War of 1812 and era of good feelings – Flashcards
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Embargo of 1807
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This act issued by Jefferson forbade American trading ships from leaving the U.S. It was meant to force Britain and France to change their policies towards neutral vessels by depriving them of American trade. It was difficult to enforce because it was opposed by merchants and everyone else whose livelihood depended upon international trade. It also hurt the national economy, so it was replaced by the Non-Intercourse Act.
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Non-Intercourse Act
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1809 - Replaced the Embargo of 1807. Unlike the Embargo, which forbade American trade with all foreign nations, this act only forbade trade with France and Britain. It did not succeed in changing British or French policy towards neutral ships, so it was replaced by Macon's Bill No. 2.
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Macon's Bill #2
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1810 - Forbade trade with Britain and France, but offered to resume trade with whichever nation lifted its neutral trading restrictions first. France quickly changed its policies against neutral vessels, so the U.S. resumed trade with France, but not Britain.
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War Hawks
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Western settlers who advocated war with Britain because they hoped to aquire Britain's northwest posts (and also Florida or even Canada) and because they felt the British were aiding the Indians and encouraging them to attack the Americans on the frontier. In Congress, the War Hawks were Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun.
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Hartford Convention
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December 1814 - A convention of New England merchants who opposed the Embargo and other trade restriction, and the War of 1812. They proposed some Amendments to the Constitution and advocated the right of states to nullify federal laws. They also discussed the idea of seceding from the U.S. if their desires were ignored. The Hartford Convention turned public sentiment against the Federalists and led to the demise of the party.
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Treaty of Ghent
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December 24, 1814 - Ended the War of 1812 and restored the status quo. For the most part, territory captured in the war was returned to the original owner. It also set up a commission to determine the disputed Canada/U.S. border.
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Tariff of 1816
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This protective tariff helped American industry by raising the prices of British manufactured goods, which were often cheaper and of higher quality than those produced in the U.S.
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Bonus Bill Veto
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March, 1817 - Madison vetoed John C. Calhoun's Bonus Bill, which would have used the bonus money paid to the government by the Second National Bank to build roads and canals. Madison believed in strict interpretation, and using federal money for internal improvements is not a power granted to the federal government in the Constitution.
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Rush-Bagot Treaty
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1817 - This treaty between the U.S. and Great Britain (which controlled Canada) provided for the mutual disarmament of the Great Lakes. This was later expanded into an unarmed Canada/U.S. border.
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Adams-Onis Treaty
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Spain gave up Florida to the U.S. and the U.S./Mexico border was set so that Texas and the American Southwest would be part of Mexico.
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Panic of 1819
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A natural post-war depression caused by overproduction and the reduced demand for goods after the war. However, it was generally blamed on the National Bank.
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Monroe Doctrine
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1823 - Declared that Europe should not interfere in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere and that any attempt at interference by a European power would be seen as a threat to the U.S. It also declared that a New World colony which has gained independence may not be recolonized by Europe. (It was written at a time when many South American nations were gaining independence). Only England, in particular George Canning, supported the Monroe Doctrine. Mostly just a show of nationalism, the doctrine had no major impact until later in the 1800s.
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Era of Good Feelings
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A name for President Monroe's two terms, a period of strong nationalism, economic growth, and territorial expansion. Since the Federalist party dissolved after the War of 1812, there was only one political party and no partisan conflicts.
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Missouri:Tallmadge and Thomas Amendment
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When Missouri applied for statehood, there was a dispute over whether it would be admitted as a slave state or a free state. The Tallmadge Amendment was a bill which would have admitted Missouri with its existing slave population, but would forbid the introduction of additional slaves and free all slave children at age 25. The Thomas Amendment was a bill which would have admitted Missouri as a slave state but forbid slavery north of the 36°30" latitude in the Louisiana Purchase region. Neither bill was put into effect.
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Missouri Compromise, provisions
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Admitted Missouri as a slave state and at the same time admitted Maine as a free state. Declared that all territory north of the 36°30" latitude would become free states, and all territory south of that latitude would become slave states.
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Samuel Slater
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When he emigrated from England to America in the 1790s, he brought with him the plans to an English factory. With these plans, he helped build the first factory in America.
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Robert Fulton
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A famous inventor, Robert Fulton designed and built America's first steamboat, the Clermont in 1807. He also built the Nautilus, the first practical submarine.
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Eli Whitney
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1798 - He developed the cotton gin, a machine which could separate cotton form its seeds. This invention made cotton a profitable crop of great value to the Southern economy. It also reinforced the importance of slavery in the economy of the South.
