APUSH Terms Chs. 1-15 (All)

Walt Whitman

"The Poet of American Democracy". expresses love of democracy through poetry.

Robert Owen

(1771-1858) was a Scottish self-made cotton manufacturer and philanthropist. He had pioneered in industrial relations by combining firm discipline with concern for the health, safety, and hours of his workers. After 1815, he experimented with cooperative and socialist communities, founding one in Indiana called New Harmony, which was a total failure

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

(1815-1902) A suffragette who, with Lucretia Mott, organized the first convention on women's rights, held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. Issued the Declaration of Sentiments which declared men and women to be equal and demanded the right to vote for women. Co-founded the National Women's Suffrage Association with Susan B. Anthony in 1869.

American Colonization Society

1817- est. by Virginians worried of the impact of slavery and race on society. They argued slavery had to end, and Americans had to send black slaves back to Africa. Was a failure of a plan. Few planters freed their slaves, some blacks didn't want to leave even. America even bought land in africa, liberia, to place the slaves. Only six thousand slaves were transported. West coast of africa.

Prigg vs. Pennsylvania

1842: Court ruled return of fugitive slaves was a federal power, thus making unconstitutional Pennsylvania's law prohibiting the capture and return of fugitive slaves

Gabriel Prosser

1st slave rebellion, 1,000 slaves ready to fight, but are betrayed.

Leatherstocking Tales

A collection of James Fenimore Cooper's stories: include The Last of the Mohicans and The Deerslayer

De Bow's Review

A magazine that strongly advocated the southern commercial and agricultural expansion. However, shows dependency of the South on the North: had to be printed in the North because the South had no adequate facilities, always ran ads for Northern companies, and never achieved the circulation of Northern magazines

Transcendentalism

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.

Temperance

A reform movement that crusaded against alcohol and public drunkenness. Many women were involved in this movement, because they believed that alcoholism put a especial burden on wives. Notable names: The American Society of Temperance, Washington Temperance Society. Divided between banning hard liquor and banning all alcohol.

Dorothea Dix

A reformer and pioneer in the movement to treat the insane as mentally ill, and separating them from actual criminals, beginning in the 1820's. She was responsible for improving conditions in jails, poorhouses and insane asylums throughout the U.S. and Canada. She succeeded in persuading many states to assume responsibility for the care of the mentally ill. She wanted to rehabilitate inmates so they could successfully integrate into society.

Prudence Crandell

A school teacher that tried to admit several African-American girls into her private school in Connecticut. She is arrested, has trash thrown in her well, and is forced to close down the school.

Battle of San Jacinto

A surprise attack by Texas forces lead by General Sam Houston on Santa Ana's camp on April 21; 1836. Santa Ana's men were surprised and overrun in twenty minutes. Santa Ana was taken prisoner and signed an armistice securing Texas independence. Mexicans - 1;500 dead; 1;000 captured. Texans - 4 dead.

Henry David Thoreau

American writer. A seminal figure in the history of American thought, he spent much of his life in Concord, Massachusetts, where he became associated with the New England transcendentalists and lived for two years on the shore of Walden Pond (1845-1847). His works include "Civil Disobedience" (1849) and Walden (1854). Went to jail because he did not pay his taxes in protest of the Mexican-American War. Role model for many civil leaders to follow.

Santa Fe

City in New Mexico, which was captured by Colonel Stephen W. Kearny's troops in the summer of 1846.

Manifest Destiny

Coined in the 1840s by the Jacksonian Democrats, was the belief that the United States was "destined" by God to spread from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. Also driven by a sense of white superiority. Used to promote the annexation of most of the Western United States (Oregon Territory, Texas Annexation, and the Mexican Cessation). Always regarded as a general idea rather than a specific policy.

King Cotton

Expression used by Southern authors and orators before the Civil War to indicate the economic dominance of the Southern cotton industry, and that the North needed the South's cotton. In a speech to the Senate in 1858, James Hammond declared, "You daren't make war against cotton! ...Cotton is king!".

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

February 2 1848. The agreement between President Polk and the new Mexican government for Mexico to cede California and New Mexico to the US and acknowledge the Rio Grand as the boundary of Texas. In return, the US promised to assume any financial claims its new citizens had against Mexico and to pay the Mexicans $15 million. Who wants to party?

