T2 Cumulative Exam (Unit 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Board of Customs Commissioners

As corollary to the Townshend duties, the British tightened their supervision of colonial trade. The American Board of Customs Commissioners was created in 1767, raising the number of customs officials, constructing a colonial coast guard, and providing money to pay informers.

Loyalists

American colonists who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War, often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men at the time.

Explicit vs. Implied powers

Should government perform only powers explicitly written in the constitution or are there implied powers which are also under the government's jurisdiction

Cherokee

Southeast, Hunting, fishing, farming, matrilineality and matrilocality, agrarian society

Christopher Columbus

Spanish conquistador who headed many expeditions to spread god gold and glory, Wants to open new markets and Isabel and Ferdinand paid for his expedition to the new world

Henry Hudson

Traveled to Americas under British East India Company in search of trade route to Asia, expedition led to development of New Netherland

People's/Populist Party

a left-wing, agrarian political party in the United States, emerged in the early 1890s as an important force in the Southern and Western US, but the party collapsed after it nominated Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 election, a rump faction of the party continued to operate into the first decade of the 20th century, but never matched the popularity of the party in the early 1890s

Buchanan-Pakenham Treaty

a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. Signed under the presidency of James K. Polk, the treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to the Oregon Country; the area had been jointly occupied by both Britain and the U.S. since the Treaty of 1818

Trustbusting

Government activities aimed at breaking up monopolies and trusts

Tobacco

John Rolfe, a colonist from Jamestown, was the first colonist to grow tobacco in America. He arrived in Virginia with tobacco seeds procured on an earlier voyage to Trinidad, and in 1612 he harvested his inaugural crop for sale on the European market.[4] Rolfe's tobacco operation was an instant boom for American exports.

Jacques Cartier

Made trading contact with Indians and gained the lands around the Gulf of St. Lawrence for France, claimed the land for french

Dutch West India Company

Merchant group established in 1621 to fund trading journeys and necessary forts- along Hudson River, New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, developed present day NYC in 1625, monopolized fur trade, population increased 5x by 1660, ceded to British in 1664, commmerce/trade was centered around New Amsterdam

Sugar Act

"In form a revision of the old customs laws; but its purpose was novel, to raise money, and this purpose was frankly stated in the preamble" "Knowing that colonial merchants were paying up to a penny and a half per gallon in bribes, he reasoned that they could afford to pay three pence in an honest tax... To put teeth in the act, the whole system of enforcement was overhauled with an elaborate series of papers to be filled out by shippers for every cargo, and violations to be tried in admiralty courts, which operated without juries"

French in North Florida- Fort Caroline

1564,Spanish haven't claimed Florida but dominant in that area, Place of refuge for Huguenot, Huguenot- French Protestant- facing prosecution in France, Only time in history French let Protestants come over, Spanish moved North, Difficult to survive the first year, French moved more people, Spanish march North on Fort Caroline, Take out French and later keep distant between Spanish

Pueblo Revolt

1680, typical of millenarian movements in colonial societies, Popé promised that, once the Spanish were killed or expelled, the ancient Pueblo gods would reward them with health and prosperity, the plan was that the inhabitants of each Pueblo would rise up and kill the Spanish in their area and then all would advance on Santa Fe to kill or expel all the remaining Spanish, dispatched runners to all the Pueblos carrying knotted cords, each morning the Pueblo leadership was to untie one knot from the cord, and when the last knot was untied, that would be the signal for them to rise against the Spaniards in unison, the Spaniards were warned of the impending revolt by southern Tiwa leaders and they captured two Tesuque Pueblo youths entrusted with carrying the message to the pueblos, they were tortured to make them reveal the significance of the knotted cord

Quebec Act

1774 passed by the British Parliament to institute a permanent administration in Canada replacing the temporary government created at the time of the Proclamation of 1763. It gave the French Canadians complete religious freedom and restored the French form of civil law. The Thirteen Colonies considered this law one of the Intolerable Acts, for it nullified many of the Western claims of the coast colonies by extending the boundaries of the province of Quebec to the Ohio River on the south and to the Mississippi River on the west. The concessions in favor of Roman Catholicism also roused much resentment among Protestants in the Thirteen Colonies.

Compromise of 1850

1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850, which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War. Texas surrendered its claim to New Mexico as well as its claims north. It retained the Texas Panhandle, and the federal government took over the state's public debt. California was admitted as a free state, with its current boundaries. The South prevented adoption of the Wilmot Proviso, which would have outlawed slavery in the new territories. The new Utah Territory and New Mexico Territory were allowed, under popular sovereignty, to decide whether to allow slavery within their borders. In practice, these lands were generally unsuited to plantation agriculture, and their settlers were uninterested in slavery. The slave trade, but not the institution of slavery, was banned in the District of Columbia. A more stringent Fugitive Slave Law was enacted, requiring law enforcement in free states to support the capture and return of fugitive slaves, and increasing penalties against people who tried to evade the law.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and President Franklin Pierce. The initial purpose of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was to open up thousands of new farms and make feasible a Midwestern Transcontinental Railroad. The popular sovereignty clause of the law led pro- and anti-slavery elements to flood into Kansas with the goal of voting slavery up or down, resulting in Bleeding Kansas

Fort Sumter

1861, when Confederate artillery fired on the Union garrison. The fort had been cut off from its supply line and surrendered the next day. The Second Battle of Fort Sumter (1863) was a failed attempt by the Union to retake the fort, dogged by a rivalry between army and navy commanders. Although the fort was reduced to rubble, it remained in Confederate hands until it was evacuated as General Sherman marched through South Carolina in February 1865

Interstate Commerce Act

1887, designed to regulate the railroad industry, particularly its monopolistic practices, required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just," but did not empower the government to fix specific rates, required that railroads publicize shipping rates and prohibited short haul or long haul fare discrimination, a form of price discrimination against smaller markets, particularly farmers in Western or Southern Territory compared to the Official Eastern states, created a federal regulatory agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which it charged with monitoring railroads to ensure that they complied with the new regulations

U.S. v. E.C. Knight

1892, the American Sugar Refining Company gained control of the E. C. Knight Company and several others which resulted in a 98% monopoly of the American sugar refining industry, President Cleveland directed the national government to sue the Knight Company under the provisions of the Sherman Antitrust Act to prevent the acquisition, "could the Sherman Antitrust Act suppress a monopoly in the manufacture of a good, as well as its distribution?"

Rough Riders

1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish American War and the only one to see action, acknowledged that despite being a cavalry unit they ended up fighting on foot as infantry

Election of 1912

32nd quadrennial presidential election, Democratic Woodrow Wilson, unseated incumbent Republican president William Howard Taft, defeated former President Theodore Roosevelt, who ran as the Progressive Party,

Nominating conventions

A United States presidential nominating convention is a political convention held every four years in the United States by most of the political parties who will be fielding nominees in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. The formal purpose of such a convention is to select the party's nominee for President, as well as to adopt a statement of party principles and goals known as the platform and adopt the rules for the party's activities, including the presidential nominating process for the next election cycle

Lincoln's Ten percent plan

A United States presidential proclamation issued in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War, established a process through which this postwar reconstruction could come about, a state in rebellion against the US government could be reintegrated into the Union when 10% of the 1860 vote count from that state had taken an oath of allegiance to the U.S. and pledged to abide by emancipation, voters could then elect delegates to draft revised state constitutions and establish new state governments, all southerners except for high-ranking Confederate army officers and government officials would be granted a full pardon, guaranteed southerners that he would protect their private property, though not their slaves

Antietam

A battle of the American Civil War in 1862 between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union General George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac, part of the Maryland Campaign, it was the first field army-level engagement to take place on Union soil, the bloodiest day in United States history, with a combined tally of 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing

Joint Stock Companies

A forerunner of the modern corporation that was organized for undertakings requiring large amounts of capital. Money was raised by selling shares to investors, who became partners in the venture. One of the earliest joint-stock companies was the Virginia Company, founded in 1606 to colonize North America. By law, individual shareholders were not responsible for actions undertaken by the company, and, in terms of risk exposure, shareholders could lose only the amount of their initial investment.

Columbian Exchange

A global transfer that brought new ideas, animals, plants, technology between the old world and the Americas. The widespread transfer of people, ideas, technology, agriculture and animals between the old world and the new world initiated by columbus

March to the Sea

A military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia in 1864, by Major General William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army, began with Sherman's troops leaving the captured city of Atlanta, ended with the capture of the port of Savannah, followed a "scorched earth" policy, destroying military targets as well as industry, infrastructure, and civilian property and disrupting the Confederacy's economy and its transportation networks, broke the back of the Confederacy and helped lead to its eventual surrender, considered to be one of the major achievements of the war

Emancipation Proclamation

A presidential proclamation and executive order issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, changed the federal legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the designated areas of South to free, as soon as a slave escaped the control of the Confederate government, by running away or through advances of federal troops, the former slave became free, the rebel surrender liberated and resulted in the proclamation's application to all of the designated former slaves, did not cover slaves in Union areas that were freed by state action (or three years later by the 13th amendment in December 1865), issued as a war measure during the American Civil War, directed to all of the areas in rebellion and all segments of the executive branch (including the Army and Navy) of the United States

Anthracite coal strike

A strike by the United Mine Workers of America in the anthracite coalfields of eastern Pennsylvania, miners struck for higher wages, shorter workdays and the recognition of their union

Encomienda

A system of commerce based off a grant from the crown where they allow for new land and use native labor, similar to the plantation system

Thirteenth Amendment

Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime, passed by the Senate in 1864, and by the House in 1865, ratified by the required number of states in 1865, Secretary of States William H. Seward proclaimed its adoption, the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted following the American Civil War

Lincoln's assassination

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth in April 1865, while attending a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC, shot in the head as he watched a play, the first American president to be assassinated, and Lincoln's funeral and burial marked an extended period of national mourning

Frontier of Inclusion

Accepting Native Americans in society through converting to Catholicism or marrying Spanish daughters, use of native Americans as slaves, incorporating the Native Americans into the social structure in any way, also a frontier of exclusion, inclusion but not always friendly

18th Amendment

After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited, The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature

Robert E. Lee

An American and Confederate soldier, best known as a commander of the Confederate States Army, commanded the Army of North Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865

William Tecumseh Sherman

An American soldier, businessman, educator, and author, served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, received recognition for his outstanding command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the scorched earth policies he implemented in conducting total war against the Confederate States

George McClellan

An American soldier, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician, appointed to major general, played an important role in raising the Army of the Potomac, served a brief period (1861 to 1862) as general in chief of the Union Army, meticulous in his planning and preparations, hampered his ability to challenge aggressive opponents in a fast-moving battlefield environment

54th Massachusetts Regiment

An infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War, the first African-American regiment organized in the northern states during the Civil War, authorized by the Emancipation Proclamation, the regiment consisted of African-American enlisted men commanded by white officers

Navigation of the Mississippi

Article 8 of the Treaty of Paris (1783) states, "The navigation of the river Mississippi, from its source to the ocean, shall forever remain free and open to the subjects of Great Britain and the citizens of the United States".

Lord Baltimore (Geo. & Cecilius Calvert)

Calvert took an interest in the British colonisation of the Americas, at first for commercial reasons and later to create a refuge for persecuted English Catholics. He became the proprietor of Avalon, the first sustained English settlement on the southeastern peninsula on the island of Newfoundland (off the eastern coast of modern Canada). Discouraged by its cold and sometimes inhospitable climate and the sufferings of the settlers, he looked for a more suitable spot further south and sought a new royal charter to settle the region, which would become the state of Maryland. Calvert died five weeks before the new Charter was sealed, leaving the settlement of the Maryland colony to his son Cecil (1605-1675). His second son Leonard Calvert (1606-1647) was the first colonial governor of the Province of Maryland, Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (8 August 1605 - 30 November 1675), was the first Proprietor of the Province of Maryland, ninth Proprietary Governor of the Colony of Newfoundland and second of the colony of Province of Avalon to its southeast, Maryland became a haven for Catholics in the New World, particularly important at a time of religious persecution in England. Calvert governed Maryland for forty-two years, He also continued to be Lord Proprietor and Governor of Newfoundland for the Province of Avalon.

Cherokee Nation v Georgia

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1 (1831),[1] was a United States Supreme Court case. The Cherokee Nation sought a federal injunction against laws passed by the U.S. state of Georgia depriving them of rights within its boundaries, but the Supreme Court did not hear the case on its merits. It ruled that it had no original jurisdiction in the matter, as the Cherokees were a dependent nation, with a relationship to the United States like that of a "ward to its guardian," as said by Justice Marshall, Distinct political nation or dependent nation?, Independent nation but they are not a foreign nation

Frontier of Exclusion

Displacing Native Americans from their home lands by the colonists, the exclusion of native Americans and slaves from society

Algonquin

Eastern North America- Canada to Virginia, Hunting and Fishing, Cultivated corn, beans, and squash (Three sisters), Algonquin language- many different dialects, lived in villages, kinship structure, villages were temporary, lived in longhouses, fished in the spring, hunted birds spring-> fall, gathered fruits and nuts in summer, women cultivated crops and men hunted and fished

Freedman's Bureau

Established in 1865, initiated by Abraham Lincoln, intended to last for one year after the end of the Civil War, an important agency of early Reconstruction, assisted freedmen in the South, a part of the United States Department of War, as it was the only agency with an existing organization that could be assigned to the South, headed by Union Army General Oliver O Howard, started operations in 1865, Southern legislatures passed laws for Black Codes that restricted movement, conditions of labor, and other civil rights of African Americans, nearly duplicating conditions of slavery

Depression of 1893

European investors were concerned that crop failure might spread from Argentina, started a run on gold in the US Treasury, Gilded Age- the United States had experienced economic growth and expansion, but much of this expansion depended on high international commodity prices, 1893, wheat prices crashed, the appointment of receivers for the Philadelphia Reading Railroad, which had greatly overextended itself, President Cleveland dealt directly with the Treasury crisis and successfully convinced Congress to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which he felt was mainly responsible for the economic crisis, people rushed to withdraw their money from banks, and caused bank runs, credit crunch rippled through the economy, financial panic in London combined with a drop in continental European trade caused foreign investors to sell American stocks to obtain American funds backed by gold

"Billion Dollar" congress

Fifty-first United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives, met from 1889 1891, during the first two years of the administration of President Harrison, its lavish spending and, for this reason it incited drastic reversals in public support that led to Cleveland's reelection in 1892

