AP US History Unit Two – Flashcards

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Civic virtue
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This was a concept central to the republican ideology, which stated that democracy depended on the unselfish commitment of each citizen to the public good.
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Abigail Adams
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Wife of famous politician John Adams; she was an important Patriot and was one of the first women to notice or see the implications of revolutionary ideas for changing the status of women.
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Republican motherhood
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This idea entailed that women were extremely important to the structure of republic, because they cultivated the habits of a virtuous citizenry. This ideal took root after the revolution and elevated women to a newly prestigious role as the special keepers of the nation's conscience.
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Constitution
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In British tradition, this is not a written document but simply an accumulation of laws, customs, and precedents. However, in America, these documents drew their authority from the people in order to define the powers of government, unlike their British counterparts.
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Articles of Confederation
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America's first attempt at a constitution of sorts. Drafted during the revolutionary war and formally ratified in 1781. This document provided a loose confederation between the thirteen colonies, linking them for joint actions in dealing with problems such as foreign affairs. This document also gave Congress the major power, but had no executive branch and a weak judicial one. Ended up unsuccessful in their endeavors to create a government but were still an important stepping stone for the evolution of American government.
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Problems of early Congress
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1) No power to tax the states, 2) couldn't regulate commerce, 3) ineffective unanimity voting system; overall weak and gave most power's to the states, which proved to be inefficient
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Land Ordinance of 1785
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Law passed by the early American Congress in 1785; stated that the Old Northwest was to be sold and that the proceeds should be used to help pay off the national debt. Set up a way to divide the land into townships of the same size, which created an organized system of settlement in new land.
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The 16th Section
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This was a section of each new land of settlement, which was set aside to be sold for the benefit of public schools underneath the Land Ordinance act.
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Northwest Ordinance of 1787
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Law passed by the early American Congress in 1787; this kept new settlements under complete control of the federal government until the area reached a population of 60,000 or more, by which it could then be admitted as a state. It also forbade slavery in the Old Northwest.
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Dey of Algiers
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They ravaged and sabotaged America's Mediterranean commerce by capturing and enslaving Yankee sailors and causing foreign conflict. Americans could not fight them or bribe them; showcased the weakness of America's international power.
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John Jay pt. 1
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Secretary of foreign affairs under the Articles of Confederation. He approved of the foreign conflict, hoping that these acts would at least humiliate American people into framing a new government. Supporter of a new government; federalist.
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Rag money
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Depreciating paper currency used by some of the debtor states, a sign of America's economic shakiness under the Articles and essentially its disunity.
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Shays Rebellion
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An uprising which flared up in Mass. in 1786. Led by poor backcountry farmers who were losing their farms through mortgage foreclosures and tax delinquencies. The revolt was led by Captain Daniel ___, and was ultimately an attempt to demand the states to issue paper money, lighten taxes and suspend porperty takeovers. The rebellion failed, but it played an important role in helping to push America towards the need for a stronger central government.
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Mobocracy
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Rule or domination by the masses; many Americans feared (mostly the propertied classes) that the revolution had put this in place, which was causing the country to fall into turmoil underneath the incompetence of the weak Confederation. The resentment of mobocracy pushed people to appeal for stronger central government.
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Alexander Hamilton pt. 1
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High political leader of 1786; he saved the Constitutional Convention from complete failure by calling upon Congress to summon a convention in Philadelphia. Advocate of super-powerful central government. Federalist. Wrote the popular Federalist papers alongside John Jay and James Madison.
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Constitutional Convention
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Held in Philadelphia in 1787; delegates from each state gathered to discuss a new structure of government for the United States after the failure of the Articles of Confederation. Discussed many separate plans that would shape the future of America and created one of the most important documents in American history: the Constitution.
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George Washington pt. 1
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Served as chairman of the Constitutional Convention, due to his immense popularity among Americans and his victories in the Revolutionary War. He often quieted overheated tempers and kept order during the convention. (Afterwards appointed the first President of the US.)
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James Madison
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Another delegate that attended the Constitutional Convention; he was a profound student of government, and made contributions so notable that he has been dubbed "the Father of the Constitution." Also a fellow author of the Federalist papers.
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The Virginia Plan
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A scheme proposed by populous Virginia at the Constitutional Convention; it was known as the first push forward for the framework of the constitution. Its essence was that representation in both houses of Congress should be based on population.
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The New Jersey Plan
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Countering Virginia's plan; provided for equal representation in Congress by states, regardless of size and population, as under the existing Articles of Confederation.
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The Great Compromise
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Connecticut's delegates, to end the representation conflict between Virginia and New Jersey, proposed that there should be 2 separate houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House would be represented by population while the Senate would be equal representation--two senators each. Broke the debate and from then on success was within reach.
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Antifederalists
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Americans who opposed the federalists and their desire for a stronger federal government. They strove to keep alive democracy, fearing that a strong federal power would lead to the same problems faced by the King. Opposed the Constitution.
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Federalists
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Americans that desired a stronger central government, fearing a loose democracy would lead to disaster. They believed that the sovereignty of the people resided in all branches of government. Mostly comprised of the wealthier, more educated and better organized class, which led to their upper hand in the early government. Advocated for the Constitution.
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Bill of Rights
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A set of 10 amendments made to the constitution upon request, known as a safeguard for some of America's most important principles, such as freedom of speech and/or religion. Without this document many of the more antifederalist states would not have ratified the Constitution. Contains freedoms that were not mentioned in the Constitution that are unique to the United States.
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The Federalist
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Originally designed as propaganda, these were a series of articles in the New York newspapers which served to sway more Americans to federalist views, in order to ratify the Constitution. Written by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton.
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The Cabinet
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A group of advisers appointed by Washington to help him in various government affairs. Not originally defined by the Constitution, so it was essentially created by Washington. He used these advisers to help him make many decisions and oversee different departments of government. Consisted of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, and Secretary of War Henry Knox.
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Henry Knox
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A well-known and renowned Revolutionary war veteran who was later appointed as the Secretary of War in George Washington's cabinet. He was the first Secretary of War in the entirety of US History.
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9th Amendment
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Created/proposed by James Madison, this amendment was made in order to guard against the danger that enumerating such rights that the Bill of Rights outlined might lead to the conclusion that they were the only ones protected. It declared that specifying certain rights "shall not be construed to den or disparage others retained by the people." If something was not covered in the Bill of Rights, it did not mean it was immediately outlawed or denied of the people.
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10th Amendment
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Also created/proposed by James Madison. This amendment was a gesture of reassurance to the states' righters, and reserved that all rights not explicitly delegated or prohibited by the federal Constitution were given to the States, respectively, or to the people.
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Judiciary Act of 1789
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Congress but this Act in effect in 1789, and it was ultimately created in order to organize the Supreme Court. It outlined a system as described: a chief justice and five associates, as well as a federal district and circuit courts. Also established the office of attorney general.
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John Jay
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Previously known as the director of foreign affairs before the Constitution and was also widely recognized as one of the young Republic's most seasoned diplomats, quickly became the first chief justice of the United States. He was also the envoy sent to negotiate with Britain at the end of Washington's first term, creating and solidifying the mostly unsuccessful Jay's Treaty.
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Alexander Hamilton
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Washington's appointed Secretary of the Treasury in his cabinet and one of the youngest and most brilliant of the Founding Fathers. He favored a strong central government with a weak legislature to unify the infant nation and encourage industry. He was an economic genius, and created many acts, institutions, laws, etc., which helped to slowly build a steady economic foundation for the blooming nation and helped to bring it back up to its feet. He was also the head of the forming Federalist party and one of Washington's most trusted advisers.
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Funding at par
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This was an idea proposed by Hamilton that entailed that the federal government would pay off all of its debts at face value, plus accumulated interest. This was an enormous total of more than $54 million. The funding scheme did prove successful and was one of many fruitful economic endeavors of Treasury head Hamilton.
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Assumption
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Another economic policy created by Hamilton. It entailed that the federal government should take responsibility for all of the states' debts, rather than having each individual state pay for their own. He hoped it would serve as a link of sorts between the states, promoting national unity. Hamilton's methods proved to be clever because they persuaded those who opposed the centralized government to favor it more, due to the smaller amounts of debt they had to pay.
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Strict Construction
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Often led by Jefferson, these were Americans who believed in strictly following the Constitution, nearly word for word. They claimed that if something was not permitted in the Constitution it was automatically forbade.
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Loose Construction
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Often led by Hamilton, these Americans believed in a more loose or broad interpretation of the Constitution. they declared that is something was not strictly forbade in the Constitution, and if it was for the good of the people and the nation, then it was permitted.
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Bank of the US
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This was established by Hamilton as way to strengthen the American economy and attract investors. It lasted for 20 years and had a capital of about $10 million. It also created a currency which did not exist in the early American days, fully establishing paper money in the nation. The bank was extremely important in consolidating the economy, as it created a stock market which boomed immediately. It also established a very significant currency which fixed many uprising disputes about money. However, the bank was adamantly opposed by Jefferson and his followers, yet even so it flourished and served as a wonderful economic institution in early America.
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The Whiskey Rebellion
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1794. This stirred mostly among western Pennsylvanians and across the Appalachians, where people thrived on distilling and selling whiskey. After the high excise tax was placed on the liquor, it bore harshly on these homespun pioneer folk, and they took up in protest. Many of them rebelled by tarring and feathering revenue officers and erecting whiskey poles all throughout the area. IN response to the rebellion, Washington sent out forces to stamp out the revolt. It was very small-scale and controlled and defeated easily, yet the effect remained monumental. George Washington's government was now substantially strengthened and commanded a new respect due to the control taken during the rebellion.
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The Neutrality Proclamation of 1793
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Washington believed that the new country was not economically or politically mature enough to be involved in wars or foreign affairs. So, he created this proclamation in response to the conflict of the French Revolution involvement. This detailed the government's neutrality in the conflict of France's revolution, but also sternly warned American citizens to be impartial in the matters of any foreign affairs. This proclamation proved to be a major prop int he spreading isolationist tradition, and illustrates the truism that self-interest is the basic cement of alliances.
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Edmond Genet
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A representative of the French Republic sent to Charleston, South Carolina during this time of the French revolt. HE undertook to fit out privateers and otherwise take advantage of the existing Franco-American alliance. He was soon swept away by his enthusiastic reception by the Jeffersonian Republicans and foolishly came to believe that the Neutrality Proclamation did not reflect the true wishes of the American people. Consequently he embarked upon unneutral activity not authorized by the French alliance. He was later removed by Washington for misconduct.