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Boston Associates, Lowell Massachusetts
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The Boston Associates were a group of Boston businessmen who built the first power loom. In 1814 in Waltham, Massachusetts, they opened a factory run by Lowell. Their factory made cloth so cheaply that women began to buy it rather than make it themselves.
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Daniel Webster
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A great American orator. He gave several important speeches, first as a lawyer, then as a Congressman. He was a major representative of the North in pre-Civil War Senate debates, just as Sen. John C. Calhoun was the representative of the South in that time.
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James Monroe
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James Monroe was the last president of the "Virginia Dynasty" and the last candidate to run for president unopposed. He received all electoral votes but one.
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Henry Clay; American system
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Proposed after the War of 1812, it included using federal money for internal improvements (roads, bridges, industrial improvements, etc.), enacting a protective tariff to foster the growth of American industries, and strengthening the national bank.
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Fletcher v. Peck
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1810 - A state had tried to revoke a land grant on the grounds that it had been obtained by corruption. The Court ruled that a state cannot arbitrarily interfere with a person's property rights. Since the land grant wass a legal contract, it could not be repealed, even if corruption was involved.
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McCulloch v. Maryland
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1819 - This decision upheld the power of Congress to charter a bank as a government agency, and denied the state the power to tax that agency.
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Dartmouth College v. Woodward
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1819 - This decision declared private corporation charters to be contracts and immune form impairment by states' legislative action. It freed corporations from the states which created them.
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Gibbons v. Ogden
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1824 - This case ruled that only the federal government has authority over interstate commerce.
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Corrupt Bargain
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The charge made by Jacksonians in 1825 that Clay had supported John Quincy Adams in the House presidential vote in return for the office of Secretary of State. Clay knew he could not win, so he traded his votes for an office.
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Tariff of Abominations
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1828 - Also called Tariff of 1828, it raised the tariff on imported manufactured goods. The tariff protected the North but harmed the South; South said that the tariff was economically discriminatory and unconstitutional because it violated state's rights. It passed because New England favored high tariffs.
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South Carolina Exposition and Protest
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Vice-President Calhoun anonymously published the essay South Carolina Exposition, which proposed that each state in the union counter the tyranny of the majority by asserting the right to nullify an unconstitutional act of Congress. It was written in reaction to the Tariff of 1828, which he said placed the Union in danger and stripped the South of its rights. South Carolina had threatened to secede if the tariff was not revoked; Calhoun suggested state nullification as a more peaceful solution.
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Age of Common Man
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Jackson's presidency was the called the Age of the Common Man. He felt that government should be run by common people - a democracy based on self-sufficient middle class with ideas formed by liberal education and a free press. All white men could now vote, and the increased voting rights allowed Jackson to be elected.
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National Republicans
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After the 1824 election, part of the Democratic - Republican party joined John Q. Adams, Clay, and Daniel Webster to oppose Andrew Jackson. They favored nationalistic measures like recharter of the Bank of the United States, high tariffs, and internal improvements at national expense. They were supported mainly by Northwesterners and were not very successful. They were conservatives alarmed by Jackson's radicalness; they joined with the Whigs in the 1830's.
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Franchise Extended, spoils system
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Franchise extended - more people were given the right to vote, even men who owned no land. Spoils system - "To the victor go the spoils" - the winner of the election may do whatever they want with the staff. Jackson made more staff changes than any previous president, firing many people and replacing them with his own.
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Kitchen Cabinet
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A small group of Jackson's friends and advisors who were especially influential in the first years of his presidency. Jackson conferred with them instead of his regular cabinet. Many people didn't like Jackson ignoring official procedures, and called it the "Kitchen Cabinet" or "Lower Cabinet".
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Cherokee Indian Removal, "Trail of Tears"
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A minority of the Cherokee tribe, despite the protest of the majority, had surrendered their Georgia land in the 1835 Treaty of New Echota. During the winter of 1838 - 1839, troops under General Winfield Scott evicted them from their homes in Georgia and moved them to Oklahoma Indian country. Many died on the trail; the journey became known as the "Trail of Tears".
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Worchester v. Georgia
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The Supreme Court decided Georgia had no jurisdiction over Cherokee reservations. Georgia refused to enforce decision and President Jackson didn't support the Court.
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Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
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The Supreme Court ruled that Indians weren't independent nations but dependent domestic nations which could be regulated by the federal government. From then until 1871, treaties were formalities with the terms dictated by the federal government.
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Whigs: origins
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Whigs were conservatives and popular with pro-Bank people and plantation owners. They mainly came from the National Republican Party, which was once largely Federalists. They took their name from the British political party that had opposed King George during the American Revolution. Among the Whigs were Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and, for a while, Calhoun. Their policies included support of industry, protective tariffs, and Clay's American System. They were generally upper class in origin.