Morrill Act

First proposed in 1857, 1861--> resubmitted the act with the amendment that the proposed institutions would teach military tactics as well as engineering and agriculture, aided by the secession of many states that did not support the plans, signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, previous day Lincoln signed a bill financing the transcontinental railroad with land grants, less than two months earlier he signed the Homestead Act encouraging western settlement, together did much to define post-Civil War America, provided grants of land to states to finance the establishment of colleges specializing in "agriculture and mechanic arts." It's sponsor was Vermont Congressman, Justin Smith Morrill. It granted each state 30,000 acres for each of its congressional seats. Funds from the sale of the land were used by some states to establish new schools; other states turned the money over to existing state or private colleges to create schools of agriculture and mechanic arts. Simply put, land sales basically went to education

Pure Food and Drug Act

For preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and for regulating traffic therein, and for other purposes

Bull Run

Fought in 1861 in Virginia southwest of DC, the first major battle of the American Civil War, Unions's forces were slow in positioning themselves, allowing Confederate reinforcements time to arrive by rail, each side had about 18,000 poorly trained and poorly led troops in their first battle, a Confederate victory, followed by a disorganized retreat of the Union forces

Gettysburg

Fought in 1863 in and around the town of Gettysburg by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War, involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is often described as the war's turning point, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate General Robert E Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, halting Lee's invasion of the North

Appomattox

Fought in 1865, one of the last battles of the American Civil War, the final engagement of Confederate States Army General in Chief Robert E Lee and his Army of North Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army of the Potomac under the Commanding General of the United States, Ulysses S Grant

U.S. Steel

Founded in 1901 by JP Morgan by combining Andrew Carnegie's Carnegie Steel Company with other large steel companies to create a monopoly, the largest steel producer and largest corporation in the world, the world's first billion-dollar corporation

Education Reform

Free public education was common in New England but rare in the South, where most education took place at home with family members or tutors. In the 1800s, Horace Mann of Massachusetts led the common-school movement, which advocated for local property taxes financing public schools

War of 1812

From the outbreak of war with Napoleonic France, Britain had enforced a naval blockade to choke off neutral trade to France, which the US contested as illegal under international law. To man the blockade, Britain impressed American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy. Incidents such as the Chesapeake-Leopard affairinflamed anti-British sentiment in the US. In 1811, the British were in turn outraged by the Little Belt affair, in which 11 British sailors died, Britain supplied Indians who raided American settlers on the frontier, hindering American expansion and provoking resentment, Historians debate whether the desire to annex some or all of British North America (Canada) contributed to the American decision to go to war. On June 18, 1812, US President James Madison, after heavy pressure from the War Hawks in Congress, signed the American declaration of war into law

Cheyenne

Great Plains, Hunting and farming, Spoke in Algonquin dialect- Cheyenne language, wild rice and hunting bison, believed tribe began from prophets, legal justice systems

John B. Gough

He set forth, carpet-bag in hand, to tramp through the New England states, glad to obtain even seventy-five cents for a temperance lecture, and soon became famous for his eloquence. An intense earnestness derived from experience, and his power of imitation and expression, enabled him to work on the sensibilities of his audiences. He was accustomed to mingle the pathetic and humorous in such a way as to attract thousands to hear him who had no purpose but to be interested and amused. In the first year of his travels, he spoke 386 times, and thenceforward for seventeen years he dealt only with temperance. During that period he addressed over 5,000 audiences

Christiana Massacre

In Christiana, Pennsylvania, a group of African Americans and white abolitionists skirmish with a Maryland posse intent on capturing four fugitive slaves hidden in the town.

Spoils System

In politics and government, a spoils system (also known as a patronage system) is a practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government civil service jobs to its supporters, friends, and relatives as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party—as opposed to a merit system, where offices are awarded on the basis of some measure of merit, independent of political activity

Manifest Destiny

In the 19th century, manifest destiny was a widely held belief in the United States that its settlers were destined to expand across North America. There are three basic themes to manifest destiny, The special virtues of the American people and their institutions, The mission of the United States to redeem and remake the west in the image of agrarian America, An irresistible destiny to accomplish this essential duty

Non-Intercourse Act

In the last sixteen days of President Thomas Jefferson's presidency, the Congress replaced the Embargo Act of 1807 with the almost unenforceable Non-Intercourse Act of March 1809. This Act lifted all embargoes on American shipping except for those bound for British or French ports. Its intent was to damage the economies of the United Kingdom and France. Like its predecessor, the Embargo Act, it was mostly ineffective, and contributed to the coming of the War of 1812. In addition, it seriously damaged the economy of the United States, The Non-Intercourse Act was followed by Macon's Bill Number 2. Despite hurting the economy as a whole, the bill did help America begin to industrialize. As no British manufactured goods could be imported, these goods instead had to be produced domestically

Midnight Judges

In the nineteen days between passage of this Act and the conclusion of his administration, President Adams quickly filled as many of the newly created circuit judgeships as possible. The new judges were known as the Midnight Judges because Adams was said to be signing their appointments at midnight prior to President Thomas Jefferson's inauguration. The famous Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison[3] involved one of these "midnight" appointments, although it was an appointment of a justice of the peace for the District of Columbia—which was authorized under a different Act of Congress, not the Judiciary Act

Sons of Liberty

In towns and villages everywhere they formed themselves into associations which they called "Sons of Liberty" and declared their intention to resist the Stamp Act, as they usually put it, "to the last extremity." They were, in other words, to risk their lives and fortunes in rebellion rather than allow their property to be taken by a Parliament in which they had no representative

Basic Land Ordinance

It set up a standardized system whereby settlers could purchase title to farmland in the undeveloped west. Congress at the time did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation, so land sales provided an important revenue stream. The Ordinance set up a survey system that eventually covered over three-fourths of the area of the continental United States.

Republicanism

It stresses liberty and unalienable individual rights as central values, making people sovereign as a whole; rejects monarchy, aristocracy and inherited political power; expects citizens to be virtuous and faithful in their performance of civic duties, and vilifies corruption Republicanism is not the same as democracy. Republicanism includes guarantees of rights that cannot be repealed by a majority vote

Harper's Ferry Raid

John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was an effort by abolitionist John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt in 1859 by taking over a United States Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Brown's party was defeated by US Marines, led by First Lieutenant Israel Greene. Colonel Robert E. Lee was in overall command of the operation to retake the arsenal. John Brown had originally asked Harriet Tubman and Fredrick Douglass, both of whom he had met in his transformative years as an abolitionist in Springfield, Massachusetts to join him in his raid, but Tubman was prevented by illness and Douglass declined, as he believed Brown's plan would fail.

Field Order #15

Military orders issued during the American Civil War in 1865 by General William Tecumseh Sherman, provided for the confiscation of land along the Atlantic coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida and the dividing of it into parcels to be settled by approximately 18,000 formerly enslaved families and other Blacks then living in the area

Iroquois

Northeast USA/Canada, Farming, made up of five different nations from southern Great Lakes- each with own language, territory, and function, extended power into Canada and slightly South, governed by council (50 chiefs representing each of the clans), Cherokee within the Iroquois, traded fur with colonists, land ceded after American Revolution- many forced to abandon land, own systems of government, law, and religions, matrilineal (women typically in power)

Virginia (London) Co.

On 14 May 1607, the London Company established the Jamestown Settlement about 40 miles inland along the James River, a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in present-day Virginia.

Barbary Pirates

Ottoman pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, In addition to seizing merchant ships, they engaged in Razzias, raids on European coastal towns and villages, mainly in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, but also in the British Isles,[1] the Netherlands and as far away as Iceland.[2] The main purpose of their attacks was to capture Christian slaves for the Ottoman slave trade as well as the general Arab slavery market in North Africa and the Middle East

Chinook

Pacific Northwest: Washington, Oregon, relied on hunting and fishing, women gathered, caste like system- organized social structure, social discrimination, some practiced slavery, flat head= high class, settled but relied on hunting and fishing, lived in long houses

Force Bill

Passed by Congress at the urging of President Andrew Jackson, the Force Bill consisted of eight sections expanding presidential power and was designed to compel the state of South Carolina's compliance with a series of federal tariffs, opposed by John C. Calhoun and other leading South Carolinians. Among other things, the legislation stipulated that the president could, if he deemed it necessary, deploy the U.S. Army to force South Carolina to comply with the law

Black Codes

Passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866 in the United States after the American Civil War with the intent and the effect of restricting African Americans' freedom, and of compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt, part of a larger pattern of Southern whites, who were trying to suppress the new freedom of emancipated African-American slaves, replacements for slave codes in those states, some northern states enacted Black Codes to discourage free blacks from residing in those states and denying them equal rights, including the right to vote, the right to public education, and the right to equal treatment under the law, some were repealed around the same time that the civil war ended and slavery was abolished

Pet banks

Pet banks is a derogatory term for state banks selected by the U.S. Department of Treasury to receive surplus Treasury funds in 1833, They were chosen among the big U.S. banks when President Andrew Jackson vetoed the recharter for the Second Bank of the United States, proposed by Henry Clay four years before the recharter was due, Jackson cited four reasons for vetoing the recharter, each degrading the Second Bank of the United States in claims of it holding an exorbitant amount of power

Sir Walter Raleigh

Popularized tobacco in England, Sponsored Roanoke colony (fail), granted a pardon by the queen (friends with Elizabeth I) In 1594, Raleigh heard of a "City of Gold" in South America and sailed to find it, publishing an exaggerated account of his experiences in a book that contributed to the legend of "El Dorado" In 1616, he was released to lead a second expedition in search of El Dorado. During the expedition, men led by his top commander ransacked a Spanish outpost, in violation of both the terms of his pardon and the 1604 peace treaty with Spain. Raleigh returned to England and, to appease the Spanish, he was arrested and executed in 1618.

New Netherlands/New Amsterdam

Primarily near Hudson River, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, 1609-1664, began to expand trade ventures and business, focused on trade as opposed to agriculture and settlement, frontier of inclusion, created by dutch west india company to expand the fur trade throughout north america, religious tolerance, never really became a colony because of their focus on trade

Jesuit Missionary

Promoted conversion as opposed to forcing it, missionaries often learned Native American languages and lived in their villages, adapted religion to native's belief and gave them something to relate to within Catholicism, focused on adaption and tolerance, education, highest conversion rates, adapted religion for native american, French in North Florida- Fort Caroline- 1564, Spanish haven't claimed Florida but dominant in that area, Place of refuge for Huguenot, French Protestant- facing prosecution in France, Only time in history French let Protestants come over, Spanish moved North, Difficult to survive the first year, French moved more people, Spanish march North on Fort Caroline, Take out French and later keep distant between Spanish

Pueblo

Southwestern United States: New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas, Mogollon- foraging -> farming, Hohokam- agricultural, dry farmers, three sisters farming, Religion: archetypal deities- prayed with substances and verbally, ceremonies- public dancing with singing and drums (sacred), different divisions based on speech- four language families, lived in hamlets, Hohokam in central trade position

Bartolome de las Casas

Spanish, wrote books from Native American POV, called for end of slavery, if you are not directly involved you probably did not know what was happening, one of the first proponents of Indian rights in the New World, a priest and historian, stood up for rights of native americans, stood up for native american rights because he believed they were less than the spanish and innocent, wanted to replace native americans with black slaves

Starving times

Starving Time at Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia was a period of starvation during the winter of 1609-1610. There were about 500 Jamestown residents at the beginning of the winter. However, there were only 60 people still alive when the spring arrived, Colonists never planned to grow all of their own food. Their plans depended upon trade with the local Powhatan to supply them with food between the arrivals of periodic supply ships from England. Lack of access to water and a relatively dry rain season crippled the agricultural production of the colonists. Also, the water that the colonists drank was brackish and potable for only half of the year. A fleet from England, damaged by a hurricane, arrived months behind schedule with new colonists, but without expected food supplies, On June 7, 1610, the survivors boarded ships, abandoned the colony site, and sailed towards the Chesapeake Bay, where another supply convoy with new supplies and headed by a newly appointed governor Francis West, intercepted them on the lower James River and returned them to Jamestown. Within a few years, the commercialization of tobacco by John Rolfe secured the settlement's long-term economic prosperity, There is scientific evidence that the settlers at Jamestown had turned to cannibalism during the starving time

Federalists

Statesmen and public figures supporting the proposed Constitution of the United States between 1787 and 1789. The most prominent of the advocates at that time were James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay; they published The Federalist Papers

Andrew Johnson

The 17th President of the United States serving from 1865 to 1869, assumed the presidency as he was Vice President at the time of the Lincoln's assassination, Democrat who ran with Lincoln on the National Union ticket, Johnson came to office as the Civil War concluded, favored quick restoration of the seceded states to the Union, plans did not give protection to the former slaves, and he came into conflict with the Republican-dominated Congress, culminating in his impeachment by the House of Representatives, acquitted in the Senate by one vote

Ulysses S. Grant

The 18th President of the United States, Commanding General in the Army, soldier, international statesman, and author, led the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy with the supervision of President Abraham Lincoln, led the Republicans in their efforts to remove the vestiges of Confederate nationalism, racism, and slavery during Reconstruction

Fugitive Slave Law

The Act was one of the most controversial elements of the 1850 compromise and heightened Northern fears of a "slave power conspiracy". It required that all escaped slaves, upon capture, be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate. Abolitionists nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Law" for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves.

Bank War

The Bank War refers to the political struggle that developed over the issue of rechartering the Second Bank of the United States (BUS) during the presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829-1837). The affair resulted in the destruction of the bank and its replacement by various state banks, Jackson believed the bank had too much power

Black Hawk War

The Black Hawk War was a brief conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted soon after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis, and Kickapoos, known as the "British Band", crossed the Mississippi River, into the U.S. state of Illinois, from Iowa Indian Territory in April 1832. Black Hawk's motives were ambiguous, but he was apparently hoping to avoid bloodshed while resettling on tribal land that had been ceded to the United States in the disputed 1804 Treaty of St. Louis

Rise of the Common Man

The COMMON MAN always held a special place in America, but with Jackson, he rose to the top of the American political power system. In the campaign of 1828, Jackson, known as "OLD HICKORY," triumphed over the aristocratic, reclusive and unpopular incumbent PRESIDENT JOHN QUINCY ADAMS

16th Amendment

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration

Indian Removal Act

The Indian Removal Act was signed by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Native American tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their lands, The Act was signed by Jackson and it was enforced under his administration and that of Martin Van Buren, The act enjoyed strong support from the people of the South, but there was a large amount of resistance from the Indian tribes, the Whig Party, and in the northeast, especially New England

Jamestown

The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.