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Little Turtle
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An Indian war chief of the Miami tribe. He gave notice that the confederacy regarded the Ohio River as the United States' northwestern, and their own southeastern, border. in 1790 and 1791 his braves defeated armies led by Generals Harmar and St. Clair, killing hundreds of soldiers and handing the United States what remains of one of its worst defeats in the history of the frontier.
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"Mad Anthony" Wayne
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Leader of the army who rooted against the Miami Indians at the Battle of the fallen timbers in 1794. He ultimately pushed the Indians to plead for peace, which led to the creation of the Treaty of Greenville and the end of the conflict.
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Treaty of Greenville
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This ended the conflict between the Miami Indians and the British who hoped to expand their frontier power. it was signed in August of 1795, and stated that the confederacy gave up vast tracts of the Old Northwest, including most of present-day Indiana and Ohio. In exchange the Indians received lump-sum payments and an annual annuity of $9,000, the right to hunt the lands they had ceded, and what they hoped was recognition of their sovereign status. The treaty codified an unequal relationship, but the Indians felt that it put some limits on the ability of the US to decide the fate of their peoples.
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Jay's Treaty
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Washington sent John Jay to London in 1794 to avert war with France. Jay had weak negotiations, especially because the British were secretly supplied with the details of his bargaining strategy by Hamilton. Jay negotiated this treaty, in which the British promised to evacuate the chain of posts on US soil and to pay damages for the recent seizures of American ships (yet it did not settle the conflict of feature impressions, which remained untouched). This unpopular treaty vitalized the Democratic-Republican party of Thomas Jefferson more than any other issue. IT also led to Pickney's treaty because the Spanish feared an Anglo-American alliance due to its existence.
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Pickney's Treaty of 1795
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The treaty between American and Spain created in 1795, which granted American practically all they had demanded, including navigation of the Mississippian territory north of Florida. It was a direct result of Jay's Treaty due to Spain's fear of an Anglo-American alliance and gave American more land and power on the frontier.
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John Adams
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Lawyer, former revolutionary figure, and second president of the United States, he was one of the Federalist party. He won against Jefferson in the election after Washington's last term, and was a "tactless and prickly intellectual aristocrat, with no appeal to the masses and with no desire to cultivate any." He was generally an unaccepted president during his time and received much backlash for a lot of his policies, such as his actions in trying to keep peace with France rather than war, although this was later recognized as a good thing. However, he did many things during his Presidency that changed the face of the nation, and although he wasn't nearly as great as Washington, ultimately served as a good second president who sought to keep the US intact and in peace with foreign nations.
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Talleyrand
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A crafty French foreign minister at the time of the XYZ affair, sent to negotiate with the American envoys that came to ask for peace. Through X, Y, and Z, he demanded an unneutral loan of 32 million florins, plus what amounted to a bribe of $250,000, for the privilege of merely talking with him. Mostly a scheming French minister, who attempted to use unethical means in order to gain unwarranted help from America.
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John Marshll
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Regarded as the hero of the XYZ affair upon his return in 1798, because he was steadfast in the issue with France. He later became one of the longest serving and most famous Justices of the Supreme Court, as well.
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XYZ Affair
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When the French began violating the terms of the Franco-American Treaty of 1778, President Adams sent over three American envoys to negotiate peace. But upon their arrival they were approached through informal channels by agents of the French Foreign Minister Talleyrand (X, Y, and Z). They demanded bribes and a loan before formal negotiations could begin. Although such demands were not uncommon in mainland European diplomacy at the time, the Americans were offended by them, and eventually left France without ever engaging in formal negotiations. This occurrence led to Naval battles between the two countries. But France, already at battle with Britain, realized they did not wish to add one more enemy to their roster, and the conflict between French and America slowly began to dwindle away.
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Convention of 1800
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A memorable treaty signed in Paris between America and France, under new dictatorial leader Napoleon Bonaparte, who sought to free his hands of the American squabble so that he might continue to redraw the map of Europe and perhaps create a New World empire in Louisiana. In this treaty, France agreed to eradicate the 22 year old treaty between the two, but as a sort of alimony, the US agreed to pay the damage claims of American shippers. this ultimately ended the nation's only peacetime military alliance for a century and a half.
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Alien Laws
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These were unofficial laws created by the angered Federalist party in order to muffle or minimize their Jeffersonian foes. It was supposedly aimed at pro-Jeffersonian "aliens" or new settlers. These laws raised the residence requirements for aliens who desired to become citizens from five years to an incredible fourteen years. This drastic law violated the traditional American policy of open-door hospitality and speedy assimilation. Among these Alien Laws there was also the one in which the president empowered to deport dangerous foreigners in time of peace and to deport or imprison them in time of hostilities. This was an arbitrary grant of executive power contrary to American tradition and to the spirit of the Constitution. The Alien Laws were never entirely enforced but they served as an example of the Federalist hostility towards the Jeffersonian party.
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Sedition Act
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Also created by Federalists who were attempted to muffle the Jeffersonians. This was a direct slap at two priceless freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution by the Bill of rights; freedom of speech and freedom of the press. This law provided that anyone who impeded the policies of the government or falsely defamed its officials, including the president, would be liable to a heavy fine and imprisonment. This placed restrictions on the rights given by the first Amendment and further angered the Jeffersonians, seeing as it was in direct conflict with the Constitution. This attempt by the Federalists to crush free speech and silence the opposition party undoubtedly made many converts for the Jeffersonians.
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Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
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In response to the Sedidiont and Alien Acts, Jefferson secretly wrote up a series of resolutions approved by Kentucky legislature in 1798 and 1799. Fellow Virginian James Madison drafted a similar statement which was adopted by Virginia in 1798. Both of them basically concluded that the federal regime had exceeded its constitutional powers and that with regard to the Alien and Sedition acts, nullification (a refusal to accept the acts) was the rightful remedy. These resolutions were a brilliant formulation of the extreme states' rights view in reagard to the Union.
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The Father of the American Navy
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A scathing nickname for president John Adams. In preparation for the supposed war with France that was to ensue, Adams began to strike up and gather a new navy. However, once the hopes of war were distinguished, the nation was left with a new navy and no way to use it, leaving many of its citizens criticizing Adams for wasting money. Therefore, they called those of the navy "John Adam's Jackasses", and subsequently Adams was known as this.
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Sally Hemmings
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She was the subject of one of many rumors started about Thomas Jefferson amongst his opponents. However, this rumor eventually proved to be true. It entailed that Jefferson was involved in intimacy with this woman, one of his slave to be act, and that he had children with her.
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Aaron Burr
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He was Thomas Jefferson's running mate in the election of 1800, who later became Vice President. Later on in his career, Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a famous duel. He also was tried and acquitted for treason later on in his vice presidency, involving a plan to separate the US (after the Louisiana Purchase) western area from the East.
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Lame duck
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This has been humorously defined as a politician whose political goose has been cooked in the recent elections. Often used to mockingly refer to Federalists by Jeffersonian Republics.
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Revolution of 1800
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Up until Jefferson's victory in the election of 1800, all former presidents of the US had been Federalists. With the implantation of Jefferson in office, this switched the main power over to the Democratic Republicans without any opposition or conflict, thus becoming one of the first and only remarkable occurrences in which the power between political parties was switched peacefully and easily. Jefferson also referred to his election as ______ because he believed his election represented a return to what he considered the orignial spirit of the revolution.
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Albert Gallatin
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He as the secretary of the treasury under Thomas Jefferson. He was called the "Watchdog of the Treasury," and proved to be as able as Alexander Hamilton. He agreed with Jefferson that a national debt was a bane rather than a blessing. Using strict controls of the economy, he succeeded in reducing the debt and balancing the budget all at once.
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Judiciary Act of 1801
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This was one of the last important laws passed by the expiring Federalist Congress. It created sixteen new federal judgeships and other judicial offices. This act aroused bitter resentment amongst Republicans; they saw it as a brazen attempt by the ousted party to entrench itself in one of the three powerful branches of government. Jeffersonians condemned the last-minute appointees in violent language, denouncing the trickery of the Federalists as open defiance of the people's will, expressed emphatically at the polls.
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Midnight judges
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Under the Judiciary Act of 1801, John Adams appointed new Federalist judges in the Supreme Court in order to secure Federalist power in one of three branches of government. They were called this because Adams supposedly signed their commissions the night before his presidency ended and Jefferson's began. These judges represented a real problem for Jefferson, because they received lifetime appointments and would have had a political and ideological impact on the US government for decades to come. They actually, however, posed no political threat, but Jefferson allegedly believed John Adams had appointed an excessive number and withheld some of their commissions. They may also have been an annoying reminder of Adams' clever court-packing scheme.
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John Marshall
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He was the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and said to be one of the greatest and most influential of them all. He had little former legal schooling, and yet his powerful intellect and commanding personality helped shape the American legal tradition more profoundly than any other single figure. He believed in a very strong central authority, making him a die-hard Federalist, committed above all else to strengthening the power of the federal government. States' rights Jeffersonians condemned the crafty judge's "twistifications" but this man pushed ahead inflexibly on his Federalist course. He served for about thirty days under a Federalist administration and thirty-four years under the administrations of Jefferson and subsequent president; yet even as the Federalist Party died out, he kept the ideals alive by handing them down Federalist decisions serenely for many more years.
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Marbury v. Madison
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This was a famous case between midnight judge Marbury and James Madison. It debated the conflict of whether it was the Supreme Court with the final authority to decide what was constitutional and what wasn't, or individual State Courts as well. In the Kentucky Resolutions, Jefferson had attempted to give this power to the states, but now Marshall had cleverly promoted the contrary principle of "judicial review"—the idea the Supreme Court alone had the last word on the question of constitutionality. In this landmark case, Marshall implemented one of the most crucial laws in supporting the tremendous power of the Supreme Court in American life.
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Barbary Pirates
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These were pirates of the North African Barbary States that had long made a national industry of black-mailing and plundering merchant ships that ventured into the Mediterranean. Federalist administrations had to buy protection in order to keep them away, which led to opposition from American citizens. Later on, the conflict between these pirates and the Americans led to the Tripolitan War, which ended in 1805. It forced Jefferson to discard his pacifist ideals and gather together the navy to fight against the Tripolties. He succeeded in getting a peace treaty with them, for a sum of $60,000 dollars, and the war was ended.