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Maysville Road Veto
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1830 - The Maysville Road Bill proposed building a road in Kentucky (Clay's state) at federal expense. Jackson vetoed it because he didn't like Clay, and Martin Van Buren pointed out that New York and Pennsylvania paid for their transportation improvements with state money. Applied strict interpretation of the Constitution by saying that the federal government could not pay for internal improvements.
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Clay, Bank Recharter Bill
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The Bank of the United States was chartered by Congress in 1791; it held government funds and was also commercial. It wasn't rechartered in 1811, but a second bank was established in 1816 (1/5 government owned). Jackson opposed it, saying it drove other banks out of business and favored the rich, but Clay favored it.
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Nicholas Biddle
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Nicholas Biddle became the bank's president. He made the bank's loan policy stricter and testified that, although the bank had enormous power, it didn't destroy small banks. The bank went out of business in 1836 amid controversy over whether the National Bank was constitutional and should be rechartered.
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Foote Resolution
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An 1830 bill by Samuel A. Foote to limit the sale of public lands in the west to new settlers.
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Webster-Hayne Debate
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The Webster-Hayne debate in 1830 was over an 1830 bill by Samuel A. Foote to limit the sale of public lands in the west to new settlers. Daniel Webster, in a dramatic speech, showed the danger of the states' rights doctrine, which permitted each state to decide for itself which laws were unconstitutional, claiming it would lead to civil war. States' rights (South) vs. nationalism (North).
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Peggy Eaton Affair
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Social scandal (1829-1831) - John Eaton, Secretary of War, stayed with the Timberlakes when in Washington, and there were rumors of his affair with Peggy Timberlake even before her husband died in 1828. Many cabinet members snubbed the socially unacceptable Mrs. Eaton. Jackson sided with the Eatons, and the affair helped to dissolve the cabinet - especially those members associated with John C. Calhoun (V.P.), who was against the Eatons and had other problems with Jackson.
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Clay, Compromise Tariff of 1833
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Henry Clay devised the Compromise Tariff of 1833 which gradually reduced the rates levied under the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832. It caused South Carolina to withdraw the ordinance nullifying the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832. Both protectionists and anti-protectionists accepted the compromise.
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Force Bill
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1833 - The Force Bill authorized President Jackson to use the army and navy to collect duties on the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832. South Carolina's ordinance of nullification had declared these tariffs null and void, and South Carolina would not collect duties on them. The Force Act was never invoked because it was passed by Congress the same day as the Compromise Tariff of 1833, so it became unnecessary. South Carolina also nullified the Force Act.
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Specie Circular
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1863 - The Specie Circular, issued by President Jackson July 11, 1836, was meant to stop land speculation caused by states printing paper money without proper specie (gold or silver) backing it. The Circular required that the purchase of public lands be paid for in specie. It stopped the land speculation and the sale of public lands went down sharply. The panic of 1837 followed.
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Charles River Bridge Decision
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1837 - The Charles River Bridge Decision, delivered by Roger B. Taney, modified C.J. Marshall's ruling in the Darmouth College Case of 1819, which said that a state could not make laws infringing on the charters of private organizations. Taney ruled that a charter granted by a state to a company cannot work to the disadvantage of the public. The Charles River Bridge Company protested when the Warren Bridge Company was authorized in 1828 to build a free bridge where it had been chartered to operate a toll bridge in 1785. The court ruled that the Charles River Company was not granted a monopoly right in their charter, and the Warren Company could build its bridge. Began the legal concept that private companies cannot injure the public welfare.
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Dorr's Rebellion
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In 1841, Rhode Island was governed by a 1663 charter which said that only property holders and their eldest sons could vote (1/2 the adult male population). Thomas Dorr led a group of rebels who wrote a new constitution and elected him governor in 1842. The state militia was called in to stop the rebellion. Dorr was sentenced to life imprisonment, but the sentence was withdrawn. Dorr's Rebellion caused conservatives to realize the need for reform. A new constitution in 1843 gave almost all men the right to vote.
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Transcendentalism
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A philosophy pioneered by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 1830's and 1840's, in which each person has direct communication with God and Nature, and there is no need for organized churches. It incorporated the ideas that mind goes beyond matter, intuition is valuable, that each soul is part of the Great Spirit, and each person is part of a reality where only the invisible is truly real. Promoted individualism, self-reliance, and freedom from social constraints, and emphasized emotions.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Essayist, poet. A leading transcendentalist, emphasizing freedom and self-reliance in essays which still make him a force today. He had an international reputation as a first-rate poet. He spoke and wrote many works on the behalf of the Abolitionists.