Kitchen cabinet

The Kitchen Cabinet was a term used by political opponents of President of the United States Andrew Jackson to describe his ginger group, the collection of unofficial advisors he consulted in parallel to the United States Cabinet (the "parlor cabinet") following his purge of the cabinet at the end of the Eaton affair and his break with Vice President John C. Calhoun in 1831.

British forts in the NW

The Northwest Territory in the United States (also known as the Old Northwest) was formed after the American Revolutionary War, and was known formally as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio. It encompassed most of the pre-war British colonial territory north of the Ohio River of the Ohio Country, parts of Illinois Country, and parts of old French Canada (New France) below the Great Lakes, the British remained settled in these territories after the war was over

Nueces River vs. Rio Grande

The Nueces River is a river in Texas that drains a region in central and southern Texas southeastward into the Mexico. It is the southernmost major river in Texas northeast of the Rio Grande, The Rio Grande is one of the principal rivers in the southwest United States and Northern Mexico. The Rio Grande begins in south-central Colorado in the United States and flows to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, it forms part of the Mexico-United States Border

Tariff & Nullification Crisis

The Nullification Crisis was a United States sectional political crisis in 1832-33, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, which involved a confrontation between South Carolina and the federal government. It ensued after South Carolina declared that the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional and therefore null and void within the sovereign boundaries of the state

SC Ordinance of Nullification

The Ordinance of Nullification declared the Tariff of 1828 and 1832 null and void within the state borders of South Carolina, beginning on February 1, 1833, It began the Nullification Crisis. Passed by a state convention on November 26, 1832, it led to President Andrew Jackson's proclamation against South Carolina, the Nullification Proclamation on December 10, 1832, which threatened to send government ground troops to enforce the tariffs. In the face of the military threat, and following a Congressional revision of the law which lowered the tariff, South Carolina repealed the ordinance

Fifty-four Forty or Fight

The Oregon boundary dispute or the Oregon Question was a territorial dispute over the political division of the Pacific Northwest of North America between several nations that had competing territorial and commercial aspirations over the region, Tensions grew as American expansionists like Senator Edward A. Hanneganof Indiana and Representative Leonard Henly Sims of Missouri, urged Polk to annex the entire Pacific Northwest to the 54°40′ parallel north, as the Democrats had called for in the election. The turmoil gave rise to slogans such as "Fifty-four Forty or Fight!"

Panic of 1837

The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major recession that lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down while unemployment went up, The panic had both domestic and foreign origins. Speculative lending practices in western states, a sharp decline in cotton prices, a collapsing land bubble, international specie flows, and restrictive lending policies in Great Britain were all to blame

Peggy Eaton Affair

The Petticoat affair (also known as the Eaton affair) was an 1829-1831 U.S. scandal involving members of President Andrew Jackson's Cabinet and their wives. Led by Floride Calhoun, wife of Vice President John C. Calhoun, these women (the "petticoats") socially ostracized John Eaton, the Secretary of War, and his wife Peggy over disapproval of the circumstances surrounding their marriage and what they considered her failure to meet the moral standards of a cabinet wife. The affair shook up the Jackson administration and led to the resignation of all but one cabinet member. It facilitated Martin Van Buren's rise to the presidency and was, in part, responsible for Calhoun's transformation from a national political figure with presidential aspirations into a sectional leader of the Southern states.

Powhatan

The Powhatans have also been known as Virginia Algonquians, as the Powhatan language is an eastern-Algonquian language, also known as Virginia Algonquian. It is estimated, that there were about 14,000-21,000 Powhatan people in eastern Virginia, when the English colonized Jamestown in 1607.

Seminole War

The Seminole Wars, also known as the Florida Wars, were three conflicts in Florida between the Seminole, a Native American tribe that formed in Florida in the early 18th century, and the United States Army. Taken together, the Seminole Wars were the longest and most expensive (both in human and monetary terms) of the Indian Wars in United States history

17th Amendment

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures

Specie Circular

The Specie Circular is a United States presidential executive order issued by President Andrew Jackson in 1836 pursuant to the Coinage Act and carried out by his successor, President Martin Van Buren. It required payment for government land to be in gold and silver

Trail of Tears

The Trail of Tears was a series of forced relocations of Native American peoples from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States, to areas to the west (usually west of the Mississippi River) that had been designated as Indian Territory. The forced relocations were carried out by government authorities following the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830, The Americans just wanted land for citizens, People thought they were better and that they deserved the land over the Native Americans, Native Americans were living the American lifestyle but were still getting removed and not identified as white

Stamp Act

The colonists could see that they would have to pay stamp fees at every stage of lawsuit, that dilpomas and deeds, almanacs and advertisements, bills and bonds, customs papers and newspapers, even dice and cards, would all be charged.

NY City Draft Riot

The culmination of working-class discontent with new laws passed by Congress that year to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War, the largest civil and racially-charged insurrection in American history, aside from the Civil War itself, Abraham Lincoln diverted several regiments of militia and volunteer troops after the Battle of Gettysburg to control the city, overwhelmingly working-class men who feared free black people competing for work and resented that wealthier men, who could afford to pay a commutation fee to hire a substitute, were spared from the draft

Vicksburg

The final major military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War, Union Major General Ulysses S Grant and his Army of Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate Army of Mississippi into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi

Oklahoma Land Rush

The first land into the Unassigned Lands, opened to settlement included all or part of the present-day US state of Oklahoma, an estimated 50,000 people lined up for their piece of the available two million acres, the Unassigned Lands were considered some of the best unoccupied public land in the United States, the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889 was passed and signed into law with an amendment that authorized President Benjamin Harrison to open the two million acres for settlement, the Homestead Act of 1862 allowed legal settlers to claim lots up to 160 acres, provided a settler lived on the land and improved it, the settler could then receive the title to the land

Treaty of Greenville

The first was signed on August 3, 1795, following the Native American loss at the Battle of Fallen Timbers a year earlier. It ended the Northwest Indian War in the Ohio Country, limited Indian Country to strategic parcels of land to the north and west, and began the practice of annual payments following land concessions. The parties to the first treaty were a coalition of Native American tribes known as the Western Confederacy, and United States government represented by General Anthony Wayne and local frontiersmen. Some consider this first treaty "the beginning of modern Ohio history."

Monitor v. Merrimack

The most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies, fought over two days in 1862 in Virginia in James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay, a part of the effort of the Confederacy to break the Union blockade, which had cut off Virginia's largest cities and major industrial centers, Norfolk and Richmond from international trade

California Gold Rush

The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. The sudden influx of gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy, and the sudden population increase allowed California to go rapidly to statehood, in the Compromise of 1850. The Gold Rush had severe effects on Native Californians and resulted in a precipitous population decline from disease, genocide and starvation. By the time it ended, California had gone from a thinly populated ex-Mexican territory, to having one of its first two U.S. Senators selected to be the first presidential nominee for the Republican Party in 1856

Presidential Reconstruction

The period from 1863 to 1877, ended the remnants of Confederate secession and ended slavery, making the newly free slaves citizens with civil rights apparently guaranteed by three new Constitutional amendments, the reconciliation vision, which was rooted in coping with the death and devastation the war had brought, the white supremacist vision, which included terror and violence; and the emancipationist vision, which sought full freedom, citizenship, and Constitutional equality for African Americans

"City on a hill"

The phrase entered the American lexicon early in its colonial history through the 1630 lay sermon "A Model of Christian Charity" preached on March 21 by Puritan John Winthrop at Holyrood Church in Southampton just before his first groups of Massachusetts Bay colonists embarked on the ship Arbella to settle a Puritan colony in Massachusetts. Winthrop admonished the future colonists that their new community would be "as a city upon a hill" watched by the world- which became the ideal that the New England colonists placed upon their hilly capital city of Boston. The Puritans' community in New England would set an example of communal charity, affection, and unity to the world or, if the Puritans failed to uphold their covenant of God, "we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world" of God's judgement. Winthrop's sermon is often cited as an early example of American exceptionalism.

Puritans

The roots of this personality structure extended backward to an earlier phase of American (and English history), to the religious upheavals in the mother country which, during the seventeenth century, led to the migration of dissenting Protestants into the new world. There was, in the communities formed in the American wilderness, a strange blend of old and new ideas, values, and institutions-- an accurate reflection of the fact that Puritanism itself represented a key transitional phase in the long and slow evolution from a traditional to a modern conception of life, authority, and personality. Initially, the transplantation of Puritanism to American soil accentuated the more traditional and conservative elements of this complex and contradictory social movement. The pattern of authority and the institutions that gave it expression were one and the same. Children raised in this type of home developed a hyperactive conscience. The inner psychological dynamic pushed men and women onward in the pursuit of higher standards and demanded excellence and achievement, however, those terms were defined

John C. Calhoun

The seventh Vice President of the United States from 1825 to 1832. He is remembered for strongly defending slavery and for advancing the concept of minority rights in politics, which he did in the context of protecting the interests of the white South when it was outnumbered by Northerners, In the late 1820s, his views changed radically and he became a leading proponent of states' rights, limited government, nullification, and opposition to high tariffs—he saw Northern acceptance of these policies as the only way to keep the South in the Union. His beliefs and warnings heavily influenced the South's secession from the Union in 1860-1861

Huguenot

The term has its origin in early 16th century France, describes members of the Reformed Church of France from the time of the Protestant Reformation, French Protestants who endorsed the Reformed tradition of Protestantism, contrary to the largely German Lutheran population, French protestants immigrated from france to avoid religious persecution, settled caroline, lots of casualities, french never settle near spanish again

House of Burgesses

This group of representatives met from 1619 until 1776. The members, or burgesses, were elected from each county in Virginia with each county sending two burgesses. The House of Burgesses is important because the ideas and leaders from this House helped bring about the American Revolutionary War.

Battle of Wounded Knee

U.S. Cavalry troops went into the camp to disarm the Lakota, a deaf tribesman named Black Coyote was reluctant to give up his rifle, claiming he had paid a lot for it, an old man was performing a ritual called the Ghost Dance, Black Coyote's rifle went off at that point, and the U.S. army began shooting at the Native Americans, disarmed Lakota warriors did their best to fight back, more than 150-300 men, women, and children of the Lakota had been killed and 51 were wounded

George Washington

Washington was inaugurated as the firstPresident of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1797. Washington took office after the 1788-89 presidential election, the nation's first quadrennial presidential election, in which he was elected unanimously. Washington was re-elected unanimously in the 1792 presidential election, and chose to retire after two terms, Washington presided over the establishment of the new federal government - appointing all of the high-ranking officials in the executive and judicial branches, shaping numerous political practices, and establishing the site of the permanent capital of the United States. He supported Alexander Hamilton's economic policies whereby the federal government assumed the debts of the state governments and established the First Bank of the United States, the United States Mint, and the United States Customs Service

Harvard College

With some 17,000 Puritans migrating to New England by 1636, Harvard was founded in anticipation of the need for training clergy for the new commonwealth, a "church in the wilderness", established by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Way of training ministers

Worcester v Georgia

Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515 (1832), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal statute that prohibited non-Native Americans from being present on Native American lands without a license from the state was unconstitutional, More federal vs. state power

Jay's Treaty

a 1795 treaty between the United States and Great Britain that averted war, resolved issues remaining since the Treaty of Paris of 1783 (which ended the American Revolutionary War),[1] and facilitated ten years of peaceful trade between the United States and Britain in the midst of the French Revolutionary Wars, which began in 1792, The Treaty was designed by Alexander Hamilton and supported by President George Washington. It angered France and bitterly divided Americans. It led to the formation of two opposing parties in every state, the pro-Treaty Federalists and the anti-Treaty Democratic Republicans

Oregon Trail

a 2,170-mile (3,490 km)[1] historic East-West, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of the future state of Kansas, and nearly all of what are now the states of Nebraska and Wyoming. The western half of the trail spanned most of the future states of Idaho and Oregon

Burning of Washington DC

a British invasion of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, during the War of 1812. On August 24, 1814, after defeating the Americans at the Battle of Bladensburg, a British force led by Major General Robert Ross burned down buildings including the White House (known as the Presidential Mansion), and the Capitol, as well as other facilities of the U.S. government, The attack was in part a retaliation for the recent American destruction of Port Dover in Upper Canada. The Burning of Washington marks the only time since the American Revolutionary War that a foreign power has captured and occupied the United States capital

Jacob Riis

a Danish-American social reformer, muckraking journalist social documentary photography, known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City; those impoverished New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography, endorsed the implementation of "model tenements" in New York with the help of humanitarian Lawrence Veiller

General Lafayette

a French aristocrat and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War commanding American troops in several battles, including the Siege of Yorktown. After returning to France, he was a key figure in the French Revolution of 1789 and the July Revolution of 1830

Sitting Bull

a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance to United States government policies, killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation during an attempt to arrest him, at a time when authorities feared that he would join the Ghost Dance movement

Daniel Dulany

a Maryland lawyer, had developed it at length in the best-selling pamphlet of 1765 (Consideration on the propriety of imposing tacts in the British colonies), showing that virtual representation could not be applied to the whole empire but only to Great Britain, where the people who had no right to vote had interests otherwise similar to those of the people who did not vote. Neither Dulany nor the assemblymen who adopted the same reasoning were arguing that Parliament ought to be expanded by the admission of American members.

Tecumseh

a Native American Shawneewarrior and chief, who became the primary leader of a large, multi-tribal confederacy in the early 19th century. Born in the Ohio Country (present-day Ohio), and growing up during the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War, Tecumseh was exposed to warfare and envisioned the establishment of an independent Indian nation east of the Mississippi River under British protection. He worked to recruit additional members to his tribal confederacy from the southern United States

Second Great Awakening

a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The movement began around 1790, gained momentum by 1800 and, after 1820, membership rose rapidly among Baptist and Methodist congregations whose preachers led the movement. It was past its peak by the late 1850s. The Second Great Awakening reflected Romanticism characterized by enthusiasm, emotion, and an appeal to the supernatural. It rejected the skeptical rationalism and deism of the Enlightenment

Roger Williams

a Puritan minister, English Reformed theologian, and Reformed Baptist who founded the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with American Indians, and he was one of the first abolitionists. Williams was expelled by Puritan leaders from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for spreading "new and dangerous ideas", and he established the Providence Plantations in 1636 as refuge offering what he called "liberty of conscience".

Anne Hutchinson

a Puritan spiritual adviser, mother of 15, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her strong religious convictions were at odds with the established Puritan clergy in the Boston area, and her popularity and charisma helped create a theological schism that threatened to destroy the Puritans' religious community in New England. She was eventually tried and convicted, then banished from the colony with many of the supporters.