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Napoleon Bonaparte
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He was the powerful dictator of France during this time, ruling a great deal of land in Europe. In relation to America, he made a deal with envoys Livingston and Monroe to cede the Louisiana lands to America for $15 million. This forever changed the face of the nation, leading to Western expansion, future wars/battles for land, and so on.
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Robert R. Livingston
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He was the regular American minister for France during the time of Jefferson's presidency. After Jefferson sent Monroe to work with him, the two envoys were instructed to buy New Orleans from Bonaparte for no more than $10 million. He nervously entered upon the negotiations in 1803. After about a week of haggling, while the fate of North America was in the balance, treaties were signed on April 30, 1803, ceding Louisiana to the United States for about $15 million. Jefferson was at first angry with him, because there was more land than originally intended and he paid more than originally intended as well. However, his deal helped push American towards its famed Westward expansion, and shaped the face of the country for years to come.
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James Monroe
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He was sent to Paris by Jefferson in 1803 as an envoy, in order to negotiate with Bonaparte and attempt to buy New Orleans (and as much land as possible to the east) for a maximum of $10 million. He and Robert Livingston arranged treaties with Bonaparte, and Louisiana and some land westward was ceded to them for $15 million. Alongside Livingston, he was one of the men who shaped the future face of America by making this deal and setting forth Westward expansion. Also later became James Madison's Secretary of State.
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Toussaint L'Ouverture
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A self-educated ex-slave and military genius, he was the leader of the slave rebellion in Santa Domingo (modernly known as Haiti), which succeeded and caused France to lose control over the colony. Indirectly, he did much to set up the sale of Louisiana to the United States; because of the rebellion and Bonaparte losing power of the Santa Domingo colony, Napoleon gave up hopes for a New World Empire and therefore saw fit to cede Louisiana to the United States. Hisslave rebellion also briefly established the first black government in the New World, striking fear into the hearts of slave-owners throughout the Western Hemisphere.
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Lewis and Clark
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Leaders of the famous first expedition into the unexplored Western land gained by the Louisiana Purchase. One was one of Jefferson's personal secretaries, and the other was a young army officer. They set out on a famous journey, traversing the Missouri River from St. Louis, spending the winter of 1804-1805 with the Mandan Indians, and struggling across the northern prairies and through the Rockies, finally descending the Columbia River to the Pacific coast. The expedition led by these two men yielded a rich harvest of scientific observations, maps, knowledge of the Indians in the region, and hair-raising wilderness adventure stories that would all be extremely useful in the large movement of Westward expansion in years to come.
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Sacajawea
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A Shoshone woman that Lewis and Clark encountered during their famous expedition whilst they were spending the winter of 1804-1805 with the Mandan Indians of present-day North Dakota. She aided them during their journey—helping to guide them and negotiate with various other tribes with them, and ultimately helping them to survive. Without her, the success of their journey would not have been possible.
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Zebulon M. Pike
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Another explorer who also pushed into the uncharted West as Lewis and Clark did. He trekked to the headwaters of the Mississippi River in 1805-1806. The next year, he ventured into the southern portion of Louisiana territory, where he sighted the Colorado peak that bears his name. He, too, was an important figure in the oncoming movement of Westward expansion, and helped to map out the area so that it could later become a place of settlement and travel.
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General James Wilkinson
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He was an active participant in the conspiracy that led to Burr's acts of treason. Burr struck up an allegiance with this man—who was a military governor of Louisiana Territory and a sometime secret agent in the pay of the Spanish crown. Together, the too planned to separate the western part of the United States from the East and expand their new confederacy with invasions of Spanish-controlled Mexico and Florida. In 1806, Burr and his followers floated down the Mississippi River to meet this General's army at Natchez, but when the general learned that Jefferson had gotten wind of the plot, he betrayed Burr and fled to New Orleans.
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Orders in Council
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The London government, beginning in 1806, began to issue a series of these. They closed the European ports under French control to foreign shipping, including American, unless the vessels first stopped at a British port. Napoleon struck back, ordering the seizure of all merchant ships, including American, which entered British ports. There was no way to trade with either nation without facing the other's guns, which led to great conflict in America and the impressment of American sailors.
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Lord Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar
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At the Battle of _____ in 1805, ______ achieved immortality by smashing the combined French and Spanish fleets off the coast of Spain, thereby ensuring Britain's supremacy on the seas and setting back the United States previous naval superiority.
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The Chesapeake Incident
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In this affair, a royal ship overhauled a U.S. ship, also known as The Chesapeake, about ten miles off the coast of Virginia. The British captain bluntly demanded the surrender of four alleged deserters. London had never claimed the right to seize sailors from a foreign war-ship, and the American commander, though totally unprepared to fight, refused the request. The British warship then fired three broadsides at close range, killing three Americans and wounding eighteen. Four deserters were dragged away, and the Chesapeake went back to the port, defeated. Britain was clearly in the wrong, even the London Foreign office admitted so, but they did little about it. Therefore, Americans were extremely angered, and such an incident led to Jefferson's detrimental decision to create the Embargo Act.
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Embargo Act of 1807
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Jefferson, being the non-confrontational pacifist that he was, proposed this act, which was quickly passed by Congress in 1807. In response to Britain and France's harsh impressment of soldiers and brutality against American ships, Congress declared this embargo, which forbade the export of all goods from the United States, whether in American or foreign ships. More than just a compromise between submission and shooting, the embargo embodied Jefferson's idea of "peaceful coercion." However, the American economy staggered under the effect of the embargo long before Britain or France began to bend. The unemployment rate heightened, large amounts of products were in abundance because they were just waiting to be exported, and Americans were ultimately infuriated by the Act. Yet Jefferson continued to enforce it harshly, an act that was seen as almost more tyrannical than those of King George III before the Revolutionary War.
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Non-Intercourse Act of 1809
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After realizing the Embargo Act's extreme ineffectiveness and receiving an immense amount of public backlash, Congress finally repealed the embargo on March 1, 1809. A substitute Act was provided after the repeal however, known as the _________.This measure formally reopened trade with all the nations of the world, except the two most important, Britain and France. Though thus watered down, economic coercion continued to be the policy of Jeffersonians from 1809 to 1812 under this Act.
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Macon's Bill No. 2
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Once Madison became President, the Non-Intercourse Act quickly disintegrated. Congress dismantled the embargo completely with a bargaining measure known as ________, put through in 1810. While reopening American trade with the entire world, Macon's Bill dangled what Congress hoped was an attractive lure; if either Britain or France repealed its commercial restrictions, America would restore its embargo against the non-repealing nation. The British refusal to adhere to these guidelines further led to the conflict between the two countries and thus the war of 1812 that was to ensue not far off in the future.
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War hawks
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The complexion of the Twelfth Congress (which met in 1811) differed from that of its predecessor. Recent elections had swept away many of the older men and replaced them with young hotheads who were often dubbed _____ by their Federalist opponents. They were weary of hearing how their fathers had whipped the British single-handedly, and they detested the man-handling of American sailors and the British Orders in Council that dammed the flow of American trade, especially western farm products headed for Europe. They also yearned to wipe out a renewed Indian threat to the pioneer settlers who were streaming into the trans-Allegheny wilderness. As this white flood washed through the green forests, more and more Indians were pushed toward the setting sun by these war hawks. They pushed American towards not only the War of 1812 with Britain (eventually) but also advocated countless Indian attacks in the West, leading to a further extinction of many Native races and further Westward expansion.
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Tecumseh
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One of two famous Indians (sometimes referred to as "The Prophet" by non-Indians) who was remarkable in intelligence and battle. He and his brother concluded that the time had come to stem this onrushing tide of war hawks pushing Indians out of their homelands. They began to weld together a far-flung confederacy of all the tribes east of the Mississippi, inspiring a vibrant movement of Indian unity and cultural renewal. Rejecting whites' concept of "ownership", he urged his supporters never to cede land to whites unless all Indians agreed. However, he was defeated in the devastating battle of Tippecanoe, and was pushed towards alliance with the British, whom he fought with during the war of 1812 until he died in 1813 at the Battle of the Thames. With him perished the dream of an Indian Confederacy.
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William Henry Harrison
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Governor of Indiana territory and prevailing American General during the Battle of Tippecanoe, who became a national hero after defeating the famed Tecumseh. He discredited the Prophet and drove him into an alliance with the British.
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Battle of Tippecanoe
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The famous Battle in which General Harrison defeated the famed Tecumseh. Frontiersmen and their war-hawk spokesmen in Congress became convinced that the British "scalp buyers" in Canada were nourishing the Indians' growing strength. In the fall of 1811, General Harrison gathered an army and advanced on Tecumseh's headquarters at the junction of the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers in present-day Indiana. Tecumseh was absent, recruiting supporters in the South, but the Prophet attacked Harrison's army with a small force of Shawnees. The Shawnees were routed and their settlement burned, leading Tecumseh and his Indians to alliance with the British during the War of 1812.
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On to Canada!
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By the Spring of 1812, war with Britain seemed inevitable. The British arming of hostile Indians pushed Madison toward the decision of war, as did the whoops of the war hawks in his own party. People believed that there was only one way to remove the menace of the Indians: wipe out their Canadian base. So they chanted "______!" boisterously and campaigned to attack Canada.
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Mr. Madison's War
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This was the name given to the War of 1812 by pro-British Federalists. The War of 1812 was fought to gain Canada and was opposed by the Federalists. The War of 1812 is considered America's second war of independence, and resulted in a wave of nationalism that swept throughout the country.
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Old Ironsides
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During the war of 1812, America's naval force held much more precedence and power than the land army. Notably, some of the most important vessels of aforementioned navy were American frigates called _____, which had thicker sides, heavier firepower and larger crews (of which one sailor in six was a free black) than the opposing British ships.
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Oliver Hazard Perry
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A powerful, energetic naval officer during the War of 1812, largely a part of the movement to gain control of the Great Lakes. He managed to build a fleet of green-timbered ships on the shores of Lake Erie, and when he captured a British fleet in a furious engagement on the lake, he reported, "We have met the enemy and they are ours." His victory and this slogan infused new life into the drooping American cause.
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Battle of the Thames
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: Revived in their causes and spirits due to Perry's defeat of British fleets, Americans gained a significant victory over their opponents at this battle in the War of 1812, in which retreating redcoats from Detroit and Fort Malden were overtaken by General Harrison's army and beaten in October of 1813.
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Francis Scott Key
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He was most famous for writing the widely known and still-standing National Anthem. As a detained American anxiously watching the bombardment from a British ship, he was inspired by the doughty defenders to write the words of the Anthem, which became an immense bolster for American nationalism and still remains so today.