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Henry David Thoreau
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A transcendentalist and friend of Emerson. He lived alone on Walden Pond with only $8 a year from 1845-1847 and wrote about it in Walden. In his essay, "On Civil Disobedience," he inspired social and political reformers because he had refused to pay a poll tax in protest of slavery and the Mexican-American War, and had spent a night in jail. He was an extreme individualist and advised people to protest by not obeying laws (passive resistance).
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Orestes Brownson
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Presbyterian layman, Universalist minister, Unitarian preacher and founder of his own church in Boston. Spent his life searching for his place and supporting various causes. As an editor, he attacked organized Christianity and won a large intellectual New England following. Then turned Roman Catholic and became a strong defender of Catholicism in Brownson's Quarterly Review, from 1844 until his death.
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Margaret Fuller
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Social reformer, leader in women's movement and a transcendentalist. Edited The Dial (1840-1842), which was the puplication of the transcendentalists. It appealed to people who wanted "perfect freedom", "progress in philosophy and theology . . . and hope that the future will not always be as the past."
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Essex Junto
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The Essex Junto was a group of extreme Federalists led by Aaron Burr who advocated New England's secession from the U.S.
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Convention of 1818
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Set the border between the U.S. and Canada at the 49th parallel (or latitude). Also affirmed U.S. rights to fisheries along Newfoundland and Labrador.
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Erie Canal; Dewitt Clinton
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1825 - The Erie canal was opened as a toll waterway connecting New York to the Great Lakes. The canal was approved in 1817 with the support of New York's Governor, Dewitt Clinton. Along with the Cumberland Road, it helped connect the North and the West.
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Jacksonian Democracy; characteristics
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The Jacksonian era (1829-1841) included many reforms: free public schools, more women's rights, better working conditions in factories, and the rise of the Abolition movement. In the election, Jackson was portrayed as a common man and his opponent, J.Q. Adams, was attacked for his aristocratic principles. Electors in the electorial college were also chosen by popular vote. Common man, nationalism, National Nominating Conventions.
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Election of 1832
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Andrew Jackson (Democrat) ran for re-election with V.P. Martin Van Buren. The main issue was his veto of the recharter of the U.S. Bank, which he said was a monopoly. Henry Clay (Whig), who was pro-Bank, ran against him The Anti-Masonic Party nominated William Wirt. This was the first election with a national nominating convention. Jackson won - 219 to Clay's 49 and Wirt's 1. The Masons were a semi-secret society devoted to libertarian principles to which most educated or upper-class men of the Revolutionary War era belonged. The Anti-Masons sprang up as a reaction to the perceived elitism of the Masons, and the new party took votes from the Whigs, helping Jackson to win the election.
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Pre-Emption Act 1841
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This was to help settlers who occupied land and improved it before surveys were done. Without it, settlers could be outbid for the land. Some speculators used "floaters" to pre-empt land for them.
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Tariff of 1842
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A protective tariff signed by President John Tyler, it raised the general level of duties to about where they had been before the Compromise Tariff of 1833. Also banned pornography by increasing its cost.
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Herman Melville
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Wrote Moby Dick (1851) about a Captain Ahab who seeks revenge on the white whale that crippled him but ends up losing his life, his ship, and his crew. Wasn't popular at the time but now highly regarded. Melville rejected the optimism of the transcendentalists and felt that man faced a tragic destiny. His views were not popular at the time, but were accepted by later generations.
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James Fenimore Cooper
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American novelist. The Spy (1821) was about the American Revolution. The Pioneers (1823) tells of an old scout returning to his boyhood home and is one of the Leatherstocking Tales, a series of novels about the American frontier, for which Cooper was famous. (Leatherstocking is the scout.) Cooper later stayed in Europe for seven years, and when he returned he was disgusted by American society because it didn't live up to his books. Cooper emphasized the independence of individuals and importance of a stable social order. Last of the Mohicans 1826 - It is about a scout named Hawkeye during the French and Indian War, while he was in his prime. It is one of the Leatherstocking Tales, about a frontiersman and a noble Indian, and the clash between growing civilization and untamed wilderness.
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Denmark Vessey
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Originally Telemaque, (1767? - July 2, 1822) was an African American slave brought to the United States from the Caribbean. After purchasing his freedom, he planned what would have been one of the largest slave rebellions in the United States.
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Nat Turner
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United States slave and insurrectionist who in 1831 led a rebellion of slaves in Virginia; he was captured and executed (1800-1831).