Adam Smith

a Scottish economist, philosopher and author as well as a moral philosopher, a pioneer of political economy, laid the foundations of classical free market economic theory, developed the concept of division and expounded upon how rational self-interest and competition can lead to economic prosperity

Andrew Carnegie

a Scottish-American industrialist, business magnate, and philanthropist, led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and is often identified as one of the richest people (and richest Americans) in history, called on the rich to use their wealth to improve society, and stimulated a wave of philanthropy

Munn vs. Illinois

a Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld the power of government to regulate private industries, 1871, the legislature of Illinois responded to pressure from the National Grange, an association of farmers, by setting maximum rates that private companies could charge for the storage and transport of agricultural products, the Chicago grain warehouse firm of Munn and Scott was found guilty of violating the law but appealed the conviction on the grounds that the law was an unconstitutional deprivation of property without due process of law that violated the Fourteenth Amendment

Hammer v Dagenhart (1918)

a Supreme Court decision involving the power of Congress to enact child labor laws, held regulation of child labor in purely internal (to a single state) manufacturing, the products of which may never enter interstate commerce, to be beyond the power of Congress, distinguishing the Lottery line of cases, which concerned Congressional regulation of harms (e.g. interstate sale of lottery tickets) that required the use of interstate commerce

Wabash v. IL

a Supreme Court decision that severely limited the rights of states to control interstate commerce, led to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Association, "direct" burdens on interstate commerce were not permitted by the Export Tax Clause of the Constitution, burdens were permitted under the Commerce Clause. This was a standard enacted in Cooley v. Board of Wardens

Marbury v Madison(1803)

a U.S. Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review in the United States, meaning that American courts have the power to strike down laws, statutes, and some government actions that contravene the U.S. Constitution. Decided in 1803, Marbury remains the single most important decision in American constitutional law, The Court's landmark decision established that the U.S. Constitution is actual "law", not just a statement of political principles and ideals, and helped define the boundary between the constitutionally separate executive and judicial branches of the American form of government.

McCulloch v Maryland

a U.S. Supreme Court decision that established that the "Necessary and Proper" Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives the federal U.S. government certain implied powers that are not explicitly enumerated in the Constitution, The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland. Though the law, by its language, was generally applicable to all banks not chartered in Maryland, the Second Bank of the United States was the only out-of-state bank then existing in Maryland, and the law was thus recognized in the court's opinion as having specifically targeted the Bank of the United States. The Court invoked the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution, which allows the federal government to pass laws not expressly provided for in the Constitution's list of express powers if the laws are useful to further the express powers of Congress under the Constitution

Lucretia Mott

a US Quaker, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position of women in society when she was amongst the women excluded from the World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840. In 1848 she was invited by Jane Hunt to a meeting that led to the first meeting about women's rights. Mott helped write the Declaration of Sentiments during the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention. Her speaking abilities made her an important abolitionist, feminist, and reformer. When slavery was outlawed in 1865, she advocated giving former slaves who had been bound to slavery laws within the boundaries of the United States, whether male or female, the right to vote. She remained a central figure in the abolition and suffrage movement until her death in 1880

Judiciary Act of 1789

a United States federal statute adopted on September 24, 1789, in the first session of the First United States Congress. It established the federal judiciary of the United States, Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution prescribed that the "judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and such inferior Courts" as Congress saw fit to establish. It made no provision for the composition or procedures of any of the courts, leaving this to Congress to decide

Chinese Exclusion Act

a United States law signed by President Arthur in 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers, the first law implemented to prevent all members of a specific ethnic or national group from immigrating

Monroe Doctrine

a United States policy of opposing European colonialism in the Americas beginning in 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to take control of any independent state in North or South America would be viewed as "the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States."[1] At the same time, the doctrine noted that the U.S. would recognize and not interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries

Electoral College

a body of electors established by the United States Constitution, constituted every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president of the United States, Each state's number of electors is equal to the combined total of the state's membership in the Senate and House of Representatives

Erie Canal

a canal in New York, United States that is part of the east-west, cross-state route of the New York State Canal System (formerly known as the New York State Barge Canal). Originally, it ran 363 miles (584 km) from where Albany meets the Hudson River to where Buffalo meets Lake Erie. It was built to create a navigable water route from New York City and the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. When completed in 1825, it was the second longest canal in the world (after the Grand Canal in China) and greatly affected the development and economy of New York, New York City, and the United States.

Charles River Bridge v Warren Bridge

a case regarding the Charles River Bridgeand the Warren Bridge of Boston, Massachusetts, heard by the United States Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, In 1785, the Charles River Bridge Company was granted a charter to construct a bridge over the Charles River connecting Boston and Charlestown, The owners of the first bridge claimed that the charter had implied exclusive rights to the Charles River Bridge Company. The Court ultimately sided with Warren Bridge

NAACP

a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as a biracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including Web DuBois, Mary White Ovington, Ida B. Wells

John Cotton

a clergyman in England and the American colonies and considered the preeminent minister and theologian of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He studied for five years at Trinity College, Cambridge, and another nine at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He had already built a reputation as a scholar and outstanding preacher when he accepted the position of minister at St. Botolph's Church, Boston in Lincolnshire in 1612. As a Puritan, he wanted to do away with the ceremony and vestments associated with the established Church of England and preach in a simple matter. Cotton was highly sought as a minister in Massachusetts and was quickly installed as the second pastor of the Boston church, sharing the ministry with John Wilson. Early in his Boston tenure, he became involved in the banishment of Roger Williams, who blamed much of his trouble on Cotton. Soon after, Cotton became embroiled in the colony's Antinomian Controversy when several adherents of his "free grace" theology (most notably Anne Hutchinson) began criticizing other ministers in the colony.

Federalist Papers

a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution

New Freedom

a collection of speeches Woodrow Wilson made during his presidential campaign of 1912, promised significant reforms for greater economic opportunity for all, while ensuring the tradition of limited government

Three-fifths Compromise

a compromise reached among state delegates during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention, The compromise solution was to count three out of every five slaves as a person for this purpose. Its effect was to give the southern states a third more seats in Congress and a third more electoral votes than if slaves had been ignored, but fewer than if slaves and free people had been counted equally, thus allowing the slaveholder interests to largely dominate the government of the United States until 1861

Women's Rights

a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that right, and the campaign was not easy, a new way of thinking about what it meant to be a woman and a citizen of the United States

Yorktown

a decisive victory by a combined force of American Continental Army troops led by General George Washington and French Army troopsled by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by British peer and Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis. The culmination of the Yorktown campaign, the siege proved to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War in the North American theater, as the surrender by Cornwallis, and the capture of both him and his army, prompted the British government to negotiate an end to the conflict. The battle boosted faltering American morale and revived French enthusiasm for the war, as well as undermining popular support for the conflict in Great Britain

Suffolk Resolves

a declaration made on September 9, 1774 by the leaders of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, of which Boston is the major city. The declaration rejected the Massachusetts Government Act and resolved on a boycott of imported goods from Britain unless the Intolerable Acts were repealed

French Alliance

a defensive alliance between France and the United States of America, formed in the midst of the American Revolutionary War, which promised mutual military support in case fighting should break out between French and British forces, as the result of signing the previously concluded Treaty of Amity and Commerce.[1] The alliance was planned to endure indefinitely into the future. Delegates of King Louis XVI of France and the Second Continental Congress, who represented the United States at this time, signed the two treaties

Caroline Affair

a diplomatic crisis beginning in 1837 involving the United States, Britain, and the Canadian independence movement. It began in 1837 when William Lyon Mackenzie and other Canadian rebels commanding the ship Caroline fled to an island in the Niagara River, with support from nearby American citizens. British forces then boarded the ship, killed an American crew member in the fighting, and then burned the ship and sent it over Niagara Falls

Ballinger-Pinchot controversy

a dispute between US Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot and US Secretary of Interior Richard A Ballinger that contributed to the split of the Republican Party before the 1912 presidential election and helped to define the U.S. conservation movement in the early 20th century

Halfway Covenant

a form of partial church membership adopted by the Congregational churches of colonial New England in the 1660s. The Puritan-controlled Congregational churches required evidence of a personal conversion experience before granting church membership and the right to have one's children baptized, Less strict than the typical Puritan way of life, people thought they were lowering standards, later part of Puritan community, 1657, attempting to instill values into children, allows the children to be a part of the church, don't get access to the full church but is still a member, trying to keep them in the faith and to keep the faith going as the children grew up, not as much emphasis on faith and standards of life= wiggle room, social control- the Puritans attempt for no other religions

Neutrality Proclamation

a formal announcement issued by U.S. President George Washington on April 22, 1793 that declared the nation neutral in the conflict between France and Great Britain. It threatened legal proceedings against any American providing assistance to any country at war, An announcement by Washington that declared the US neutral in the conflict between the French and Great Britain

Royal Charter

a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities (with municipal charters) or universities and learned societies, royal document granting a specific group the right to forma colony and guaranteeing settlers their rights as english citizens

The Grange

a fraternal organization in the United States that encourages families to band together to promote the economic and political well-being of the community and agriculture, the oldest American agricultural advocacy group with a national scope, lobbied state legislatures and Congress for political goals, such as the Granger Laws to lower rates charged by railroads, and rural free mail delivery but Postal Office

Embargo Act

a general embargo enacted by the United States Congress against Great Britain and France during the Napoleonic Wars, The embargo was imposed in response to the violations of the United States neutrality, in which American merchantmen and their cargo were seized as contraband of war by the belligerent European navies. The British Royal Navy, in particular, resorted to impressment, forcing thousands of British-American seamen into service on their warships (under British law of the time, having been born British they were still subjects of the Crown). Britain and France, engaged in the Napoleonic Wars, rationalized the plunder of U.S. shipping as incidental to war and necessary for their survival. Americans saw the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair as a particularly egregious example of a British violation of American neutrality. Perceived diplomatic insults and unwarranted official orders issued in support of these actions by European powers were argued by some to be grounds for a U.S. declaration of war

"Crime of '73"

a general revision of the laws relating to the Mint of the United States, abolished the right of holders of silver bullion to have their metal struck into fully legal tender dollar coins, it ended bimetallism in the United States, placing the nation firmly on the gold standard

American Colonization Society

a group established in 1816 by Robert Finley of New Jersey which supported the migration of free African Americans to the continent of Africa. The society in 1821-1822 helped to found a colony. The ACS met with immediate and continuing objections from such African-Americans as James Forton and David Walker, who wished to remain in the land of their birth, saw colonization as a racist strategy for protecting slavery and purging the U.S. of its black citizens, and preferred to fight for equal rights at home. Colonizers were also met with resistance and attacks from those already living in and around the areas being colonized. There was some religious support and missionary efforts were part of the colonization. Disease was a major problem

Fletcher v Peck

a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in which the Supreme Court first ruled a state law unconstitutional. The decision also helped create a growing precedent for the sanctity of legal contracts and hinted that Native Americans did not hold complete title to their own lands

Dred Scott v. Sanford

a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on US labor law and constitutional law. It held that "a negro, whose ancestors were imported into [the U.S.], and sold as slaves," whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen, and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court, and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States. Dred Scott, an enslaved man of "the negro African race" who had been taken by his owners to free states and territories, attempted to sue for his freedom. In a decision written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, the court denied Scott's request. The decision was only the second time that the Supreme Court had ruled an Act of Congress to be unconstitutional

Dartmouth v Woodward

a landmark decision in United States corporate law from the United States Supreme Court dealing with the application of the Contracts Clause of the United States Constitution to private corporations. The case arose when the president of Dartmouth College was deposed by its trustees, leading to the New Hampshire legislature attempting to force the college to become a public institution and thereby place the ability to appoint trustees in the hands of the governor of New Hampshire. The Supreme Court upheld the sanctity of the original charter of the college, which pre-dated the creation of the State, The decision settled the nature of public versus private charters and resulted in the rise of the American business corporation and the American free enterprise system

Gibbons v Ogden

a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce, granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, encompassed the power to regulate navigation.[2] The case was argued by some of America's most admired and capable attorneys at the time. Exiled Irish patriot Thomas Addis Emmet and Thomas J. Oakley argued for Ogden, while U.S. Attorney General William Wirt and Daniel Webster argued for Gibbons

Plessy v Ferguson

a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court issued in 1896, upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality - a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal," legitimized the many state laws re-establishing racial segregation that had been passed in the American South after the end of the Reconstruction Era(1865-1877)

Pendleton Act

a law enacted in 1883 that mandated that positions within the federal government should be awarded on the basis of merit instead of political affiliation, provided selection of government employees by competitive exams, rather than ties to politicians or political affiliation, illegal to fire or demote government officials for political reasons and prohibited soliciting campaign donations on Federal government property, created the United States Civil Service Commission, allowed for the president, by executive order, to decide which positions would be subject to the act and which would not

Maryland Act of Toleration

a law mandating religious tolerance for Trinitarian Christians. It was passed on April 21, 1649, by the assembly of the Maryland colony, in St. Mary's City.

Washington's Farewell Address

a letter written by first President of the United States George Washington to "friends and fellow-citizens", He wrote the letter near the end of his second term of presidency, before retiring to his home at Mount Vernon in Virginia, It was originally published in David C. Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser on September 19, 1796 under the title "The Address of General Washington To The People of The United States on his declining of the Presidency of the United States", and it was almost immediately reprinted in newspapers across the country and later in pamphlet form, The work was later named the "Farewell Address" as it was Washington's valedictory after 20 years of service to the new nation. It was published about ten weeks before the presidential electors cast their votes in the 1796 presidential election. It is a classic statement of republicanism, warning Americans of the political dangers which they must avoid if they are to remain true to their values

John C. Fremont

a major in the U.S. Army, took control of California from the California Republic in 1846. Frémont was convicted in court-martial for mutiny and insubordination over a conflict of who was the rightful military governor of California, became a wealthy man during the California Gold Rush, but he was soon bogged down with lawsuits over land claims, between the dispossession of various land owners during the Mexican-American War and the explosion of Forty-Niners immigrating during the Rush. These cases were settled by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing Frémont to keep his property, Frémont became one of the first two U.S. senators elected from the new state of California in 1850. Frémont was the first presidential candidate of the new Republican Party, carrying most of the North. He lost the 1856 presidential election to Democrat James Buchanan when Know Nothings split the vote. Democrats warned that his election would lead to civil war.