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Andrew Jackson
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War hero of 1812 and future president of the United States. He led troops during the extremely important victory of The Battle of New Orleans. Later in history he became a strong advocate for the acquisition of Spanish territory Florida, and in his eagerness set forth to the colony under false claims of wanting to protect against savage Indians nearby. He captured several Spanish forts and governors, causing the Spanish to cede Florida to the US and Congress to decide in annexing Florida as a state in 1819.
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Battle of New Orleans
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An immense blow to the British in 1814, this battle was essential in further encouraging American nationalism and renewing the spirit of the War. War hero Andrew Jackson led his force (consisting of 7,000 sailors, regulars, pirates and Frenchmen, as well as militiamen from Louisiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee) against the overconfident British, who made the mistake of launching a frontal assault on the entrenched Americans. The attackers suffered the most devastating defeat of the entire war, losing over two thousand, killed and wounded, in half an hour. News of this American victory struck the country. After it, Andrew Jackson became a national hero. It greatly bolstered American nationalism, which led to many changes amongst the country in years to come.
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Treaty of Ghent
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The treaty that officially ended the war, signed in 1814. Urged on by Russian Tsar Alexander I, five American "peacemakers" were sent to the small city of Ghent in Belgium in order to discuss an end to the war. (The group was led by John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams.) At first, the negotiations between British and Americans appeared stalemate; they could not agree on any compromises. However, thetreaty was finally signed in 1814. Essentially, it was only a ceasefire and nothing further. No mention was made of the things America had fought for: The Indian menace, search and seizure, Orders in Council, confiscations and impressment. Nothing was gained or lost during this war or as a result of this treaty. But these omissions of aforementioned grievances serve as proof that the Americans had not actually managed to defeat the British. With neither side able to impose its will (due to the stalemate), the treaty negotiations ended as a virtual draw.
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Hartford Convention
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New England remained definitely against the war, largely due to the embittered Federalists. So, late in 1814, when the capture of New Orleans seemed imminent, Massachusetts issued a call for a convention at Hartford, Connecticut. The states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island dispatched full delegations; New Hampshire and Vermont sent partial representation. This group of men, 26 in all, met in complete secrecy for about 3 weeks to discuss their grievances and to seek redress for their wrongs. The convention's final reports demanded financial assistance from Washington to compensate for lost trade and proposed constitutional amendments requiring 2/3 vote in Congress before an embargo could be imposed, new states admitted, or war declared. Most of the demands reflected Federalist fears that a once-proud New England was falling subservient to an agrarian South and west. They also sought to abolish the 3/5 clause, unsuccessfully, and to uproot the Virginia Dynasty. Three envoys from Massachusetts carried these demands to Washington, but just at the same time news of the victory at New Orleans came in as well and overshadowed the grievances greatly. Pursued by criticism of the press, the envoys sank away in disgrace and into obscurity. These resolutions, as it turned out, ended up being the "death dirge" of the Federalist party. They were never again to mount a successful presidential campaign. So, basically, this convention served as a final (and failed) Federalist attempt at making change and bringing themselves back to power.
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Henry Clay
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Present during the negotiations of the Treaty of Ghent, but he was more well-known for being the father of "The American System." Under this system, he promoted protective tariffs for eastern manufactures and federally financed canals and highways to benefit the West. Also later the main organizer of the Missouri Compromise.
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The American System
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Created/fathered by politician Henry Clay. This system had three main parts: a strong banking system, which would provide easy and abundant credit. Next, a protective tariff, behind which eastern manufacturing would flourish. The revenues from this tariff would then provide funds for the last part of the system, a network of roads and canals, especially in the Ohio Valley and the entire Western territory. The American System was on a result of the nationalism stirred by the War of 1812 and helped not only American manufacturing to flourish, but once again bolstered this nationalism throughout the country.
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Era of Good Feelings
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: After James Monroe was elected president in 1816, this era was said to have bloomed. Due to Monroe's popularity all across the country, despite party or location, the states were said to be further united under these "good feelings." It furthered emerging nationalism and ushered in considerable tranquility and prosperity within the earlier years of Monroe. However, there was still very much conflict in the US at the time, but this supposed time of good feeling still brought forth nationalism and some peace to the country.
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Virginia Dynasty
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A term for the much-resented power that Virginians seemed to hold in office, created by New England Federalists. Since Virginians had been presidents for all but four years, Federalists were angry and attempted to abolish this supposed dynasty by proposing to eradicate the 3/5 clause. They considerably failed, especially with the election of Virginian James Monroe in 1816.
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Panic of 1819
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In 1819 (as described), an economic catastrophe descended on the nation, causing deflation, depression, bankruptcies, bank failures, unemployment, soup kitchens, and overcrowded debtors' prisons. It surfaced mostly due to over-speculation in frontier lands; the Bank of the US, through its western branches, had become deeply involved in this popular type of outdoor gambling. This panic lasted (in some degree) for several years, causing immense financial paralysis and giving a rude setback to the nationalistic ardor. It hit the West the hardest, however, forcing the western banks to the wall and foreclosing mortgages on countless farms there. All this was technically legal but politically unwise, because in the eyes of a western debtor the national bank became extremely sour. This panic also created backwashes in the political and social world. The poorer classes were severely strapped, and in their troubles Jacksonian democracy emerged. Also, mounting agitation against imprisonment for debt bore fruit in remedial legislation in an increasing number of states.
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Butternuts
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Angered Southerners that had been pushed off their lands by plantation business - therefore traveled to the Old Northwest. They didn't want blacks to follow them into "paradise."
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Land Act of 1820
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Even though the West was quickly gaining settlers, it was stil weak in population and influence. Not potent enough politically to make its voice heard, it was forced to ally itself with other sections. Thus strengthened, it demanded cheap acreage and partially achieved its goal in this Act. Under this act, a buyer was authorized to purchase eighty virgin acres at a minimum of $1.25 for acre. The West also demanded cheaper transportation, which they received, and later cheap money, issued by its own "wildcat" banks. This last component fought the powerful Bank of the US to attain its goal. This act caused more settlers and prosperity to be gained in western territory.
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Tallmadge Amendment
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Missouri, a new, blooming territory, asked Congress for admission as a slave state, but he House of Representatives stymied the plans of the Missourians by passing this amendment. It stipulated that no more slaves should be brought into Missouri and also provided for the gradual emancipation of children born to slave parents already there. This caused immense anger and opposition from the Southern slaveholders. The amendment was eventually defeated by these Southerners, who saw it as an ominous threat to sectional balance. In fact, this conflict did cause sectionalism to increase rapidly and brought forth again the issue of slavery, which would later divide the country during the Civil War era.
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Missouri Compromise
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Due to this rising conflict of Missouri's statehood and its right to slavery, Congress was basically in a deadlock. To lift such a deadlock, Henry Clay and some others proposed the this compromise. Missouri was, first of all, admitted as a slave state by Congress. But the Compromise entailed that future slavery was prohibited in the remained of the Louisiana Purchase north of the line of 36º 30'—the southern boundary of Missouri. This Compromise lasted for 34 years, and during that time it preserved the shaky compact of the Union. Yet the embittered dispute over slavery heralded the future breakup of the Union. Even after, the morality of the South's institution was an issue that could be swept under the rug. The compromise only ducked the question, it didn't resolve it.
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Marshall Cases of 1810s/1820s
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Firstly, all of the cases were as follows. Fletcher v. Peck (1810), Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819), McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), and Cohens v. Virginia (1821). Each of these cases pertained to various different issues, but the most important thing that came out of them each was Marshall's decision to restrict state rights and give more power to the federal government. In this sense, Marshall's nationalism was the most tenaciously enduring of the era. He buttressed the federal Union and helped to create a stable, nationally uniform environment for business. At the same time, Marshall checked the excesses of popularly elected state legislatures. Marshall almost single-handedly shaped the Constitution along conservative, centralizing lines that ran somewhat counter to the dominant spirit of the new country. Through him the conservative Hamiltonians partly triumphed from the tomb.
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Daniel Webster
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Premier orator and statesman, he served many years in both houses of Congress and also as a secretary of state. His devotion to the Union was inflexible. He was involved in the famous Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) case, in which he "pulled out all the stops of tear-inducing eloquence" and swayed the masses with his speech towards keeping the college and its charter in place. He was also a strong Federalist and believed in challenging states' rights and nullification, just as Marshall did.
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John Quincy Adams
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6th president from 1825-1829; served in the Senate and House of Representatives; son of President John Adams; helped formulate the Monroe Doctrine as Secretary of State; put in forth the Florida Purchase Treaty and annexed Florida as a state of the US; viewed as one of the greatest secretaries of state.
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Treaty of 1818
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This pact permitted Americans to share the coveted Newfoundland fisheries with their Canadian cousins. It also fixed the vague norhter limits of Louisiana along the 49th parallel from the Lake for the woods to the Rocky Mountains. The treaty further provided for a 10 year joint-occupation of the untamed Oregon Country, without a surrender of the rights or claims of either America or Britain. This growth in successful foreign policy was a result of the nationalism that grew after the war of 1812. The most important thing it did was give partial ownership of the Oregon territory to us (this ownership would become a future conflict between America and Britain.)
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Florida Purchase Treaty
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Also known as the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819, this document settled a border dispute in North America between the US and Spain. It was a result of increasing tension between the US and Spain regarding territorial rights at a time of weakened Spanish power. In the end, it ceded Florida to the US, settled a boundary dispute along the Sabine River, and firmly established the boundary of the US territory and claims through the Rocky Mountains and west to the Pacific Ocean in exchange for the US paying residents' claims against the Spanish government up to a total of $5 million and relinquishing its own claims on parts of Texas west of the Sabine River and other Spanish areas under the terms of the Louisiana Purchase.
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Monroe Doctrine
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A policy that was introduced on December 2, 1823 under Monroe and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. It asserted that the Western Hemisphere was not to be further colonized by European countries and that the US would neither interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries. This document was largely an expression of the post-1812 nationalism energizing the US. While giving voice to the spirit of patriotism, it simultaneously deepened the illusion of isolationism. Although it opposed further colonization by foreign powers and interference from foreign powers, it was mostly an attempt to keep the US safe rather than neighboring countries. It was an important document throughout many years of history and caused much conflict and controversy.
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Russo-American Treaty of 1824
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This treaty between Russia and America set the southern borders of Russian holdings in America at the line of 54 degrees- 40', precisely at the southern tip of Alaska.
