was one of the final steps that lead Montreal to surrender, thus making Canada no longer a threat.

Land squabbles in North America, where, why and what over: Any of the imperial wars that were fought in North America, for if when Britain won they would usually gain territory they had wanted before. Also various battles with Indians over pieces of land because colonists pushed their way onto Indian land, not caring if it belonged to them.

Treaty of Paris (1763): Treaty that ended the French and Indian War was ended by the Treaty of Paris. This treaty ended French reign in Canada. The treaty also called for Spain to give Florida to Britain, and for France to give all lands east of the Mississippi River to Britain. It also was a precursor, for colonial politics would follow Britain.

Proclamation of 1763: This proclamation stated that no white settlers could go past the crest of the Appalachians. While this upset many colonists who had claims that far west, Britain explained it was only temporary, for it was meant to calm the Indians, sure enough five years later the boundary was moved further west.

Pontiac’s Rebellion, 1763: After France had to give up the territory they had near and around the Appalachian Mountains the Indians were afraid that the British would come in and start to settle down permanently, to make sure this didn’t happen Chief Pontiac launched an offensive at Bushy Run and Pontiac’s forces won for the time being.

Proclamation of 1763: The British issued this in 1763 in hopes of conciliating the Indians and to lessen white expansion. It banned colonists from settling west if the Appalachian mountains. Though it was supposedly a temporary measure, colonists were angered and the line was moved further west five years later for speculators.

New British Policy and Colonial Resistance

In order to tighten control over the colonies, Great Britain instated many acts and taxes which enraged colonists who argued that it was unfair to tax them when they had no direct representation in Parliament. This resistance was the beginning of America’s revolt against its mother country.

writs of assistance: The royal governor of Massachusetts allowed British revenue officers to use this in 1760 in order to capture goods imported illegally in: It was a search warrant allowing officials to enter buildings in which smuggled goods may be. It required no cause for suspicion and homes were often ransacked. It also contributed to the Revolution.

James Otis: He was a colonial leader who was also advocate general of the Boston Vice Admiralty Court in 1756. His opposition to the writs of assistance and Townshend Acts led him to declare that Parliament did not have the right to violate natural rights of colonists. He thus published The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proven.

Pontiac’s Rebellion: Ottawa chief Pontiac attacked and besieged ten British forts in May, 1763, in order to keep British out of the Appalachians. An uneasy truce was negotiated by 1764, and as a result, the Proclamation of 1763 was put forth in order for Britain to maintain 10,000 soldiers in the U.S. to occupy French ceded territories.

Paxton Boys: This group of Rangers from Pennsylvania Paxton in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, killed some Sasquehannock Indians in 1764. The conflict arose as a result of the desire to expand westward. Governor John Penn in 1764 attempted to punish them, but the people of the area were so upset that a revolt ensued; Benjamin Franklin solved it.

Grenville’s Program: British Prime Minister George Grenville was the principal architect of the Sugar Act; his method of taxation and crackdown on colonial smuggling were widely disliked by Americans. He passed the Stamp Act arguing that colonists received virtual representation in Parliament, even though Americans didn’t elect members.

•SUGAR ACT, 1764: George Grenville introduced this act which amended the Molasses Act that had taxed all foreign molasses entering the U.S. at sixpence a gallon in 1764. The new act ended the previous British policy of keeping Americans out of all revenue-raising measures. It stated that colonists exported certain items to foreign countries only if they passed through Britain first. Parliament hoped that Americans would buy more British items and it increased British sale of European wine.

Currency Act, 1764: extended currency Act, 1751: A Parliamentary act, which was originally applicable only in Massachusetts in 1751, but in 1764, it was applied to all the colonies as a means of raising revenue. It increased colonial resentment toward Britain because it disallowed the issuance of colonial money.

vice-admiralty courts: Parliament was responsible for this new form of juryless court in Nova Scotia. From 1763 to 1765, when Americans were caught smuggling in violation of the Acts of Trade, they were tried by corrupt judges who received a percentage of the confiscated goods if they found the defendants guilty.

A Democracy or not?: Colonial America was a place with more liberal voting qualification, no aristocracy and rise of the assembly. But the ruling class was still the wealthy, they had the power, also voters turn out wasn’t large. One had a better chance in becoming part of the "system" but it wasn’t democratic.

Deism: most of the religious thinkers during the Enlightenment were deist. The deists believed that God was a clockmaker who created the world but now just watches it work. They believed that we lived in a perfect universe and that we are laws that we created were natural.

Non-consumption: The Sons of Liberty began the idea of non-consumption in 1774 with their vow of non-importation of British goods. When the Boston Port Bill was passed, colonists once again agreed to ban all British goods in order to boycott the British until demands were met. Because of this, state or individual opposition was despised.

virtual, actual representation: Parliament felt colonists had virtual representation because every member of Parliament considered the rights of all subjects; the House of Commons was responsible for protecting the rights of all British and colonists. Because the British elected members, they enjoyed actual representation, but colonists had none.

no taxation without representation: John Adams, in his Circular Letter, in 1768, openly criticized Parliament’s practice of taxation without proper colonial representation. It was said that no tax that was issued in order to produce revenue for Great Britain was constitutional because American representatives had not voted to allow the tax.

colonial view of the constitution: Colonial views toward the Constitution varied greatly in 1781, due mostly to regional and bipartisan differences. Federalists were those who advocated a strong central government, at state’s expense. Antifederalists demanded more state power. Depending on size, states wanted different types of representation.

Compact theory: First expressed by Jefferson and Madison in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolves of 1798, it declared that each state comprised the national government through a compact whose provisions were established in the Constitution. Hence, the states could decide when the compact was broken. It further led to the doctrine of States Rights.

•STAMP ACT: British prime minister George Grenville’s most detested act, the Stamp Act was introduced in 1765 as a means of raising revenue in the colonies, and was passed by Parliament. It stated that all legal documents, contracts, licenses, pamphlets, and newspapers must carry a stamp that is taxed. It was intended to raise money for keeping up defense in colonies. It infuriated colonists because it was an internal tax that few could escape. Opposition to the Stamp Act led to formation of the Stamp Act Congress.

stamp distributors: These were the men who had the job of accepting money from the special water-marked paper put into circulation with the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765. They were a target for such associations as the Loyal Nine and Sons of Liberty who attempted, through violence, to force the distributors to resign before taxes were due.

Patrick Henry: He was an orator and statesman who played a key role in igniting patriotism and leading the colonists toward the American Revolution. In 1763 he became a member of the House of Burgesses where he introduced seven resolutions against the Stamp Act. He is famous for his comment "Give me liberty or give me death."

Virginia Resolves: American leader Patrick Henry persuaded the Virginia House of Burgesses to state their opposition to taxation in 1765. They adopted several resolutions which refuted the power of Parliament to tax the colonies. Henry’s fiery orations caused, by the end of the year, eight other colonies to also denounce taxation and declare rights.

Stamp Act Congress, 1765: This was an assembly of delegates from nine of the original thirteen colonies in 1765 which was intended to protest the Stamp Act. They met in New York City and presented the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, but the group’s demand for no taxation without representation was refused by the House of Commons.

Non-importation: There existed, between many of the colonial merchants, an agreement to not import any British goods until the Townshend acts were repealed. When the tea tax was kept, they were unsure whether or not to keep the boycott going. When non-importation collapsed, the Sons of Liberty agreed not to consume British tea in protest.

•SONS OF LIBERTY: Members included Samuel Adams and Paul Revere; it was a secret society of patriots which was organized in 1765 in the colonies. They formed a Committee of Correspondence to defend themselves against British actions. One of the actions they took was to adopt a policy of non-importation in which merchants refused to import goods sent from Great Britain. They also participated in terrorizing the stamp distributors through house-wrecking and tar-and-feathering in order to achieve respect.

Daughters of Liberty: Upper class female patriots who formed a union in 1765 in order to give aid to the cause of defeating the reviled Stamp Act. They proved their value to the cause both by attending political rallies and protests and also by refusing association with men who were Loyalists, however, they ultimately played a small role.

internal/external taxes: Introduced by the British Parliament in 1765, the Stamp Act was an internal tax which few colonists could escape, all of the colonists were drastically affected by this tax. An example of an external tax is the Sugar Act passed in 1764 which raised costs only for a select group of people; public opposition to the tax was minute.

Revenue Act: Parliament passed the Revenue taxes in 1767. The Act taxed glass, paint, lead, paper, paint, and tea. In colonial opinion, it was just like the Stamp Act in that, though it was said to be an external tax, it was still put into effect solely to raise revenue for the British treasury. It further angered colonial resentment to Charles Townshend.

Right of revolution: In John Lock’s Two Treatises of Government, written in 1690, it is stated that "It is a state of perfect freedom [for man] to do as they wish and dispose of themselves and their possessions." He claims that any person has the right to revolt if the government does not fulfill its duties. His ideas led to the Declaration of Independence.

The Loyal Nine: A group of middle class workers joined this association in the summer of 1765 in order to resist the Stamp Act. They realized that if they could intimidate stamp distributors with house-wrecking and tar-and-feathers, they could bully them into resigning before the act could be put into effect, making it impracticable.

Guy Fawkes Day: Thousands of ardent Bostonians gathered to celebrate this day on November 5, 1765. The day was named for the anniversary of the day Catholic Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up Parliament and King James I. In celebration of his failure, mobs gathered in the streets of Boston to protest and to set fire to figures of the Pope.

Declaratory Act. 1766: This was a Parliamentary act which was issued in 1766 in order to confirm the British government’s right to pass acts which were legally binding to the colonists. Because the Stamp Act was so opposed by the colonists as well as the British business community, it was repealed, but only with the passage of this confirmation.

Quartering Act (called the Mutiny Act by the British): Passed by Congress, this was one of the Intolerable Acts in 1774. It effectively served to further punish the colonists. Basically, it allowed for much-hated British officers to be permitted to requisition empty, private buildings. All resistance was repressed by this blatant attempt to force troops in.

•TOWNSHEND ACTS, REACTION: Under the control of British Prime Minister Charles Townshend, Parliament passed these measures in 1767. The first called for suspension of the New York Assembly because it would not abide by the Quartering Act. The Revenue Act called for customs duties on imports of glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. As a result of unrest over these acts, the Massachusetts legislature was dissolved. Colonial reaction was that of further discontent toward their motherland.

John Dickinson, "Letters From a Farmer in Pennsylvania": He was a lawyer in Philadelphia and a leader in the movement against taxation on the colonies in the 1760s. Formulating a declaration of rights at the Stamp Act Congress, he argued against the duties of the Townshend acts in this publication. He sought appeasement of the British.

Massachusetts Circular Letter: The Massachusetts legislature sent the other 12 colonies a letter in 1767 in response to the Townshend Acts and asked for a united response from the colonies. The British threatened to dissolve the Massachusetts court unless it was withdrawn. They refused and were dismissed. The other assemblies defiantly signed.

•SAM ADAMS: He was an outspoken advocate of the Sugar Act, and served on the General Court of Massachusetts in 1765. Moreover, he was a main proponent of opposition to the Townshend Acts and a key figure in the formation of the Sons of Liberty. Starting a movement for an uprising against the Boston Massacre, he led several other angry colonists in the Boston Tea Party of 1773. Due to his literary agitation, Adams contributed to the movement for revolution.

The Association: The First Continental Congress agreed to this "association," which was a simple sort of agreement in 1774. It was formed in response to anger over the recently passed Tea Act. Members pledged not to import, export, or consume products of Britain unless their demands were met. This led to increased hostility toward the colonists.

repeal of the Townshend Acts exept tax on tea: Lord North, in a Parliamentary act in 1770, wanted to eliminate the Townshend duties due to increased hostility against the British and to keep the boycott from gaining momentum. However, he still recommended they maintain the tea tax, because it was profitable for the Royal Treasury in Great Britain.

•AMERICAN BOARD OF CUSTOMS COMMISSIONERS: Townshend introduced legislation in 1767, serving to create an American Board of Customs Commissioners whose sole job would be to enforce the Navigation Acts . They were created because Townshend wanted to crack down on colonial smuggling. The corrupt members of the Board practiced customs racketeering, which was a legalized form of piracy. This led to a major movement between colonists of anger and violence toward the Board members.

John Hancock’s Liberty: Customs commissioners in Boston requested an armed force for protection and the government dispatched the Romney to Boston in June, 1768. When told that a customs official had been locked up, while John Hancock unloaded without paying the duty, the Liberty was seized. This led to further discontent towards Britain.

Boston Massacre, 1770: British troops, (which were resumed in the city in 1770 in order to discourage opposition to the Townshend Acts), when hit by hecklers within the crowd, opened fire upon the innocent; five men were killed. Eight soldiers were tried for murder; their attorney was John Adams. Many were acquitted and anti-British feelings rose.

Crispus Attucks: He was the leader of a group of colonists who were killed in the 1770 Boston Massacre. Though he was the first man to be shot, he was only one of five colonists. He was either African-American or Native American and he may have been a runaway slave. In 1888 a monument of him was erected in his honor in Boston.

John Adams: He was the lawyer for the soldiers who were tried for murder in the Boston Massacre in 1770. He successfully defended his clients in defense that they were trying to protect their own lives. He additionally denounced the Stamp Act, analyzed the demands facing the colonists, and was a member of both Continental Congresses.

Carolina Regulators: This name applies to several groups of insurgents who, in 1764, wanted to protect the rights of their community. The North Carolina Regulators threatened to rebel and not pay taxes. The South Carolina Regulators, in 1767, opposed corrupt government and cleared their homeland of outlaw bands of terrorists.

Battle of the Alamance: The North Carolina Regulators found their movement peak in this battle on May 16, 1771. With an army of 2500, these Regulators fought a band of eastern militia started up by the governor of North Carolina, and 300 casualties were inflicted. The Regulator uprising fell apart and colonies found it harder to resist British.

Gaspee Incident: A customs schooner was beached in Providence, RI, on June 9, 1772. This upset Americans because it was one of the last of the customs racketeering ships. Stuck in the mud, it was burned down by local inhabitants. When investigators were sent to find the initiators, they failed; the suspects would have faced trial without jury.

Governor Thomas Hutchinson of Mass.: A colonial governor, he opposed taxes that harmed U.S. trade, but still supported Britain’s right to impose taxes. When the Stamp Act controversy was in effect, his home was ransacked in 1765. In 1773, he refused to allow British ships to be returned without unloading and the Boston Tea party resulted.

committees of correspondence: They were colonial groups in 1772 which were organized to form resistance to British tyranny. The Boston town meeting made up a 21 member committee "To state the Rights of Colonists and of this Province in Particular." This committee became a major political force responsible for the Boston Tea Party.

Lord North: He was a British member of the House of Commons during the 1770s. Under the orders of King George III, he taxed Americans, though he found it morally wrong to do so. By 1776, he demanded an early peace with the Americans hoping to put an end to the Revolutionary War. By 1779, he realized the war was a lost cause.

Tea Act: The Parliamentary Tea Act eliminated import duties entering England, lowering the selling price to consumers, also allowing selling directly to consumers, hurting middlemen. Colonial smuggling was very harmful to the East India Company which had held a monopoly on tea. The act provided savings for Britain.

•BOSTON TEA PARTY: A group of Boston citizens organized a protest on December 16, 1773, which was against the British tax on tea imported to the colonies The citizens were angry and disallowed three British ships to unload their cargo in Boston. Led by Samuel Adams and members of the Sons of Liberty, the group, disguised as Indians boarded the ships and dumped all the tea into Boston Harbor in protest. The American government later refused to pay for the tea and was punished through closure of the port.

•COERCIVE ACTS: Passed by the British Parliament, several laws were composed in 1774 in response to colonial rebellion. The Boston Tea Party was the last straw leading to the passage of these harsh acts as measures against the colony of Massachusetts. The four measures passed were to serve as warnings to the rest of the colonies. They included the Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, the Quartering Act, and the Administration of Justice Act. Americans united in sympathy for Massachusetts.

Boston Port Act: Parliament passed this act on April 1, 1774, as one of the Intolerable Acts; it ordered the U.S. navy to close Boston Harbor. Unless they paid for the ruined tea, the port would be subject to permanent closure. They imposed a deliberately short deadline to ensure that the harbor would close, which would lead to economic difficulties.

Massachusetts Government Act: Parliament passed this act in 1774 as the second of the Townshend Acts which revoked the Massachusetts charter and restructured the government. The Governor gained control over naming sheriffs, who, in turn, gained control over jurymen. The number of Massachusetts town meetings were also reduced.

Quebec Act: Parliament passed this greatly detested law which established Roman-Catholicism as the official religion in Quebec, making Protestants angry. Also, Canada’s government was awarded an abundance of powers, but was in turn, given no legislature. The law also extended Quebec’s 1774 land claims, further angering colonists.

•FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, 1774: The First Continental Congress convened in Philidelphia in September, 1774, to consider the situation resulting from the Intolerable Acts. They issued the Declaration of Rights and Grievances to George III, and called for the Continental Association, and agreement to boycott trade with Britain. committees of Safety were in charge of enforcing the Continental Association. Before it was adjourned, the delegates agreed to meet in May, 1775 if the situation still hadn’t been resolved.

Suffolk Resolves: The first Continental Congress passed this in 1774 in response to the Intolerable Acts. They called for non-importation and preparation of local soldiers in the event that the British should have restorted to military force. The passage of these resolves marked the willingness of the colonies to defend their rights militarily.

Galloway Plan: Joseph Galloway called for a union of the colonies and a rearrangement of relations with Parliament, but it was refected by Congress by a narrow margin. Most delegates felt that such a mild measure would not help, since matters had already gone too far.

"country ideology": The plain farmer had this mind set in the 1770s due to the corruption of rulers and "court" hangers-on. It warned against the natural tendency of all governments to enfringe on the natural rights to liberty for all its people. This honest wisdom further led to the Quid’s mind set during the time of Jeffersonian Democracy.

Continental Association: Issued by the First Continental Congress, it was an agreement to boycott trade with Britain, or non-importation, designed to pressure Britain’s economy. Any colony that did not follow those provisions was to be boycotted. By taking these drastic measures, the colonies moved away from reconciliation towards war.

Revolt to Revolution

With such events as Lexington and Concord as well as the actions of the Second Continental Congress and America’s faith held in the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Paine’s "Common Sense," America’s revolt against Great Britain became a revolution.

•LEXINGTON AND CONCORD, APRIL 19, 1775: American Captain John Parker and seventy Minutemen waited for the British at Lexington, on April 19. A British officer ordered the Minutemen to lay down their arms, but a shot from an unknown source was fired. The British then opened fire and charged. Afterwards, the British continued on the Concord only to find that almost all of the weapons and supplies had been moved. While retreating to Boston, they were fired on by Minutemen from local cities.

Paul Revere, William Dawes: Seven hundred British troops, on the night of April 18, 1775, were sent to find and destroy a cache of colonial weapons and supplies at Concord. However, they were detected by Americans, and news was dispatched throughout the countryside by Paul Revere and William Dawes.

•SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS: The Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775. They drew up the Olive Branch Petition, which begged George III to restore peace, and adopted a Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking up Arms. Congress was divided into two main factions: the delegates that were ready to go to war and declare independence, and those that weren’t ready to go that far. The Second Continental Congress later evolved into the revolutionary government.

Olive Branch Petition: The Second Continental Congress issued this petition to King George III on July 5, pleading with him to intercede with Parliament to restore peace. After he ignored it, he issued a Prohibitory act, which declared all colonies in a state of rebellion no longer under his protection. Thus, Americans prepared for an all out war with Britain.

Thomas Paine, Common Sense: Thomas Paine published this in January 1776, which called for immediate independence. Although its arguments were extreme, it had much influence in favor of independence. Combined with the Prohibitory Act, it convinced many Americans that the British had every intention to carry out a full scale war.

natural rights philosophy: Thomas Jefferson was influenced by the natural rights philosophy. He emphasized the equality of all people and their natural right to justice, liberty, and self-fulfillment. In the writing of the Declaration of Independence, he draw upon some of the ideas of natural rights.

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government: John Locke stressed that governments were legitimate only if they rested on the consent of the governed and protected basic rights of their people. If the government and laws lacked the consent, then they were not legitimate, and had to be dissolved and replaced with legitimate government or just laws.