First Continental Congress

a meeting of delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies who met from September 5 to October 26, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. It was called in response to the Intolerable Acts passed by the British Parliament, which the British referred to as the Coercive Acts, with which the British intended to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, The Congress met briefly to consider options, including an economic boycott of British trade and drawing up a list of rights and grievances; in the end, they petitioned King George III for redress of those grievances.

Hudson River School

a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings for which the movement is named depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area, including the Catskill, Adirondack, and White Mountains; eventually works by the second generation of artists associated with the school expanded to include other locales in New England, the Maritimes, the American West, and South America

Aroostook County War

a military and civilian-involved confrontation in 1838-1839 between the United States and the United Kingdom over the international boundary between the British colony of New Brunswick and the U.S. state of Maine

Liberty Party

a minor political party in the United States in the 1840s. The party was an early advocate of the abolitionist cause and it broke away from the American Anti-Slavery Society to advocate the view that the Constitution was an anti-slavery document. William Lloyd Garrison, leader of the AASS, held the contrary view that the Constitution should be condemned as an evil pro-slavery document. The party included abolitionists who were willing to work within electoral politics to try to influence people to support their goals. By contrast, the radical Garrison opposed voting and working within the system. Many Liberty Party members joined the anti-slavery Free Soil Party in 1848 and eventually helped establish the Republican in the 1850s

Social Gospel

a movement in North American Protestantism that applied Christian ethics to social problems, especially issues of social justice such as economic inequality, poverty, alcoholism, crime, racial tensions, slums, unclean environment, child labor, inadequate labor unions, poor schools, and the danger of war. It was most prominent in the early-20th-century United States and Canada

Antifederalists

a movement that opposed the creation of a stronger U.S. federal government and which later opposed the ratification of the 1787 Constitution, They believed the Constitution needed a Bill of Rights, They believed the Constitution created a presidency so powerful that it would become a monarchy, They believed the Constitution did too little in regard to the courts and would create an out of control judiciary, They believed that the national government would be too far away from the people and thus unresponsive to the needs of localities, Anti-Federalist influence helped lead to the passage of the United States Bill of Rights

Quartering Act

a name given to two or more Acts of British Parliament requiring local governments of the American colonies to provide the British soldiers with housing and food. Each of the Quartering Acts was an amendment to the Mutiny Act and required annual renewal by Parliament, They were originally intended as a response to issues that arose during the French and Indian War and soon became a source of tensions between the inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies and the government in London, England. These tensions would later lead toward the American Revolution.

Bank of the United States

a national bank, chartered for a term of twenty years, by the United States Congress on February 25, 1791. It followed the Bank of North America, the nation's first de facto central bank, Establishment of the Bank of the United States was part of a three-part expansion of federal fiscal and monetary power, along with a federal mint and excise taxes, championed by Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton believed a national bank was necessary to stabilize and improve the nation's credit, and to improve handling of the financial business of the United States government under the newly enacted Constitution

American Federation of Labor

a national federation of labor unions in the United States founded in Ohio, in December 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, the largest union grouping in the United States for the first half of the 20th century, even after the creation of the Congress Industrial Organization by unions which were expelled by the AFL in 1935 over its opposition to industrial unionism

Pullman strike

a nationwide railroad strike in the United States that lasted from in 1894, and a turning point for US labor law, pitted the American Railway Union against the Pullman Company, the main railroads, and the federal government under President Cleveland, the strike and boycott shut down much of the nation's freight and passenger traffic west of Detroit, began in Chicago, nearly 4,000 factory employees of the Pullman Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages, 30 workers were killed by railroad agents and their allies

Chesapeake-Leopard Affair

a naval engagement that occurred off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, on June 22, 1807, between the British warship HMS Leopard and the American frigate USS Chesapeake. The crew of Leopard pursued, attacked, and boarded the American frigate, looking for deserters from the Royal Navy.[1]Chesapeake was caught unprepared and after a short battle involving broadsides received from Leopard, the commander of Chesapeake, James Barron, surrendered his vessel to the British. Chesapeake had fired only one shot

Samuel Gridley Howe

a nineteenth century United States physician, abolitionist, and an advocate of education for the blind. He organized and was the first director of the Perkins Institution. An abolitionist, in 1863, he was one of three men appointed by the Secretary of War to the American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission, to investigate conditions of freedmen in the South since the Emancipation Proclamation and recommend how they could be aided in their transition to freedom. In addition to traveling to the South, Howe traveled to Canada West(now Ontario, Canada), where thousands of former slaves had escaped to freedom and established new lives; he interviewed freedmen as well as government officials in Canada

De Lome Letter

a note written by Señor Don Enqrique Dupuey De Lome, the Spanish Ambassador to the United States, to Don Jose Canalejas, the Foreign Minister of Spain, reveals de Lôme's opinion about the Spanish involvement in Cuba and US President McKinley's diplomacy, unflattering remarks about McKinley helped fuel the United States of America's aggressive, warlike foreign policy, McKinley delivered a war message to Congress asking for "forcible intervention" by the United States to establish peace in Cuba

Thomas Paine's Common Sense

a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775-76 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies, made public a persuasive and impassioned case for independence, which before the pamphlet had not yet been given serious intellectual consideration. He connected independence with common dissenting Protestant beliefs as a means to present a distinctly American political identity.

Clayton Anti-Trust Act

a part of US antitrust law with the goal of adding further substance to the U.S. antitrust law regime, sought to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incipiency, started with the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, the first Federal law outlawing practices considered harmful to consumers (monopolies, cartels, and trusts), specified particular prohibited conduct, the three-level enforcement scheme, the exemptions, and the remedial measures

Haymarket Square

a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour work day and in reaction to the killing of several workers the previous day by the police, an unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at the police as they acted to disperse the public meeting, the bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians; dozens of others were wounded

Era of Good Feelings

a period in the political history of the United States that reflected a sense of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the War of 1812, The era saw the collapse of the Federalist Party and an end to the bitter partisan disputes between it and the dominant Democratic-Republican Party during the First Party System, President James Monroe strove to downplay partisan affiliation in making his nominations, with the ultimate goal of national unity and eliminating parties altogether from national politics, The period is so closely associated with Monroe's presidency (1817-1825) and his administrative goals that his name and the era are virtually synonymous

Alamo

a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar , killing the Texan defenders. Santa Anna's cruelty during the battle inspired many Texians—both Texas settlers and adventurers from the United States—to join the Texian Army. Buoyed by a desire for revenge, the Texians defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, ending the revolution.

XYZ Affair

a political and diplomatic episode in 1797 and 1798, early in the administration of John Adams, involving a confrontation between the United States and Republican France that led to an undeclared war called the Quasi-War. The name derives from the substitution of the letters X, Y and Z for the names of French diplomats Hottinguer (X), Bellamy (Y), and Hauteval (Z) in documents released by the Adams administration, sent to France in July 1797 to negotiate problems that were threatening to break out into war. The diplomats, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry, were approached through informal channels by agents of the French Foreign Minister Talleyrand, who demanded bribes and a loan before formal negotiations could begin. Although such demands were not uncommon in mainland European diplomacy of the time, the Americans were offended by them, and eventually left France without ever engaging in formal negotiations. Gerry, seeking to avoid all-out war, remained for several months after the other two commissioners left

Boston Tea Party

a political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1773 The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India companyto sell tea from China in American colonies without paying taxes apart from those imposed by the Townshend Acts, thus undercutting local tea merchants: Demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company

Redeemers

a political coalition in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction Era that followed the Civil War, the southern wing of the Bourbon Democrats, the conservative, pro-business faction in the Democratic Party

City Machines

a political group in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters and businesses (usually campaign workers), who receive rewards for their efforts, machine's power is based on the ability of the boss or group to get out the vote for their candidates on election day

Whigs

a political party active in the middle of the 19th century in the United States. Four United States Presidents belonged to the party while in office, It originally formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson (in office 1829-1837) and his Democratic Party. In particular, the Whigs supported the supremacy of the United States Congress over the presidency and favored a program of modernization, banking and economic protectionism to stimulate manufacturing. It appealed to entrepreneurs, planters, reformers and the emerging urban middle class, but had little appeal to farmers or unskilled workers

Essex Junto

a powerful group of New England Federalist Party lawyers, merchants, and politicians, so named because many of the original group were from Essex County, Massachusetts. The term was coined by John Hancock in 1778 to describe the main opponents of a proposed constitution for the state of Massachusetts. The proposed constitution was rejected by the people; the state adopted its constitution in 1780. John Adams is also frequently credited with disseminating the name, Over the following years the group expanded to include politicians from other New England states who were opposed to Democratic-Republican Party policies that dominated national politics

Lynching

a premeditated extrajudicial killing by a group, most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate a group, African Americans, typically by hanging, became frequent in the South during the period after the Reconstruction era and especially during the decades on either side of the turn of the 20th century, most lynchings were conducted by white mobs against black victims, often suspects taken from jail before they were tried by all-white juries, the promotion of white supremacy and black powerlessness, photographed and published as postcards, which were popular souvenirs in the U.S., to expand the intimidation of the acts, victims were sometimes shot, burned alive, or otherwise tortured and mutilated in the public events, the South had the states with the highest total numbers of lynchings

Poll tax

a prerequisite to the registration for voting in a number of states until 1966, emerged in some states of the United States in the late 19th century as part of the Jim Crow Laws, after the right to vote was extended to all races by the enactment of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a number of states enacted poll tax laws as a device for restricting voting rights, achieved the desired effect of disenfranchising African American and Native Americans, as well as poor whites

Thomas Hancock

a prime example of the cumulative advantages bestowed by social class and childhood training. Born in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1703, Hancock was the third son of a congressionalist minister. Although his two older brothers had been sent to Harvard, Thomas was apprenticed at the age of fourteen to a bookseller. This was relatively humble, but not an insignificant, beginning. His father's status and educational background has given the young man expectations and aspirations which went far beyond those of most children in the community. The accident of birth gave him greater opportunities as well... After setting up his own business at the end of his seven-year indenture, he made a "good" marriage to the daughter of an established dealer in books and general merchandise. This solid advantages bestowed by his class background explain only a part of Hancock's subsequent career. The traits fashioned during his childhood and adult years also played a crucial role. He did not-- indeed could not-- rest content as an ordinary shopkeeper; his ambition was too strong, always prompting him to expand and to diversify his activities. Within a few years he was trading molasses for fish in Newfoundland; importing Dutch tea through St. Eustatius in the West Indies; investing in trading ventures; and accumulating his own fleet of merchant ships. The acquisitive mentality and the capitalistic activities which raised Hancock far above his already substantial origins were, to some extent, merely the latest manifestation of an ethos characteristic of the commercial classes in European society for hundreds of years

Tuskegee Institute

a private historically black university in Alabama, established by Lewis Adams and Booker T Washington, a result of an agreement made during the 1880 elections in Macon County between a former Confederate Colonel, WF Foster, who was running on the democratic ticket and a local Black Leader and Republican, Lewis Adams. W.F. Foster propositioned that if Adams could successfully persuade the Black constituents to vote for Foster, if elected, Foster would push the state of Alabama to establish a school for Black people in the county

Judicial Review

a process under which executive or legislative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws and governmental actions that are incompatible with a higher authority: an executive decision may be invalidated for being unlawful or a statute may be invalidated for violating the terms of a constitution. Judicial review is one of the checks and balances in the separation of powers: the power of the judiciary to supervise the legislative and executive branches when the latter exceed their authority. The doctrine varies between jurisdictions, so the procedure and scope of judicial review may differ between and within countries

SC Ordinance of Secession

a proclamation issued in 1860 by the government of South Carolina to explain its reasons for seceding from the United States. It followed the brief Ordinance of Secession that had been issued on December 20. The declaration is a product of a convention organized by the state's government in the month following the election of Abraham Lincoln as U.S. President, where it was drafted in a committee headed by Christopher Memminger. The declaration stated the primary reasoning behind South Carolina's declaring of secession from the U.S., which was described as "increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the Institution of Slavery".

William Lloyd Garrison

a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, which he founded with Isaac Knapp in 1831 and published in Massachusetts until slavery was abolished by Constitutional amendment after the American Civil War. He was one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United States.

Gag Rule

a rule that limits or forbids the raising, consideration, or discussion of a particular topic by members of a legislative or decision-making body

Whiskey Ring

a scandal, exposed in 1875, began in St. Louis but was also organized nationwide, diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors, involved an extensive network of bribes involving distillers, rectifiers, gaugers, storekeepers, and internal revenue agents, distillers bribed government officials, and those officials helped the distillers evade federal taxes on the whiskey they produced and sold. Whiskey was supposed to be taxed at 70 cents per gallon, however distillers would instead pay the officials 35 cents per gallon and the illicit whiskey was stamped as having the tax paid. Before they were caught, a group of politicians were able to siphon off millions of dollars in federal taxes

Alexander Graham Bell

a scientist, inventor, engineer, and innovator who is credited with inventing and patenting the first practical telephone, awarded the first US patent for the telephone in 1876

Salem Witchcraft

a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. more than 200 people were accused, nineteen of which were found guilty and executed by hanging (fourteen women and five men). One other man was pressed to death for refusing to plead, and at least five people died in jail. It was the deadliest witch hunt in the history of the United States. New England had been settled by religious refugees seeking to build a pure, Bible-based society. They lived closely with the sense of the supernatural. Salem Village was known for its fractious population who had many internal disputes, and for disputes between the village and Salem Town. Arguments about property lines, grazing rights, and church privileges were ride, and neighbors considered the population as "quarrelsome."