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The Corrupt Bargain
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After Monroe's presidency came to an end, the election of 1824 became the last of the old-style elections, and was marked by this controversial event. Candidates Jackson and Quincy Adams were in a deadlock, because Jackson had more of the popular vote whilst Adams had reign with the most amount of electoral votes. The House of Representatives was called upon to break the "stalemate", and Henry Clay, Speaker of the House, met with candidate Quincy Adams in order to establish cordial personal relations. Soon, Adams was elected president against the popular vote and Clay immediately named Adam's Secretary of State. Jackson, the opponent, saw this an unjust, corrupt bargain, and according to him and his supporters, Adams had bribed Clay with the position, making himself victor over Jackson. This caused masses of angry Jacksonian's to emerge and launched campaigning for the next election, an election that would change politics for years to come.
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John C. Calhoun
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The war-hawk supporter of States' Rights, also Jackson's vice president during his term. He supported the nullification of the tariff in South Carolina, pitting him against Jackson and causing tension amongst Congress. Also, in the election of 1824, he appeared on both Adams and Jackson's presidential tickets, showcasing just how fuzzily the lines blurred between the identities of the candidates.
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Election of 1824
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The last of the old-style elections. Candidates included Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and William Crawford. Clay and Crawford, however, were quickly eliminated from the election (Crawford due to medical conditions and Clay due to his unpopularity) and the election became a deadlock between Jackson, the one with the majority popular vote, and Adams, the one with the majority electoral vote. Eventually, the House of Representatives chose Adams, against the people's own judgment, and Adams quickly named Henry Clay (Speaker of the House at the time) his secretary of state. Jackson and his followers were enraged by this and immediately launched campaigning for the next election, which would change politics for years to come.
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Rachel Jackson
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Andrew Jackson's significant other and long-time devoted wife. She did not live to become first lady, in fact, she died a month after the election of 1828 which named Jackson president. Andrew Jackson was convinced that his enemies' vicious accusations that she was a bigamist and an adulteress killed her. The more complicated truth was that Andrew Jackson had married her believing that her divorce had been granted. Two years later, when they discovered to their dismay that it had not been, they made haste to correct the martial miscue.
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The Spoils System
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A "policy" underneath president Andrew Jackson which helped Democrats demonstrate that they were not above striking some bargains of their own in their famous suspicion of the federal government. With this system, Jackson rewarded political supporters with public office. It was introduced into the federal government on a large scale. Through this system, scandal rapidly arose. Illiterates, incompetents, and plain crooks were given positions of public trust. However, it was still an important element of the emerging two-party order, cementing as it did loyalty to party over competing claims based on economic class or geographic region.
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Samuel Swartwout
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This man was awarded the lucrative post of collector of the customs of the port of New York underneath the Democratic spoils system. Nine years later, he left for England, leaving his accounts more than a million dollars short—the first person to steal a million from the Washington government. He further went to prove that he spoils system caused much corruption and scandal in politics.
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Tariff of Abominations
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Tariffs protected American industry against competition from European manufactured goods, but they also drove up prices for all Americans and invited retaliatory tariffs on American agricultural exports abroad. Yet Southerners, who were heavy consumers of manufactured goods with little manufacturing industry of their own, were hostilely against tariffs. This particular tariff was first created simply as a political tool for Jackson during the election, who believed that by proposing a higher tariff than Quincy Adams did, he would make Quincy look bad when he won the tariff vote. However, Jackson's tariff actually passed, enraging Southerners. They called the Tariff of 1828 the ________ and many adopted formal protests, thinking that the tariff discriminated against them and favored the Northern and Middle states (which it technically did). South Carolinians took the lead in protesting against this tariff.
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Denmark Vesey
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Many deeper issues underlay the Southern outcry towards the tariff. For one, there was the growing anxiety about possible federal interference with the institution of slavery. Along with the decisions of the Missouri Compromise, Southerners were further fanned by an aborted slave rebellion led by this man, a freed black of Charleston, which occurred in 1822. It led to their mounting tension and possible threats of secession.
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Nullies
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Southern hatred against this tariff rooted itself deeply in South Carolina. Many of these South Carolinians who strove for nullification of the dreaded tariff were nicknamed this. They protested adamantly against the tariff and launched a deepening nullification crisis. Eventually, they claimed that the tariff no longer existed in South Carolina and refused to pay it. They also continuously threatened to secede from the Union if Washington attempted to collect the customs duties by force.
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Tariff of 1833
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This tariff was created as a compromise between the Nullies of South Carolina and Congress. It considerably lowered the previous tariff, causing opposition of Northern and Middle states, but it did eventually pass despite their protests. Yet neither Jackson nor the nullies truly got anything out of the compromise in 1833. The fundamental issues had not been resolved, which would, in the far future, lead the next "nullies" of South Carolina to actually secede from the Union.
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Five Civilized Tribes
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": Many Americans were devoted to civilizing and Christianizing the Indian tribes of the west. Although some natives vehemently refused this, there were five emerging tribes who adopted many ways of the whites, including written communication, religious views and agricultural systems. Among these five tribes were the ever-famous Cherokee, and the Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles.
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Indian Removal Act
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Jackson's policies led to the forced uprooting of more than 100,000 Indians. In 1830 Congress passed this act, providing for the transplanting of all Indian tribes then resident east of the Mississippi. Ironically, the heaviest blows fell on the Five Civilized Tribes, who were most like the whites. In the ensuing decade, countless Indians died on forced marches relocating them to reservations. Although this opened settlement in the West, it mostly demolished the population of native tribes and interfered with Indian culture. It is known today still as a terrible and unjust act, for much good reason.
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The Bureau of Indian Affairs
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In order to keep charge of the relocated Indians, the federal government established this bureau in 1836. Corruption among the agents was common, however. This flawed federal aid program furthered the Indians' resentment toward white society and created an atmosphere of conflict.
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Trail of Tears
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In the fall and winter of 1838-1839, the US Army forcibly removed about 15,000 Cherokees, some of them in manacles, from their ancestral homelands in the southeastern United States and marched them to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Freezing weather and inadequate food supplies led to unspeakable suffering. The escorting troops refused to slow the forced march so that the ill could recover, and some 4,000 Cherokees died on the 116-day journey. Due to these atrocities, the trail was often known by the natives as the _______.
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Nicholas Biddle
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The president of the National Bank during the time of Jackson's presidency and a large component of the Bank War of 1832. He held an immense—and to many, unconstitutional—amount of power over the nation's financial affairs. Enemies of the bank dubbed him "Czar Nicholas I" and called the bank a "hydra of corruption."
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The Bank War
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Jackson had always been against what he saw as the corruption of the National Bank (the bank did, in fact, hold a considerable amount of corruption, largely due to Biddle's monopolization of power and money). Because of his intense opposition, this "war" emerged in 1832, when Daniel Webster and Henry Clay presented Congress with a bill to renew the Bank of the United States' charter. The charter was not set to expire until 1836, but Clay pushed for renewal four years early to make it an election issue for Jackson in 1832. Jackson adamantly vetoed the bill, however, claiming the monopolistic bank to be unconstitutional. Not only did he do this, however, but he amplified the power of the presidency with this action. All previous vetoes had rested almost exclusively on questions of constitutionality. But though Jackson invoked the Constitution in his bank-veto message, he essentially argued that he was vetoing the bill because he personally found it harmful to the nation. In effect, he was claiming for the president alone a power equivalent to two-thirds of the votes in Congress. Also, by vetoing the bank charter, he hurt the country economically but did much for it politically.
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McCulloch v. Maryland
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A famous court case in 1819 which earlier declared that the Bank of the United States constitutional, despite Jackson's later claims that it was not.
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Election of 1832
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This election pitted avid Jackson-hater Henry Clay against Jackson himself, who had decided to run for office once again due to support from his followers. Through the election many new things emerged, including the Anti-Masonic party (see below). Yet Jackson once again won by a landslide, earning large support from the West and South and even Pennsylvania and New York, as well as some parts of New England. The popular vote stood at 687,502 to 530,189 for Jackson; the electoral count was a lopsided 219 to 49.
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Anti-Masonic Party
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: A 19th century minor political party that emerged during the election of 1832. They strongly opposed the influence and fearsome secrecy of the masonic order and appealed to long-standing American suspicions of secret societies, which they condemned as corrupt. Their influence quickly spread throughout New York, the middle Atlantic and New England. They were essentially known as an anti-Jackson party. However, they were crushed in the election when Jackson won by an immense majority.
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Results of the death of the bank
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The death of the Bank of the US left a financial vacuum in the American economy. Surplus federal funds were placed in several dozen state institutions or "pet banks", chosen for their pro-Jackson sympathies. Without a sober central bank in control, the pet banks and smaller "wildcat" banks flooded the country with paper money. The economy basically went wildly out of control.
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Pet/wildcat banks
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______ were banks where Jackson often stored surplus federal funds as opposed to their previous storage in the National Bank, and he often chose them based on their amount of support to him. ______ were smaller banks which were known as fly-by-night operations that often consisted of little more than a few chairs and a suitcase full of printed money. Both these types of banks fed the growing flood of paper money in America, which led to the Specie Circular decree later on.
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Specie Circular
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: In response to the growing use of paper money by pet and wildcat banks, this decree, created by Jackson, required all public lands to be purchased with "hard" or metallic money. This drastic step slammed the brakes on the speculative boom, a neck-snapping change of direction that contributed to a financial panic and crash in 1837.
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The Whig Party
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This party mostly emerged due to the immense hatred and opposition to former president Andrew Jackson and his policies. In fact, this was one of the only things that united the party; other than this they were so diverse that they were commonly mocked as "an organized incompatibility." Their main leaders were Clay, Webster and Calhoun who joined forces in 1834. Thereafter, they rapidly evolved into a potent national political force by attracting other groups alienated by Jackson. They thought of themselves as conservatives yet they were progressive in their support of active government programs and reforms. They called for internal improvements like canals, railroads and telegraph lines, and they supported institutions like prisons, asylums, and public schools. They also welcomed the market North, planters in the South and merchants and bankers in all sections. They were a party against the Democrats and were largely a part of the upcoming elections.
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Election of 1836
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The Whigs tried to eat the Democrats' national organization with an array of sectional candidates, hoping to throw the election into the House of Representatives. However, the House could not agree on a single one and the strategy failed. Martin Van Buren, with significant support in every section of the country, defeated the three Whig candidates combined.