•"FIRST AMERICAN REVOLUTION" (POSSITER THESIS): This thesis is the idea that the real American Revolution could not have been made possible had not a First American Revolution paved the way. The First Revolution consists of the first sparks of discontent. Previously, there had been a great deal of affection between the U.S. and its mother country, due to the protection colonists enjoyed. However, with colonial governments, colonists were enjoying democracy, leading to opposition against taxation.

George III: After the Battle of Bunker Hill, the people of Britain wanted retaliation, and King George III, on August 23, proclaimed New England in a state of rebellion. In December Parliament declared all colonies in a state of rebellion, and made their ships liable to seizure.

Richard Henry Lee’s Resolution: Colonial leader Richard Henry Lee presented several formal resolutions to Congress on June 7, 1776. These resolutions called for independence and a national government. As a result, the Committee on Independence was formed to further accommodate his proposal.

Committee on Independence: After Richard Henry Lee’s resolution on June 7, 1776, the Committee on Independence was formed. Members included Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Its purpose was to draft a statement of reasons for independence which led to the Declaration of Independence.

•JULY 4, 1776 AND THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: Written by the Committee on Independence, he Declaration of Independence contained a list of grievances placing the blame on George III. Additionally, it asserted certain natural rights: "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and the "Consent of the governed" to revolt against tyrannical governments. The English Revolution of 1688 and Enlightenment writers inspired some of the ideas in the Declaration of independence.

Preamble of the Declaration of Independence: Written by the Committee on Independence in 1776, the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence states that "all men are created equal," and are furthermore allotted unalienable rights by God. Moreover, it is believed that this is a statement of faith displays wisdom; it’s not a fact revealing truth. 

slavery clause in the Declaration of Independence: Two passages in Jefferson’s original draft were rejected by the Second Continental Congress in 1775. The first passage was an exorbitant reference to the English people, and the second passage was an attack on the slave trade.

Somerset Case (in Great Britain): Despite the Enlightenment’s condemnation of black slavery, sugar produced by black slaves was considered of utmost importance. Granville Sharp defended several blacks in the case Somerset v. Stewart. The decision reached was regarded as the end of slavery in England.

Quock Walker case- Mass: Nathaniel Jennison was accused of assaulting Quock Walker, a negro. Jennison defended himself on the grounds that Walker was his slave. Although slavery wasn’t forbidden by the constitution of Massachusetts, the Superior Court rejected his defense because it was unconstitutional in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

War for Independence

With the Declaration of Independence as its fuel, America entered a war for independence with Great Britain: the Revolutionary War. Throughout the war, America developed its first real feelings of nationalism and ended up being victorious in its fight for freedom.

Advantages/Disadvantages for Britain: The British were well equipped, well trained, and well disciplined. They had a strong navy to land troops, transport troops, guard communication and supply lines. Also, they had a large sum of money which could be used to hire foreign mercenaries. However, they were outnumbered by the U.S.

Advantages/Disadvantages for U.S.: Many colonists knew how to use firearms. They had a superior rifle range and accuracy over the smoothbore British muskets. Washington was a highly respected, experienced commander-in-chief, and they were fighting in their own territory. However, their naval power was less than that of Britain.

•LOYALISTS, TORIES: They were Anglican clergymen, ethnic and religious minorities, government officials, and some wealthy merchants comprised the Loyalists. About one-fifth to one-third of the population remained loyal to Britain. They felt that war was unnecessary to preserve the rights of the colonists, and maintained a respect for the monarchy. The majority of ethnic and religious minorities, however, were supporters of the revolution. Eighty thousand Loyalists left, leaving their positions for others.

John Adams: He was one of the first men to propose American independence when the Revolution began. Moreover, he served on the Committee on Independence, and also helped persuade the Second Continental Congress to adopt the Declaration of Independence. In Congress and in diplomatic missions abroad, he served the patriot cause.

Abigail Adams: Even though she had a scarce formal education, she was among the most influential women of her day, particularly as a leader of fashion and social mediator. She was the wife of John Adams, and mother of John Quincy Adams. Also, she challenged the lack of equality for women and was a strong advocate of the Revolutionary War.

Mercy Otis Warren: Before the imperial crisis, she was known for her nonpolitical poetry, but soon began writing political satires in the early 1770s. In doing so, she challenged the assumption that women were naturally dependent on men. The subordination of women, which was taken for granted, later became the subject of debate.

•GEORGE WASHINGTON AND THE REVOLUTION: George Washington created the Continental Army that had fought against the British. He was a strong influence in persuading the states to partake in the Constitutional Convention, and he used his prestige to help gain ratification of the Constitution. He earned a good reputation from the French and Indian War in 1763. His early military experience taught him the dangers of overconfidence and the necessity of determination when faced with defeat.

Edmund Burke: In 1766 he was elected to Parliament. Almost immediately Burke sought repeal of the Stamp Act. He urged justice and conciliation towards the American colonies in a pamphlet, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents, and in two speeches, "On American Taxation" and "Conciliation with America".

Benjamin Franklin and the Revolution: From, Pennsylvania, he served on the Committee for Independence in 1776. Moreover, as a prime minister to Britain, he along with John Adams and John Jay, signed a peace treaty between the U.S. and England, which concerned new American borders, on November 30, 1782.

Lafayette: The Marquis de Lafayette’s close connections with the French court in 1778 indicated that Louis XVI might recognize U.S. independence and declare war on Britain. After France and the United States entered into an alliance against Great Britain, Lafayette returned to France to further the granting of financial and military aid to the Americans.

George Rogers Clark: George Rogers Clark led 175 militia and French volunteers down the Ohio River and took several British forts along the northwestern Ohio Valley in the spring of 1778. He was a surveyor and a frontiersmen who also led successful military operations against Indians allied to the British on the western frontier.

Benedict Arnold: He led one of the Continental Armies into Canada but was defeated. A fervent patriot, he later turned into a traitor. With 400 men, he attacked Fort Ticonderoga in April of 1775, along with Ethan Allen, who raised an army for the same purpose, but without command.

Robert Morris: When the United States, under the Articles of Confederation, was unable to prevent national bankruptcy, Congress turned to him. Hoping to panic the country into creating a regular source of national revenue, he engineered the Newburgh conspiracy along with Alexander Hamilton.

John Paul Jones: United States Captain John Paul Jones attacked the British territory, which raised American morale and prestige. He also led the famous ship, Bonhomme Richard, against Britain’s ship, the Serapis, in which the war was brought to England’s shores, boosting American morale and credibility.

The War at Sea: American captains such as John Paul Jones fought in this War at Sea during the War for Independence against Britain. Despite Britain’s naval advantage, on September 23, 1779, Jones engaged the British frigate, the Serapis, in the North Sea. This was the most famous naval battle in the war.

Continental Army: Composed of colonial men, the Continental Army consisted of less than 10,000 men prepared for duty at one time. Out of the potential 250,000 men living in the colonies, the Continental Army was quite diminutive at the dawn of the war. Led by George Washington, this army fought in various battles such as Valley Forge.

Native Americans in the Revolutionary War: The colonists’ expansion into the Ohio Valley drove the western Indians into allying with the British. In the East, the Iroquois in New York were neutral until 1777, when the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy split, leaving all but the Tuscaroras and most Oneidas on the side of the British.

Black Americans in the Revolutionary War: About 5,000 blacks served in the army and navy, mostly New England freemen, and fought in every major battle of the war. However, the South feared possible slave revolts, which inhibited use of blacks in the South. Governor Dunmore offered freedom to slaves who joined the British army.

Invasion of Canada: U.S. General Richard Montgomery forced the British to evacuate Montreal in 1775 and invade Canada. A second force led by Benedict Arnold invaded the land by combining an attack on Quebec; however, it was a failure in that Montgomery was killed, Benedict was shot, and one-third of the colonial troops were killed or captured.

Battle of Bunker Hill (Breed’s Hill): Three British generals arrived in Boston in May, 1775 to assist General Gage. After two failed British attacks on Breed’s Hill, the colonists ran out of ammunition, and the British succeeded. The colonists now had two choices: to commit to a full-scale revolution, or to accept the rule of the British.

"Bonhomme Richard" and the "Serapis": John Paul Jones took command of a rebuilt French merchant ship and renamed it the U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard. On September 23, 1779, he engaged the British frigate, the Serapis, in the North Sea. This was the most famous naval battle in the American Revolution.

Conway Cabal: United States Major General Thomas Conway wrote a letter to General Horatio Gates that revealed a military side of the Conway Cabal, which aimed at the removal of Washington as the leader of the Continental Army. Conway later resigned after subsequent public revelations, and was replaced by Friedrich von Steuben.

•FRENCH ALLIANCE OF 1778, REASONS FOR IT: France entered into two treaties with America, in February, 1778. The first was a treaty of goodwill and commerce, and granted most favored nation status to one another. The second treaty was the French Alliance of 1778, to be effective if war broke out between Britain and France.

Saratoga: British General John Burgoyne felt overwhelmed by a force three times larger than his own, and surrendered on October 17, 1777. This forced the British to consider whether or not to continue the war. The U.S. victory at the Battle of Saratoga convinced the French that the U.S. deserved diplomatic recognition.

Valley Forge: American survivors from the Battle at Brandywine Creek marched through Valley Forge in early December, 1777. The Continental Army marched through Valley Forge while the British army rested miles away in Philadelphia. After the arrival of Baron Friedrich von Steuben, the Continental army emerged from Valley Forge.

Hessians: They were German mercenaries who were comprised of approximately 30,000 soldiers in the British army during the Revolutionary War. They fought among 162,000 other Britons and loyalists but were outnumbered by the 220,000 troops of the Continental Army.

the "black" regiment: They were a group of dignified clergymen who preached against British tyranny and resistance to British authority in 1765. Because sermons were such a common form of communication, nearly every colonist saw public fasting and communication and were infected with the idea that it was a sin not to reject Britain.

General Thomas Gage: He was the commander in chief of Britain’s military forces in America from 1763 to 1775. In April 1775, he issued the order for British troops to march on to concord and seize American weapons stored up there. During his career as commander in chief, he was appointed as the new governor of Massachussetts.

British Generals: Henry Clinton, William Howe, John Burgoyne: General Howe planned to set up headquarters in New York in 1776 but was delayed by Washington’s escape to Long Island. General Burgoyne was trapped at Saratoga in 1777 and was forced to surrender. General Clinton succeeded Howe as commander in chief in 1778.

Yorktown, Lord Cornwallis: Washington, along with Admiral de Grasse’s French fleet, trapped British General Cornwallis on the Yorktown peninsula. The Siege of Yorktown began in September of 1781, and ended when Cornwallis realized that he lost three key points around Yorktown and surrendered.

League of Armed Neutrality: The empress of Russia, Catherine II, made a declaration in 1780, restricting the category of contrabands to munitions and essential instruments of war. She also secured the freedom of the navigation of neutral nations, even to ports of belligerents. The U.S. could not join because it was fighting in the Revolutionary war.

Treaty of Paris, 1783: Great Britain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris, which brought an end to the American Revolution, on September 3. Great Britain recognized the former 13 colonies as the free and self-governing United States of America.

French and British intrigue over U.S. boundaries (in Treaty of Paris): France and Britain shared much interest in American territory following the War for Independence. The French wanted to further continue their residence in Virginia, which led to further dispute between them and the colonists.

social impact of the war: Women did not receive the status implied by the American Revolution’s ideals. Though the Revolution was fought in the name of liberty, slavery still existed, creating a paradox between the slavery and the freedom. However, slavery virtually ended in the North during the Revolutionary era.

•HOW REVOLUTIONARY? : Even though the former colonies were joined under a central government provided by the Articles of Confederation, they still acted independently in various areas. Some state constitutions were identical to the English charters that had governed them. On the other hand, the idea of the separation of church and state grew stronger, toleration of religious minorities became more prevalent, inflation became widespread, industry was stimulated, and trade with foreign nations increased.

Disestablishment, Virginia Statue of Religious Freedom: Thomas Jefferson worked on the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom after independence was declared. It became a law in 1786, and was the model for the clause in the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of religion. Separation of church and state became more popular.

•NEW STATE CONSTITUTIONS: It was necessary for the former colonies to assemble new state governments after the fall of British authority in 1775. Massachusetts voters insisted that a constitution were made by a convention rather than the legislature, in hopes of implicitly making it superior to the legislatures. Most state constitutions included a bill of rights, although the constitutions ranged from extremely democratic models to unicameral legislatures.

Newburgh conspiracy: The new nation under the Articles of Confederation was in a financial crisis. Through the Newburgh Conspiracy, which was engineered by Alexander Hamilton and Robert Morris, the army, whose pay was overdue, threatened to force the states into surrendering more power to the national government.

Articles of Confederation

Drafted in 1796 by John Dickinson, the Articles of Confederation established a single-chamber national Congress elected by state legislatures, in which each state held only one vote. These Articles notably left out both and executive and judicial branch, and provided Congress no power to tax or regulate commerce. However, the Articles established states’ rights and also provided for American independence, uniting all the colonies during the war.

Maryland, cession of western land claims: Maryland waited to agree to the new government until lands north of the Ohio River were turned over to the United States in 1779. Maryland did not want big states (NY, VA) to grow and dominate the new nation, instead equalizing the power of the states and opening the union up for expansion.

•STRENGTHS OF THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION: The thirteen states established a permanent government in 1781 in the form of a confederation which included a congress that represented the states and had the power to conduct Indian and foreign affairs, mediate disputes between states, and establish a standard for weights and measures. The Articles protected against an oppressive central government, such as a monarchy or oligarchy, by placing power within the fragmented states.

•WEAKNESSES OF THE ARTCILES OF CONFEDERATION: The government established in 1781, was a confederation; each state was its own powerful entity and had its own tariffs and currencies, making it harder for interstate commerce to occur. The federal government lacked the power to tax and form a militia without the approval of all the states. Amending the Articles was a difficult and tedious process, because the amendment would have to be accepted by each state in order to be passed.

Pennsylvania militia routs Congress, 1783: Eighty soldiers marched from Lancaster to Philadelphia to obtain justice from the state government and Congress on June 17, 1783. Protesting in front of Independence Hall, which housed Congress and the state government, the rebels were successful in moving the government away from Philadelphia.

Northwest Posts: After the Revolutionary war, the British did not leave their posts in an effort to preserve both the flourishing fur trade and the improving relations with the Native Americans. This showed Britain’s unwillingness to give up and the weakness of the American government, problems which culminated in the War of 1812.

Land Ordinance of 1785: Congress enacted this law to set a uniform procedure for surveying land in 1785. It established that the settlement of a town would be six square miles and would contain land set aside for schools, setting a precedent for the public education system in the United States.

Northwest Ordinance, 1787: Congress passed this law to define the steps for the formation and admission of states into the Union in 1787. It applied to the lands north of the Ohio River which had been established as the Northwest Territory. The existence of slavery could be determined by popular sovereignty in these territories.

Proposed Jay-Gardoqui Treaty, 1785: John Jay tried to negotiate with Spain for trading rights in New Orleans in 1785, but returned with a treaty that renounced Spanish claims to southwestern lands and opened Spanish markets to eastern merchants. In exchange, the U.S. gave up Mississippi trading rights, thus fueling the North-South conflict.

Shays’ Rebellion: A group of Massachusetts farmers led by Daniel Shays protested after taxes were raised to pay for Revolutionary debts in 1786. The high taxes, combined with the depression that hit after British markets were lost, forced the farmers to revolt. The result was an increase in tension between the North and South.

Annapolis Convention, 1786: A group of delegates from five states met in Annapolis, Maryland in 1786, in an effort to solve the problems of interstate commerce. Because there was little representation, the delegates decided that a convention of all states should be held the year after in order to amend the Articles of Confederation.

1780’s depression: The first major depression of the American states occurred after the Revolutionary War in New England. The causes included high taxes imposed to finance the war debt, the tightening of credit, and a short growing season that kept crop yields low. Shays’ rebellion occurred ultimately because of this depression

 The Constitution

After the Revolutionary War, the problems with the Articles of Confederation became increasingly obvious, resulting in the Philadelphia Convention, whose purpose was to rewrite the Articles. However, instead of submitting the Articles for revision, the delegates decided to begin again, resulting in the drafting of a new frame of government outlined in the Constitution, a document that compromised conflicting interests, unifying all the states under a powerful federal government.

•PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION: A congressional convention met in Philadelphia to amend the Articles of Confederation in 1788. The delegates, which included Madison, Hamilton, and Franklin, believed that there should be checks and balances in the government to give each branch equal amounts of power. The convention ultimately scrapped the Articles and came up with the much more effective Constitution, in which various compromises were made to pacify sectional differences.

Delegates: Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin: At the Philadelphia Convention in 1788, George Washington presided over the convention while he and Franklin helped in mediating heated debates. Hamilton wrote the "Federalist Papers," along with John Jay, in defense of the Constitution.

Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws: Montesquieu was a French writer whose writings helped bring about the French Revolution. His book "The Spirit of the Laws," written in 1748, examines types of government and how each evolves through factors such as location and climate. He believed in separate and balanced branches of government.

Hobbes: Thomas Hobbes wrote Leviathan in 1651, as a commentary on his doctrine of sovereignty. His philosophies represented a reaction against the chaotic Reformation of the seventeenth century. These ideas generally stated that all men should submit to absolute supremacy, influencing the idea of sovereignty in the United States.

James Madison, "Father of the Constitution": Madison drafted the Virginia Plan of national government that became the basis for its bicameral structure in 1788. He also assisted in the writing of the "Federalist Papers" in order to persuade delegates who were fearful of centralized power.

•GREAT COMPROMISE: Also called the Connecticut compromise, this compromise was introduced by the Connecticut delegation in 1788, and contained both the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. It provided for a presidency, a senate with states represented with two senators each, and a House of Representatives with representation according to population. The plan resolved the dilemma of using only one of the two self serving documents in the Constitution.

VA Plan, NJ Plan: The Virginia Plan called for an executive branch with two houses of Congress which were both based on population. The New Jersey Plan, introduced by William Patterson, called for a legislature with equal representation and increased powers for the national government.

Checks and balances—examples: Examples of checks and balances in the Constitution are the congressional power to impeach the president and the presidential power to appoint his cabinet. This system helps to keep all three branches of the government in check and maintain equal amounts of power.

North-South Compromises: There are two main North-South compromises in the Constitution. One dealt with the structure of Congress, the Great Compromise; the other dealt with slavery and the three-fifths clause. Both aided in easing the problems that arose because of the imbalance of power between states in the Articles of Confederation.

•Slavery and the constitution: slave trade, three-fifths clause, Fugitive Slave law: Although the word "slavery" was not used in the Constitution, the idea surfaces in three places in the Constitution: the three-fifths clause, which lessened the power of the voting south by making the votes of three slaves equal that of five white votes; the Fugitive Slave Law, which captured and returned runaway slaves who fled into free territories, and lastly Congress’ option to ban the slave trade in Washington D. C. after 1808.

procedures for amendments: To amend the Constitution, a bill must first be proposed by either two-thirds of both houses or each state conventions. For the amendment to be ratified, three-fourths have to approve the bill. In order to protect the United States and its citizens, this process made it difficult to alter the Constitution without valid reason.

Beard thesis, his critics: Beard criticized the Constitution in his "Economic Interpretation of the Constitution" in 1913. Unlike his opponents, who believed in the Constitution’s democratic purpose, Beard argues that it was written to give them economic advantages that would stem from the stability of the economy.

Fiske, The Critical Period of American History: John Fiske, an American historian and philosopher, wrote The Critical Period of American History, 1783-1789 in 1788. In the book, Fiske argues that the Constitution had saved the nation from imminent interstate conflict.

Antifederalists: Antifederalists were opponents of the Constitution who thought that it failed to balance power between the national and state governments. Believing that a balance was impossible to reach, the opponents thought that the new government would ultimately ruin the states.

supporters of the Constitution: The supporters of the Constitution, including Hamilton, Jay, and Madison, who called themselves the Federalists. These men became important in the ratification process of the Constitution; they persuaded many of its opponents to ratify it through their speeches, the Federalist Papers, and other propaganda.

opponents of the Constitution: The opponents of the Constitution were called the Antifederalists; they opposed it because it failed to balance power between the national and state governments. They thought that a balance would be impossible to reach and that the new government would ultimately ruin the states.