Elijah Lovejoy

Former Presbyterian minister; established a reform paper: St. Louis Observer; moved to Alton, IL. (Alton Observer); against slavery and injustices inflicted against blacks; is a martyr for the anti-slavery movement for he was killed by a mob in 1835. First white casualty in the abolition struggle

Shakers

Founded by "Mother" Ann Lee. Believed in celibacy. Separated man and women so relied on adult converts. Protestant religious sect during 2nd awakening. They also believed that their lives should be dedicated to pursuing perfection and continuously confessing their sins and attempting a cessation of sinning. Elevated position of women to equals of men.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas

Frederick Douglas' autobiography

Zachary Taylor

General that was a military leader in Mexican-American War and 12th president of the United States. Sent by president Polk to lead the American Army against Mexico.

Horace Mann

He was an idealistic graduate of Brown University, secretary of the Massachusetts board of education. He was involved in the reformation of public education (1825-1850). He campaigned for better school houses, longer school terms, higher pay for teachers (doubles it), and an expanded curriculum (shifting texts toward more secular subjects). He caused a reformation of the public schools, many of the teachers were untrained for that position. Led to educational advances in text books by Noah Webster and William H. McGuffey.

Cult of Honor

Importance of southern white male to keep their dignity, authority and manhood. This often took the form of avenging insults, which was a social necessity and the gentlemen's obligation. An example of this is the scenario with Senators Preston Brooks and Charles Sumner.

Dark horse

In politics, this is when an unknown candidate is elected or nominated

Martin Van Buren

In the election of 1844, he and Henry Clay, the two leading presidential candidates, tried to avoid taking a stand on the topic of Texas. He was passed over for nomination by the Southern Democrats, who were pro-annexation, in favor of James K. Polk

Indian Reservations

Indians were sent to reservations to "protect their culture". In reality, these reservations just pulled Indians off of lands the whites wanted and kept them separate from American society.

American Antislavery Society

It was an organization in opposition to slavery founded in 1833 by William Lloyd Garrison. Membership was huge. In 1840, issues such as the role of women in the abolitionist movement, and role of abolitionists as a political party led to the division of the organization into two parts. Because the organization never had control over the many local antislavery societies, its division did not greatly damage abolitionism.

Oneida Community

It was founded by John Humphrey Noyes. It was a group of socio-religious perfectionists who lived in New York. They practiced polygamy, communal property and communal raising of children. (Utopian society).

John Brown

John Brown was a militant abolitionist that took radical extremes to make his views clear. In May of 1856, Brown led a group of his followers to Pottawattamie Creek and launched a bloody attack against pro-slavery men killing five people. This began violent retaliation against Brown and his followers. This violent attack against slavery helped give Kansas its nick name, "bleeding Kansas". Also, Harper's Ferry Raid, in 1859, he seized the U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry. He planned to end slavery by massacring slave owners and freeing their slaves. He was captured and executed by federal troops lead by Robert E. Lee. Called the meteor that started the civil war.

Tejanos

Mexican residents of Texas. Many fought with the Americans in the Revolution, but after Texas was independent, the Americans didn't trust them. The Americans feared they were spies and drove many out of Texas.

Annexationists

People who wanted the United States to expand under Manifest Destiny. They supported adding territories like Oregon, California and Texas to the United States --> questions about slavery in new territories

Margaret Fuller

Social reformer, leader in women's movement and a transcendentalist who was heavily influenced by Emerson. Edited "The Dial" which was the publication 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"., She was the first female foreign correspondent and wrote for Greeley's New York Tribune., Social reformer, leader in women's movement and a transcendentalist. Edited "The Dial" which was the publication 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". (She lived at Brook Farm at one point).

Grimké Sisters

South Carolinian sisters that were both outspoken abolitionists and feminists. They argued that both men and women were created equal, and a woman can do what a man can.