Hartford Convention

a series of meetings from December 15, 1814 - January 5, 1815, in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, in which the New England Federalist Party met to discuss their grievances concerning the ongoing War of 1812 and the political problems arising from the federal government's increasing power

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. At the time, U.S. senators were elected by state legislatures; thus Lincoln and Douglas were trying for their respective parties to win control of the Illinois General Assembly. The debates previewed the issues that Lincoln would face in the aftermath of his victory in the 1860 presidential election. Although Illinois was a free state, the main issue discussed in all seven debates was slavery in the United States

Bleeding Kansas

a series of violent civil confrontations in the United States between 1854 and 1861 which emerged from a political and ideological debate over the legality of slavery in the proposed state of Kansas. The conflict was characterized by years of electoral fraud, raids, assaults, and retributive murders carried out by pro-slavery "Border Ruffians" and anti-slavery "Free-Staters" in Kansas and neighboring Missouri

Department of Commerce & Labor

a short-lived Cabinet department of the United States Government, which was concerned with controlling the excesses of big businesses

Keating-Owen Child Labor Act

a short-lived statute enacted by the US Congress which sought to address child labor by prohibiting the sale in interstate commerce of goods produced by factories that employed children under fourteen, mines that employed children younger than sixteen, and any facility where children under fourteen worked after 7:00 p.m. or before 6:00 a.m. or more than eight hours daily, the basis for the action was the constitutional clause giving Congress the task of regulating interstate commerce, specified that the U.S. Attorney General, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Agriculture would convene a caucus to publish from time to time uniform rules and regulations to comply with the Act, the Secretary of Labor would assign inspectors to perform inspections of workplaces that produce goods for commerce, inspectors would have the authority to make unannounced visits and would be given full access to the facility in question

Separation of Powers

a state's government is divided into branches, each with separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with the powers associated with the other branches. The typical division is into three branches: a legislature, an executive, and a judiciary

Preston Brooks

a strong advocate of slavery and states' rights. He is primarily remembered for his attack upon abolitionist and Republican Senator Charles Sumner, whom he beat nearly to death in retaliation for an anti-slavery speech in which Sumner verbally attacked Brooks' second cousin. Brooks' action received "widespread adoration in South Carolina and other Southern states." An attempt to oust him from the House of Representatives failed, and he received only token punishment in his criminal trial. He resigned his seat in July 1856 to give his constituents the opportunity to ratify his conduct in a special election, which they did by electing him in August to fill the vacancy created by his resignation

Whiskey Rebellion

a tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government. It became law in 1791, and was intended to generate revenue for the war debt incurred during the Revolutionary War. The tax applied to all distilled spirits, but American whiskey was by far the country's most popular distilled beverage in the 18th century, so the excise became widely known as a "whiskey tax". Farmers of the western frontier were accustomed to distilling their surplus rye, barley, wheat, corn, or fermented grain mixtures, These farmers resisted the tax. In these regions, whiskey often served as a medium of exchange. Many of the resisters were war veterans who believed that they were fighting for the principles of the American Revolution, in particular against taxation without local representation, while the federal government maintained that the taxes were the legal expression of Congressionaltaxation powers

Cult of Domesticity/True Womanhood

a term used by some historians to describe what they consider to have been a prevailing value system among the upper and middle classes during the nineteenth century in the United States and the United Kingdom. This value system emphasized new ideas of femininity, the woman's role within the home and the dynamics of work and family. "True women", according to this idea, were supposed to possess four cardinal virtues: piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness. The idea revolved around the woman being the center of the family; she was considered "The light of the home"

Progressive (Bull Moose) Party

a third party in the United States formed in 1912 by former President Theodore Roosevelt after he lost the presidential nomination of the Republican Party to his former protégé, incumbent President William Howard Taft

Proprietary colony

a type of British colony mostly in North America and the Caribbean in the 17th century. In the British Empire, all land belonged to the ruler, and it was his prerogative to divide. ... He offered his friends colonial charters which facilitated private investment and colonial self-government.

Laissez-faire

abstention by governments from interfering in the workings of the free market

Bill of Rights

add to the Constitution specific guarantees of personal freedoms and rights, clear limitations on the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and explicit declarations that all powers not specifically delegated to Congress by the Constitution are reserved for the states or the people. The concepts codified in these amendments are built upon those found in several earlier documents, including the Virginia Declaration of Rightsand the English Bill of Rights, along with earlier documents such as Magna Carta (1215). In practice, the amendments had little impact on judgments by the courts for the first 150 years after ratification

Olive Branch Petition

adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775, and signed on July 8, in a final attempt to avoid a full-scale war between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies in America, The petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and beseeched King George III to prevent further conflict

Federal Farm Loan Act

aimed at increasing credit to rural family farmers, created a federal farm loan board, twelve regional farm loan banks and tens of farm loan associations, signed into law by President Wilson

Declaratory Act

an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act 1765 and the changing and lessening of the Sugar Act. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act because boycotts were hurting British trade and used the declaration to justify the repeal and save face. The declaration stated that the Parliament's authority was the same in America as in Britain and asserted Parliament's authority to pass laws that were binding on the American colonies.

Tea Act

an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The principal objective was to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to help the financially struggling company survive. A related objective was to undercut the price of illegal tea, smuggled into Britain's North American colonies. This was supposed to convince the colonists to purchase Company tea on which the Townshend duties were paid, thus implicitly agreeing to accept Parliament's right of taxation. Smuggled tea was a large issue for Britain and the East India company, since approximately 85% of all the tea in America at the time was smuggled Dutch tea.

Ida B. Wells

an African-American investigative journalist, educator, and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement, one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), became the most famous black woman in America, during a life that was centered on combating prejudice and violence

Nat Turner

an African-American slave who led a two-day rebellion of slaves and free blacks in South Hampton Country, Virginia. The rebellion caused the death of approximately sixty white men, women and children. Whites organized militias and called out regular troops to suppress the uprising. In addition, white militias and mobs attacked blacks in the area, killing an estimated 120, many of whom were not involved in the revolt. Nobody was arrested, tried or executed for these crimes against black men, women and children.

Thomas Jefferson

an American Founding Father who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later served as the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Previously, he had been elected the second Vice President of the United States, serving under John Adams from 1797 to 1801. He was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights motivating American colonists to break from Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national level

Charles Grandison Finney

an American Presbyterian minister and leader in the Second Great Awakening in the United States. Finney was best known as an innovative revivalist during the period 1825-1835 in upstate New York and Manhattan, an opponent of Old School Presbyterian theology, an advocate of Christian perfectionism, and a religious writer. Together with several other evangelical leaders, his religious views led him to promote social reforms, such as abolition of slavery and equal education for women and African Americans

Elijah Lovejoy

an American Presbyterian minister, journalist, newspaper editor. He was shot and killed by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois, during their attack on Godfrey and Gillman's warehouse to destroy his press and abolitionist materials

Neal Dow

an American Prohibition advocate and politician. Nicknamed the "Napoleon of Temperance" and the "Father of Prohibition", born to a Quaker family in Maine

Harriet Beecher Stowe

an American abolitionist and author. She came from the Beecher family, a famous religious family, and is best known for her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), which depicts the harsh conditions for enslaved African Americans. The book reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and Great Britain, energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South

Harriet Tubman

an American abolitionist and political activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved people, family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped abolitionist John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry. During the Civil War, she served as an armed scout and spy for the United States Army. In her later years, Tubman was an activist in the struggle for women's suffrage

John Brown

an American abolitionist who believed in and advocated armed insurrection as the only way to overthrow the institution of slavery in the United States. He first gained attention when he led small groups of volunteers during the Bleeding Kansas crisis of 1856. He was dissatisfied with the pacifism of the organized abolitionist movement

Dorothea Dix

an American advocate on behalf of the indigent mentally ill who, through a vigorous and sustained program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums. During the Civil War, she served as a Superintendent of Army Nurses

American Protective Association

an American anti-Catholic secret society established in 1887 by Protestants, the largest anti-Catholic movement in the United States during the latter part of the 19th century, showing particular regional strength in the Midwest, grew rapidly during the early 1890s before collapsing just as abruptly in the aftermath of the election of 1896, did not establish its own independent political party, but rather sought to exert influence by boosting its supporters in campaigns and at political conventions, particularly those of the Republican Party concerned about Roman Catholic influence in the public school system as well as unfettered Catholic immigration and what was seen as growing Catholic control of the political establishments of major American cities

Horace Mann

an American educational reformer and Whig politician dedicated to promoting public education. A central theme of his life was that "it is the law of our nature to desire happiness. This law is not local, but universal; not temporary, but eternal. It is not a law to be proved by exceptions, for it knows no exception." He served in the Massachusetts State legislature (1827-1837). In 1848, after public service as Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, Mann was elected to the United States House of Representatives (1848-1853)

Henry Barnard

an American educationalist and reformer Barnard's chief service to the cause of education, however, was rendered as the editor, from 1855 to 1881, of the American Journal of Education, the thirty-one volumes of which are a veritable encyclopedia of education, one of the most valuable compendiums of information on the subject ever brought together through the agency of any one man. He also edited from 1838 to 1842, and again from 1851 to 1854, the Connecticut Common School Journal, and from 1846 to 1849 the Journal of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction.

Booker T. Washington

an American educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States, the dominant leader in the African-American community, the last generation of black American leaders born into slavery and became the leading voice of the former slaves and their descendants, newly oppressed in the South by disenfranchisement and the Jim Crow discriminatory laws enacted in the post-Reconstruction Southern states in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Robert Fulton

an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing a commercially successful steamboat; the first was called The North River Steamboat of Clermonts. In 1807 that steamboat traveled on the Hudson River with passengers from New York City to Albany and back again, a round trip of 300 miles, in 62 hours. The success of his steamboat changed river traffic and trade on major American rivers

Ralph Waldo Emerson

an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States

Henry David Thoreau

an American essayist, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, and historian. A leading transcendentalist, Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state

J.P. Morgan

an American financer and banker who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation in the United States of America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, had financial investments in many large corporations and had significant influence over the nation's high finance and United States Congress members

Frederick Jackson Turner

an American historian in the early 20th century, primarily known for his "Frontier Thesis," argued that the moving western frontier shaped American democracy and the American character from the colonial era until 1890, Frontier Thesis has had an enormous impact on historical scholarship and the American soul

Thomas Edison

an American inventor and businessman, one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees, often credited with establishing the first industrial research laboratory

Knights of Labor

an American labor federation active in the 1880s, important leaders were Terence V. Powderly and step-brother Joseph Bath, promoted the social and cultural uplift of the workingman, rejected socialism and anarchism, demanded the eight-hour day, and promoted the producers ethic of republicanism

Meat Inspection Act

an American law that makes it a crime to adulterate or misbrand meat and meat products being sold as food, and ensures that meat and meat products are slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions, also apply to imported meat products, which must be inspected under equivalent foreign standards

Abraham Lincoln

an American lawyer and politician who served as the 16th President of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the Civil War, its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy

Henry Clay

an American lawyer, planter, and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives. After serving three non-consecutive terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Clay helped elect John Quincy Adams as president, and Adams subsequently appointed Clay as Secretary of State. Clay served four separate terms in the Senate, including stints from 1831 to 1842 and from 1849 to 1852. He ran for the presidency in 1824, 1832 and 1844, and unsuccessfully sought his party's nomination in 1840 and 1848. Clay was one of a handful of national leaders to actively work from 1811 to the 1850s, defining the issues, proposing nationalistic solutions, and creating the Whig Party

John Hancock

an American merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He is remembered for his large and stylish signature on the United States Declaration of Independence, so much so that the term John Hancock has become a synonym in the United States for one's signature

Benedict Arnold

an American military officer who served as a general during the American Revolutionary War, fighting for the American Continental Army before defecting to the British in 1780. George Washington had given him his fullest trust and placed him in command of the fortifications at West Point, New York. Arnold planned to surrender the fort to British forces, but the plot was discovered in September 1780 and he fled to the British. His name quickly became a byword in the United States for treason and betrayal because he led the British army in battle against the very men whom he had once commanded

William Henry Harrison

an American military officer, politician, and the ninth President of the United States, he was nominated for the presidency as the Whig Partycandidate in the election of that year—he was defeated by Democrat Martin Van Buren. In 1840, the Party nominated Harrison again, with John Tyler as his running mate. Harrison and Tyler, known famously as "Tippecanoe and Tyler too", defeated Van Buren in the 1840 election. Harrison was the oldest person sworn in as president until Ronald Reagan's inauguration in 1981 and later Donald Trump's inauguration in 2017

William Henry Harrison

an American military officer, politician, and the ninth President of the United States. He died of pneumonia thirty-one days into his term, thereby serving the shortest tenure in United States presidential history. Because he was the first president to die in office, his death sparked a constitutional crisis and questions and debates about succession, a son of Founding Father Benjamin Harrison V and the paternal grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the United States (1889-1893). He was the last president born as a British royal subject in the original Thirteen Colonies before the American Revolution (1775-1783)

American (Know Nothing) Party

an American nativist political party that operated nationally in the mid-1850s. It was primarily anti-Catholic, xenophobic, and hostile to immigration, starting originally as a secret society. The movement briefly emerged as a major political party in the form of the American Party. Adherents to the movement were to reply "I know nothing" when asked about its specifics by outsiders, thus providing the group with its common name

Maine explosion

an American naval ship that sank in Havana Harbor during the Cuban revolt against Spain, an event that became a major political issue in the United States, sent to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban revolt against Spain, she blew up without warning and quickly sank, "Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!", became a rallying cry for action, which came with the Spanish American War later that year

John D. Rockefeller

an American oil industry business magnate, industrialist, and philanthropist, considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history, kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, and he became the richest person in the country, controlling 90% of all oil in the United States at his peak

Standard Oil

an American oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing monopoly, established in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller, it was the largest oil refinery in the world of its time, the world's first and largest multinational, ended in 1911, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil was an illegal monopoly

William Jennings Bryan

an American orator and politician from Nebraska, emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, standing three times as the party's nominee for president, served in the House of Representatives and as the Secretary of State, just before his death he gained national attention for attacking the teaching of evolution in the Scopes Trial, often called "The Great Commoner"

Walt Whitman

an American poet, essayist, and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality

Democratic-Republicans

an American political party formed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison around 1792 to oppose the centralizing policies of the new Federalist Party run by Alexander Hamilton, who was secretary of the treasury and chief architect of George Washington's administration.[6] From 1801 to 1825, the new party controlled the presidency and Congress as well as most states during the First Party System. It began in 1791 as one faction in Congress and included many politicians who had been opposed to the new constitution. They called themselves "Republicans" after their republicanism. They distrusted the Federalist commitment to republicanism. The party splintered in 1824, with the faction loyal to Andrew Jackson coalescing into the Jacksonian movement (which would soon acquire the name "Democratic Party"), the faction led by John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay forming the National Republican Party, and some other groups going on to form the Anti-Masonic Party (later succeeded by the Whig Party)

Greenback Party

an American political party with an anti-monopoly ideology which was active between 1874 and 1889, name referred to the non-gold backed paper money, commonly known as "greenbacks", issued by the North during the American Civil War and shortly afterward, opposed the deflationary lowering of prices paid to producers entailed by a return to a bullion-based monetary system, the policy favored by the Republican and Democratic Parties, continued use of unbacked currency would better foster business and assist farmers by raising prices and making debts easier to pay