George Mason, Bill of Rights: Mason was a delegate at the Constitutional Convention and helped draft the Constitution. Troubled by its power and its failure to limit slavery or contain a bill of rights, he would not sign it. Some states refused to ratify the Constitution until 1791, when a bill of rights was added to the Constitution.

The ratification fights: Critics, such as Sam Adams, were successfully won over by the Federalists in Massachusetts. The fight in Virginia ended after the addition of the Bill of Rights, defeating Mason and Henry, and affected the decision in New York, where Hamilton won the fight using the "Federalist Papers."

•The Federalist Papers, Jay, Hamilton, Madison: The Federalist papers were written by Jay, Hamilton, and Madison in 1788, during the Philadelphia Convention as a response to Antifederalist objections to the Constitution. The eighty-five newspaper essays offered a glimpse of the framers’ intentions in designing the Constitution, and shaped the American philosophy of the government. They explained that the Constitution would protect the minority’s rights but would not make them too powerful.

The Federalist, number 10: Madison, in the Federalist number ten, rejected the Antifederalist argument that establishing a republic in United States would lead to a struggle for power. He also argued that the Constitution would prevent the formation of national factions and parties.

implied powers, elastic clause, necessary and proper clause: An implied power is one not granted in a job description, yet is meant to be taken. The elastic clause was included into the Constitution to allow flexibility. Congress was granted the right to make all laws which they deemed necessary and proper thus expanding their power.

loose, strict interpretation of the Constitution: The strict interpretation of the constitution meant that it was to be followed exactly to the word, a philosophy adopted by Jefferson. Hamilton believed in a loose interpretation, or that powers implied within the Constitution should be included in the new government to fit changes over time.

•RESERVED AND DELEGATED POWERS: Delegated powers were specifically enumerated rights granted to Congress and the President. The delegated powers of Congress included the ability to tax, issue currency, borrow money, declare war and sustain an army. All powers not stated specifically in the Constitution were reserved to the states as stated in the Tenth Amendment. These reserved powers were the result of flexibility in the Constitution to adapt over time. 

Undemocratic Elements in the Constitution: According to Charles Beard, the Constitution was written to the advantage of the elite in the United States. The founding fathers did not believe in total democracy, or mob rule, and so used state legislatures and the electoral college to elect senators and the president, respectively.

Flexibility in the Constitution: The flexibility in the Constitution enabled it to adapt over time; there have only been sixteen amendments since 1791. Our founding fathers used vague language, and so Supreme Court interpretations of the Constitution changed over time; the Elastic clause and the reserved powers are examples of this ambiguity. 

Upper and Lower House: The senate was seen as the upper house because there were less delegates, the age requirement was higher, and the term limits were six years as opposed to two for the House of Representatives. As a result the Senate was seen as more of an elitist institution while the House was viewed as reflective of the common people.

Electoral College: In order to protect the interests of the elite, land owning class, the framers of the Constitution added the electoral college as a safeguard against the majority opinion. As a result, electors could elect a presidential candidate without considering the popular vote and elections could be won without a majority in the popular vote.

Washington and Hamilton

As the first president of the newly formed United States, George Washington played a largely passive role, suggesting few laws to Congress, attempting to reassure the public he was above favoritism and sectional interests. Alexander Hamilton, on the other hand, took advantage of Washington’s reluctance to be involved with domestic issues, and, as secretary of the treasury, attempted to restore American credit by advocating a perpetual debt.

Post Revolutionary America—West: In the late eighteenth century, masses of people had moved into the trans-Appalachian frontier to escape post-revolutionary depression, despite the risk of violence presented by Indians and the British in their Northwest posts. Congress aided the expansion with the Land and Northwest Ordinances

Post Revolutionary America—South: Many of the southern citizens had bought land in the west and watched the price of land eagerly. Aside from the unstable land speculation, the south had recovered from the war. It had diversified its crops and exported them at prewar levels.

Post Revolutionary America—North: Plagued by high taxes, overpopulation, and rebellion, the North’s efforts at postwar recovery was impeded by the depression of the 1780s. Manufacturing and merchant marine industries were also, negatively affected by independence; the British imposed new embargoes and tariffs on the United States.

•President George Washington: George Washington was elected president in 1788 and again in 1792. Washington’s two terms set the precedent for being President of the United States. He tended to shy away from the affairs of Congress and also formed the first Presidential cabinet, appointing two of the ablest men into high positions of responsibility into his cabinet. His farewell address cautioned the American people to stay out of international affairs, remain isolationist, and to beware of impending bipartisanship.

Washington’s Definition of the Presidency: George Washington set the precedent for being the President of the United States. He humbly served two terms and appointed the first cabinet. Washington stayed out of Congress’ way and supported the United States’ isolationist stance in world affairs.

Vice President John Adams: Because he ran second to George Washington in the elections of 1788 and 1792, he became the nation’s first Vice President, limiting himself to presiding over the senate. Prior to his term as Vice President, he was a diplomat to European nations such as France, Britain, and the Dutch Republic. 

Judiciary Act, 1789: The Congress passed the Judiciary Act in 1789, in an effort to create a federal-court system and replace the old system, in which the courts varied from state to state. They were burdened with filling in the holes of the judiciary system left by the Constitution.

Secretary of Treasury Hamilton: Hamilton was appointed in 1789, when the nation’s economy was in shambles. In 1790, he submitted to Congress a Report of the Public Credit that provided for the payments of all debts assumed during the war. He wanted a national bank and encouraged manufacturing through financial government protection.

Secretary of State Jefferson: As Secretary of State for Washington’s first term, Thomas Jefferson wanted to establish reciprocal trade agreements with European nations and deny it to the British. This plan, in 1783, died in Congress, along with his other plans to try to manipulate the European countries. He resigned after the Citizen Genet scandal.

Secretary of War Knox: Henry Knox was the Secretary of War from 1789-1794, the first one under the United States Constitution. Prior to this, he fought in major Revolutionary battles, was in command of the West Point fortress in New York, and was the Secretary of War under the Articles of Confederation.

Attorney General Randolph: Edmund Jennings Randolph was the Attorney General under the Washington Administration from 1789-1794; before which he was the head of the Virginia delegation at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and submitted the Virginia Plan.

•Hamilton’s program: ideas, proposals, reasons for it: Alexander Hamilton wrote to Congress a Report on Public Credit which proposed a way in which the national and foreign debts could be funded and how the federal government would take charge of the debts left by states from the resolution in 1790. The plans attempted to end wartime debt problems. Hamilton believed that constant deficit was necessary to stimulate the nation’s economy, and also believed that the U.S. should immediately repay its foreign debt.

Hamilton’s Legacy: Hamilton’s devices for restoring the credit of the nation led to great monetary gains for merchants, speculators, and others working in the port cities. The government’s takeover of state debts freed those of New England, New Jersey, and South Carolina from harsh taxes.

Tariff of 1789: A revenue raising tariff enacted by Congress, it encouraged the people of the U.S. to manufacture earthenware, glass, and other products in their home in order to avoid importation. With a duty of 8.5%, the tariff succeeded in raising much needed funds for Congress

Bank of the U.S.: Chartered by the newly formed federal government, the bank was established in Philadelphia in 1791, and was permitted by the government to issue legal tender bank notes that could be exchanged for gold. The bank successfully established a national currency, but the charter ended in 1811, for economic and political reasons.

national debt, state debt, foreign debt: National debt accumulated by the US during the Revolutionary war continued to plague Americans. The states were also in debt after borrowing heavily from the government. Hamilton, in his Report on Public Credit, wanted to pay off foreign debt immediately and then through tariffs repay the national debt.

excise taxes: A fixed charge on items of consumption, usually used for revenue raising. The first excise tax placed upon the United States in 1791, by Parliament was one which taxed all domestic distilled spirits. Anger towards this excise tax led directly to the Whiskey Rebellion.

Report on Manufacturers: Presented to Congress in 1791, by Alexander Hamilton, the report suggested that protective tariffs on imports from foreign lands would lead Americans to produce more in their homelands, thus building national wealth and attracting foreigners.

Report on Public Credit: Hamilton submitted his report to Congress in 1790, hoping to seize it as an opportunity to rebuild the country’s credit base. He reported that the US was 54 million dollars in debt: 12 million to foreigners, and the rest to Americans. On top of that, he estimated that the states held debts of over 25 million dollars.

location of the capital: logrolling, D.C.: The nation’s capital was originally located in New York, but later was transferred to Washington D.C.. Originally planned by Charles L’Enfant, the city consisted of beautiful walkways, tree lined streets, and masterfully architecture buildings.

Indian Decline: The frontier warfare during the post-revolutionary era combined with the continuing penetration of western ways into Indian culture caused severe reductions in Indian population and territory. An increasing amount of hatred towards the "redskins" further encouraged the violence towards Indians.

Residence Act: Determined that a ten mile square area for the capital of the United States would be chosen along the Potomac River along the Virginia-Maryland boarder. The area was to be named the District of Columbia, after Christopher Columbus, and was selected by George Washington.

Major L’Enfant, Benjamin Banneker: Pierre Charles L’Enfant was the French architect who, in 1791, drew the plans for the nations capital in Washington D.C., on which the city is now based. Benjamin Banneker was appointed in 1791, by President Washington to assist L’Enfant in surveying the land where the capital city was to be built.

Whiskey Rebellion: An organized resistance in 1794, to the excise tax on whiskey in which federal revenue officials were tarred and feathered, riots were conducted, and mobs burned homes of excise inspectors. The federal militia captured many of the protesters, but most were released.

French Alliance of 1778: Alliance made between France and the United Sates during America’s civil war in 1778. The alliance was used to convince French citizens living in United States territory to become citizens of American, and therefore to bear arms or participate in the war.

French Revolution: The revolution was a period consisting of social and political upheaval from 1789-1799. Caused by the inability of the ruling class and clergy to solve the states problems, the hunger of the workers, the taxation of the poor, and the American Revolution, it led to the establishment of the First Republic and the end of the monarchy.

Citizen Genet: Sent to the United States by the French in 1793 to find soldiers to attack British ships and conquer the territories held by the Spanish, Edmund Genet founded the American Foreign Legion despite Washington’s April 22 proclamation of American neutrality.

Neutrality Proclamation: Issued by President George Washington on April 22, 1793, the Neutrality Proclamation stated that the United States would remain a neutral faction in the war with France against Britain and Spain despite heavy French pressures to join their forces. Many Americans felt the war to be a violation of their neutrality.

XYZ Affair, Talleyrand: When a commission was sent to France in 1797 in order to negotiate problems between the two countries, they were told by the French foreign minister Talleyrand that the agents X, Y, Z, three officials who did not take the process seriously, would only negotiate for a lend of $10 million to the French government.

undeclared naval war with France: Otherwise known as the Quasi-War, the undeclared conflict between the two nations lasted from 1798 to 1800. In the conflict, the United States managed to capture ninety-three French ships while France captured just one U.S. ship.

British seizure of American ships: The Privy Council issued a secret order on November 6, 1793, to confiscate any foreign ships trading with French Caribbean islands. In this decision, they seized over 250 American ships which were conducting trade with the islands.

Royal Navy: They navy of the British empire, the Royal Navy began to inspect American ships in 1793 for suspected defects of the British Navy, who they then forcibly placed back into their own navy. These bold actions commonly referred to as impressment, further strengthened hostilities between the two countries.

"Rule of 1756": The French opened colonial trade to the Dutch, who were a neutral party. British prize courts, in response, stated that neutrals could not engage in wartime trade with a country if they were not permitted to trade with that country at times of peace.

Jay’s Treaty: Negotiated between the United States and France in 1794, the treaty evacuated British posts in the West, appointed a committee to set up the U.S.-French boundary, and named a commission to determine how much the British should pay for illegally seizing American ships. It did not resolve the British West Indies trade dispute.

Pinckney’s Treaty, right of deposit at New Orleans: Ratified in 1796, the treaty gave westerners the right to access the world markets duty-free through the Mississippi River. Spain promised to recognize the thirty-first parallel, to end U.S. camps, and to discourage Indian attacks on western settlers.

Spanish intrigue in the Southwest: Spain attempted, in many cases, to detach the West from the United States, hoping to further expand their territory into the vast land. Washington’s attempts at a failed alliance with the Creek Indians to expand into their lands only led to further conflicts between America and Spain.

James Wilkinson: An American soldier who participated in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Wilkinson was the man who reported Burr’s conspiracy to access Louisiana to President Jefferson. He served as Secretary to the Board of War and was a brigadier general under Anthony Wayne.

"Mad" Anthony Wayne: Known as Mad Anthony due to his quick temper and his bravery, Wayne was a General during the American Revolution. He began his service with the Pennsylvania militia. He participated in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown and distinguished himself in the Battle of Monmouth.

Battle of Fallen Timbers: At the Battle of Fallen Timbers, in 1794, Anthony Wayne defeated a coalition of Native American tribes as the major general and commander in chief of the troops. The battle took place around present day Toledo and led to the Treaty of Greenville which opened up the Northwest to American settlers.

Treaty of Greenville, 1795: This treaty, which was drafted in 1795, opened the Northwest Territory to settlement by white United States citizens. The territory had formerly only been inhabited by Indians, so therefore the treaty between the two races was an important one. The treaty served to end white-Indian hostilities for sixteen years.

Barbary Pirates: Following the American Revolution, the Barbary pirates began to raid the ships of the United States. The United States therefore formed treaties with Morocco, Tripoli, and Tunis, as European nations already had, that gave them immunity from these attacks.

Tripolitan War: From 1801-1805, the war was a battle between the North African state Tripoli and the United States. The Tripolitans had seized U.S. ships in the U.S. refusal to pay in increase in the tribute paid to the pasha of Tripoli. In the end, the demand for payment was ended and the U.S. paid $60,000 to free Americans caught captive.

Washington’s Farewell Address: In his realization of the important role that he had take in developing the role of the president of the United States, Washington’s farewell address asked the citizens of the United States to avoid involvement in political problems between foreign nations.

 Federalists and Republicans

By the election of 1796, the United States political system had become bipartisan, largely a result of the disagreements over Hamilton’s programs and foreign policies. The split in the Federalist party became official with Jefferson’s resignation from Washington’s cabinet in 1793, upon which he formed the Republicans, whose ideology claimed that the Federalists had become a party geared toward enriching the wealthy at the expense of the poor.

election of 1796: President Adams, Vice-president Jefferson: Jefferson was supported by the Republicans, while Adams was supported by the Federalists. Adams was victorious in the election, Jefferson was made Vice-president, as a constitutional law stated that the candidate with the second highest number of electoral votes got that position.

new states: Vt, Ky, Tenn: Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee were all admitted into the United States between 1791 and 1796 by the federal government. Their admission was spurred by the hope that they would then become completely loyal to the Union, as they had not been before.

•Federalists: The Federalist party was the starting point of the movement to draft and later ratify the new Constitution. It urged for a stronger national government to take shape after 1781. Its leaders included Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison, and George Washington rose to power between 1789-1801. Under Hamilton, the Federalists solved the problem of revolutionary debt, created Jay’s Treaty and also the Alien and Sedition Acts.

•Democratic-Republicans: The first political party in the United States, the Democratic-Republican party was created by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in opposition to the views of Alexander Hamilton. It arose to power in the 1790s and opposed the Federalist party, while advocating states rights and an agricultural society. The party expressed sympathy towards the French Revolution but opposed close ties with the British.

Society of the Cincinnati: A post-war organization of veteran officers from the Continental Army, the Society of the Cincinnati was feared by many because its charter had the possibility of becoming a hereditary aristocracy, as it gave membership to descendants.

Democratic Societies: An organization in which the wealthy are on a level of equality with the poor. This is best exemplified by the Philadelphia Democratic Society, in which Republicans were united by wealth rather then by status, as well as believed that those with talent and ambition should not forget their dreams.

•Alien and Sedition Acts: In 1798, the Neutralization Act said residence must remain in the United States for five years before becoming naturalized while the Alien Act allowed the exportation of any alien believed to be a threat to national security. The Alien Enemies Act allowed the President to export aliens during times of war and the Sedition Act made it a criminal offense to plot against government. These acts were criticized because they oppressed the people’s First Amendment rights.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions: Written by Jefferson and Madison in protest to the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Virginia Resolution stated that states possessed the right to intervene in unconstitutional acts in government, and the Kentucky Resolution stated that federal government could not extend powers outside of constitutionally granted powers.

Fries Rebellion: Pennsylvanian German farmers, in 1799, rebelled against the government after it released debtors and citizens who did not pay taxes. This action infuriated the farmers because the money was needed to fund the expansion of the nation’s army. This rebellion alerted those in power to the general disgruntlement of much of the nation.

doctrine of nullification: A group of Kentucky Resolutions adopted in 1799, the Doctrine of Nullification stated that any federal laws considered by the people to be "objectionable" may be nullified by the states. The passage of these resolutions proved the probability of upcoming violent disagreements of how the law should be interpreted.

Convention of 1800: The Federalist party split into two factions during the Convention of 1800, as the party was undecided as to who their presidential candidate should be. The Federalists wanted to nominate Adams, while the "High Federalists," led by Alexander Hamilton, denounced his candidacy.

•Second Great Awakening: Occurring mainly in the frontier states, the Second Great Awakening began in the 1790s and was characterized by "camp meetings," or open air revivals which lasted for weeks at a time where revivalists spoke of the second coming of Jesus. Charles Finney, an especially prominent preacher of the time, preached not only the second coming of Jesus, but also the gospel of free will, which lead to a greater democratic power commonly seen in the ideals of Jacksonian democracy.

Fugitive Slave Law: Enacted by congress in 1793, the law required judges to give a slave back to its owner or his representative if caught after running away. This law indicated tightening racial tensions, as well as stripped slaves of the right to trial by jury or presentation of evidence of freedom.

Gabriel’s Rebellion: Led by Gabriel Prosser in August 1800, the rebellion broke out near Richmond, Virginia when 1,000 slaves marched to the capital. Thirty five slaves were executed by a swift state militia, but whites still feared what many occur in the future with slave uprisings. The rebellion increased tensions between the North and the South.

Logan Act: Enacted in 1795 by the legislative assembly, the Logan Act allowed city councils the power to establish, as well as to support and to regulate, a system consisting schools for the general public. This act led to the establishment of school systems throughout the U.S.

Legal equality for free blacks: These measures first appeared in the 1780s and 1790s, when states dropped restrictions on freedom of movement, protected the property of blacks, and allowed them to enroll in the state militia. By 1796, all but three states allowed blacks voting rights.

Alexander McGillivray: The leader of the Creek Indians, who in 1790 signed a peace treaty with the United States that allowed whites to occupy lands in the Georgia piedmont, but spared the rest of the Creek lands from white settlement. He received a large bribe for signing the treaty.

Gilbert Stuart: An American painter who is particularly well known for his many portraits of wartime hero and President George Washington. His three styles of portrait painting: the "Vaughan" half-length, the "Lansdowne" full-length, and the "Athenaeum" head have often been mimicked.

Charles Wilson Peale: As a portrait painter of the Federalist period, Peale is best known for his fourteen portraits of George Washington. In 1786, Peale began a museum of parts of nature in Independence Hall, Philadelphia of portraits and helped to found the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1805.

Jeffersonian Democracy

Jefersonian Democracy refers to the term of office of Thomas Jefferson which marks the end of Federalist control of American politics. A milder agrarian aristocracy replaced a commercial aristocracy, thereby setting an example of democratic simplicity. Jeffersonian placed more emphasis in the common man and brought moreidealism into the government.

•Election of 1800: Jefferson and fellow Republican Aaron Burr, who ran for Vice-presidency in the same year, received an equal number of electoral votes, thus creating a tie and throwing the presidential election into the House of Representatives, in agreement to Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution. With Hamilton’s coercion, Jefferson was elected as president, with Burr as Vice-president. (The Constitution was amended to require separate votes for each position.)

Revolution of 1800: Described by Jefferson in the his election of 1800, in which he sought to restore the country to the liberty and tranquillity it had known before Alexander Hamilton’s economic program and John Adams’s Alien and Sedition Acts. The national debt, most internal taxes, and the navy, where some of the problems needed to be fixed.

•JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY: Jefferson’s administration severely cut naval and military operations. 70 percent of the national revenue was applied to reducing the national debt as well. Most importantly, Jefferson purchased the Louisiana territory from the French, though a Constitutional violation. Gallatin was the genius behind the public debt cut and creating a large surplus of funds. He opposed war, seeing it as detrimental to the national economy.