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Martin Van Buren
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Senator, vice president, and 8th president of the United States; the Panic of 1837 tainted his presidency and became what he was most known for, despite his intelligence, education and training which made him above average for a president. He was widely unpopular amongst the people throughout his presidency and was faced with the difficulty of being president in the widely loved Jackson's shadow, left with all of his previous conflicts that he had stirred. His four years as president were mostly filled with toil and trouble, due to various thing such as rebellion in Canada which led to possible war with Britain, of which he tried to remain neutral and gained much resentment for that. Because he was so hated for this and many other things, he was eventually voted out of office and taken over by Whigs in 1840. He later supported the Free Soil Party. (Alternate names: Wizard of Albany, Little Magician.)
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Panic of 1837
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This was a symptom of the financial sickness of the times. Its basic cause was rampant speculation prompted by a mania of "get-rich-quick" thoughts. Gamblers in western lands were doing a "land-office business" on borrowed capital, much of it being done with paper money. This craze even spread to canals, roads, railroads, and slaves. It was also caused by previous Jacksonian finance, which had landed America in a difficult economic position. Soon enough, failure of wheat crops began to deepen the distress. Grain prices were inflated and anger mounted amongst citizens. It also effected foreign affairs with Britain, because we could not offer them the loans that they asked for. Hardship was acute and widespread. American banks collapsed and carried down with them several million in government funds. Commodity prices drooped, sales of public lands fell off, and customs revenues dried up. Factories closed their doors, and unemployment rates increased rapidly. It left the country in a state of economic crisis and conflict.
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Divorce Scheme
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In response to the Panic of 1837, Van Buren decided to put forth this bill in order to remedy the economic crisis. He proposed to champion the principle of separating the government from banking altogether. By establishing a so-called independent treasury, the government could lock its surplus money in vaults in several of the larger cities. Government funds would thus be safe, but they would also be denied to the banking system as reserves, shriveling available credit resources. This scheme was never highly popular. Van Buren's fellow Democrats supported it only lukewarmly. The Whigs condemned it, primarily because it squelched their hopes of a revived Bank of the US. It didn't do much to help the economy, and made Van Buren even further disliked amongst the country, further leading to his removal later on.
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Independent Treasury Bill
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This bill, following Van Buren's Divorce Scheme, proposed that the government should establish an independent treasury, in which it could lock its surplus money in vaults in several of the larger cities, keeping government funds safe but denied to the banking system as reserves. It was passed by Congress in 1840 after a prolonged struggle, but repealed the next year by the Whigs. Yet the scheme was reenacted by the triumphant Democrats in 1846 by the Democrats and then continued until the Republicans instituted a network of national banks during the Civil War. Mainly, it served as an American economic system for many years.
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Stephen Austin
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He led the old 300 families into Texas, with these conditions: 1) They must become Mexican citizens. 2) They must become Catholic. 3) No slavery was allowed.
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G.T.T.
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Gone to Texas; phrased used by Americans immigrating to Texas in the 19th century, often to escape debt incurred during the Panic of 1819. Moving to Texas, which at the time was a part of Mexico, was particularly popular among debtors from the South and west. The phrase, in addition, was often written on the doors of abandoned houses or posted as a sign on fences to inform others of where people were headed.
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Davy Crockett
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The semi-literate Tennessean, he was a symbol of Jacksonian democracy and a famous Texan American adventure hero/rifleman in the 19th century. He was elected to Congress three times due to his popularity, and died fighting at the Alamo in 1836.
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Jim Bowie
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Another famous Texan-American adventurer. He was the presumed inventor of the murderous knife that bears his name. ______ blade was widely known in the Southwest as the "genuine Arkansas toothpick." He was also a rebel who died in the Alamo alongside Davy Crockett.
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Sam Houston
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After a promising career in Tennessee as a soldier, lawyer, congressman, and governor, Houston became the chief leader and hero of the Texas rebels. Elected to the US Senate and the governorship of Texas, eh was forced into retirement when his love for the Union caused him to spurn the Confederacy in the Civil War.
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Santa Anna
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The Mexican dictator and military leader during the famous time of the Alamo. When Stephen Austin went to negotiate with him, he shut him in jail for eight months. He was the opposition to American Texans. He wiped out Texans at the Alamo. Yet he eventually surrendered to General Sam Houston in 1836.
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Remember the Alamo
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During the fierce battle of The Alamo, this was the rallying cry of the Texans in their rebellion against Santa Anna in San Antonio, Texas, 1863. About 200 Texan Americans made a heroic stand against 3,000 Mexicans under Santa Anna and most Americans were brutally slaughtered, although Santa Anna eventually surrendered. However, this war cry swept up into the United States after the battle, and it caused scores of vengeful Americans to seize their rifles and rush to the aid of relatives, friends, and compatriots.
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Tejanos
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These were the Mexican residents of Texas who had fought with the Americans in the American Revolution. However, Texas won independence, many Americans feared that the Tejanos were Mexican spies, and drove many of them out. Those that remained were given a political and economic and subordinate statue, and some helped American Texans win independence from Mexico.
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The Mexican/Texan issue
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This was essentially the battle between Anglo-Texans and Mexicans over the territory of Mexico. Once Anglo-Texans began settling in Texas, they immediately ignored Mexican laws and officials, including restrictions against owning or importing salves. When the Mexican government tried to impose its will on the Anglo-Texans in the 1830s, they took up their guns and fought in a revolution. The Texans began by asking simply for Mexican recognition of their rights as guaranteed by the Mexican constitution of 1824. But bloodshed at the Alamo led to rebellion. This was not only a contest between the two cultures, but a contest about philosophies of government, pitting liberal frontier ideals of freedom against the conservation concept of centralized control.
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The War for Texan Independence
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Much of this is stated above. Anglo-Texans and American Texans were defying Mexican rule. At first, the Texans only asked for Mexican recognition of their rights. However, after the Alamo, the conflict led to full out rebellion. Eventually, Texas becomes independent from Mexico and, after a long while, is annexed as a state of the US.
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William Henry Harrison pt. 2
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9th President of the United States. He was the main nomination for the Whig Party, and defeated Martin Van Buren for the presidency when he sought his second term. He was mostly said to be a "self-built man" who drank hard cider and lived in log cabins, which was his main campaign appeal. However, he caught pneumonia during his inauguration and died shortly after.
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John Tyler
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He was elected Vice President on the ticket of William Henry Harrison (Whig Party). After Harrison's death, he succeeded him and became the 10th President of the United States. Was president from 1841-1845, and was most famous for being responsible for the annexation of Mexico after receiving mandate from Polk. He opposed many parts of the Whig program for economic recovery, as well.
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Tippecanoe and Tyler too
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This was the famous slogan of Harrison's campaign during the election of 1840. (Whig campaign.) The Whigs had nominated General William Henry Harrison, who was famous for his defeat at the battle of Tippecanoe, and Tyler for Vice, proclaiming this loud and clear with a rallying cry to promote their ticket.
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Two-party System
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This was a system that emerged in America in the late 18th century—early 19th. Essentially, it has cemented that there are always two opposing political parties in government. This system is needed to prevent radical ideas. Also, this system emerged because there was both geographical and societal diversities. No sectional differences came out as a result. National Republicans v. Democratic Republicans.
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Self-reliance
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This was a famous lecture-essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, which heavily emphasized the importance of the individual, along with many other pieces of literature at the time. It pushed American pioneers often to be provincial and fiercely individualistic, which shaped much of the characteristics of America, especially that of the Western front.
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James Fenimore Cooper
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A popular American writer during the bustling time of the Westward expansion craze, who influenced much of the Western culture and characteristics with his works, causing an even fiercer sense of individualism amongst the pioneers. Most famous for the Leatherstocking Tales.
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Herman Melville
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He was an author born in New York in 1819, most famous for his work Moby Dick, published in 1851. His character Captain Ahab and many other components of the book in general also contributed to the growing sense of individualism in the Western frontier which helped to shape the nation and further the expansion craze.
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Rendezvous System
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By the 1820s, American fur-trappers were setting their trap-lines all across the expansive Rocky Mountain region. The growing fur-trapping empire was based on this _______, which entailed that each summer, traders would travel from St. Louis to a Rocky Mountain valley, make camp, and then wait for trappers and Indians to arrive with beaver pelts to swap for manufactured goods from the East. This trade thrived for some two decades and caused what is known as "ecological imperialism"
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Ecological Imperialism
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Because trade/trapping was such a booming industry in the 1820s when Westward expansion was becoming more popular, Americans quickly began dominating the environment in order to trap more furs. They nearly annihilated the beaver from the region and actually annihilated the existence of the massive bison herds that once inhabited the western parries. The sea-otter's existence was also put at stake. The trade, trapping, and desire for wealth turned into an aggressive and often heedless exploitation of the West's natural bounty, and is often referred to as _________. It affected much of the environment of the Western frontier and put some species to near extinction. However, it also fed the growing appreciation of the unique Western wilderness, and caused further expansion and appreciation for the wilderness in American culture.
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George Catlin
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He was among the first Americans to advocate the preservation of nature as a deliberate national policy. After seeing buffalo being slaughtered for the purpose of trade in 1832, he proposed the creation of a national park. This idea later came to fruition in 1872 with the creation of a national park system, beginning with Yellowstone.
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America Letters
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These were much-read letters that were sent home by immigrants who had traveled to America seeking new life. They boasted and often described in glowing detail the richer life of low taxes, no compulsory military service, and "three meat meals a day." The excitement and good-fortune spoken of in the letters caused many more immigrants to settle in America, feeding America's growing immigrant population.
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Biddie and Paddies
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These were scathing nicknames given to Irish immigrants by the more upper-class Protestant Bostonians, who resented the poor, Catholic newcomers. ________ were women, barely literate, who were forced to take jobs as kitchen maids, and _______ , the Irish men, were pushed into pick-and-shovel work on railroad and canals, where many of them died due to danger and strenuous labor. The nicknames go to show how terribly the Irish were treated upon their arrival and furthered their resentment for the upper class.
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NINA
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The Irish were also wage-depressing competitors for jobs as the nation's population continued to flourish. Because of this, they were often hated by Native workers and so, this sign boasting "No Irish Need Apply" was commonly posted at factory gates, proclaiming that Irish were not allowed to work there, or shouldn't even bother. This caused more resentment towards natives/blacks by the Irish, who were scrambling for jobs and living in squalor.
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Molly Maguires
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This was a semisecret Irish miners' union spawned from the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which rocked the Pennsylvania coal districts in the 1860s and 1870s, and provided more jobs and hope for the "famine Irish" who were commonly in poverty.