Charles Sumner

an American politician and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the U.S. Senate during the American Civil War. He worked hard to destroy the Confederacy, free all the slaves, and keep on good terms with Europe. During Reconstruction, he fought to minimize the power of the ex-Confederates and guarantee equal rights to the freedmen

Stephen Douglas

an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. He was the Democrat Party nominee for president in the 1860 election, but he was defeated by Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln. Douglas had previously bested Lincoln in 1858 Illinois election for the United States Senate, which is known for the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. During the 1850s, Douglas was one of the foremost advocates of popular sovereignty, which held that each territory should be allowed to determine whether to permit slavery within its borders. Douglas was nicknamed the "Little Giant" because he was short in physical stature, but a forceful and dominant figure in politics

Boss Tweed

an American politician most notable for being the "boss" of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th century New York City and state, the third-largest landowner in New York City

Jacob Coxey

an American politician who ran for elective office several times in Ohio, led "Coxey's Army", a group of unemployed men who marched to Washington DC to present a "Petition in Boots" demanding that the US Congress allocate funds to create jobs for the unemployed, an early attempt to arouse political interest in an issue that grew in importance until the Social Security Act of 1935 encouraged the establishment of state unemployment insurance programs

James Buchanan

an American politician who served as the 15th President of the United States (1857-1861), serving immediately prior to the American Civil War. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 17th United States Secretary of State and had served in the Senate and House of Representatives before becoming president

John Marshall

an American politician who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 to 1835. Marshall remains the longest-serving chief justice in Supreme Courthistory, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential justices to ever sit on the Supreme Court. Prior to joining the Supreme Court, Marshall served as the United States Secretary of State under Federalist President John Adams

Jefferson Davis

an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. As a member of the Democratic Party, he represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives prior to switching allegiance to the Confederacy. He was appointed as the United States Secretary of War, serving from 1853 to 1857, under President Franklin Pierce

John Slidell

an American politician, lawyer, and businessman. A native of New York, Slidell moved to Louisiana as a young man and became a staunch defender of Southern rights as a Representative and Senator

Aaron Burr

an American politician. He was the third Vice President of the United States (1801-1805), serving during Thomas Jefferson's first term

John Humphrey Noyes

an American preacher, radical religious philosopher, and utopian socialist. Finney, who had influenced Noyes' conversion, advocated the idea of Christian perfectionism, that it was possible to be free of sin in this lifetime, which Noyes took up with fervor. His statements on this doctrine caused his friends to think him unbalanced, and he began to be called a heretic by his own professors. From the moment of his conversion, Noyes maintained that because he had surrendered his will to God, everything he chose to do was perfect because his choices "came from a perfect heart". His theory centered on the idea that the fact that man had an independent will was because of God and that this independent will came from God, therefore rendering it divine. The only way to control mankind's will was with spiritual direction

Joseph Smith

an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint Movement. When he was 24, he published the Book of Mormon, and he had attracted tens of thousands of followers and founded a religion that continues to the present by the time of his death 14 years later Smith published many revelations and other texts that his followers regard as scripture. His teachings discuss the nature of God, cosmology, family structures, political organization, and religious collectivism. His followers regard him as a prophet comparable to Moses and Elijah, and several religious denominations consider themselves the continuation of the church that he organized, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the Community of Christ

Brigham Young

an American religious leader, politician, and settler. He was the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877. He founded Salt Lake City and he served as the first governor of the Utah Territory. Young also led the founding of the precursors to the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. Young was a polygamist, instituting a church ban against conferring the priesthood on men of African American descent, supported the expansion of slavery into Utah, and led the church in the Utah War against the United States

Frederick Douglas

an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesmen. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings. In his time, he was described by abolitionists as a living counter-example to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave

Eugene Victor Debs

an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World and five times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President, eventually became one of the best-known socialists living in the United States

W.E.B. DuBois

an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, pan-africanist, author, writer and editor, the first African America to earn a doctorate from Harvard, he became a professor of history, one of the founders of the National Association or the Advancement of Colored People in 1909

Sam Houston

an American soldier and politician. An important leader of the Texas Revolution, Houston served as the 1st and 3rd president of the Republic of Texas, and was one of the first two individuals to represent Texas in the United States

Andrew Jackson

an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, Jackson gained fame as a general in the United States Army and served in both houses of Congress. As president, Jackson sought to advance the rights of the "common man" against a "corrupt aristocracy" and to preserve the Union

James Monroe

an American statesman and Founding Father who served as the fifth President of the United States from 1817 to 1825. Monroe was the last president of the Virginia dynasty, and his presidency ushered in what is known as the Era of Good Feelings. Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, Monroe was of the planter class and fought in the American Revolutionary War. He was wounded in the Battle of Trenton with a musket ball to the shoulder. After studying law under Thomas Jefferson from 1780 to 1783, he served as a delegate in the Continental Congress

John Adams

an American statesman and Founding Father who served as the first Vice President (1789-1797) and second President of the United States (1797-1801). He was a lawyer, diplomat, political theorist, and leader of the movement for American independence from Great Britain. He was a dedicated diarist and his correspondence, including with his wife and closest advisor, Abigail Smith Adams, provides important historical information on the era.

Alexander Hamilton

an American statesman and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was an influential interpreter and promoter of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the founder of the nation's financial system, the Federalist Party, the United States Coast Guard, and the New York Postnewspaper. As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton was the main author of the economic policies of George Washington's administration. He took the lead in the Federal government's funding of the states' debts, as well as establishing a national bank, a system of tariffs, and friendly trade relations with Britain. His vision included a strong central government led by a vigorous executive branch, a strong commercial economy, a national bank and support for manufacturing, and a strong military. Thomas Jefferson was his leading opponent, arguing for agrarianism and smaller government.

John Quincy Adams

an American statesman who served as the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. He served as the eighth United States Secretary of State immediately before becoming president. During his long diplomatic and political career, Adams also served as an ambassador, United States Senator, and member of the United States House of Representatives. He was the eldest son of John Adams, who served as president from 1797 to 1801. Initially a Federalist like his father, he won election to the presidency as a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, and in the mid-1830s became affiliated with the Whig Party

John Quincy Adams

an American statesman who served as the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. He served as the eighth United States Secretary of Stateimmediately before becoming president. During his long diplomatic and political career, Adams also served as an ambassador, United States Senator, and member of the United States House of Representatives. He was the eldest son of John Adams, who served as president from 1797 to 1801. Initially a Federalist like his father, he won election to the presidency as a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, and in the mid-1830s became affiliated with the Whig Party

John Jay

an American statesman, Patriot, diplomat, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, negotiator and signatory of the Treaty of Paris of 1783, second Governor of New York, and the first Chief Justice of the United States (1789-1795). He directed U.S. foreign policy for much of the 1780s and was an important leader of the Federalist Party after the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788

Samuel Adams

an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped the political culture of the United States. He was a second cousin to his fellow Founding Father, President John Adams.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

an American suffragist, social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early women's rights movement. Her Declaration of Sentiments, presented at the Seneca Falls Convention held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, is often credited with initiating the first organized women's rights and women's suffrage movements in the United States. Stanton was president of the National Woman Suffrage Association from 1892 until 1900

Bronson Alcott

an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. He was also an abolitionist and an advocate for women's rights. His most well-known teaching position was at the Temple School in Boston. His experience there was turned into two books: Records of a School and Conversations with Children on the Gospels. Alcott became friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and became a major figure in transcendentalism. His writings on behalf of that movement, however, are heavily criticized for being incoherent. Based on his ideas for human perfection, Alcott founded Fruitlands, a transcendentalist experiment in community living. The project was short-lived and failed after seven months. Alcott continued to struggle financially for most of his life

Ku Klux Klan

an American white supremacist hate group that was founded in 1865, at the end of the Civil War, advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white supremacy, white nationalism, anti-immigration, used terrorism—both physical assault and murder—against groups or individuals whom they opposed, called for the "purification" of American society and all are considered right-wing extremist organizations, membership was secret and estimates of the total were highly exaggerated by both friends and enemies

John Winthrop

an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England, following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the first large wave of immigrants from England in 1630 and served as governor for 12 of the colony's first 20 years. His writings and vision of the colony as a Puritan "city upon a hill" dominated New England colonial development, influencing the governments and religions of neighboring colonies.

Maryland

an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632[2] until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. stateof Maryland. Its first settlement and capital was St. Mary's City, in the southern end of St. Mary's County, which is a peninsula in the Chesapeake Bay and is also bordered by four tidal rivers. The province began as a proprietary colony of the English Lord Baltimore, who wished to create a haven for English Catholics in the new world at the time of the European wars of religion. Although Maryland was an early pioneer of religious toleration in the English colonies, religious strife among Anglicans, Puritans, Catholics, and Quakers was common in the early years, and Puritan rebels briefly seized control of the province. In 1689, the year following the Glorious Revolution, John Coode led a rebellion that removed Lord Baltimore from power in Maryland. Power in the colony was restored to the Baltimore family in 1715 when Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, insisted in public that he was a Protestant.

John Smith

an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, Admiral of New England, and author. He played an important role in the establishment of the Jamestown colony, the first permanent English settlement in North America, in the early 17th century. Smith was a leader of the Virginia Colony based at Jamestown between September 1608 and August 1609, and led an exploration along the rivers of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay, during which he became the first English explorer to map the Chesapeake Bay area. Later, he explored and mapped the coast of New England.

Samuel Gompers

an English-born American labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history, founded the American Federation of Labor, and served as the organization's president from 1886 to 1894, and from 1895 until his death in 1924, promoted harmony among the different craft unions that comprised the AFL, trying to minimize jurisdictional battles, promoted thorough organization and collective bargaining, to secure shorter hours and higher wages, the first essential steps, he believed, to emancipating labor

Nez Perce

an Indigenous people of the Plateau who have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States for a long time who, like the Sioux, rose against the American government, but came to fail after a short period of time

American Anti-slavery Society

an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Fredrick Douglass, an escaped slave, was a key leader of this society who often spoke at its meetings. In 1839, the national organization split over basic differences of approach: Garrison and his followers were more radical than other members; they denounced the U.S. Constitution as supportive of slavery, were against established religion, and insisted on sharing organizational responsibility with women. A minority of anti-feminist delegates, who were more moderate on many issues left the society, forming the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society

Bland Allison Act

an act requiring the US treasury to buy a certain amount of silver and put it into circulation as silver dollars, though the bill was vetoed by President Hayes, the Congress overrode Hayes's veto in 1878 to enact the law

Articles of Confederation

an agreement among the 13 original states of the United States of America that served as its first constitution, It was approved, after much debate 1776-1777, by the Second Continental Congress

Great (CT) Compromise

an agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. It retained the bicameral legislature as proposed by Roger Sherman, along with proportional representation of the states in the lower house, but required the upper house to be weighted equally between the states. Each state would have two representatives in the upper house

Teller Amendment

an amendment to a joint resolution of the United States Congress, enacted in 1898, in reply to President McKinley's war message, placed a condition on the United States military's presence in Cuba, the U.S. could not annex Cuba but only leave "control of the island to its people", the U.S. would help Cuba gain independence and then withdraw all its troops from the country

Uncle Tom's Cabin

an anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S. and is said to have "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War"

Mexican-American War

an armed conflict between the United States of America and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed in the wake of the 1845 American annexation of the independent Republic of Texas. The unstable Mexican leadership of President/General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna still considered Texas to be its northeastern province and never recognized the Republic of Texas, which had seceded a decade earlier. In 1845, newly elected U.S. President James K. Polk sent troops to the disputed area and a diplomatic mission to Mexico. After Mexican forces attacked American forces, Polk cited this in his request that Congress declare war

King Philip's War

an armed conflict in 1675-78 between Native American inhabitants of the New England region of North America versus New England colonists and their Indian allies. The war continued in the most northern reaches of New England until the signing of the Treaty of Casco Bay in April 1678.

Battle of the Little Bighorn

an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapho tribes and the 7th Calgary Regiment of the US army, resulted in the defeat of US forces, was the most significant action of the Great Sioux Wars of 1876, June 1876, along the Little Bighorn River in southeastern Montana Territory

Bacon's Rebellion

an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. The colony's dismissive policy as it related to the political challenges of its western frontier, along with other challenges including leaving Bacon out of his inner circle, refusing to allow Bacon to be a part of his fur trade with the Indians, and Doeg American Indian attacks, helped to motivate a popular uprising against Berkeley, who had failed to address the demands of the colonists regarding their safety.

Shays' Rebellion

an armed uprising in Massachusetts, mostly in and around Springfield during 1786 and 1787, a protest against perceived economic and civil rights injustices. Shays was a farmhand from Massachusetts at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, In 1787, Shays' rebels marched on the United States' Armory at Springfield in an unsuccessful attempt to seize its weaponry and overthrow the government. The federal government found itself unable to finance troops to put down the rebellion, and it was consequently put down by the Massachusetts State militia and a privately funded local militia. The widely held view was that the Articles of Confederation needed to be reformed as the country's governing document, and the events of the rebellion served as a catalyst for the Constitutional Convention and the creation of the new government

Gospel of Wealth

an article written by Andrew Carnegie in 1889 that describes the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made rich, proposed that the best way of dealing with the new phenomenon of wealth inequality was for the wealthy to utilize their surplus means in a responsible and thoughtful manner

American System

an economic plan that played an important role in American policy during the first half of the 19th century. Rooted in the "American School" ideas of Alexander Hamilton, the plan "consisted of three mutually reinforcing parts: a tariff to protect and promote American industry; a national bank to foster commerce; and federal subsidies for roads, canals, and other 'internal improvements' to develop profitable markets for agriculture".[attribution needed][1] Congressman Henry Clay was the plan's foremost proponent and the first to refer to it as the "American System"

Transcendentalism

an idealistic philosophical and social movement that developed in New England around 1836 in reaction to rationalism. Influenced by romanticism, Platonism, and Kantian philosophy, it taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity, and its members held progressive views on feminism and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were central figures

Boston Massacre

an incident on 1770, in which British Army soldiers shot and killed five people while under attack by a mob. The incident was heavily publicized by leading Patriots, such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, to encourage rebellion against the British authorities, British troops had been stationed in Boston, capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, since 1768 in order to protect and support crown-appointed colonial officials attempting to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation.