Midnight judges: Federalists dominated the government, but with the election of 1800, Jefferson drove them out, resulting in Adams’s last day in office (December 12, 1800). On this date he appointed last-minute judges to keep the judiciary in the Federalists hands, by using the Judiciary Act of 1801.

Justice Samuel Chase: Associate justice of the Supreme Court and signer of the Declaration of Independence, he was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1791 by Washington, and was impeached for his criticism of President Jefferson. Chase was defended strongly, and was later acquitted by the Senate.

Tripolitan War: (1802-5) War between the United States and the North African state of Tripoli, to which the US had been paying tribute, since 1784, for shipping access. The US refused to pay in 1801, which resulted in US ships being captured, but the US captured the town of Derna, led by Lieut. Stephen Decatur in 1805, to end the war.

Treaty of San Ildefonso: Treaty on October 1, 1800, in which Spain ceded the Louisiana territory to France, which was becoming a foremost military power. Threat of French expansion was the result of Jefferson’s goal to obtain the territory, not for expansionism, but the opportunities of trade by New Orleans as a sea port.

•LOUISIANA PURCHASE: When France obtained the territory from Spain, Jefferson’s goal to purchase the territory was the great port of New Orleans, land West of the Mississippi, as well as the threat of French invasion. Jefferson obtained the territory for $15 million, and was ratified as a treaty by the Senate, though purchasing the territory was Constitutionally illegal and going beyond his presidential rights. From this territory became 14 new state governments.

Toussaint L’Ouverture: Haitian general on the island of Santo-Domingo, who succeeded in liberating the island from France in 1801, and becoming president for life of the country. 1802, Napoleon sent troops to crush the Haitians, and Toussaint was defeated, and accused of conspiracy; where he was imprisoned and died in France.

•LOUISIANA PURCHASE: Most Federalists opposed the Louisiana Purchase on the grounds that it would decrease the relative importance of their strongholds on the eastern seaboard. Jefferson, a Republican, saw no reason to hand the Federalists an issue by dallying over ratification of the treaty made to obtain the territory.

Hamilton-Burr duel: Election of 1800 Between Jefferson and Burr, had turned to the House of Representatives for the decision of the next president Burr’s election in 1804, for the governor of NY State, where Hamilton opposed him, again. Dueled Hamilton on July 11, 1804, where Hamilton was killed.

Burr treason trial: Burr purchased land in the newly acquired Louisiana territory, and intended to invade the Spanish territory and establish a separate republic in the Southwest, or seize land in Spanish America. He was arrested and indicted for treason, and was acquitted on Sept. 1, 1807, after a six-month trial in Richmond, Virginia.

Lewis and Clark: They explored the vast territory west of the Mississippi River by the US, when they where commissioned by Jefferson. They cataloged plants and animals, and established relations with Indian inhabitants. They reached the Rockies, over the Continental Divide, and reached the Pacific in November 1805.

Berlin Decree, 1806: Was created in response to the Orders in Council by the British, in which the French proclaimed a blockade of the British isles, and any ship attempting to enter or leave a British port would be seized by France. The Decree was answered with another Orders in Council, in which all ships must come to England for licenses of trade.

Milan Decree, 1807: Napoleon replied to the continuous British opposition, with the Milan Decree, which was to tighten his so-called Continental System. The decree proclaimed that any vessel that submitted to British regulations or allowed itself to be searched by the Royal Navy, was subject to seizure by France. 

Orders in Council: In May 1806, the British followed the Essex decision with the first of several trade regulations, known as the Orders in Council, which established a blockade of part of the continent of Europe and prohibited trade with France, unless American vessels went to British ports for licenses for trade.

impressment: Arbitrary seizure of goods or individuals by a government or its agents for public services. Used by British to regain deserters from the Royal Navy to American vessels during 1790 to 1812. This was one of the reasons for the War of 1812, when British vessels boarded and obtained their crew from the high paying American ships.

Chesapeake-Leopard affair: In 1807 the US Chesapeake was stopped in the mid-Atlantic by the British Leopard. The British demanded the return and surrender of four deserters from the royal navy, in which the Chesapeake’s commanding officer, James Barron, refused, resulting in British attack. Barron relented and the men were seized.

•EMBARGO OF 1807: This law was passed in December 1807 over Federalist opposition, and prohibited United States vessels from trading with European nations during the Napoleonic War. The Embargo Act was in response to the restrictive measure imposed on American neutrality by France and Britain, who where at war with each other. To pressure the nations to respect the neutral rights of the US and to demonstrate the value of trade with the US, Jefferson imposed the embargo instead of open warfare.

Non-Intercourse Act: The Non-Intercourse Act of March 1, 1809, repealed the Embargo Act, and reactivated American commerce with all countries except the warring French and the British. The US also agreed to resume trade with the first nation of the two, who would cease violating neutral rights, pressuring the needs for American goods.

Macon’s Bill No. 2: Nathaniel Macon created the Macon’s Bill No. 2, in May 1810, which was designed to discourage the British and the French from interfering with US commerce, by bribing either the England or France in repealing their restrictions on neutral shipping; who ever obliged, the US would halt all commerce with the other nation.

Tecumseh: A Shawnee leader, who fought against the United States expansion into the Midwest. He opposed any surrender of Native American land to whites, and tried with his brother, Tenskwatawa the "Prophet," in uniting the tribes from American customs, especially liquor. He was defeated at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.

War of 1812

The war of 1812 was one which the Americans were not prepared to fight. The young congressman known as War Hawks pushed Madison into a struggle for which the country was not prepared and which ended without victory.

War Hawks: A group of militants in Madison’s Democratic-Republican party, who wanted more aggressive policies toward the hostile British and French. Thus creating a war spirit by several young congressman elected in 1810. This group in the House of Representatives, led by Henry Clay preferred war to the "ignominious peace."

War against Great Britain: For the most part, the Napoleon Wars were played out in Europe, and the French accepted the United States merchant marine neutrality by the Berlin and Milan Decrees. Hatred of the British persisted, with the constant violations of neutrality on the seas and in the Great Lakes.

•FEDERALIST OPPOSITION TO THE WAR OF 1812: The Federalist party were deeply opposed to the war, for their lack of support for commercial and diplomatic policies of Jefferson and Madison. Even more so, was their opposition to Jefferson and Madison’s trade programs of neutrality and trade, for example the Non-intercourse act.

Naval Battles in the War of 1812: The beginning of the War of 1812, encounters were with single-ship battles. The frigate Constitution defeated the Guerriere in August 1812, and in the same year, the Untied States seized the British frigate Macedonian. However, the Chesapeake lost to the Shannon, continuing British blockade.

•Results of the War of 1812: After the treaty of Ghent, the British wanted neutral Indian buffer states in the American Northwest and wanted to revise both the American-Canadian boundary. The Treaty of Ghent secured US maritime rights and peace around Europe and the Americas. Rising Indian opposition to American expansion in the Northwest and Southwest was broken, and there was an increased sense of national purpose and awareness.

Fort McHenry, Francis Scott Key: During the War of 1812 on September 13-14, Fort McHenry withstood a 25-hour bombardment by the British Vice-Admiral Alexander Cochane and his fleet, which prompted the famous "Star-spangled Banner," by Francis Scott Key when he saw the flag still standing.

Jackson’s victory at New Orleans: Jackson, during the War of 1812, captured New Orleans with a small army against the British army, which was composed mainly of veterans. This victory on January 8, 1815 occurred after the peace treaty that ended the war.

Essex Junto: The Essex Junto was a name given to the extreme nationalist wing, led by Timothy Pickering, Senator George Cabot, Theophilus Parsons, and several of the Lowell family of merchants and industrialists in New England. It opposed the Embargo act and the War of 1812.

•HARTFORD CONVENTION: The Hartford Convention of 1814 damaged the Federalists with its resolutions to the idea o secession, leaving an idea of disloyalty to use against them. The convention on December 14, 1814 was to oppose the war, which was hurting American industries and commerce. The recommendation of the convention was to have an amendment to the Constitution that would grant taxation and representation in each state, and prohibit congress from the embargo.

Henry Clay, Gallatin, and treaty negotiations: Adams drafted the Monroe Doctrine and arranged for the Treaty of Ghent that ended the War of 1812. Gallatin also was a part in the negotiations of the Treaty of Ghent, as well as Clay, with hope of ending the war of 1812.

Treaty of Ghent: This was an agreement between the United States and Great Britain, in Belgium, on December 24, 1814. This treaty ended the War of 1812, and provided that all territory captured would be returned to the rightful owner. Great controversy occurred over fishing rights and the Northwest Boundary, between England and America.

Economic Growth 

Industrialization and the transportation revolution were a considerable force in American history, changing the character of life in America by facilitation westward expansion, and urbanization. This period was distinguished by the establishment of factories and the creation of many new inventions to save time, improve transportation and communication, and increase productivity.

transportation revolution: The transportation revolution was the period in which steam power, railroads, canals, roads, bridges, and clipper ships emerged as new forms of transportation, beginning in the 1830s. This allowed Americans to travel across the country and transport goods into new markets that weren’t previously available.

Erie Canal: The Erie Canal, the first major canal project America, was built by New York beginning 1817. Stretching 363 miles from Albany to Buffalo, it was longest canal in western world at the time. It was a symbol of progress when it was opened in 1825, and it later sparked artistic interest in the Hudson River when its use peaked in the 1880s.

National Road(

): The National Road was a highway across America. Construction began in 1811; the road progressed west during early 1800s, advancing father west with each year. Its crushed-stone surface helped and encouraged many settlers to travel into the frontier west.

Commonwealth v. Hunt: In the case of Commonwealth v. Hunt, the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 1842 ruled that labor unions were not illegal conspiracies in restraint of trade. Although this decision made strikes legal, it did not bring significant changes in the rights of laborers because many Massachusetts judges still considered unions illegal.

Robert Fulton, steamships: Fulton was an artist turned inventor. In 1807, he and his partner, Robert Livingston, introduced a steamship, the Clermont, on the Hudson River and obtained a monopoly on ferry service there until 1824. Steamships created an efficient means of transporting goods upstream, and this led to an increase in the building of canals.

clipper ships: Clipper ships were sailing ships built for great speed. The first true clipper ship, the Rainbow, was designed by John W. Griffiths, launched in 1845, but this was modeled after earlier ships developed on the Chesapeake Bay. During the Gold Rush, from 1849 to 1857, clipper ships were a popular means to travel to California quickly.

Samuel Slater: Slater was the supervisor of machinery in a textile factory in England. He left England illegally in 1790 to come to Rhode Island, where, in 1793, he founded the first permanent mill in America for spinning cotton into yarn. In doing this, Slater founded the cotton textile industry in America.

Boston Associates: The Boston Associates were a group of merchants in Boston who created Boston Manufacturing Company in 1813. Capitalizing on new technology, they built textile factories in the towns of Waltham and Lowell which produced finished products, challenging cottage industries. Also, they hired young, unmarried women, rather than entire families.

Lowell factory: The Lowell factory was a factory established in 1813 by the Boston Manufacturing Company on the Merrimack River in Massachusetts. It was a cotton textile mill that produced finished clothing, eliminating the need for cottage industries. Also, the Lowell factory hired mainly young girls, separating these girls from their families.

factory girls (Lowell factory): "Factory girls" were young, unmarried women, usually between 15 and 30 years old, working in textile factories such as the Lowell factory. Most of these girls left their families’ farms in order to gain independence or to help their families financially. In the factories, they found poor working conditions and strict discipline.

ten-hour movement: The ten-hour movement was the attempt by workers to obtain restrictions on the number of hours they worked per day. They wanted to limit the day to 10 hours, from the 12 or 14 hour days that were not uncommon. The movement was supported by Lowell Female Reform Association and other reform associations.

Elias Howe: Howe invented the sewing machine in 1845 and patented it in 1846. After a difficult battle defending his patent, he made a fortune on his invention. The sewing machine allowed clothing to be stitched in factories very quickly, contributing to the transition from handmade garments to inexpensive, mass-produced clothing.

Eli Whitney, interchangeable parts: Whitney was an inventor who introduced the concept of interchangeable parts in 1798. The tools and machines he invented allowed unskilled workers to build absolutely uniform parts for guns, so that the whole gun no longer had to be replaced if a single part malfunctioned or broke. This was the beginning of mass production.

Cyrus McCormick, mechanical reaper: McCormick was an inventor who improved upon previous designs for the mechanical reaper. He patented his reaper in 1834 and built a factory to mass produce it in 1847. This invention lessened the work of western farmers by mechanizing the process of harvesting wheat.

Samuel F.B. Morse, telegraph: Morse invented the telegraph in 1844. This invention was enthusiastically accepted by the American people; telegraph companies were formed and lines erected quickly. The telegraph allowed rapid communication across great distances, usually transmitting political and commercial messages.

Cyrus Field: Field was a financier who promoted the first transatlantic telegraph cable. In 1841, Field founded a company, Cyrus W. Field and Co. After four failed attempts, Field laid a cable between Irealand and Newfoundland in 1866. This cable was 2,000 miles long and laid from the Great Eastern, a ship. This allowed for rapid transatlantic communication. Nationalism

The nationalistic movement was one which brought the nation together. The economy of the nation was a large force in the merging of the nation, and the government took considerable actions to piece it together.

Economic Independence after War of 1812: The War of 1812 was in part responsible for creating a great sense of national purpose and awareness. There was a large dependency on trade, evident to merchants when the Embargo of 1807 and the War of 1812 suspended trade to Europe. This was an economic blow that had repercussions.

Second Bank of the US: Andrew Jackson vetoed the recharter bill of the Second Bank of the United States on July 10, 1832, which was a blow against monopoly, aristocratic parasites, and foreign domination, as well as great victory for labor. Instead, Jackson created pet banks and destabilized the national currency and aid.

Tariff of 1816 (protective): This was a protective tariff that was principally intended to hold the production of textiles and goods. This tariff was made in order to defend the industries that were established during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, promoting new industries. A revision was made in 1824 to clear problems that aroused.

Bonus Bill Veto: In 1817, the development of America was creating a need for a well made transportation facilities to link the outlying agricultural regions with the trade eaters in the Eastern sea ports. This was Madison’s last act, which he vetoed the bill on constitutional ground.

Rush-Bagot Treaty: Rush-Bagot was an agreement between the US and Great Britain concerning the Canadian border in 1817. The decision was that there would be a disarmament of the US-Canadian frontier, and that there would be a precedent for the amicable settlement of peace between the US and Canada.

Convention of 1818: Signed at London, by Richard Rush, Great Britain’s Prime minister, and the French prime minister, Albert Gallatin. This treaty fixed the 49th parallel to divide the US and Canadian boundary, and also established fishing privileges for the United States off the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland.

Panic of 1819 : Occurred when the Second Bank of the United States tightened its loan policy, triggering a depression, that caused distress throughout the country, especially western farmers. Even more so, British exports unloaded textiles, causing a great depression for farmers.

Sectionalism and Slavery

In the early 1800s, slavery was becoming an increasingly sectional issue, meaning that it was increasingly dividing the nation along regional lines. Northerners were becoming more opposed to slavery, whether for moral or economic reasons, and Southerners were becoming more united in their defense of slavery as an institution.

sectionalism: Sectionalism is loyalty or support of a particular region or section of the nation, rather than the United States as a whole. Slavery was particularly sectional issue, dividing the country into North and South to the extent that it led to the Civil War; for the most part, southerners supported slavery and northerners opposed it.

"necessary evil": In the South, slavery was considered necessary in order to maintain the agricultural economy of the entire region. Before George Fitzhugh in 1854, southerners did not assert that slavery was a boon to society; they merely protested that it could not be eliminated without destroying the South.

Slave Power: The term Slave Power refers to the belief that pro-slavery southerners were united an attempt to spread slavery throughout the United States. Most Northerners were suspicious of the influence of southern slaveholders in Congress, especially because of the Fugitive Slave Act, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise.

•"KING COTTON": In the 1800s, cotton became the principal cash crop in the South. The British textile industry created a huge demand for cotton, and the invention of the cotton gin made it practical to grow cotton throughout the South. It was so profitable that the vast majority of southern farms and plantations grew cotton, and the "Cotton Kingdom" spread west into Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. Essentially, the entire Southern economy became dependent on the success of cotton as a crop.

George Fitzhugh, Sociology for the South, or the Failure of Free Society: In 1854, Fitzhugh wrote Sociology for the South, defending slavery. He argued that slavery benefited the slave by providing him with food and shelter, and that free laborers in the North were not treated any better than slaves. This was the first description of slavery as a "positive the farmer groups good."

positive good: In the South, George Fizhugh established the philosophy that slavery was "positive good." It was believed that slavery benefited slaves by providing them with food, shelter, and often Christian religion. Also, Fitzhugh argued that free laborers in northern factories were not treated any better than slaves.

Hinton Helper, The Impending Crisis of the South: In 1857, Helper wrote The Impending Crisis of the South in an attempt to persuade non-slaveholders that slavery harmed the Southern economy, using the poor whites of the pine-barrens as an illustration of how the institution of slavery degrades non-slaveowning southerners.

mountain whites in the South, pine barrens: The poorest class of whites in the Lower South tended to cluster in the mountains and pine-barrens, where they survived by grazing hogs and cattle on land that the usually didn’t own. They were considered lazy and shiftless, and were often cited by northerners as proof that slavery degraded non-slaveholding whites.

West Florida, 1810: Annexed when southern expansionists went into the Spanish Dominion, captured the fort at Baton Rouge, and proclaimed on September 26, the independent State of republic of West Florida. It was adopted as a resolution on January 15, 1811 and authorized as an extenuation of US rule over East Florida.

Purchase of Florida: Spain surrendered Florida to the United States in 1819 by the Adams-Onis Treaty, with a sum of five million dollars. This however began a rebellion by the Indians, starting the Seminole War (1835-42), and becoming another reason for Indian hatred of the white man.

Adams-Onis Treaty: It was the treaty in 1819 that purchased eastern Florida to establish the boundary between Mexico and the Louisiana territory. It provided for the cession of Florida to the United States in return for American settlement of claims of her citzens against Spain.

Quadruple Alliance: Formed in 1815, the Quadruple Alliance consisted of England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, and it regulated European politics after the fall of Napoleon. The Holy Alliance was an organization of European states that advanced the principles of the Christian faith.

George Canning: The British foreign minister, he supported nationalist movements throughout Latin America and dissuaded foreign intervention in American affairs. He proposed that the US and Britain issue a joint statement opposing European interference in South America and guaranteed that neither would annex Spain’s old empire.

•MONROE DOCTRINE: origins, provisions, impact: President Monroe’s message to Congress on Dec. 2, 1823, it consisted of 3 principles: U.S. policy was to abstain from European wars unless U.S. interests were involved, European powers could not colonize the American continents and shouldn’t attempt to colonize newly independent Spanish American republics. Ridiculed in Europe, it was used to justify U.S. expansion by presidents John Tyler and James Polk. In 1904, the Roosevelt Corollary was introduced.

Era of good feelings: This phrase exemplifies both of Monroe’s presidencies, from 1816-1824. The War of 1812 eliminated some divisive issues, and Republicans embraced the Federalist’s issues. Monroe made an effort to avoid political controversies, but soon sectionalism divided the nation.

Chief Justice John Marshall: decisions: Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) The question was whether New Hampshire could change a private corporation, Dartmouth College into a state university. It was unconstitutional to change it. After a state charters a college or business, it can no longer alter the charter nor regulate the beneficiary.

Tallmadge Amendment: The Tallmadge Amendment (1819) restricted further importation of slaves into Missouri and freed slave descendants born after Missouri’s admission as a state, at age 25. It passed in the House but not the Senate due to sectionalism.

•MISSOURI COMPROMISE: Congress admitted Maine as a free state in 1820 so that Missouri would become a slave state and prohibited slavery in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase territory north of 36 30, the southern boundary of Missouri. Henry Clay proposed the second Missouri Compromise in 1821, which forbade discrimination against citizens from other states in Missouri but did not resolve whether free blacks were citizens. Congress had a right to prohibit slavery in some territories.

Clay’s American System: In his tariff speech to Congress on March 30- 31, 1824, Clay proposed a protective tariff in support of home manufactures, internal improvements such as federal aid to local road and canal projects, a strong national bank, and distribution of the profits of federal land sales to the states.