Task System

System where slaves would be assigned to complete 1 task in the morning and then given the rest of the day off

Mexican American War

Tension with Mexico increased after United States annexed Texas and brought slaves there even though Mexico had outlawed slavery and even though America promised the Spanish rights in the southwest in the Adams-Ónis treaty in 1819; sparked by eleven Americans killed "on American soil,"; Polk sent war message to Congress; Most of war fought in Mexico; most of battles won by United States, which gains California and New Mexico.

Old Northwest

Territories acquired by the federal government from the states, encompassing land northwest of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes. The well-organized management and sale of the land in the territories under the land ordinances of 1785 and 1787 established a precedent for handling future land acquisitions. This territory supplied many of the immigrants for the western expansion. Most were relatively prosperous, young people who had some kind of migration experience before.

Goliad

Texas outpost where American volunteers, having laid down their arms and surrendered, were massacred by Mexican forces in 1836. The incident, along with the slaughter at the Alamo, fueled American support for Texan independence.

Bear Flag Revolution

The California Revolution against Mexico; Kearny joined a party led by John C Fremont in a conflict being staged by American settlers ( a well armed exploring navy). Kearny brought the disparate American forces together and by Autumn of 1846 he conquered California.

Stephen W Kearny

The Colonel that captures Santa Fe and then moves on to claim California.

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

The Mexican general at the Alamo, and was defeated by Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto; Mexico's political leader who influenced early Mexican politics; Mexico's president for 22 non-consecutive years

Slave Codes

The laws that governed slaves rights. They were not very strictly enforced unless there was a blatant violation.

John A. Sutter

The man who owned the sawmill that started the California Gold Rush

Genius of Universal Emancipation

The newspaper that William Lloyd Garrison worked for previously, the leading antislavery magazine at the time, which was run by NJ Quaker Benjamin Lundy. However, this is more moderate than the Liberator.

Liberty Party

The political party that expressed abolitionist sentiment in Congress, nominating James G. Birney for president. Never campaigned for outright abolition, but "Free-soil", meaning that they wanted no slavery in the territories .

Oregon Territory

The territory comprised what arenow the states of Oregon and Washington; and portions of what became British Columbia; Canada. This land was claimed by both the U.S. and Britain and was held jointly under the Convention of 1818.

Resistance to Civil Government

Thoreau essay on how to civilly defy the government. Explains thatan individual's morality has precedence to his actions, and a government that required a violation of these morals had no legitimate authority

Seneca Falls Convention

Took place in upper New York state in 1848. Women of all ages and even some men went to discuss the rights and conditions of women. There, they wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, which among other things, tried to get women the right to vote.

Plain folk

Typical white southern, not a great planter, but a yeomen farmer with a few slaves or no slaves at all. Usually devoted to subsistence farming (farming what you can eat). Not much social mobility

Edgar Allen Poe

Was an American poet, short-story writer, editor and literary critic, and is considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, wrote The Raven. Explores themes of exploring beyond the intellect.

Cavalier Myth

White southerners were "cavaliers"-happily free from the base, acquistive instinct of the "yankees" to their north; more concerned w/ a refined and gracious way of life than w/rapid growth &development. This is what created how we think of southerners of this time; "southern gentlemen and ladies"

The Liberator

William Lloyd Garrison's weekly newspaper

Liberia

a West African nation founded in 1822 by the American Colonization Society to serve as a homeland for free blacks to settle, with a capital at Monrovia.

Walden

a book about Thoreau's experiences of living away from man on the shores of this titular pond.

The Scarlet Letter

a book by Nathaniel Hawthorne that explores the price an individual pays when they cut themselves off from society

Wilmot Proviso

a proposal to ban slavery in the territory acquired from Mexico. Passes in the House, but fails in the Senate.

Declaration of Sentiments

a speech by Elizabeth Cady Stanton that was the result of the Seneca Falls Convention. It was patterned after the Declaration of Independence, saying that women had certain unalienable rights. Heavily influenced by Quaker ideology, as all but Elizabeth C Stanton were Quaker. More importantly, the document rejected the idea of separate gender spheres.