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Nativists
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These were Americans who resented the influx of foreign immigrants from the 1840s to the 1850s. They believed that these foreigners would outbreed, outvote and overwhelm the old "native" stock. They also detested that the immigrants took jobs from "original American citizens" and were forming a growing movement of Catholicism. These nativists made many attempts to snuff out the foreigners, by advocating for restrictions on naturalization and immigration laws, and sometimes even caused violence between the immigrants and themselves. They were a testimony to America's poor treatment of minority groups.
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Know Nothing Party
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": A party spawned by none other than the angry Nativists, created in 1849 in order to stamp out the foreign influence that was quickly spreading throughout the nation. This party of Nativists rallied for political action by agitating rigid restrictions on immigration and naturalization and for laws authorizing the deportation of alien paupers. They also promoted a lurid literature of exposure, often making up stories about many of the immigrant groups (i.e. Irish, German) to cause further resentment for them amongst the nation. They sometimes even caused violence between themselves and the immigrants, and were ultimately a testament to America's poor treatment of minority groups.
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The importance of immigrants
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First of all, immigrants were quickly making America one of the most ethnically and racially varied societies in the history of the world. They also caused an immense growth and robustness in the American economy, their hands and brains helping to fuel economic expansion. Without the newcomers, the United States might as well have remained predominantly agricultural, and the economy would have never flourished as it did in the 19th century during the Industrial Revolution.
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Samuel Slater
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He is rightfully nicknamed the "Father of the Factory System"; a British man who memorized the mechanisms for a textile machine and fled in disguise to America, where he rebuilt the machine and implemented it into the American economy. He put into operation in 1791 the first efficient American machinery for spinning cotton thread, and truly kick-started the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
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Eli Whitney
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Seeing the South's growing poverty due to their inability to harvest cotton efficiently, he created the cotton gin in 1793, a machine that could separate the seeds from cotton fibers, which was fifty times more effective than the handpicking process. His creation not only fed the South's economy once more but caused for the re-growth of slavery in the US, particularly the South. Its creation would not only lead to profit for both the North and the South, but ultimately the American Civil War, due to its revival of slave labor. He also created the principle of interchangeable parts with his work on muskets for the US Army.
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The principle of interchangeable parts
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Fathered by Eli Whitney, this was a principle which proposed that each part of a product/manufactured good was to be made by a machine so that they all turned out the same and could be interchanged whenever needed. It became widely adopted in the 1850s by assembly-line methods. It also gave to the North the vast industrial plant that ensured military preponderance over the South.
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Elias Howe and Isaac Singer
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_______ invented the sewing machine in 1846, whilst ______ perfected it to be most efficiently used in factories; this gave another strong boost to American industrialization. The sewing machine became the foundation of the ready-made clothing industry, giving jobs to women as seamstresses and bolstering the industrialization of the economy.
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The Boston Association
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Made up of fifteen wealthy Boston families; this was one of the earliest investment capital companies in America. They eventually dominated textile, railroad, insurance, and banking business of Massachusetts.
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Samuel Morse
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Famous creator of the telegraph; he received a $30,000 contribution from Congress to create his invention and in 1844 finally succeeded in stringing a wire forty miles from Washington to Baltimore and successfully sending a message through the wire. This invention put distantly separated people in an almost instant communication with one another, and revolutionized news gathering, diplomacy and finance.
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Wage slaves
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These are American factory workers whose livelihood depends on how much money they make. Unfortunately, they were given very poor working conditions and extremely low and unfair pay. They would work to earn whatever they could. The system was essentially like slavery because of how poorly these people were treated and how poorly they were paid
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Scab workers
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These were wage slaves who rallied up in protest during the 1830s-1840s, often advocating for the ten-hour-day, generally better working conditions, higher wages, and sometimes unusual goals such as allowing smoking on the job. They were often immigrants from the Old World who had just recently come to America and were unused to such treatment. Most of their protests were unsuccessful, but some were and because of them rights for the common worker slowly began to increase.
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Commonwealth v. Hunt
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This was a famous court case (Massachusetts) that occurred in 1842, in which toilers/laborers won a promising legal victory. It ruled that labor unions were not illegal conspiracies, provided that their methods were "honorable and peaceful." This decision did not legalize the strike overnight through the country, but it was a significant signpost of the times and slowly began to change workers' rights.
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Lowell, Mass.
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This was the home of one of the Boston Association's most famous and successful textile mills, which was entirely populated by "factory girls" and was known as a showplace factory, or an example for other factories which employed women. The workers there were almost all New England farm girls, carefully supervised on and off the job by watchful matrons. Escorted regularly to church from their company boardinghouses and forbidden to form Unions, these girls had few opportunities to share dissatisfaction over their grueling work. This mill showcased how difficult it was for women to work during this time period, but also was one of the first factories where women were actually employed.
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Catherine Beecher
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She was an unmarried daughter of a famous preacher and sister to Harriet Beecher Stowe, and was best known for tirelessly urging women to enter the teaching profession. She eventually succeeded, as more men left teaching for other lines of work and schoolteaching became a roughly "feminized" occupation. In this way, she provided more job opportunities for women in the mid-19th century.
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Cult of domesticity
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A widespread cultural creed that glorified the customary functions of the homemaker. In the home, married women were often enshrined in this _________. Because of this, married women commanded immense moral power, and increasingly made decisions that altered the character of the family itself.
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Domestic feminism
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Families were growing smaller in the mid-19th century as the fertility rate of births among white women fell by half. Birth control and contraceptive technology, although still a very controversial topic, was clearly being practiced quietly and effectively in countless families. The women undoubtedly played a large part in this decision to have fewer children, and this newly assertive role for women has been called _________ because it signified the growing power and independence of women.
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John Deere
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Inventor of the first steel plow in 1837; he made farming easier for pioneers of the West whose agricultural industries were quickly growing. It was sharp and effective, and was light enough to be pulled by horses, rather than oxen.
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Cyrus McCormick
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In the 1830s, this man created one of the most important inventions to Western farmers: a mechanical mower-reaper. The cogs of this horse-drawn machine were to the western farmers what the cotton gin was to the southern ones. With this machine, a single man could do the work of five men who had sickles and scythes. Essentially, he furthered the growing agrarianism of the West and bolstered their economy.
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Lancaster Turnpike
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A highway created in the 1790s in Philadelphia. It was a broad, hard-surfaced road that thrusted sixty-two miles westward from Philadelphia to Lancaster. It also required a toll, hence the term turnpike. This highway proved to a highly successful venture, returning as high as 15% annual dividends to its stockholders. It attracted a rich trade in Philadelphia and touched off a turnpike-building boom that lasted about twenty years. It also stimulated western development.
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Cumberland Road
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Constructed by the federal government in 1811, this highway ultimately stretched from Cumberland in western Maryland to Illinois, a distance of 591 miles. The War of 1812 interrupted construction and the states' rights shackles on internal improvements hampered federal grants. But it was belatedly brought to its destination in 1852 by a combination of aid from the states and the federal government. It furthered better transportation and therefore helped the economy by making trade easier.
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Robert Fulton
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He created the first successful steamboat by installing a powerful steam engine in a ship known as the Clermont. In 1807, this ship sailed 150 miles in 32 hours, thus kick-starting the revolutionary use of the steamboat. Essentially he helped to bolster the trade economy in this way and further transportation improvement.
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DeWitt Clinton
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He was a governor who organized and completed the creation of the Erie Canal, linking the Great Lakes with the Hudson River. Essentially, he helped the growing American economy and made trade immensely cheaper and faster with his help in the creation of the canal.
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Eerie Canal
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: This was a canal dug by New Yorkers, which was completed in 1825 and linked the Great Lakes to the Hudson River, expanding an entire 363 miles. The completion of the Erie Canal caused the economy to boom; costs of shipping went down tremendously, the time of transit also decreased, the value of land along the route skyrocketed—which blossomed new cities, immigration rates went up, trade was made more powerful and easier and America's economy altogether blossomed.
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The Iron Horse
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This was one of the most significant contributions to the trade economy and the improvement of American transportation, more commonly known as the railroad. The first railroad appeared in the US in 1828, and by 1860 the US boasted thirty thousand miles of railroad track. At first, the railroad faced much opposition and was wrought with danger, but soon enough it became accepted and soon became one of the best and most helpful transportation systems in the USA, furthering the newly industrialized economy.
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Cyrus Field
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A revolutionary of international communication; he stretched a telegraph cable under the North Atlantic waters from Newfoundland to Ireland in 1858. "The greatest wire puller in history", helped to link the European and American continents in communication.
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Donald McKay
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Well-known Boston owner of a Yankee naval-yard, which began to send down sleek new crafts called clipper ships. They were faster than steamers and more efficient for the trade economy/transportation, creating a golden age for American shipping in the 1840s-1850s.
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Pony Express
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: A legendary transportation system of mail in the West, established in 1860s. Horsemen would ride ponies that had been saddled at stations 10 miles apart, and could usually make the trip in an impressive time-span of ten days. They were unarmed and brave, yet the whole enterprise quickly lost money heavily and folded after only eighteen months. However, it became an important and enduring American legend.
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Market Revolution
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This was most notably the transformation from a disaggregated, substinence economy to a national commerce and industrial network in America. It mainly pened land new land for settlers, lowered transportation costs, made it easier to sell products, linked farmers to national/world markets, and made farmers major consumers of manufactured goods.
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Rober B. Taney
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In a famous 1837 Supreme Court Case, this Chief Justice, he claimed that a state had a right to place the public's convenience over that of a private or particular company, over the presumed right of monopoly granted in a corporate charter. Thus a company that had a prior long-term contract for a toll bridge over the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge, so in essence a monopoly on bridge traffic, could not prevent a second company from receiving another state contract to construct a competitive toll-free bridge. It advanced the interests of those who favored economic development.
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Second Great Awakening
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: A reaction against the growing liberalism in religion set in about 1800. A fresh wave of roaring revivals, beginning on the southern frontier but soon rolling even into the cities of the Northeast, sent this surging across the land. Sweeping up even more people than the first almost a century earlier, the Second Awakening was one of the most momentous episodes in the history of American religion. This tidal wave of spiritual fervor left in its wake countless converted souls, many shattered and reorganized churches, and numerous new sects. It also encouraged an evangelicalism that bubbled up into innumerable areas of American life—including prison reform, the temperance cause, the women's movement, and the crusade to abolish slavery.