Daniel Webster: Supporting the tariff of 1828, he was a protector of northern industrial interests. In the debate over the renewal of the charter of the US Bank, Webster advocated renewal and opposed the financial policy of Jackson. Many of the principles of finance he spoke about were later incorporated in the Federal Reserve System.

federal land policy: The federal land law passed in 1796 established a minimum purchase of 640 acres at a minimum price of $2 an acre and a year for full payment. In the federal land law passed in 1804, the minimum purchase was decreased to 160 acres. In 1820, the minimum purchase was reduced to 80 acres. In 1820, it was reduced to $1.25.

John Quincy Adams as Secretary of State: Fla: With Monroe’s support, Adams forced Spain to cede Florida and make an agreeable settlement of the Louisiana boundary, in the Transcontinental (Adams-Onis) Treaty, drafted in 1819. Spain consented to a southern border of the US that ran from the Miss. River to the Rocky Mountains.

•ELECTION OF 1824: popular vote, electoral vote, House vote: Jackson, Adams, Crawford, Clay: All five candidates, including Calhoun were Republicans, showing that the Republican party was splintering, due to rival sectional components. Calhoun withdrew and ran for the vice presidency. Jackson won more popular and electoral votes than the other candidates but didn’t manage to gain the majority needed Because Clay supported Adams, Adams became president.

"corrupt bargain": After Adams won the presidency, he appointed Clay as secretary of state. Jackson’s supporters called the action a "corrupt bargain" because they thought that Jackson was cheated of the presidency. Although there is no evidence to link Clay’s support to his appointment of the secretary of state, the allegation was widely believed.

Panama Conference: President Adams angered southerners by proposing to send American delegates to a conference of newly independent Latin American nations in Panama in 1826. Southerners worried that U.S. participation would insinuate recognition of Haiti, which gained independence through a slave revolution.

Tariff of Abominations: Named by southerners, this bill favored western agricultural interests by raising tariffs or import taxes on imported hemp, wool, fur, flax, and liquor in 1828. New England manufacturing interests were favored because it raised the tariff on imported textiles. In the South, these tariffs raised the cost of manufactured goods.

•VICE-PRESIDENT CALHOUN: South Carolina Exposition and Protest, nullification: He anonymously wrote the widely read South Carolina Exposition and Protest, in which he made his argument that the tariff of 1828 was unconstitutional. Adversely affected states had the right to nullify, or override, the law, within their borders. He acknowledged that he wrote the SC Exposition and Protest in 1831. In 1832, he convinced the South Carolina legislature to nullify the federal tariff acts of 1828 and 1832.

internal improvements: President Adams proposed a program of federal support for internal improvements in Dec. 1825; strict Jeffersonians claimed it to be unconstitutional. The South had few plans to build canals and roads. Jackson, with a political base in the South, felt that federal support meant a possibly corrupt giveaway program for the North.

Jacksonian Democracy

Jackson personified the desireable and undesireable qualities of Westerners. He stood for the right of the common people to have a greater voice in government. Distinct changes in laws, practices, and popular attitudes gave rise to Jacksonian Democracy and were in turn accelerated by the new equilitarian spirit.

Jacksonian Revolution of 1828: Jackson won more than twice the electoral vote of John Quincy Adams. However the popular vote was much closer. Adams had strong support in New England while Jackson swept the South and Southwest. In the middle states and the Northwest, the popular vote was close.

age of the common man: All white males had access to the polls. Jackson was portrayed by the opposition as a common man, an illiterate backwoodsman, during the election of 1828. He was depicted as being uncorrupt, natural, and plain. His supporters described his simple and true morals and fierce and resolute will.

spoils system: Jackson defended the principle of "rotation in office," the removal of officeholders of the rival party on democratic grounds. He wanted to give as many individuals as possible a chance to work for the government and to prevent the development of an elite bureaucracy.

National Republicans: They became the Whig party during Jackson’s second term. John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay guided this party in the 1830s. They were the Jeffersonian Republicans, along with numerous former Federalists who believed that the national government should advocate economic development.

Trail of Tears: A pro-removal chief signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835 which ceded all Cherokee land to the United States for $5.6 million. Most Cherokees condemned the treaty. Between 1835 and 1838, 16,000 Cherokees migrated west to the Mississippi along the Trail of Tears. 2,000 to 4,000 Cherokees died.

kitchen cabinets: During his first term, Jackson repeatedly relied on an informal group of partisan supporters for advice while ignoring his appointed cabinet officers. Supposedly, they met in the White House kitchen. Martin Van Buren and John H. Eaton belonged to this group, but were also members of the official cabinet.

Worcester v. Georgia, 1832: Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokees were not a state nor a foreign nation and therefore lacked standing to bring suit. Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 1831: Marshall ruled that the Cherokees were a "domestic dependent nation" entitled to federal protection from mistreatment by Georgia.

Whigs: The National Republican party altered its name to the Whig party during Jackson’s second term. They were united by their opposition of Jackson’s policies, committed to Clay’s American System and believed in active intervention by the government to change society. They became a national party with appeal by 1836.

Maysville Road veto: President Jackson vetoed a bill to grant federal aid for a road in Kentucky between Maysville and Lexington in 1830. He believed that internal improvements violated the principle that Congress could appropriate money for objectives only shared by all Americans. It increased Jackson’s popularity in the South.

election of 1832: Jackson, a strong defender of states’ rights and Unionism won the presidency. The National Republicans ran Henry Clay whose platform consisted of his American System. The Anti-Masonic Party ran William Wirt who received 7 electoral votes.

•BANK WAR: Nicholas Biddle operated the Bank of the United States since 1823. Many opposed the Bank because it was big and powerful. Some disputed its constitutionality. Jackson tried to destroy the Bank by vetoing a bill to recharter the Bank. He removed the federal government’s deposits from the Bank and put them into various state and local banks or "pet banks." Biddle tightened up on credit and called in loans, hoping for a retraction by Jackson, which never occurred. A financial recession resulted.

Roger B. Taney: Jackson’s policy was to remove federal deposits form the Bank of US and put them in state banks. Secretary of treasury Roger B. Taney implemented the policy. Critics called the state-bank depositories pet banks because they were chosen for their loyalty to the Democratic party.

Webster-Hayne Debate: Senator Robert Hayne of South Carolina made a speech in favor of cheap land in 1830. He used Calhoun’s anti-tariff arguments to support his position and referred to the plausibility of nullification. Webster contended that the Union was indissoluble and sovereign over the individual states.

Peggy Eaton affair: Jackson’s secretary of war, John H. Eaton, married Peggy Eaton in 1829. They were socially disregarded by Calhoun’s wife and Calhoun’s friends in the cabinet. Jackson believed that the Eaton affair was Calhoun’s plot to discredit him and advance Calhoun’s presidential ambitions.

Calhoun resigns: When Jackson favored the higher rates for the Tariff of 1832, Calhoun resigned in the same year. He went back to South Carolina and composed an Ordinance of Nullification which was approved by a special convention, and the customs officials were ordered to stop collecting the duties at Charleston.

•NULLIFICATION CRISIS: Calhoun introduced the idea in his SC Exposition and Protest. States that suffered from the tariff of 1828 had the right to nullify or override the law within their borders. Jackson proclaimed that nullification was unconstitutional and that the Constitution established "a single nation," not a league of states. A final resolution of the question of nullification was postponed until 1861, when South Carolina, accompanied by other southern states, seceded from the Union and started the Civil War.

Clay Compromise: He devised the Compromise Tariff which provided for a gradual lowering of duties between 1833-1842. The Force Bill authorized the president to use arms to collect customs duties in South Carolina. Without the compromise, he believed that the Force Bill would produce a civil war.

Martin Van Buren: The accepted name for a group of Democratic party politicians, their activities were centered in Albany, NY. They took a leading role in national and NY State politics between 1820 and 1850. One of the earliest, competent political machines in the US, prominent members included Van Buren.

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney: The Charles River Bridge Company sued to prevent Mass. from permitting the construction of a new bridge across the Charles River. Taney ruled that no charter given to a private corporation forever vested rights that might hurt the public interest.

panic of 1837: Prices began to fall in May 1837 and bank after bank refused specie payments. The Bank of the United States also failed. The origins of the depression included Jackson’s Specie Circular. Also, Britain controlled the flow of specie from its shores to the US in an attempt to hinder the outflow of British investments in 1836.

Dorr’s Rebellion: As a popular movement emerged in Rhode Island to abolish the limitations set forth by the charter granted by Charles II in 1663, so did much violence and serious disturbances. The protesters sought to do away with the state constitution which restricted suffrage to freeholders led the reform to grant suffrage to non-property owners.

Independent Treasury Plan: Instead of depositing its revenue in state banks, Van Buren persuaded Congress to establish an Independent Treasury in which the federal government would keep the revenue itself and thereby withhold public money from the grasp of business cooperation.

election of 1840: Van Buren was nominated but no vice president was put up. His opponent, William Henry Harrison was ridiculed as "Old Granny" by the Democrats, and was given the most successful campaign slogans in history. "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" Harrison won 80% of the electoral vote but died a moth later.

rise of the second party system: Because of the gradual hardening of the line between the two parties, interests in politic erupted among the people. New things such as rousing campaign techniques, strong contrasts, and simple choices began to appeal to the ordinary people.

Tariff of 1842: In August of 1842, due to the need of revenue to run the government, Tyler signed a bill which maintained some tariffs above 20%, but abandoned distribution to the states. This satisfied northern manufacturers, but by abandoning distribution, it infuriated many southerners and westerners

 Reform: Social & Intellectual

European Romanticism branched into American mainstream society. The basic goals emphasised were to transced the bounds of intellect and to strive for emotional understranding. It agreed on the scaredness, uniqueness, and the authority of the individual apprehension experience.

Transcendentalists-Transcendalists included many brilliant philosophers, writers, poets lecturers and essayists. These included such intellectuals as Ralph Waldo Emerson Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman. They believed in emphasis of the spontaneous and vivid expression of personal feeling over learned analysis.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: Serving briefly as a Unitarian minister, he was a popular essayist and lecturer. The topics of his essays were broad and general. He wrote on subjects such as "Beauty," "Nature," and "Power." He was a Transcendalist who believed that knowledge reflected the voice of God, and that truth was inborn and universal.

Henry David Thoreau, On Civil Disobedience: He was considered to be a "doer." He wrote OCD to defend the right to disobey unjust laws. He was also a Transcendalist who believed that one could satisfy their material purposes with only a few weeks work each year and have more time to ponder life’s purpose.

Orestes Brownson- A member of the Transcendentalist movement, Brownson was a flexible theologian and writer. He was particularly active with the founding of the Workingman’s and Loco-Focos parties in New York. These Locos-Focos called for free public education, the abolition of imprisonment for debt, and a ten-hour workday.

Margaret Fuller, The Dial: A feminist, critic, philosopher, and journalist, she edited The Dial, which was a Transcendalist journal with Ralph Waldo Emerson and George Ripley. After writing Summer on the Lakes, she was offered a job and wrote significant literature as a critic of the Tribune from 1844 to 1846.

James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans, The Spy, The Pioneers: He wrote historical novels under Sir Walter Scott’s influence. To fiction, he introduced characters like frontiersmen, and developed a distinctly American theme with conflict of between the customs of primitive life on the frontier and the advance of civilization.

Herman Melville, Moby Dick: Drawing ideas and theme from his own experiences in life, Melville wrote with much pessimism. His book, which contains much pessimism, focuses on the human mind instead of the social relationships. He, along with Poe and Hawthorne, were concerned with analyzing the mental states of their characters.

Nathanial Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter- Hawthorne turned to his Puritan past in order to examine the psychological and moral effects of the adultery. He, along with Poe and Melville, wrote with concern for the human mind because of their pessimism about the human condition.

Edgar Allen Poe: Poe, with Melville and Hawthorne saw man as a group of conflicting forces that might not ever be balanced. He changed literature by freeing it from its determination to preach a moral and established the idea that literature should be judged by the positive effect they had on the reader.

Washington Irving: Residing in New York and serving in the war of 1812, he left the US and lived in Europe until 1832. He wrote Sketch Book, which contained "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," and "Rip Van Winkle," which continued to give the him the support of Americans who were proud of their best known writer.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Coming from New England, the area from which literature was most prominent, Longfellow, a poet, wrote Evalgeline which was widely read by schoolchildren in America. His poems of Evalgeline and Hiawatha preached of the value of tradition and the impact of the past on the present.

Walt Whitman: By writing Leaves of Grass, Whitman broke the conventions of rhyme and meter to bring new vitality to poetry. Not only did he write in free verse. but his poems took on a different style, being energetic and candid at a time when humility were accepted in the literary world.

Antebellum Reform

Americans after 1815 embraced many religios and social movements in pursuit of solutions for the problems, evils, and misfortunes of mankind. These movements were generally more active in the Northern states.

Hudson River school of art-Americans painters also sought to achieve a sense of nationality in art. Flourishing between the 1829s and 1870s, the painter realized that the American landscape lacked the "poetry of decay" of Europe. Realizing this, they began to paint the awesomeness of nature in America.

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America: A French Civil servant, he traveled to this country in the early 1930s to study the prison system. DiA was a result of his observations. It reflected the broad interest in the entire spectrum of the American democratic process and the society which it had developed.

millenialism: In the 1830s, William Miller claimed the Second coming of Christ would occur in 1843. Following him were the Millerites. After the failure of his prophecies, his disciples divided into smaller Adventist groups of which the two largest are the Advent Christian Church and the Seventh-Day Adventists

Charles G. Finney: Known as the "father of modern revivalism," he was a pioneer of cooperation among Protestant denominations. He believed that conversions were human creations instead of the divine works of God, and that people’s destinies were in their own hands. His "Social Gospel" offered salvation to all.

Mormons, Brigham Young: Joseph Smith organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints after receiving "Sacred writings" in New York Unpopular because of their polygamy, they moved to Missouri, then to Nauvoo, Illinois. They were then led to the Great Salt Lake by Brigham young after Smith was killed.

Brook Farm, New Harmony, Onieda, Amana Community: Attempting to improve man’s life during industrialism, these cooperative communities, known as Utopian communities, were formed. These communities often condemned social isolation, religion, marriage, the institution of private property.

lyceum movement: Began by Josiah Holbrok in the 1820, lyceums were local organizations that sponsored public lectures. Lectures were held on such topics as astronomy, biology, physiology, geology, conversation. The spread of these lecture revealed the widespread hunger for knowledge and refinement.

Dorothea Dix: In 1843, after discovering the maltreatment of the insane in 1841, presented a memorial to the state legislature which described the abhor conditions in which the insane were kept. She, along with help from Horace Mann and Samuel G. Howe, led the fight for asylums and more humane treatment for the insane.

National Trade Union: Organized in 1834, this association was created after the New York Trades Union called a convention of delegates from numerous city centrals. Headed by Ely Moore, who was elected to Congress on the Tammany ticket, this union disintegrated along with a number of other national conventions with the Panic of 1837.

Commonwealth vs. Hunt: This decision deemed that the trade union and their strike techniques were legal, contradicting the traditional idea of unions being illegal under the conspiracy laws of the English common law. Although this was a milestone, it in fact did not open a new era for labor unions. Most judges still believed unions were illegal.

criminal conspiracy laws: Initially, trade unions were persecuted for their strikes because they were construed as illegal conspiracies under the common law.. The early unions strove for higher wages, shorter hours, union control of apprenticeship and a closed shop.

Oberlin, 1833; Mt. Holyoke, 1836- After it was established in 1833, Oberlin College was converted into the center of western abolition by Theodore Dwight Weld. Founded by Mary Lyon in 1836, Mt Holyoke College in Massachusetts is the oldest U.S. college devoted to women’s education.

public education, Horace Mann- The most influential of reformers, Man became the secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education. For the next ten years, Mann promoted a wholistic change in public education. Mann wanted to put the burden of cost on the state, grade the schools, standardize textbooks, and compel attendance.

American Temperance Union- The first national temperance organization, it was created by evangelical Protestants. Created in 1826, they followed Lyman Beecher in demanding total abstinence from alcohol. They denounced the evil of drinking and promoted the expulsion of drinkers from church.

Irish, German immigration- 1845-1854: In this single decade, the largest immigration proportionate to the American population occurred. The Irish was the largest source of immigration with the German immigrants ranking second in number. This spurred new sentiment for nativism and a new anti-Catholic fervor.

Nativism: The Irish immigration surge during the second quarter of the nineteenth century revived anti-Catholic fever .Extremely anti-Catholic, in 1835 Morse warned that the governments of Europe were filling the US with Catholic immigrants as part of a conspiracy to undermine and destroy republican institutions.

Women’s rights : Women could not vote and if married, they had no right to own property or retain their own earnings. They were also discriminated in the areas of education and employment, not receiving the opportunities that men possessed. This encouraged the development of educational institutions for women.

Lucretia Mott: 1848, Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized a women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York, proclaiming a Declaration of Sentiments Months earlier, along with Stanton, they successfully worked for the passage of the New York Married Women’s Property Act which recognized women’s right to her separate property.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton: She along with Lucretia Mott planned a women’s right convention at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Seneca Falls which sparked the women’s movement. She was also active in the fight for abolition and temperance, but was devoted to women’s rights.

Seneca Falls, 1848: Under the eye of Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, this convention adopted resolutions for women’s rights. Among those adopted were a demand for women’s suffrage and a diminution of sexual discrimination in education and employment.

Emma Willard: In 1814, Willard established the Middlebury Female Seminary where she devised new innovations in female education. She also established the Troy Female Seminary in 1821. She provided instruction in math and philosophy in which women could not take earlier. She led the fight for educational equality among sexes.

Catherine Beecher: Lyman Beecher’s daughter and a militant opponent of female equality, she fought for a profession in which females could be appreciated. With this, she discovered the institution of education in which women could play an important part in. In this profession, women became the main source of teachers.

"Cult of True Womanhood": The alternate ideal of domesticity, this slowed the advance of feminism. Because it sanctioned numerous activities in reform such as temperance and education, it provided women with worthwhile pursuits beyond the family.

American Peace Society: In a social reform movement, William Ladd led the peace movement by establishing the American Peace Society in 1828. He was joined in the peace movement by Elihu Burritt who founded the League of Universal Brotherhood in 1846 and promoted the 2d Universal Peace Conference held in Brussels in 1848

prison reform: Prison were meant to rehabilitate as well as punish. The Auburn System allowed prisoners to work together but never make contact and remain confined at night in a windowless cell. The Pennsylvania system made each prisoner spend of his/her time in a single cell with no outside contact.

 Abolitionism

Abolitionism is support for a complete, immediate, and uncompensated end to slavery. In the North before the Civil War, there were only a few abolitionists and these were generally considered radicals. However, they were prominent and vocal, and as sectional tension mounted, they became more prominent and influential.

•ABOLITIONISM: Abolitionism was the movement in opposition to slavery, often demanding immediate, uncompensated emancipation of all slaves. This was generally considered radical, and there were only a few adamant abolitionists prior to the Civil War. Almost all abolitionists advocated legal, but not social equality for blacks. Many abolitionists, such as William Lloyd Garrison were extremely vocal and helped to make slavery a national issue, creating sectional tension because most abolitionists were from the North.

American Antislavery Society: The American Antislavery Society was an organization in opposition to slavery founded in 1833. In 1840, issues such as the role of women in the abolitionist movement, and role of abolitionists as a political party led to the division of the organization into the American Antislavery Society and Foreign Antislavery Society. Because the organization never had control over the many local antislavery societies, its division did not greatly damage abolitionism.

William Lloyd Garrison: William Lloyd Garrison was a radical who founded The Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper, in Boston in 1831. He advocated immediate, uncompensated emancipation and even civil equality for blacks. This made Garrison a famous and highly controversial abolitionist whose main tactic was to stir up emotions on the slavery issue.

The Liberator: The Liberator was an anti-slavery newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison and Isaac Knapp beginning in 1831. Its bitter attacks on slavery and slaveowners, as well as its articles and speeches using arguments based on morality to advocate immediate emancipation made it one of the most persuasive periodicals in the United States at the time.

Theodore Weld: Weld was an abolitionist student at the Lane Theological Seminary. He was dismissed when, in 1834, the trustees of the seminary tried to suppress abolitionism. He led an antislavery demonstration on campus and a mass withdrawal of students from the school. These students then centered their activities at Oberlin College.