Nicolas Trist

agent who was authorized to negotiate a settlement, reached an agreement to end the Mexican war on Feb.2 1848 treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico ceded California, New Mexico and acknowledged Rio-Grande as a Texas boundary, U.S promised to take over Mexico's debts to the citizens of the new territories and pay Mexico 15 million, Trist obtained most of Polk's original demands

Self Reliance

an essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, emphasizing the importance of the individual

Antebellum Period

an expression derived from Latin that means "before war". In United States history and historiography, "antebellum" is commonly used, in lieu of "pre-Civil War," in reference to the period of increasing sectionalism that led up to the American Civil War. In that sense, the Antebellum Period is often considered to have begun with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, though it is sometimes stipulated to extend back as early as 1812. Also, the time period during which there were many reforms, including the establishment of free (tax-supported) public schools, improving the treatment of the mentally ill, controlling/abolishing the sale of alcohol, winning equal legal/political rights for women, and abolishing slavery.

Elizabeth Blackwell

and English-born immigrant, she was the first female licensed to practice medicine in the United States, she helped form the US Sanitary Commission, which fed and cared for wounded troops in the Civil War.

Civil Disobedience

another essay about how to practice civil disobedience (more famous)

Burned Over District

area of New York State along the Erie Canal that was constantly aflame with revivalism and reform; as wave after wave to fervor broke over the region, groups such as the Mormons, Shakers, and Millerites found support among the residents. The nickname was coined by Charles Grandison Finney

Unitarianism

belief that God existed in only one person (hence unitarian), and not in the orthodox Trinity; denied the divinity of Jesus; stressed the essential goodness of human nature rather than its vileness; believed in free will and the possibility of salvation through good works; God as a loving father rather than stern Creator; followed by Ralph Waldo Emerson; appealed to intellectuals whose rationalism and optimism naturally made them not support the hellfire doctrines of Calvinism (especially predestination and human depravity)

Abolitionists

believed that slavery should be prohibited everywhere in US; and contribute to the increases in conflict over slavery; Famous one: Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin

Joint Occupation

both the United States and Britain had claimed sovereignty over Oregon country, and unable to resolve their conflicting claims diplomatically, they agreed in an 1818 treaty to allow citizens of both countries to have equal access to the territory, this lasted for twenty years.

John C Fremont

captain and explorer who was in CA with several dozen well-armed men when the Mexican War erupted. Helped overthrow Mexican rule in 1846 by collaborating with Americans who'd tried to raise banner of CA Bear Republic; helped take CA from inside, along with the US Navy and Colonel Stephen W. Kearny.

Davey Crockett

fought at the battle of the Alamo after losing re-election for Congress in Tennessee. One of the most important men in the Mexican-American War.

Personal Liberty Laws

laws in several northern states that forbade public officials in aiding the Fugitive Slave Act.

Nat Turner

leads 1st successful slave rebellion. Kill 60 whites. This is what instills fear of slaves into the Southern culture.

Denmark Vesey

leads another slave revolt (9,000), but again word gets out

Alamo Mission

located in San Antonio, Texas. Where the Mexican Army, under Santa Anna, defeated the Texas "patriots" (a group that included, among others, the renowned frontiersman and former Tennessee congressman Davy Crockett) in 1836. Was a complete massacre of the Americans.

Underground Railroad

network of clandestine routes by which African slaves in the 19th century United States attempted to escape to free states, or as far north as Canada, by staying at people's houses. It allowed thousands of slaves to escape to freedom. One of the most notable conductors was Harriet Tubman.

Henry Clay

one of the congressmen who was anti-expansion, because he predicted that expansion would reopen the slavery controversy, and threaten the stability of the Union.

William Lloyd Garrison

one of the most extreme abolitionists, he called for complete and uncompensated release of all slaves in his magazine, The Liberator. Gains a large following and establishes several abolitionist societies: The New England Antislavery Society, and the American Antislavery Society

Nathaniel Hawthorne

one of the original residents of Brook Farm, who expressed his disillusionment with the experiment in famous books such as The Blithesdale Romance, The Scarlet Letter, and The House of Seven Gables. He explored themes such as the danger of an individual submitting themselves to a commune and the prices one pays for cutting themselves off from society.

James K Polk

represented Tennessee for 14 yrs., 4 as speaker of the house. Pro-expansion. Very hard worker, not political, but achieves all of his goals. Gets Oregon after 54'40° or fight. Gets California after the Bear Flag Revolution. Gets Texas from John Tyler.