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Unitarians
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As religion became more liberal, this new sect emerged, gathering momentum in New England at the end of the 18th century. Unitarians believed that God existed in only one person, and not in the orthodox Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit). Although denying the deity of Jesus, they stressed the essential goodness of human nature rather than its vileness like the Calvinists did. They proclaimed their belief in free will and the possibility of salvation through good works. Embraced by many leading thinkers, theis movement appealed mostly to intellectuals whose rationalism and optimism contrasted sharply with the doctrines of Calvinism. Their creation pushed angry Calvinists/Puritans/Congregationalists/etc. to the Second Great Awakening.
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Peter Cartwright
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The best-known of the Methodist "circuit riders," or traveling frontier preachers. This ill-educated but strong servant of the Lord ranged for a half-century from Tennessee to Illinois, calling upon sinners to repent during the Second Great Awakening. He converted thousands of souls to the Lord. Not only did he lash the Devil with his tongue, but with his fists he knocked out rowdies who tried to break up his meetings.
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Charles Finney
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The greatest of the revival preachers during the Second Great Awakening. He held huge crowds spellbound with the power of his oratory and the pungency of his message. He led massive revivals in Rochester and New York City in 1830 and 1831. He preached a version of the old-time religion, but he was also an innovator. He devised the "anxious bench" where repentant sinners could sit in full view of the congregation, and he encouraged women to pray aloud in public. He denounced both alcohol and slavery. Eventually he served as the president of Oberlin College in Ohio, which he helped to make a hotbed of revivalist activity and abolitionism.
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William Miller and Adventists
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These people arose in opposition to the "hellfire" preaching that was sweeping through Western New York. Led by William Miller, they interpreted the Bible to mean that Christ would return to earth on October 22, 1844. They gathered in prayerful assemblies to greet their Redeemer. The failure of Jesus to descend on schedule dampened but did not destroy the movement.
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Joseph Smith
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In 1830, this man reported that he had received some golden plates from an angel. When deciphered, they constituted the Book of Mormon, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) was launched. So, essentially, the creator of Mormonism. Murdered and mangled by a mob in Carthage, Illinois in 1844 due to the immense opposition of Mormonism in the region.
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Mormons
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Their Church was founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 (headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah), and they were/are a religious group that emphasized moderation, saving, hard work, and risk-taking. Sprang up due to the effects of the Second Great Awakening, were often persecuted by opposers and so migrated to Utah, where they became successful farmers and gained popularity.
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Brigham Young
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An important Mormon figure/Mormon Moses who took over the Mormon leadership after Joseph Smith's death. He quickly proved to be an aggressive leader, an eloquent preacher, and a gifted administrator. Determined to escape further persecution, Young in 1846-1847 led his oppressed and despoiled Mormons to Utah. He made the Mormon community a prosperous frontier theocracy and a cooperative commonwealth.
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Horace Mann
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(1789-1859) Secretary of the Mass. Board of Education. He campaigned effectively for more and better schoolhouses, longer school terms, higher pay for teachers, and an expanded curriculum. His influence radiated out to other states, and impressive improvements were made in most education systems throughout the US. He was a very important advocate in the education reform of the mid-19th century.
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Noah Webster
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1758-1843) He helped to make educational advances by writing improved textbooks. He was known as the "Schoolmaster of the Republic" and his "reading lessons," used by millions of children in the 19th century, were partly designed to promote patriotism. He also devoted twenty years to his famous dictionary, published in 1828, which helped to standardize the American language.
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McGuffey's Readers
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Grade school readers of William H. McGuffey (1800-1873) were first published in the 1830s and sold 122 million copies in the following decades. They became to be known as _________, and hammered home lasting lessons in morality, patriotism, and idealism, furthering education in America.
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Emma Willard
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1787-1870) An important feminist of the 19th century. In 1821 she established the Troy Female Seminary, opening education for women.
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Reformatories
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It was the belief of many 19th century activists during the Second Great Awakening that criminal codes in the states should be changed. They proposed the refreshing idea that prisons should reform as well as punish, thus becoming these, house of correction, or penitentiaries.
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Dorothea Dix
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(1802-1887) She was a New England teacher-author who traveled some sixty thousands miles in eight years and assembled her damning reports on insanity and asylums from first-hand observations. Though she never raised her voice, Her message was loud and clear. Her classic petition of 1843 to the Mass. Legislature turned legislative stomachs and hearts. Her persistent prodding resulted in improved conditions and in a gain for the concept that the demented were not wilfully perverse but mentally ill.
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American Peace Society
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Formed in 1828, this society attempted to put a stop to war and advocate peace all throughout the country, led by William Ladd (whose ideas were finally to bear some fruit in the international organizations for the collective security of the 20th century). This crusade, linked with a European counterpart, was making promising progress by midcentury, but it was set back by the bloodshed of various wars, including the Civil War in America.
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American Temperance Society
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Formed in Boston in 1826 against the consumption of alcohol which was seen as a sin, this society implored drinkers to sign the temperance pledge and organized children's clubs, known as the "Cold Water Army." Temperance crusaders also made effective use of pictures, pamphlets and lurid lectures, some of whom were reformed drunkards.
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Neal S. Dow
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A blue-nosed reformer from Maine who believed that temptation should be removed by legislation. He was strongly against alcohol and was known as the "Father of Prohibition", sponsoring the Maine Law of 1851 which prohibited the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor.
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Maine Law of 1851
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In opposition to the consumption of alcohol, which was seen as unholy among many reformers during this time, this law was put through in Maine in 1851. It prohibited the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor. It spurred other states to do the same, and by 1857 about a dozen had passed various prohibition laws. But within a decade some of the statues were repealed or declared unconstitutional.
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Lucretia Mott
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A prominent women's rights figure of the mid-19th century. She was a Quaker whose ire had been aroused when she and her fellow female delegates to the London antislavery convention of 1840 were not recognized because they were women. She quickly started opposition to this unfair balance of rights and kick-started the early feminist movement.
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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Another prominent feminist figure of the mid-19th century. She was a mother of seven who had insisted on leaving "obey" out of her marriage ceremony, and shocked fellow feminists by going so far as to advocate suffrage for women. Another woman who pushed for reform in the growing feminist movement.
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Susan B. Anthony
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: She was a 19th century militant lecturer for women's rights, and fearlessly exposed herself to rotten garbage and vulgar epithets simply to speak for what she believed in: the equal rights of women. She became such a conspicuous advocate of female rights. A famous icon and advocate who helped push the feminist movement to grow.
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Lucy Stone
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A feminist of the 19th century who retained her maiden name after marriage—hence the nickname for "Lucy Stoners" that follow her example. Another woman who helped the growing feminist movement by defying the system to gain equal rights.
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Bloomers
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A piece of clothing named after feminist Amelia Bloomer, who boldly abandoned regular female attire by donning a semi-masculine short skirt with Turkish trousers. Another bold, fighting step towards equal rights for women.
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Seneca Falls, NY
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Meeting place of the memorable Woman's Rights Convention of 1848. Here, the defiant Stanton read a Declaration of Sentiments, which in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence declared that all men and women are created equal. One resolution formally demanded the ballot for females. Amid scorn and denunciation from press and pulpit, the Seneca Falls meeting launched the modern women's rights movement.
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Robert Owen
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In seeking human betterment, this wealthy textile manufacturer found a communal society in 1825 of about a thousand people at New Harmony, Indiana. Very little harmony actually prevailed in the colony, however, which attracted radicals, work-shy theorists, and out-right scoundrels. The colony sank in a morass of contradiction and confusion. But he was an example of the growing movement for Utopias during this time period.
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The Brook Farm
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Mass., started in 1841. Another Utopian group of about twenty intellectuals that committed to the philosophy of transcendentalism. They proposed reasonably well until 1846, when they lost by fire a large new communal building shortly before its completion. The whole venture in "plain living and high thinking" then collapsed in debt. Another failed Utopian colony.
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Oneida Community
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A radical utopian experiment founded in New York in 1848. It practiced free love (complex marriage), birth control, and the eugenic selection of parents to produce superior offspring. This curious enterprise flourished for more than thirty years, largely because its artisans made superior steel traps and ________ (silver) Plate. They were another testament to the growing Utopian movement
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Shakers
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: One of the longest-lived sects of the Utopian Communities. Led by Mother Ann Lee, they began in the 1770s to set up the first of a score or so of religious communities. They attained a membership of about six thousand in 1840, but since their monastic customs prohibited both marriage and sexual relations, they were virtually extinct by 1940.
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John J. Audubon
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(1785-1851). This famous American (but French-descended) naturalist/artist was most famous for painting wild fowl in their natural habitat. His magnificently illustrated Birds of America attained considerable popularity. The Audubon Society for the protection of birds was named after him. One of the many artists/prominent figure who helped to shape American culture and society.
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The Hudson River School
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Founded by Thomas Cole, this was the first native school of landscape painting in the US. It attracted artists that were rebelling against the neoclassical tradition of art style, and many of its students painted scenes of New York's Hudson River. Was another revolutionary step in shaping America's art and culture.
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Stephen C. Foster
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(1826-1864). The most famous black songs, ironically enough, came from this white Pennsylvanian. His one excursion into the South occurred in 1852, after he had published "Old Folks at Home." He made a valuable contribution to American folk music by capturing the plaintive spirit of the slaves.
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The Knickerbocker Group
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This was a group in New York that wrote brilliant literature and thus enabled America to boast for the first time of a unique literature all its own that matched its beautiful landscapes and other redeeming features.
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Transcendentalists
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Religious reformers who rejected the prevailing theory (derived from John Locke) that all knowledge comes to the mind through the sense. Truth, rather, "transcends" the senses: it cannot be found by observation alone. Each person has an inner light that can illuminate the highest truth and put him or her in direct touch with God, or the "Oversoul." These are the beliefs of the transcendentalists. They had a stiff-backed individualism in matters religious as well as social, associated with a commitment to self-reliance, self-culture, and self-discipline.
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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(1807-1882). He was a literary giant in America, who for many years taught modern languages at Harvard College, and was one of the most popular poets ever produced in America. He was adopted by the less cultured masses. Most of his best poems were based on American traditions. He was also immensely popular in Europe and became the only American ever to be honored with a bust in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. He was extremely important to America's cultural and literary growth.
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Literary Dissenters
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These were writers who did not believe so keenly in human goodness and social progress. They include authors such as Edgar Allen Poe, who excelled at the short story, especially of the horror type. He reflected a morbid sensibility distincty at odds with the optimistic tone of American culture. Others include Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter and Herman Melville, famous author of Moby Dick. These ________ and individualists shaped the culture of America with their literature and skill.
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