Grimké sisters: Angelina and Sarah Grimké were sisters who toured New England, lecturing against slavery, in 1837. They became controversial by lecturing to both men and women. In 1838 both sisters wrote classics of American feminism; Sarah wrote Letters on the Condition of Women and the Equality of the Sexes and Angelina wrote Letters to Catherine E. Beecher.

Theodore Parker: Parker was a clergyman, theologian, and the author of A Letter to the People and A Discourse of Matters Pertaining to Religion. He was also an active opponent of slavery who aided in the escape of slaves and the rescue of Anthony Burns, supported New England Emigrant Society, and participated in John Brown’s raid in 1859.

Elijah Lovejoy: Lovejoy was American abolitionist and the editor of the an antislavery periodical, The Observer. Violent opposition from slaveholders in 1836 forced him to move his presses from Missouri to Illinois, where he established the Alton Observer. Lovejoy was killed by an mob in 1837, and his death stimulated the growth of abolitionist movement.

Wendell Phillips: Phillips was an American orator, abolitionist, and reformer. He also spoke publicly in favor of women’s rights, temperance, abolition and elimination of capital punishment. His most famous speech, The Murder of Lovejoy speech protested the murder of Elijah Lovejoy and gained him recognition from the public.

•NAT TURNER’S INSURRECTION: Turner was a slave who became convinced that he was chosen by God to lead his people to freedom. In Virginia in 1831, Turner led about 70 blacks into a revolt against their masters. Before the uprising was brought to a halt by white militiamen, 55 whites were killed by Turner and his followers and many blacks were lynched by white mobs. Turner and fifteen of his companions were hanged. The rebellion convinced white southerners that a successful slave insurrection was an constant threat..

Gabriel Prosser: Prosser a Virginia slave who planned a slave uprising in 1800 with the intent of creating a free black state. They intended to sieze the federal arsenal at Richmond, but the plan was betrayed by other slaves. Prosser and his comrades were captured by the state militia and executed.

Denmark Vesey: Vessy was a slave from South Carolina who bought his freedom with $1,500 that he won in a lottery. In 1822, he planned to lead a group of slaves in an attacking Charleston and stealing the city’s arms. However, the plan was betrayed by other slaves, resulting in the hanging of Vessy and his followers.

David Walker, Walker’s Appeal: David Walker was a free black from Boston who published his Appeal in 1829, advocating a black rebellion to crush slavery. The purpose of Walker’s Appeal was to remind his people that they were Americans and should be treated fairly.

Frederick Douglass: Douglass was an escaped slave, who became a powerful aboltionist orator. He captured his audiences with descriptions of his life as a slave. He also published a newspaper, the North Star, in the early 1830s. Douglass’ influential speeches encouraged slaves to escape as he did and motivated northerners to oppose slavery.

Sojourner Truth: Sojourner Truth was a runaway slave who became an influential figure in both women’s societies and the abolitionist movement. In spite of her illiteracy, she traveled widely through New England and the Midwest, making eloquent speeches against sex discrimination, Godlessness, and slavery which attracted large audiences.

Harriet Tubman: Tubman was a black woman who, after escaping from slavery in 1849, made 19 journeys back into the South to help as many as 300 other slaves escape. She was the most famous leader of the underground railroad. Because of her efforts to lead her people to freedom, Tubman was known as "Moses" among blacks.

underground railroad: The underground railroad was a secret network of antislavery northerners who illegally helped fugitive slaves escape to free states or Canada during the period before the American Civil War. The system had no formal organization, but it helped thousands of slaves escape and contributed to the hostility between the North and South.

Creole affair: The Creole Affair was an uprising by a group of slaves who were in the process of being transported in the ship, the Creole. They killed the captain, took control of ship and sailed for Bahamas, where they became free under British. Incidents such as this contributed to the intensification of sectional conflict in the United States.

Expansion to 1840

1n 1790, a great majority of Americans lived east of the Appalachian Mountains, but many began moving west intermittently. Before, 1840, they mainly settled the areas east of the Mississippi River and avoided the arid Great Plains region. Texas was a popular destination for American settlers, especially southern planters with slaves, so when the Mexican government tried to restrict the rights of these settlers, the Texas War for Independence resulted.

Stephen Austin: Austin was a prominant leader of Americans in Texas. In the 1820s, he was a highly successful empresario, who had contracted 300 American families to move to Texas by 1825. After Mexican president Santa Anna invaded Texas in1835, Austin became one of the leaders of the Texas Revolution.

•TEXAN WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE: In 1836, Mexican president Santa Anna invaded Texas and brutally crushed the rebels at the battle of the Alamo. However, the leader to the Texans, Sam Houston, retaliated at the battle of San Jacinto. At San Jacinto, the Texans killed half of Santa Anna’s men in 15 minutes and Houstan captured Santa Anna and forced him to sign a treaty recognizing Texan independence. The Mexican government never recognized this treaty, but could no longer afford to fight, so Texas became the Lone Star Republic.

Alamo: The Alamo was a mission in San Antonio, Texas, that became the setting for and important episode in Texan war for independence from Mexico. In 1836, Mexican forces under Santa Anna besieged San Antonio and the city’s 200 Texan defenders retreated into the abandoned mission. All of the Texans were killed in their attempt to fight the Mexican army.

Davy Crockett: Davy Crockett was a politician, a frontiersman, and a soldier. From 1827 to 1835 Crockett represented Tennessee in Congress. In he 1835 went to Texas and joined the revolution against Mexico. He was killed while defending the Alamo in 1836. Exaggerated stories written after his death made Crockett an American folk hero.

William Barrett Travis: Travis was a lawyer before he moved to Texas in 1831. In 1835, became colonel in Texas Revolution. In 1836, Travis became a war hero when he was ordered to defend San Antonio and the Alamo. When Santa Anna and his men attacked, greatly outnumbering Travis’ 200 troops, Travis and all of his men died in battle.

San Jacinto: The battle of San Jacinto was the last battle of Texan war for independence. Texan General Sam Houston and 800 of his men ambushed Santa Anna and the Mexican army. The battle lasted less than 20 minutes, during which after Santa Anna was captured and forced to signed a treaty granting Texans their independence.

Santa Anna: Santa Anna was elected president of Mexico in 1833. However, in 1834, he overthrew government and named himself dictator. He invaded Texas in 1835, but got captured at the battle of San Jacinto in 1836. After this defeat, he was forced into retirement until 1838. He was overthrown in 1845, but called back in 1846 to fight in the Mexican War.

Sam Houston: Houston was a military commander and an American statesman who served in House of Representatives from 1823 to 1827. In 1836, Houston was chosen as president of the Texan rebels. He led them in the battle of San Jacinto, where he captured Santa Anna and achieved Texan independence.

Republic of Texas: Texan rebels declared their independence from Mexico in 1836. They drafted a constitution modeled after the United States Constitution and chose Sam Houston as their president. Texas was an autonomous nation from the time Santa Anna recognized Texan independence at the battle of San Jacinto until it was annexed by the United States in 1845.

Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny is the belief that Americans had the right, or even the duty, to expand westward across the North American continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This would spread the glorious institutions of civilization and democracy to the barbaric Native Americans. In order to accomplish this destiny, Americans did not flinch at atrocities such as provoking war with Mexico or slaughtering Indians.

Great American Desert: The "Great American Desert" was a nickname for the Great Plains. This area, the present -day Midwest, was characterized by its arid climate, a flat topography, and lack of trees. Because of these features, it was considered inhospitable and early settlers chose to cross it on the way to the Willamette Valley of Oregon rather than settling there.

•"MANIFEST DESTINY": "Manifest Destiny" was the term used, throughout the 1840s, to describe Americans’ belief that they were destined by God to spread their beliefs across the continent. This sense of duty created a sense of unity among the nation and stimulated westward expansion. The term itself was coined by John O’Sullivan in an 1845 magazine article. The concept justified westward expansion in all its forms and ramifications, including the Mexican War, the persecution of the Indians, and other such ethnocentric acts.

Was it Imperialism?: American annexation of territories such as Oregon are generally not considered imperialistic because these lands were obtained by negotiation between two equal powers and the people there were not opposed to joining the Union. However, lands gained by force, such as the Mexican cession, are considered imperialistic conquests.

Horace Greeley: Greeley was a journalist and political leader. He opposed slavery, but he was not an abolitionist. He was editor of the New Yorker and a Whig associated with Governor Seward of New York. In 1841, he founded the New York Tribune. In 1872, he was the Liberal Republican nominee for president.

Annexation of Texas, Joint Resolution under President Tyler: In 1843, Tyler started a campaign to annex Texas, and in 1844 he succeeded in sending a treaty to Congress for the annexation. This treaty was defeated in the Senate, but later, in early 1845, Congress passed a joint resolution to annex Texas because of the growing popularity of annexation.

Reoccupation of Texas: After Congress voted to annex Texas, the Mexican government began war preparations when Texans accepted annexation. In response, Polk sent troops to occupy Texas and the disputed territory south of the Nueces River. Polk believed that the land was part of the Louisiana Purchase, and therefore it belonged to the United States.

Reannexation of Oregon: Prior to 1846, America and Great Britain had jointly occupied the Oregon Country. However, in 1844, Polk began to demand that America obtain the entire territory. In compromise, a treaty was signed in 1846 giving the United States all of Oregon south of the 49^th parallel.

•ELECTION OF 1844: In the election of 1844, the Whigs nominated Henry Clay. The Democrats, however, were divided between Martin Van Buren and Lewis Cass. A deadlock at the Democratic national convention resulted in the nomination of dark-horse candidate James K. Polk. The Liberty party, consisting of a small group of northern antislavery Whigs who were alienated by Clay’s indecisiveness, nominated James G. Birney. Also, large numbers of Irish immigrants turned out to vote for Polk, and he won by a small margin.

•JAMES K. POLK: Polk was a slaveowning southerner dedicated to Democratic party. In 1844, he was a "dark horse" candidate for president, and he won the election. Polk favored American expansion, especially advocating the annexation of Texas, California, and Oregon. He was a friend and follower of Andrew Jackson. He opposed Clay’s American System, instead advocating lower tariff, separation the treasury and the federal government from the banking system. He was a nationalist who believed in Manifest Destiny.

54° 40’ or Fight!: In the election of 1844, Polk used "54° 40’ or Fight!" as a campaign slogan, implying that the he would declare war if Britain did not give the United States all the Oregon territory up to its northern boundary, the line 54° 40’ N. latitude. However, in 1846 Polk agreed to negotiate, and the two countries divided Oregon at the 49^th parallel.

Slidell Mission to Mexico: Slidell was a negotiator sent to Mexico by James Polk with orders to gain Mexico’s recognition of the independence of Texas and to purchase California and New Mexico. However, he was not received by the Mexican government because the threat of military revolt left the Mexican president to weak to negotiate.

Rio Grande, Nueces River, Disputed Territory: A dispute over the southern boundary of Texas contributed to the Mexican War. Mexico claimed that the Nueces River was boundary of Texas, but Polk insisted that the Rio Grande River was the boundary line. The land between these two rivers was uninhabited, but it was a significant slice of Mexican territory.

•MEXICAN WAR: The Mexican war lasted from 1846 to 1848. The main cause of the war was American desire for territory, especially Texas and California. The war took place mainly on Mexican soil. Partially because of disorganization and instability in the Mexican government, the war resulted in and American victory. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the war, made the southern boundary of Texas the Rio Grande, gave California and New Mexico to the United States, and gave $15 million to Mexico in compensation.

General Zachary Taylor: Taylor was an American major general who became a war hero during the Mexican War. His troops won important victories in northern Mexico at Matamoros, Monterrey, and Buena Vista, and his resulting popularity helped him win the presidential election in 1848.

Battle of Buena Vista: The battle of Buena Vista was a battle during Mexican War. Five thousand American troops commanded by General Taylor defeated three times as many Mexican troops under Santa Anna. As a result of this battle, Taylor was put in control of all of northern Mexico. This American victory also hastened end of the War.

Stephen Kearney: Kearney was an American colonel in the Mexican War. In 1846, he led an army to Santa Fe and took the New Mexico territory without firing a shot. Kearny then suppressed a rebellion of both Indians and Mexicans, and managed to send a detachment of his army south into Mexico in time to join Taylor in the Battle of Buena Vista.

John C. Fremont: Fremont was an explorer, soldier, and politician known as "the Great Pathfinder." In 1846, he assisted in the annexation of California by capturing insurgents, seizing the city of Sonoma, and declaring the independence of the "Bear Flag Republic." In 1856, Fremont became the first presidential candidate for the Republican party.

Senator Thomas Hart Benton: Senator Benton was an American statesman. He represented Missouri in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. His daughter, Jessie Benton, married adventurer John C. Fremont, and Benton used his influence to have records of Fremont’s explorations published as government documents.

General Winfield Scott: General Scott commanded American troops during the Mexican War, and led those troops victory at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, and Chapultepec. He also led the final defeat of Santa Anna when he captured Mexico City in 1847. He ran for president of United States in 1852.

Nicholas Trist: Trist was the chief clerk of state department and a peace officer. He was sent to Mexico by Polk to negotiate with Mexican president Herrera. They wanted Trist to convince Herrera to lower the price he was asking for California and to give Americans the right of movement over the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. In 1846, Herrera rejected the offer.

All Mexico Movement: Many Senators in Congress wanted the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to include all of Mexico, because they believed that to have control of all of Mexico would give the United States more power. However, this movement failed because the acquisition of California and her ports satisfied Polk.

•MEXICAN CESSION: The Mexican Cession was the land that Mexico ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo in 1848. This territory included California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. The addition of so much land to the United States exacerbated conflict over the expansion of slavery because some Northerners feared that the extension of slavery into California and New Mexico would deter free laborers from settling there.

Webster-Ashburton Treaty: The Webster-Ashburton Treaty was a treaty negotiated by Lord Ashburton of Great Britain and Daniel Webster of the United States in 1842. It settled a dispute over the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick. The treaty was very popular in the North because the United States got more than half of the disputed territory.

Caroline Affair: The American steamboat, the Caroline, was being used by Canadian rebels when it was attacked by the government of Canada in late 1837 in American waters. In 1842 Daniel Webster asked for an apology from British government. The event heightened tensions between the United States and Britain, but this tension was soon eased.

Aroostook War: The Aroostook War was a boundary dispute between settlers in Maine and New Brunswick from 1838 to 1839. Full-scale war was avoided through an agreement in 1839, and the issue was settled by Webster-Ashburton Treaty in 1842.

•OREGON FEVER: During the 1830s and 1840s, many Americans traveled to the Oregon Territory in order to start a new life. The fertile farmland available in the Willamette Valley attracted many farmers. People in the East heard exaggerated, enthusiastic reports from missionaries and pioneers, convincing them that Oregon was a "pioneer’s paradise." Many settlers traveled to Oregon overland by way of the Oregon Trail or around Cape Horn in the newly invented clipper ships. This was an important part of westward expansion.

John Jacob Astor: Astor was a wealthy New York merchant who invested in real estate. He became involved in the fur business and organized a fur trading empire from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean and to China and Japan. He created the American Fur Company and established Astoria, the first major fur trading post in Oregon.

Oregon Trail: The Oregon Trail was an overland route to the Oregon territory, stretching almost 2,000 miles from Independence, Missouri to the Willamette Valley. The pioneers who traveled this trail in wagon trains faced many dangers. It is estimated that about 11,500 emigrants used overland trails like the Oregon Trail to reach Oregon between 1840 and1848.

Willamette Valley: The Willamette Valley was an area of fertile farmland in the Oregon Territory which attracted large numbers of farmers in the 1830s and 1840s, especially those from the Mississippi River Valley. Reports of the abundance of this land sparked the movement of many pioneers to the West Coast.

Oregon Territory: Congress made the Oregon Territory an official territory of the United States in 1848. Prior to 1846, the Oregon Territory had been jointly occupied by Great Britain and the United States with its northern boundary the line 54°40’. In a 1846 treaty, the two countries split the territory, dividing it at the 49^th parallel.

49^th Parallel: The 49^th parallel was the line of latitude dividing the United States’ and Great Britain’s portions of the Oregon Territory after 1846. Originally they had jointly occupied the entire territory, but a compromise was forged in 1846 because president Polk demanded title to this territory and neither side wanted to go to war over it.

Election of 1848: Cass, Taylor: Zachary Taylor was the Whig candidate in the election of 1848, and his platform was based solely on personal popularity because he was a war hero.; Lewis Cass was the Democratic candidate. Both parties avoided making the issue of slavery a campaign issue. Taylor won election on his popularity.

Joseph Smith: Joseph Smith was the founder of the Mormon church. He translated the Book of Mormon in 1827, after which, he and his followers set up a model city and temple in Nauvoo, Illinois. Smith saw himself as a prophet, increasing the negative sentiment towards Mormonism. After being charged with treason and jailed, he was killed by a mob in 1844.

Brigham Young: Brigham Young was the patriarch of the Mormon church who took control of the church after Joseph Smith was killed. After the Mormons were forced out of Illinois, Young led them to Utah in 1846, where they prospered. Young has been criticized for both his support of polygamy and his intolerance towards opposition.

Mormons: The Mormon religion was founded in 1827 by Joseph Smith. Their church is based in Utah and they believe that the Book of Mormon is the supplement for the Bible. The Mormons are characterized by their preference to be set apart from the rest of the community, apparent in their views, which were antebellum in the time the religion was born.

John Sutter: John Sutter was granted 49,000 acres of land by the Mexican government in 1834 and established a sawmill on the land in 1846. In 1848, he discovered gold. This discovery led to the onset of the California Gold Rush. Land squatters disputed over Sutter’s land claims and, subsequently, Sutter’s holdings were found invalid by the Supreme Court.

forty-niners: In 1849, 100,000 Americans, along with immigrants from Europe, Asia and South America rushed to California in search of easy riches. Competition led to violence and greed. As a result of inadequate shelter and food and the lack of medical supplies, 10,000 died the first year and few even benefited from the expedition.

Walker Tariff, 1846: The Walker tariff was created by Robert J. Walker, Polk’s secretary of the treasury, in 1846. The bill slashed all duties to the minimum necessary for revenue. It also reversed the trend of replacing certain specifics for ad value duties and dropped the minimum valuation principle. The tariff was signed July 30, 1846.

Independent Treasury System, Van Buren: The system was introduced by Martin Van Buren in 1837 and it passed through Congress in 1840. The bill had the federal government keep their revenue, and by doing this, kept public money from private business corporations. This also kept the government’s money out of state banks.

Independent Treasury System, Polk: After Van Buren was defeated in the election of 1840 by William Henry Harrison, the Independent Treasury System was repealed. However, when Polk was elected in 1844, he brought back the Independent Treasury System. This intensified the divisions between the Whigs and Democrats.

Expansion and Slavery

The expansion of slavery into new territories and onto the western frontier became a major issue after the Mexican-American War. Southerners fought to assert their rights while many Northerners wished to prevent the expansion of slave labor into new states.

panic of 1857: The causes of the panic were overspeculation in railroads and lands, false banking practices, and a break in the flow of European capital to American investments as a result of the Crimean War. The South’s less industrial economy suffered less than the North, who viewed this as a proof of superiority in both Southern economy and slavery.

Wilmot Proviso: David Wilmot, a Congressman from Pennsylvania, proposed that slavery be banned in land acquired from the Mexican War. The proviso was given to Congress in August 1846. It never passed the Senate, but passed the House. It was taken out of the War Appropriations bill in order for Senate to pass the actual bill.

Barnburners: The Barnburners were a part of the Democratic party in New York. They left in 1848 to form the Free Soil Party but rejoined after the election of 1848. They believed slavery should not be extended into the newly acquired U.S. territory and were pro-Wilmot Proviso. Their party slogan was "Free Trade, Free Labor, Free Speech, Free Men."

•TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO: This was the peace treaty between the United States and Mexico that ended the Mexican War. Through the treaty, Mexico gave Texas with Rio Grande boundary, California , and New Mexico to the United States. The U.S. assumed all claims of the American people against the Mexican government and also paid Mexico 15 million dollars. The treaty was signed on February 2, 1848. In the end, the treaty worked to expand the U.S. territory to include parts of Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada.

Free Soil Party: The Free Soil Party created by the Barnburners, Conscience Whigs, and the former Liberty party members in the election of 1844. They nominated Martin Van Buren on a platform of opposition to any kind of slavery. Although they were unable to carry any state, they had enough influence in North to convey their point.