Deep South

term used to describe the lower, cotton-producing, South

Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints

the Mormons; sought to create a "New Jerusalem"; taught that every man and woman should aspire to become like a god and that family structure was very important, founded by Joseph Smith in the "Burned Over" district, after JS dies, Brigham Young leads them into Utah. Practice polygamy.

Romanticism

the belief that in every person resides a basically good spirit that society should help unleash

New Harmony

the experimental community set up by Robert Owen

James Fenimore Cooper

the first great American novelist

Lucy Stone

the first woman to keep her maiden name after marriage.

Frederick Douglas

the greatest African-American abolitionist, and an incredibly good orator. A freed slave, he escaped to Mass. in 1838, and spent two years lecturing in England. Writes an autobiography, and with the proceeds, purchases his freedom from his Maryland owner, and starts a abolitionist newspaper, North Star, in Rochester NY.

Charles Grandison Finney

the greatest revival preacher; trained as a lawyer, stopped drinking and became an evangelist after a deeply moving conversion experience as a young man; held audiences spellbound; tall and athletic; led massive revivals in Rochester and New York City in 1830-31; preached old-time religion and was an innovator; devised the "anxious bench" where sinners stood and repented in front of the congregation; encouraged woman to pray aloud in public; promised a perfect Christian kingdom on earth and condemned alcohol and slavery; served as president of Oberlin College in Ohio which became a center for revivalist activity and abolitionism

Mormons

the group, lead by Brigham Young, that settled in present day Utah, one of the first groups in US to migrate for religious reasons.

Free Soil

the ideology of the Liberty Party, meant no slavery in the territories.

Factors

the merchants who marketed the planter's crops

Hill People

the non-slaveowning whites who opposed the planter elite. They lived in the Appalachian ranges east of the Mississippi, in the Ozarks to the west of the river, and in other hill/ back- country areas. They were the most isolated from the mainstream southern lifestyle, practiced subsistence farming, owned almost no slaves, and were unconnected with the new commercial economy of the South.

Second Great Awakening

the religious revival that had evolved into a powerful force for reform by the 1820's. "New Lights"

New Light

the second great revival leaders and followers

Fifty four forty or fight

the slogan of the supporters of Polk's plan for Oregon. They wanted the border of the territory to be on 54' 40° and were willing to fight Britain about it. Eventually adopted as the border.

Sambo

the stereotypical submissive, unintelligent slave

Brook Farm

utopian society established by transcendentalist George Ripley near Boston in 1841; members shared equally in farm work and leisure discussions of literature and art. Author Nathaniel Hawthorne and others become disenchanted with the experiment, and it collapsed after a fire in 1847.

Winfield Scott

was a United States Army general, diplomat, and presidential candidate. Known as "Old Fuss and Feathers" and the "Grand Old Man of the Army" he commanded forces in the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War.

Lucretia Mott

was an American Quaker minister, abolitionist, social reformer and proponent of women's rights. Began at the 1840 anti-slavery convention in London, where she would not be admitted due to her gender. She is credited as the first American "feminist" in the early 1800s but was, more accurately, the initiator of women's political advocacy, starting with the Seneca Falls convention.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

was the leading voice in trancedentalism in america in the mid 19th century. Influenced by romanticism in europe. He wanted to capture the passionate aspects of the human spirit and so gain a deeper insight to the mysteries of existence. He celebrated those who rejected traditional constraints, but retained self and civic responsibility. He remade American literature. He wrote the "The American Scholar." This argues to celebrate democracy and individual freedom and to find inspiration in ordinary human experiences.

Peculiar Institution

what white southerners referred to slavery as, meaning that the institution was odd but that it was distinctive, special, since the South was one of the few places in the Western World where slavery still existed, and isolated the South from the rest of American society. By the nineteenth century, this had changed into "a positive good"

Gang System

where slaves worked in groups under an overseer and moved from task to task

Uncle Tom's Cabin

written by harriet beecher stowe in 1853 that highly influenced england's view on the American Deep South and slavery. It was intensely popular, because it combined the sentimental novel with an abolitionist worldview, and became the most powerful piece of abolitionist literature. intensified sectional conflict.