California applies for admission as a state: Because the population grew during the gold rush and they were in need of a better government, California decided to petition to become a state in September of 1849. There was controversy on the issue of it being a free or slave state, but through the Compromise of 1850, California was admitted as a free state.

•COMPROMISE OF 1850: The Compromise of 1850 was an eight part compromise devised by Henry Clay in order to settle the land disputes between the North and South. As part of the compromise, California was admitted a free state, while a stricter Fugitive Slave Law was enforced. Slave trade was abolished in the District of Columbia, while slavery itself was not abolished and sectional peace returned to the northern and southern states for a few years. The issue of slavery eventually did lead to future conflicts, though.

Omnibus bill: The omnibus bill is a term used to describe a bill that has many unrelated and separate topics within it. The bill most commonly known for being omnibus is the Compromise of 1850. Henry Clay introduced the bill as a whole, but it was later pushed through Congress as separate measures. Today, most states do nor allow omnibus bills.

Henry Clay: Henry Clay was an influential American politician who earned the title of "The Great Pacificator" with his development of three compromises. He ran, unsuccessfully, for president six times and devised the "American System" that favored a protective tariff and federal support of internal improvements.

Webster’s 7th of March speech: Webster’s speech was an eloquent one presented in favor of the Compromise of 1850. Webster argued that years of tension built up from the North’s growing power would be relieved by the compromise and that the North would make the South its equal, thus saving the Union. Despite his efforts, the speech made few converts.

John C. Calhoun: Calhoun is most known for the "nullification crisis" in 1828 between he and president Jackson over the tariff of 1828 (tariff of abominations). He supported the Compromise of 1850 on the basis of the theory of nullification. He was a senator during the debates over the compromise. Calhoun was also a war hawk.

Fugitive Slave Law: Unlike the previous 1793 slave law, the 1850 slave law was more strictly enforced. The results of the law were that the North became a hunting ground for slaves and slaves were denied a trial by jury and other protections they were entitled to. The anger of the slaves led to riots and other acts of violence.

•PERSONAL LIBERTY LAWS: Discontent with the injustice of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, northern states passed "personal liberty laws" in order to strengthen the use of the habeas corpus writs and prohibit state officials from accepting jurisdiction under federal law. The laws included the prohibition of the use of state jails to confine alleged fugitives. Southern states objected to the laws because they violated sectional equity and reciprocal trust. Northern resistance demonstrated that the slavery issue could not be ignored.

Gadsden Purchase: The Gadsden Purchase was the 1853 treaty in which the United States bought from Mexico parts of what is now southern Arizona and southern New Mexico. Southerners wanted this land in order to build southern transcontinental railroad. The heated debate over this issue in the Senate demonstrates the prevalence of sectional disagreement.

Perry and Japan: Commodore Perry opened relations with Japan, a country closed to the rest of the world for 2 centuries, in 1853. The treaty he forged protected the rights of sailors shipwrecked in Japanese territory from inhumane treatment, permitted American ships to buy coal in Japan, opened Japanese ports of to U.S. commerce, and ended Japan’s isolation.

Anthony Burns: Burns was an American slave who escaped in 1834. He was arrested on charges of theft and violation of the Fugitive Slave Law. During the trial, a mob of Boston abolitionists stormed into the courthouse to attempt, unsuccessfully, to rescue Burns. President Pierce sent him back to his master, but Burns was resold to friends who freed him.

Ableman v. Booth: Booth was arrested for aiding the escape of a fugitive slave in 1859. The Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a writ of habeas corpus to release him, but habeas corpus was not valid as a result of Chief Justice Taney’s decision that a court or judge has certain limits of power. In turn, the battle for federal supremacy commenced.

Prigg v. Pa., 1842: This case resulted when Pennsylvania attempted to ban the capture and return of runaway slaves within its territory, a challenge to the fugitive slave law of 1793. Because article IV, section 2 of the Constitution deems the return of fugitive slaves a federal power, the state law was declared unconstitutional.

Ostend Manifesto: American ambassadors to Great Britain, France, and Spain met in Ostend, Belgium in 1854 to issue an unofficial document that gave the United States permission to attain Cuba by any necessary means, even force, and include the island in the Union. President Pierce, however, rejected the manifesto.

Stephen A. Douglas: American politician known for his debates with Abraham Lincoln prior to the election of 1860. Douglas was an advocate of the annexation of Mexico, who aroused the question of slavery in territories with the development of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. He was also a strong supporter of the Compromise of 1850.

•KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT, 1854: The Kansas-Nebraska Act ended the peace established between the North and South by the Compromise of 1850. It was proposed by Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and repealed the Missouri Compromise. The act enforced popular sovereignty upon the new territories but was opposed by Northern Democrats and Whigs. It was passed, however, because President Pierce supported it. The purpose of the bill was to facilitate the building of the transcontinental railroad on a central route.

popular sovereignty: this compromise solution was first proposed during the time of the Wilmot Proviso: the residents of each territory had the option of determining whether it would be a free or slave state; a part of the Compromise of 1850 and Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.Stephen Douglas a strong advocator.

36° 30’ line: The 36° 30’ line was established by the Missouri Compromise and drew on parts of California and New Mexico. The Wilmot Proviso sought to extend the boundary line westward, blocking slavery and territory north of that line. Polk supported the idea of expansion to end the discussion of whether the new territory acquired was slave or free.

"Bleeding Kansas" and Lawrence: Topeka and Lecompton were the two rival governments of Kansas. Each claimed to be the lawful one, thus armed themselves and commenced guerilla warfare. In 1856, Missouri "border ruffians," those who supported slavery, sacked the town of Lawrence. John Brown, an abolitionist, also led a retaliation two days later .

"Beecher’s Bibles": Because the abolitionist government in Kansas was organized in 1856, a pro-slavery posse armed with guns mobbed through the town. Ridiculing the free staters, they dubbed their guns "Beecher’s Bibles," following the advice of an antislavery minister that rifles would do no more than Bibles to enforce morality in Kansas.

Pottawatomie Massacre: John Brown led a small group of abolitionists into a pro-slavery settlement in 1856 to kill unarmed men and boys at Pottawatomie Creek in retaliation to the border ruffians’ invasion and sacking of the abolitionists’ town of Lawrence. The retaliation was preceded by a pro-slavery posse’s armed raid through Kansas.

Lecompton Constitution: This constitution was devised by the anti-slavery delegates of Congress in 1857 to protect the rights of the slaveholders in Kansas and advocate popular sovereignty. Buchanan disapproved of it, but supported it so that Kansas could be admitted as a state.

New England Emigrant Aid Company: Aiming to prevent the expansion of slavery into Kansas, Northerners sent antislavery settlers into this area in 1854, but their attempt was unsuccessful. Settlers from New England arrived slowly, though the majority of settlers originated from Missouri and the Midwest. Settlers were mixed in their views on slavery.

Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 during Illinois senatorial campaign: The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of seven, where Douglas argued on the basis of his opposition to the Lecompton Constitution and depicted Lincoln as a radical abolitionist. Lincoln condemned Douglas for not taking a moral stand against slavery.

Lincoln’s "house divided" speech: The "house divided" speech was a speech presented before the Republican party’s state convention in 1858 in Springfield, Illinois. It warned the people that a "house divided against itself cannot stand," referring to the slavery issue. Lincoln predicted in his speech that there would mean eventual freedom for the slaves.

Freeport Doctrine: Stephen A. Douglas’ "Freeport Doctrine" stated that exclusion of slavery in a territory could be determined by the refusal of the voters to enact any laws that would protect slave property. In 1858, southerners rejected the doctrine because it did not insure the rights of slaves, a reaction that hurt him in the election.

The 1850s: The Road to Secession

During the 1850s, sectional issues such as slavery became very divisive. The issue of slaver polarized people, and Southern slaveowners felt that their rights and interests were no longer being fairly represented. Northerners began to increasingly support free soil and even abolition, so tensions between the two-sided mounted until Southerners became convinced that nothing short of secession could protect them Northern persecution.

Nashville Convention: Delegates of the northern and southern states assembled in the summer of 1850 to decide on the issue of the Compromise of 1850. Fire-eaters discussed southern rights, while suspicion of their secession rose amongst the northerners. The meeting itself led to the ultimate decision on the compromise.

fire-eaters: The fire-eaters were extreme advocates of southern rights. They walked out on the Nashville convention in 1850, raided a mass of Irish canal workers, and whipped and lynched slaves in the 1860s. They were labeled "fire-eaters" due to their recklessness and by making their presence strongly felt by all those around.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Harriet Stowe, a Northern abolitionist outraged by the Fugitive Slave Law, wrote this novel to illustrate the evils of slavery. Though the South denounced the novel, 500,000 copies were sold in the U.S. and others were translated into 20 languages. The novel stimulated Northern action against slavery, contributing to the Civil War.

Harriet Beecher Stowe: Stowe was an abolitionist writer who wrote powerful novels attacking slavery both before and after the Civil War in such novels as Dred, A Tale of Great Dismal Swamp (1856) and The Minister’s Wooing (1859). The novels are rambled in structure, yet rich in pathos and dramatic incident. She also wrote short stories and poetry.

election of 1852: The election of 1852 was the end of the Whig Party. Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act split the Whig Party, and the nomination of General Winfield Scott exacerbated the sectional split. The loss of votes from the South was the result of Scott’s campaign. Franklin Pierce of the Democratic party won the election with 27 of 31 states.

birth of the Republican Party: The party was formed in 1854 by northern Democrats who left the party because of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Former Whigs and Know-Nothings were party members, also. All opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and believed that slavery should be banned from all territories of the nation, except those states where slavery already existed.

election of 1856: Republican Party, Know-Nothing Party: This election was between John C. Fremont of the Republican Party, Millard Fillmore of the Know-Nothing Party, and James Buchanan of Democratic Party. Fillmore’s inexperience weakened his party, increasing the popularity of the Republicans. Buchanan won the election.

John Brown’s raid: The raid took place at Harper’s Ferry in 1859, and was conducted by an abolitionist to raid the federal arsenal and start a slave uprising. It failed and Brown was convicted of treason and hanged because he had ties with the northern abolitionists. At his death, southern fear of future slave uprisings increased, leading to the cruel treatment slaves.

Sumner-Brooks affair: Charles Sumner, a senator from Massachusetts, made a speech titled, "The Crime Against Kansas," denouncing slavery, and, at the same time, ridiculing the South Carolina senator, Charles Butler, in 1856. Preston Brooks, Butler’s nephew came into the Senate chamber and hit him on the head, making Brooks a hero in the South.

•DRED SCOTT DECISION: Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that Scott was not a citizen because he was a slave in 1856, therefore, he did not have the right to sue in federal court. It was determined that temporary residence in an area did not make one free, and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because it violated the fifth amendment, which did not allow Congress or territorial governments to exclude slavery from any area. Republicans became more suspicious of Slave Power in Congress.

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney: Taney was a Southerner appointed by Jackson as the 5th justice of the Supreme Court. He is well-known for handing down the Dred Scott decision. Under his leadership, the federal government had increased power over foreign relations. Taney ruled in 1861 that Lincoln exceeded his authority in suspending habeas corpus.

John Brown: John Brown was an American abolitionist who attempted to end slavery through the use of violence. This increased the tension between the North and South. He was the leader of John Brown’s raid and the Pottawatomie massacre. His life ended when he was hanged for murder and treason. He is regarded a martyr to the cause of human freedom.

Compact Theory of Government: This theory involves the idea that the United States of America was founded by the union of thirteen individual states creating a federation of states. This plays a major role in justifying the secession of the Southern states by stating that a state had the right to withdraw from the political entity it created.

•ELECTION OF 1860: candidates, parties, issues: A united republican party attempted to appeal more to the North in order to win the campaign and developed an economic program to amend the damages of the 1857 depression. They nominated Abraham Lincoln, who held a moderate view on slavery. The democrats nominated two candidates, Douglas and Breckenridge, each with opposing viewpoints on the slavery issue. The constitutional party, created by Whigs, nominated John Bell, who had the desire to preserve the Union.

Democratic Party conventions: The first assembly of delegates in Charleston in 1860 resulted in the split of the Democratic party as the Southern "fire-eaters" left the convention. They were unable to agree on a platform based on the protection of slavery. An unsuccessful second attempt to reach a consensus in Baltimore led them to nominate two candidates.

John Bell: Opposed to both Lincoln and Douglas, Whigs nominated Bell in 1860, an opposer of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Lecompton constitution. Bell created the new Constitutional Union party, which had a platform based on the preservation of the Union, and not on the controversial slavery issue.

John Breckenridge: A division in the Democratic Party led to the nomination of two candidates for the 1860 election. Breckenridge, Buchanan’s vice president, was nominated by secessionists on a platform based on protection of slavery in territories. His nomination completed the split of the Democratic party.

Republican Party of 1860: In order to lure votes from Northern states to their party, an economic system based on protective tariffs, federal aid for internal improvements and the distributing of 160-acre homesteads to settlers in order, was organized in favor of the Northerners. Lincoln’s nonchalant views towards slavery led them to victory.

Buchanan and the secession crisis: Buchanan declared secession of states illegal, yet he had no power to prevent it. He refused Southern demands to remove troops from Fort Sumter. Because his efforts to supply the fort failed and due to failure of a constitutional plan, he left the office disappointed and discredited.

Crittenden Compromise proposal: The compromise was proposed by John Crittenden in an attempt to preserve the Union. The amendments were to bar the federal government from intervening in southern states’ decision of slavery, to restore the Missouri Compromise, and to guarantee protection of slavery below this line. It also repealed personal liberty laws.

The Civil War

The Civil War was a terrible, bloody war fought mainly over the issue of slavery. It divided the nation and resulted in the death of more Americans than all other wars combined. The Union, with advantages such as greater organization and prosperity, eventually won, but not before 620,000 Americans died and thousands of fields, homes, and entire towns were destroyed.

secession: Slavery fueling the states’ rights issue along with the loss of Congress and Northern opposition to the new Fugitive Slave Law made the election of 1860 the straw that broke up the union. By March 1861, Lincoln’s innauguration South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had seceded.

•South’s advantages in the Civil War: The Confederate States of America had a strong advantage in the fact that they were fighting a defensive war in familiar territory, but it also had advantages buried deep within its much stronger military tradition. Southerners came from a rural rather than urban environments and therefore had more men experienced in the use of firearms and horses. This allowed the Confederacy to produce a more able corps of officers, such as Robert E. Lee.

Tredegar Iron Works: guided by Joseph Reid to success during a time when the economy in the North and South began to plunge because of their increased divergence. It became the nation’s fourth largest producer of iron products. During the Civil War the company contributed to the Confederacy cause.

•North’s advantages in the Civil War: The Union clearly had more military potential with its larger population of 22 million. In addition to that, the Union had more advantages in terms of material goods such as money and credit, factories for manufacturing war goods, food production, mineral resources, and an established railroad system to transport these material resources. The North in comparison with the South in these areas makes the North seem more advantageous.

Fort Sumter: Fort Sumter is a fort in Charleston harbor, South Carolina and it was the site of the first conflict of the Civil War on Apr. 12, 1861. The Confederates under Beauregard bombarded the fort and were eventually victorious, but the fort was eventually retaken by Union forces in 1865.

Bull Run: On July 16, General McDowell began to move on Confederate General Beauregard at Manassas Junction. McDowell attacked Beauregard’s soldiers, with aid from the forces of Johnston, near the bridge over Bull Run River and drove them to the Henry House Hill, but Jackson checked the advance and routed the raw Union troops.

Monitor and the Merrimac: March 8, 1862 was the date of first naval battle between ironclad ships. The Confederate ironclad frigate Merrimac had sunk the Cumberland and defeated the Congress in Hampton Roads but was forced to withdraw March 9 after an engagement with the Union’s ironclad Monitor, built by John Ericsson.

Lee: Commanding the Army of N. Virginia, he took the offensive in the 7 Days Battle and beat the Union army at the 2nd battle of Bull Run. Lee repulsed Union advances at the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville and Grant’s assaults in the Wilderness Campaign. Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomatox Courthouse.

Jackson: At the 1st battle of Bull Run Jackson earned his nick name when he and his brigade stood "like a stone wall." Serving under Lee, Jackson flanked the Union army to set up the Confederate victory at the second battle of Bull Run. At Chancellorsville Jackson again flanked the Union army but was mortally wounded by his own troops.

Grant: In 1862 he captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in Tennessee, barely escaped defeat at the Battle of Shiloh and ended Confederate control of the Mississippi in Vicksburg. Commanding in the West, he thoroughly defeated Bragg at Chattanooga. He directed the Union army in the Wilderness Campaign and he received Lee’s surrender.

McClellan: He was criticized for overcaution in the unsuccessful Peninsular Campaign and removed from command. Called on again in 1862, he checked Lee in the Antietam Campaign, but he allowed the Confederates to withdraw across the Potomac and was again removed. He would run for president in 1864.

Sherman: He fought in the Vicksburg and Chatanooga campaigns and ge undertook the Atlanta Campaign. He burned Atlanta and set off, with a force of 60,000, on his famous march to the sea, devastating the country. After capturing Savannah, he turned north through S. Carolina, and received the surrender of General Johnston.

Meade: He made himself known in 1862 at Seven Days Battle and the battles of Bull Run, Antietam, and later at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. He commanded of the Army of the Potomac from 1863, and won the battle of Gettysburg, but he was criticized for not following up his victory.

Vicksburg: It was a battle fought for control of the Mississippi River. By late 1862, the Union controlled all of the river except for the 200 miles south of Vicksburg. In May of 1863 U.S. Grant opened siege, and after 6 weeks the Confederates surrendered. Vicksburg’s fall completed the encirclement of the Confederacy.

Gettysburg: It was Lee’s second invasion of the North. Meade and Lee met just west of Gettysburg. First, the Union was pushed to Cemetery Hill. Then the South took the Peach Orchard but were repulsed. On July 3 Lee ordered George E. Pickett’s division forward in its infamous disastrous charge against the Union center.

Antietam: In September 1862, trying to invade Maryland and Pennsylvania, Lee sent Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry, but Lee’s own advance was halted by McClellan, who attacked him at Antietam Creek, Maryland., on September 17, the so-called bloodiest day of the war. It was a Union victory only in that Lee’s advance was stopped.

Appomattox: Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. U.S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. The surrender at Appomattox virtually ended the Civil War, but the rest of the Confederate forces did not surrender until May 26 at Shreveport, Louisiana.

Jefferson Davis: He left Washington after the secession of Mississippi. As president of the Confederacy, he assumed strong centralized power, and weakened the states’ rights policy for which the South had seceded. He had many disputes with Confederate generals, and Lee surrendered without his approval.

Alexander Stephens: He was a U.S. congressman from Georgia and was opposed to secession but he remained loyal to Georgia when the state seceded. He was elected vice president of the Confederacy, and he was against many of the policies of President Davis. After the war he was interned for several months.

cotton versus wheat: Efforts by the Confederate government during the Civil War to convince planters to grow to wheat instead of cotton received little success. While some planters heeded the government’s pleas, many clung to the belief that cotton would never fail them. As a result, food shortages plagued the Confederacy.

Copperheads: Copperheads were Northerners who sympathized with the South during the Civil War. The term Copperheads was also used to label all Democratic opponents of Lincoln. The group was led by Clement L. Vallandigham and was especially strong in the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham: Vallandigham was the leader of the Copperheads during the Civil War. He was briefly imprisoned in 1863 for maintaining in a speech that the war was being fought to free African-American and enslave whites. The 1864 Democratic platform reflected his pro-Southern views.

suspension of habeas corpus: Writs of habeas corpus are court orders requiring that the a cause of imprisonment be demonstrated before a person is jailed. This basic civil liberty was suspended by both Lincoln and Davis during the war to deal with dissent. Lincoln used it to intimidate border states into rejecting secession.

Republican legislation passed in Congress after Southerners left: banking, tariff, homestead, railroad: After the South seceded, northerners in Congress enacted legislation such as the Pacific Railroad Act authorizing a transcontinental railroad and the Homestead Act granting free land in the west. Acts such as these had been blocked by southerners.

Homestead Laws: The Homestead laws were laws passed in Congress in 1862. They permitted almost any American citizen to acquire a homestead of up to 160 acres of land in the West, on the condition that the homesteader cultivate the land for 5 years. This allowed poor farmers to obtain land in the west and increased westward expansion.

Northern blockade: During the Civil War, the north attempted to establish a blockade of all Southern ports in order to stop the flow of essential supplies to the Confederacy. The Union navy was fairly weak, so at first the blockade was not as effective as northerners had hoped it would be and blockade-running was a common way for Southerners to obtain supplies

Anaconda Plan: The Anaconda Plan was a Union strategy in the Civil War calling for the establishment of a naval blockade around the Confederacy to prevent the importation of supplies from Europe. It was slowly implemented and only partially successful, but the blockade did contribute to the Northern victory.

Submarine: Four submersible vessels were built during the American Civil War by the Confederates for use against the federal fleet. One of these submarines successfully dragged a mine through the water to sink a northern ship, but sunk itself as well. Submarines were used only to a limited degree in the Civil War, and they were far from perfected.

Black Soldiers: It was not until late in the Civil War that African American soldiers were allowed to participate in combat, and when they were, they suffered a far higher mortality rate than white troops. Despite the many hardships that it entailed, military service was a source of pride for blacks because it symbolized their freedom.

Gatling Gun: The Gatling gun was one of the earliest machine guns, but it was the most effective of early models. The Gatling gun was created created a man by the name Gatling, who intended to make war so horrible that it would make peace. This weapon contributed to the high number of casualties in the Civil War.

Rifle: An improved rifle was one of the important technological advancements that transformed the Civil War. They were able to hit targets more accurately at large distances than previous guns, making open fields a hazard, so that trench warfare became a necessity. This also contributed to the high number of casualties during the war.

conscription, draft riots: The Federal Militia Act of 1862 and the Confederate Conscription Act of 1862 allowed for conscription, but contained many loopholes. Riots in 1863 by anti-conscription protesters and impeded the process of drafting soldiers, but the establishment of a draft prompted volunteering.

•Emancipation Proclamation: The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order ending slavery in the Confederacy. It was issued by President Lincoln after the battle of Antietam. The Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves residing in the territories in rebellion against the government of the United States. This proclamation had the dual purpose of injuring the Confederacy and preventing Great Britain from entering the war in support of the Confederacy. It also pushed the border states toward abolishing slavery.

Charles Francis Adams: Adams was an American diplomat who, as ambassador during the Civil War, helped to keep the British from recognizing the Confederacy. In the Trent affair, he was instrumental in averting hostilities between the two nations, although he failed to stop the sailing of the Alabama, a raider built in Great Britain for the Confederacy.

Alabama claims: There were a series of claims for indemnity made by the United States upon Great Britain in 1862. The claims were for compensation for damages inflicted on Union property by a Confederate steamship built by the British, the Alabama. The claims were not resolved until the Treaty of Washington in 1871.

Trent Affair: In Nov., 1861, A Union captain stopped and boarded a British vessel, the Trent, and removed Mason and Slidell, two Confederate emissaries who were on board and he interned them in Boston. President Lincoln released Mason and Slidell, but the issue increased tension between the Union and Britain.

Laird rams: The Laird rams were two double-turreted, ironclad steamers, built by a company in England for the Confederate navy. The United States threatened war if these ships were released to the South, so the British purchased them for the royal navy. This was another source of diplomatic tension during the Civil War.

"continuous voyage": The concept of "continuous voyage" involves the idea that a voyage intended for an enemy port, regardless of the number of stops made before arrival in the port, contains contraband. During the Civil War the Union embraced this idea, seizing ships traveling from England to the West Indies with the final destination of Confederate ports. 

election of 1864: In 1864, a number of Republicans sought to prevent Lincoln’s renomination. In order to balance Abraham Lincoln’s Union ticket with a Southern Democrat, the Republicans nominated Andrew Jackson for vice president. Lincoln was able to overcome Democratic candidate George McClellan and win a second term in office.

financing of the war effort by the North and the South: In order to pay for the Civil War, both the Confederate and Union governments were forced to sell public lands and tax. The fear that heavy taxation would cause unrest and corrode support of their cause, the governments issued bonds and, in the North, greenbacks. This led to high inflation.,

Clara Barton: Clara Barton, a Union nurse during the Civil War, was known as "the Angel of the Battlefield." She not only helped the war effort by nursing; she also helped the Union obtain medical supplies. After the War, Barton worked for the International Red Cross in the Franco-Prussian War, and organized the American Red Cross, which she headed until 1904.

Reconstruction

Reconstruction was the process of bringing the southern states that had seceded during the Civil War back into the Union. There were many disagreements about the best way to accomplish this and many important pieces of legislation emerged as a result. Reconstruction lasted from the end of the Civil War in 1865 until the Tilden-Hays Compromise in 1877 restored the Democrats to power in the South.

•Lincoln’s ten percent plan: In it all southerners, except high-ranking Confederate officials, could get a full pardon and restoration of rights after taking an oath, pledging loyalty to the Union and accepting the end of slavery. When ten percent of the 1860 voting population had taken this oath, citizens could vote in elections that would create new state governments and new state constitutions. After that the state would once again be eligible for representation in Congress and readmitted to the Union.

assassination of April 14, 1865: President Lincoln wass assassinated while attending a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, escaped with a broken leg, but he was shot later. Lincoln was succeeded by his vice president, Andrew Johnson.

John Wilkes Booth: Booth was a Southern sympathizer during the Civil War, who plotted with six fellow-conspirators to assassinate Union leaders. On Apr. 14, 1865, he shot President Lincoln during a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. He escaped, but was later shot and killed.

Ex parte Milligan: Ex parte Milligan was an 1866 Supreme Court limiting the authority of martial law and the suspension of habeas corpus in times of war. In this case, the court declared that "martial law can never exist where the courts are open in the proper and unobstructed exercise of their jurisdiction."

•Radical Republicans: The Radical Republicans were a group of Republicans unhappy with the corruption and policies of Grant’s administration. Among their leaders were Carl Schurz, Horace Greely, and Charles Sumner. The party nominated Greeley for president. Greely was a choice acceptable to the Democrats, but unpopular with many of the leaders of his party, so Grant won reelection despite the corruption within his administration and his poor leadership.

Wade-Davis bill, veto, Wade Davis Manifesto: Congress, in July 1864, passed the Wade-Davis Bill, calling for a stricter form of Reconstruction than that proposed by Lincoln. After Lincoln pocket vetoed this bill, radicals sought to displace him. They issued Wade-Davis Manifest, which declared the primacy of Congress in matters of the Reconstruction.

Joint Committee on Reconstruction: The Joint Committee on Reconstruction was the Congressional committee consisting of leaders of both houses of Congress which led Congressional Reconstruction after the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 were passed. This committee would exist until after Hayes was elected president.

•Reconstruction acts, 1867: The Reconstruction Acts divided the Confederate states except Tennessee into five military districts. Military commanders in the districts were appointed to oversee constitutional conventions in the districts and the creation of state constitutions. This military occupation would last until the states created new constitutions that included black suffrage, the permanent disfranchisement of Confederate leaders, and ratification of the 14th Amendment.

conquered territory theory: The conquered territory theory was a popular theory held by many Reconstruction policy makers after the Civil War that the southern states which seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America should be treated as if they were territories conquered from a foreign nation.

Texas v. White, 1869: The trial of Texas v. White in 1868, was a case which involved the disposition of Civil War bonds used by Texas, which had left the Union. It was held that states in rebellion did not lose their existence or identity. The decision also declared secession unconstitutional.

the unreconstructed South: This term refers to failure of Reconstruction to permanently reform the South. Even after Republicans withdrew, there was corruption in the states, and exploitation of African-Americans was common. When the states were readmitted into the Union, civil rights legislation was practically overturned with open discrimination.

scalawags: A scalawag was a white Southerner who joined the Republican party during the Reconstruction period. Scalawags were considered traitors to the Southern cause and were condemned by Southern Democrats. The term scalawag was applied both to entrepreneurs who supported Republican economic policies and Whig planters who had opposed secession.

carpetbaggers: Carpetbaggers were Northerners who went to the South during Reconstruction. They carried their belongings in carpetbags, and most intended to settle in the South and make money there. The African-American vote won them important posts in Republican state governments.

"forty acres and a mule": "Forty acres and a mule" refers to the desire of Radical Republicans such as Thaddeus Stevens to carry out land redistribution in the South. He wanted to subdivide confiscated land and distribute it among the freedmen. Proposals such as these failed in Congress and state legislatures.

black codes: The black codes were local laws intended to force African-Americans to continue working as plantation laborers. They imposed prohibitive taxes, harsh vagrancy laws meant to intimidate the freedmen, restrictions on blacks’ ability to own property. Essentially, they condemned the newly-freed slaves to conditions not unlike slavery.

Ku Klux Klan: The KKK was an organization formed by ex-Confederates and led by Nathan B. Forrest. It was founded in the South in 1866 in opposition to Reconstruction. Members used disguises, rituals, whippings and lynchings, to terrorize African-Americans and their supporters. Forrest disbanded the Klan in 1869.

Thaddeus Stevens: As a leader of the radical Republicans’ Reconstruction program after the Civil War, Stevens saw the Southern states as "conquered provinces." He sincerely desired the betterment of the lives African-Americans. He proposed the Fourteenth Amendment, guaranteeing civil rights and was a leader in the impeachment of President Johnson.

Charles Sumner: Sumner was the aggressive abolitionist who was physically assaulted by Preston Brooks after making a strong antislavery speech. He was one of the leaders of the radical Republicans’ Reconstruction program and was also an active participant in the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.

Andrew Johnson: As president he was denounced by the radical Republicans for his Reconstruction program. When Johnson tried to force Stanton out of office, the radical Republicans passed a resolution of impeachment against him for violation of the Tenure of Office Act, but the Senate failed to convict him by one vote.

Freedmen’s Bureau: The Freedmen’s Bureau furnished food and medical supplies to blacks, and to needy whites as well. It was also concerned with the regulation of wages and working conditions, the maintenance of schools for illiterate former slaves, and the distribution of lands abandoned by or confiscated from Southern proprietors.

General Oliver O. Howard: Howard was a Civil War general who took part in the Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Chattanooga campaigns. As commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau after the war, he was unable to prevent many abuses to freedmen, but managed to provided needed food and medical and employment aid to many people.

Civil Rights Act: This act was passed in Congress with nearly unanimous Republican support in March 1866, and it attempted to redress the issue of slavery by defining all persons born in the nation as citizens. It also specified the rights of citizens, the right to sue, make contracts, give evidence in court, hold, convey, and inherit property.

Thirteenth Amendment: The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1865. It prohibited "slavery or involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." This amendment guaranteed freedom for African Americans.

Fourteenth Amendment: The Fourteenth Amendment was passed in 1868. It said that no state can make or enforce any law which "deprives any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Also, states could not "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Fifteenth Amendment: Secretary of State Hamilton Fish ratified the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of United States on March 30, 1870. This amendment explicitly forbid denial of the right to vote for citizens "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

Tenure of Office Act: The Tenure of Office Act was a measure passed by Congress in 1867. It prohibited the president from dismissing any cabinet member or other federal officeholder whose appointment had required the consent of the Senate unless the Senate agreed to the dismissal. Johnson’s violation of this act caused the impeachment crisis.

•IMPEACHMENT: Impeachment is the formal accusation by a legislature against a public official, to remove him from office. The term includes both the bringing of charges, or articles, and the trial that may follow. President Andrew Johnson, after violating the Tenure of Office Act, by removing Secretary of War Stanton faced impeachment. The formal accusation of Johnson went through the House on Feb. 24, 1868, but the Senate failed to convict him. This is the only instance of impeachment of an American president.

Chief Justice Chase: Salmon Chase was the sixth chief justice of the Supreme Court and an abolitionist. As chief justice, he presided over the impeachment trial of President Johnson. His greatest achievement, however, was as secretary of the treasury, when he created a national bank system.

Secretary of War Stanton: Edwin Stanton served as the secretary of war under Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, but his dismissal by President Andrew Johnson and his subsequent refusal to leave office act precipitated the impeachment of President Johnson in 1868.

Hiram R. Revels, Blanche K. Bruce: Revels and Bruce were the first two African-American politicians to serve a full term in the United States Senate. They were both representatives from Mississippi, and were the only two African-American Senators during Reconstruction.

•Compromise of 1877: As a result of the electoral vote from the election of 1876, Congress created a 15-member bipartisan commission, on January 29, 1877, to resolve the dispute concerning the electoral votes between Tilden and Hayes. The committee consisted of five Democrats, five Republicans, and five Supreme Court justices. Hayes was unanimously awarded the electoral votes from Oregon and South Carolina and the ones from Louisiana by a commission vote of 8 to 7.

The Legacy of Reconstruction

Reconstruction changed the lives of southerners,, especially those of the many slaves who first tasted freedom during this period. Southern society changed in order to adjust to emancipation, but former slaves were still relegated to inferior and submissive positions through economic, political, and social restrictions of their rights. The social and political atmosphere of the postwar South would endure long into the 20^th century.

Reconstruction Myth: The Reconstruction Myth is the false belief that during Reconstruction, Radical Republicans intended to exploit the South by forcing it into economic and political submission. Such beliefs were promoted by movies such as Birth of a Nation, and Gone With the Wind.

Solid South: After Reconstruction, the South became solidly Democratic. Once they gained control, the Democrats cut back expenses, wiped out social programs, lowered taxes, and limited the rights of tenants and sharecroppers. These white southerners remained a major force in national politics well into the 20^th century.

sharecropping: It was the farm tenancy system that arose from the cotton plantation system after the Civil War. Landlords provided land, seed, and credit. The croppers contributed labor and received a share of the crop’s value, minus their debt to the landlord. This along with the crop lien system held back African Americans economically.

crop lien system: Through this system, the white southern landowners possessed a tight hold over African American farm production during much of the Reconstruction periond. Black economic rights were eroded away with this crop lien system and along with sharecropping. A cycle of dependency and debt would be the result of these systems.

segregation: Segregation was the practice held in the South after legislation made explicit discrimination in law illegal. In response to that legislation the concept of "separate but equal" dominated the policies Southern policy makers. This practice of keeping the races separate would not officially broken up until the mid-twentieth century.

Grantism and Postwar Politics

Ulysses S. Grant was elected president of the United States in 1868 because he was a war hero, but his cabinet was riddled with corruption. Grant did manage to make some important accomplishments in the area of foreign policy, but his ability to cope with domestic controversy, especially the economic issues which began to arise, created chaos in national politics.

Ulysses S. Grant: Grant was an American general and the 18th president of the United States. A war hero, Grant was admired throughout the North and was endorsed by Union veterans. Although he was a strong military leader, Grant proved to be a passive president with little skill at politics.

purchase of Alaska: Alaska was ceded to the United States by the Russian Czar Alexander II in a treaty signed on March 30, 1867. Secretary of State William Henry Seward arranged the $7.2 million purchase at 1.9¢ per acre. Critics ridiculed this purchase as "Seward’s icebox," but it expanded American territory at a reasonable price.

Secretary of State William Seward: Seward was the American Secretary of State who handled diplomatic issues during and after the Civil War. He was involved in the Trent Affair and his most notable act was the purchase of Alaska. This purchase was denounced at the time as "Seward’s folly, but it added a significant amount of territory to the United States.

Napoleon III: After his election in 1848, Napoleon III proclaimed himself the Emperor of France, instituted reforms, and rebuilt Paris. His successful imperialist ventures were overshadowed by a failed campaign in Mexico to create a French-Mexican Empire and the Franco-Prussian War, which resulted in his deposition.

Maximilian in Mexico: Maximilian was instructed by Napoleon III in 1864 to establish a French empire in Mexico, but the Mexicans were hostile to Maximilian and loyal to President Juárez. The United States invoked the Monroe Doctrine as justification for their demand for French nonintervention. Although the French drove Juárez’s army from the capital, Maximilian’s empire disintegrated when French troops withdrew.

Treaty of Washington, 1871: The Treaty of Washington was a treaty arranged by Hamilton Fish. In it, the U.S. and Great Britain settled many minor disputes such as the Alabama claims, which had arisen during the U.S. Civil War. The treaty also provided for arbitration of disagreements over the Canadian-American boundary and fishing rights.

Secretary of State Hamilton Fish: Fish served as Grant’s secretary of state. He arranged the Treaty of Washington, which settled disputes with Britain over the Alabama claims the and Canadian-American boundary. Also, he prevented American filibustering expeditions against Cuba from escalating into war with Spain.

"Whiskey Ring": Grant’s private secretary, Orville Babcock, was unmasked in 1875 after taking money from the "whiskey ring," a group of distillers who bribed federal agents to avoid paying millions in whiskey taxes. On May 10, 1875, 16 distillers in areas of Saint Louis, Milwaukee, and Chicago were captured.

Black Friday: Scandal caused a short-lived financial crisis in the United States that occurred on Friday, September 24, 1869. The panic was precipitated when two financial speculators, James Fisk and Jay Gould, attempted to corner the U.S. gold market. Fisk and Gould probably made a profit of about $11 million through their manipulations.

"Salary Grab Act": In the Salary Grab Act of 1873, Congress voted a 100% pay raise and a 50% increase for itself. Both raises were made retroactive two years back. The public was shocked, leading to a Democratic victory in the next congressional election. The act was later repealed, but it was another example of the corruption of the postwar government.

Credit Mobilier: Officials of the Union Pacific Railroad created a fake construction company, called the Credit Mobilier, in order to cheat the government out of money allotted to the construction of the Union Pacific Railroads. Grant’s vice-president, Colfax, was linked to this scandal.

Sanborn Grab Fraud: In the Sanborn Grab Fraud, a politician named Sanborn was given a contract collect $427,000 in unpaid taxes, receiving a 50% commission for all money collected. He then used this commission as Republican campaign funds, allowing the candidate to focus on his campaign rather than fundraising.

Bribing of Belknap: William E. Belknap was Grant’s secretary of war. He took a bribe to sell lucrative Indian trading posts in Oklahoma. Belknap resigned in 1876 when voters learned of his corruption. Although Grant was not personally involved, he loyally defended his subordinates.

Liberal Republicans: The Liberals Republicans’ revolt marked a turning point in Reconstruction history. They split the Republican party, supporting the Republican southern policy while attacking regular republicans on several key issues and denouncing Grantism and the spoils system.

election of 1872: In 1872, Republicans unhappy with the reelection of President Ulysses S. Grant formed the Liberal Republican party and nominated as their candidate the journalist Horace Greeley. Although he was also endorsed by the Democrats, Greeley was defeated, and the new party collapsed.

Panic of 1873, depression: Transforming the northern economy, the Panic of 1873 triggered a five-year depression. Banks closed, farm prices plummeted, steel furnaces stood idle, and one out of four railroads failed. However, once the depression began, demand rose. This issue divided both major parties and was compounded by the repayment of federal debt.

"Waving the bloody shirt": During the election of 1876, the Republicans backed Rutherford Hayes against the Democratic candidate, Samuel Tilden. They resorted to a tactic known as "waving the bloody shirt," which was used in the last two elections. The tactic emphasized wartime animosities by urging northern voters to vote the way they shot.

Greenbacks, Ohio Ideas: During the Civil War the Union had borrowed money through the sale of war bonds, known as Greenbacks, to private citizens. Senator John Sherman of Ohio and other Republican leaders obtained passage of the Public Credit Act of 1869, which promised to pay the war debt in "coin." Debtors favored the Greenbacks because they could repay debts easier with this inflated currency.

Specie Resumption Act: The Sherman Specie Resumption Act promised to put the nation effectively on the gold standard in 1879. With some convincing, it changed the minds of the Republican voters who also wanted to continue Greenbacks for the sake of "easy money." Grant signed this act. Unfortunately, robber barrons schemed to corner the gold market.

Greenback-Labor Party: The Greenback party was formed in 1876 with James Weaver as its presidential candidate. The party adopted the debtors’ cause, fought to keep greenbacks in circulation, and promoted the inflation of farm prices. The party elected 14 members to Congress . As prosperity returned, the Greenbacks faded.

election of 1876: The presidential election of 1876 resulted in neither Democrat Samuel Tilden nor Republican Rutherford Hayes receiving the 185 electoral votes necessary to become president. There were 20 disputed votes, and a Congressional committee gave all of these to Hays, making him president. In exchange, he ended military rule of the South.

courtesy: course-notes.org