Homestead Strike

an industrial lockout and strike which began in 1892, culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents in 1892, the battle was one of the most violent disputes in US labor history, occurred at the Homestead Steel Works in the Pittsburgh area town of Pennsylvania, between the AA and the Carnegie Steel Company, final result was a major defeat for the union of strikers and a setback for their efforts to unionize steelworkers

Compromise of 1877

an informal, unwritten deal, that settled the intensely disputed 1876 U.S. presidential election. It resulted in the United States federal government pulling the last troops out of the South, and formally ended the Reconstruction Era

American Woman Suffrage Association

an organization formed in 1890 to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States, created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National Women Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage (AWSA), membership increased to two million, played a pivotal role in the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment, which in 1920 guaranteed women's right to vote

Farmers' Alliances

an organized agrarian connected in the west economic movement among American farmers that developed and flourished ca. 1875, one of the goals of the organization was to end the adverse effects of the crop-lien system on farmers in the period following the American Civil War, generally supported the government regulation of the transportation industry, establishment of an income tac in order to restrict speculative profits, and the adoption of an inflationary relaxation of the nation's money supply as a means of easing the burden of repayment of loans by debtors, moved into politics in the early 1890s under the banner of the People's Party, commonly known as the "Populists"

Confederate States of America

an unrecognized country in North America that existed from 1861 to 1865. The Confederacy was originally formed by seven secessionist slave-holding states—South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas—in the Lower South region of the United States, whose economy was heavily dependent upon agriculture, particularly cotton, and a plantation system that relied upon the labor of African American slaves

Wilmot Proviso

an unsuccessful 1846 proposal in the United States Congress to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican American War. The conflict over the Wilmot proviso was one of the major events leading up to the American Civil War. In 1848, an attempt to make it part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo also failed. Sectional political disputes over slavery in the Southwest continued until the Compromise of 1850.

Crittenden Compromise

an unsuccessful proposal introduced by United States Senator John J. Crittenden in 1860. It aimed to resolve the secession crisis of 1860-1861 by addressing the fears and grievances about slavery that led many slave-holding states to contemplate secession from the United States

Declaration of Independence

announced that the Thirteen Colonies then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain would regard themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states no longer under British rule. With the Declaration, these new states took a collective first step toward forming the United States of America. The declaration was signed by representatives from New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia

Washington DC

approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country's East Coast. The U.S. Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginiaeach donated land to form the federal district, which included the pre-existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria. Named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land originally ceded by Virginia; in 1871, it created a single municipal government for the remaining portion of the District

Dawes Act

authorized the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Native Americans. Those who accepted allotments and lived separately from the tribe would be granted United States citizenship

Beaver Wars

battles for economic welfare throughout the St. Lawrence River valley and the lower Great Lakes region, between the Iroquois trying to take control of the fur trade from the Hurons, the northern Algonquians, and their French allies, they also wanted to expand their fur trade, war between iroqouis and french, series of conflicts in french north america to expand commerce, iroquois were backed by the dutch and english and the algonquin were backed by the french

Railroad Strike of 1877

began on July 14 in West Virginia after the Baltimore and Ohio cut wages for the third time in a year, ended some 45 days later, after it was put down by local and state militias, and federal troops, because of economic problems and pressure on wages by the railroads, workers in numerous other cities, in New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, into Illinois and Missouri, also went out on strike, estimated 100 people were killed in the unrest across the country, workers burned down and destroyed both physical facilities and the rolling stock of the railroads—engines and railroad cars

California Gold Rush

began when gold was found by James W. Marshall in California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. The sudden influx of gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy, and the sudden population increase allowed California to go rapidly to statehood, in the Compromise of 1850. The Gold Rush had severe effects on Native Californians and resulted in a precipitous population decline from disease, genocide and starvation. By the time it ended, California had gone from a thinly populated ex-Mexican territory, to having one of its first two U.S. Senators, John C. Fremont, selected to be the first presidential nominee for the new Republican Party in 1856.

Literacy test

between the 1850s and 1960s, literacy tests were administered to prospective voters, and this had the effect of disenfranchising African Americans and others

Dumbbell tenement

built in New York City after the Tenement House Act of 1879 and before the New York State Tenement House Act of 1901, 1879 law required that every habitable room have a window opening to plain air, a requirement that was met by including air shafts between adjacent buildings, commonly called "dumbbell tenements" after the shape of the building footprint, built in great numbers to accommodate waves of immigrating Europeans

Muckrakers

characterize reform-minded American journalists who attacked established institutions and leaders as corrupt, typically had large audiences in some popular magazines, took on corporate monopolies and political machines while trying to raise public awareness and anger at urban poverty, unsafe working conditions, prostitution, and child labor, fictional exposes often had a major impact as well, such as those by Upton Sinclair

War Hawks

coined by the prominent Virginia Congressman John Randolph of Roanoke, a staunch opponent of entry into the War of 1812. There was, therefore, never any "official" roster of War Hawks; as historian Donald Hickey notes, "Scholars differ over who (if anyone) ought to be classified as a War Hawk."[2] One scholar believes the term "no longer seems appropriate".[3] However, most historians use the term to describe about a dozen members of the Twelfth Congress. The leader of this group was Speaker of the House Henry Clay of Kentucky. John C. Calhoun of South Carolina was another notable War Hawk. Both of these men became major players in American politics for decades. Other men traditionally identified as War Hawks include Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky, William Lowndes of South Carolina, Langdon Cheves of South Carolina, Felix Grundy of Tennessee, and William W. Bibb of Georgia

Georgia

colony's corporate charter was granted to General James Oglethorpe on April 21, 1732, by George II, for whom the colony was named. The charter was finalized by the King's privy council on June 9, 1732. Oglethorpe envisioned a colony which would serve as a haven for English subjects who had been imprisoned for debt. General Oglethorpe imposed very strict laws that many colonists disagreed with, such as the banning of alcoholic beverages.[4] He disagreed with slavery and thought a system of smallholdings more appropriate than the large plantations common in the colonies just to the north. However, land grants were not as large as most colonists would have preferred. Oglethorpe envisioned the province as a location for the resettlement of English debtors and "the worthy poor."

Stamp Act Congress

convened in new York in October 1765 acknowledged in its first resolution "all due Subordination" to parliament, and though the members found it difficult to state exactly what subordination was due, they did raise the question, in their petition to the House of Commons, "whether there be not a material Distinction in Reason and sound policy, at least, between the necessary Exercise of Parliamentary Jurisdiction in general Acts, for the Amendment of the Common Law, and the Regulation of Trade and Commerce through the whole empire, and the exercise of that jurisdiction, by imposing taxes on the colonies."

National Woman Suffrage Association

created in response to a split in the American Equal Rights Association over whether the woman's movement should support the Fifteenth Amendment, founders, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, opposed the Fifteenth Amendment unless it included the vote for women, men were able to join as members; however, women solely controlled the leadership of the group, worked to secure women's enfranchisement through a federal constitutional amendment, rival- the American Woman Suffrage Association believed success could be more easily achieved through state-by-state campaigns, 1890 merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association

Federal Reserve Act

created the Federal Reserve System (the central banking system of the United States), and which created the authority to issue Dollars as legal tender, signed into law by President Wilson

Cabinet

dates back to the beginnings of the Presidency itself. Established in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, the Cabinet's role is to advise the President on any subject he may require relating to the duties of each member's respective office.

Sherman Silver Purchase Act

did not authorize the free and unlimited coinage of silver that the Free Silver supporters wanted, increased the amount of silver the government was required to purchase on a recurrent monthly basis to 4.5 million ounces, passed in response to the growing complaints of farmers' and miners' interests- had immense debts that could not be paid off due to deflation, and they urged the government to pass the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in order to boost the economy and cause inflation, allowing them to pay their debts with cheaper dollars, mining companies, meanwhile, had extracted vast quantities of silver from western mines; the resulting oversupply drove down the price of their product, often to below the point at which the silver could be profitably extracted, hoped to enlist the government to increase the demand for silver

Pilgrims

early European settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, US. The Pilgrims' leadership came from religious congregations of Brownest separatist Puritans who had fled volatile political environment in England for the relative calm and tolerance of 17th century Holland in the Netherlands. They held Puritan Calvinist religious beliefs but, unlike other Puritans, they maintained that their congregations needed to be separated from the English state church. They were also concerned they might lose their English cultural identity if they remained in the Netherlands, so they arranged with English investors to establish a new colony in North America. The colony was established in 1620 and became the second successful English settlement in North America (after the founding of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607).

Workingmen's Compensation Act

established compensation to federal civil service employees for wages lost due to job-related injuries, became the precedent for "disability insurance" across the country and the precursor to broad-coverage health insurance

Assumption

federal government assumes all states debts to consolidate the debts, Developing the nation's credit

1st & 2nd Sioux Wars

fought between 1854 and 1856 following the Grattan Massacre, the punitive Battle of Ash Hollow was fought in 1855, Santee Sioux or Dakotas of Western Minnesota rebelled in 1862 after the Federal Government failed to deliver the annuity payments that had been promised to them in the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux of 1851, pillaged the nearby village and attacked Fort Ridgely, killed over 800 German farmers, including men, women and children. After the Battle of Birch Coulee, the Indians were eventually defeated in the Battle of Wood Lake, began in 1863, primarily fought by American militia while the United States Army played a minor role, several Native American tribes attacked American settlements in the Eastern Plains, including the Lakota Sioux who raided in northeast Colorado, 1864 Colorado Volunteers attacked a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho village camped on Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado, the militia killed an estimated 150 men, women, and children, mutilating the dead and taking scalps and other grisly trophies of battle, Indians had been assured by the U.S. Government that they would be safe in the territory they were occupying, but anti-Indian sentiments by white settlers were running high, later congressional investigations resulted in short-lived U.S. public outcry against the slaughter of the Native Americans

Burr/Hamilton Duel

fought between prominent American politicians Aaron Burr, the sitting Vice President of the United States, and Alexander Hamilton, the former Secretary of the Treasury, at Weehawken, New Jersey. It occurred on July 11, 1804, and was the culmination of a long and bitter rivalry between the two men. Hamilton shot first, only to miss and hit a tree directly behind Burr; Burr responded by shooting and mortally wounding Hamilton, who was carried to the home of William Bayard Jr. where he died the next day

Spanish American War

fought between the United States and Spain in 1898, hostilities began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of USS Maine in Cuba, leading to U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence, result was the 1898 Treaty of Paris, negotiated on terms favorable to the U.S. which allowed it temporary control of Cuba and ceded ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands

Battle of New Orleans

fought in 1815, between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham, and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, It took place approximately 5 miles (8.0 kilometres) south of the city of New Orleans, close to the present-day townof Chalmette, Louisiana, and was an American victory.[2] The battle effectively marked the end of the War of 1812

Alien and Sedition Acts

four bills passed by the Federalist-dominated 5th United States Congress and signed into law by President John Adams in 1798, They made it harder for an immigrant to become a citizen (Naturalization Act), allowed the president to imprison and deport non-citizens who were deemed dangerous (Alien Friends Act of 1798) or who were from a hostile nation (Alien Enemy Act of 1798), and criminalized making false statements that were critical of the federal government (Sedition Act of 1798), The Federalists argued that the bills strengthened national security during the Quasi-War, an undeclared naval war with France from 1798 to 1800. Critics argued that they were primarily an attempt to suppress voters who disagreed with the Federalist party and its teachings, and violated the right of freedom of speech in the First Amendment.

Isabel and Ferdinand

funded Christopher Columbus, unified their country, newly established Spain in 1490- renew Catholic country, want to expand Spain

Settlement Houses

goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and social interconnectedness, volunteer middle-class "settlement workers" would live, hoping to share knowledge and culture with, and alleviate the poverty of, their low-income neighbors., provided services such as daycare, education, and healthcare to improve the lives of the poor in these areas

New Nationalism

government protection of human welfare and property rights, but he also argued that human welfare was more important than property rights

Townshend Duties

in colonial U.S. history, series of four acts passed by the British Parliament in an attempt to assert what it considered to be its historic right to exert authority over the colonies through suspension of a recalcitrant representative assembly and through strict provisions for the collection of revenue duties. The British American colonists named the acts after Charles Townshend, who sponsored them

Tippecanoe

in what is now Battle Ground, Indiana, between American forces led by Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory and Native American warriors associated with the Shawnee leader Tecumseh. Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa(commonly known as "The Prophet") were leaders of a confederacy of Native Americans from various tribes that opposed US expansion into Native territory. As tensions and violence increased, Governor Harrison marched with an army of about 1,000 men to disperse the confederacy's headquarters at Prophetstown, near the confluence of the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers

Citizen Genet

incident precipitated by the military adventurism of Citizen Edmond-Charles Genêt, a minister to the United States dispatched by the revolutionary Girondist regime of the new French Republic, which at the time was at war with Great Britain and Spain. His activities violated an American proclamation of neutrality in the European conflict and greatly embarrassed France's supporters in the United States, A French diplomat who broke the rules of diplomacy in an attempt to bring the US into the French Revolution

Income tax

income tax was passed through the Wilson-Gorman tariff, purpose of the income tax was to make up for revenue that would be lost by tariff reductions, US Supreme Court ruled the income tax unconstitutional, the 10th amendment forbidding any powers not expressed in the US Constitution, and there being no power to impose any other than a direct tax by apportionment, 1913, the 16th Amendment made the income tax a permanent fixture in the U.S. tax system

Macon' Bill No. 2

intended to motivate Great Britain and France to stop seizing American vessels during the Napoleonic Wars. This bill was a revision of the original bill by Representative Nathaniel Macon, known as Macon's Bill Number 1. Macon neither wrote it nor approved it, The law lifted all embargoes with Britain and France (for three months). It stated that if either one of the two countries ceased attacks upon American shipping, the United States would end trade with the other, unless that other country agreed to recognize the rights of the neutral American ships as well

Constitutional Convention

intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention from the outset of many of its proponents, chief among them James Madison of Virginia and Alexander Hamilton of New York, was to create a new government rather than fix the existing one, The result of the Convention was the creation of the Constitution of the United States

Proclamation of 1763

issued 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War. It forbade all settlement west of a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains, which was delineated as an Indian Reserve.

"Revolution of 1800"

it marked the first time that power in America passed from one party to another. He promised to govern as he felt the Founders intended, based on decentralized government and trust in the people to make the right decisions for themselves

Hernan Cortes

led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of what is now mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century, Used trickery to conquer the Aztecs while backed by military forces, Spanish conquistador, 1485-1547, caused the fall of the Aztec empire by conquering the capital Tenochtitlan, brought Mexico under Spanish control, one of first Spanish colonizers, received encomienda in Cuba, allied with indigenous people, governor, captain general, and chief justice of New Spain, spread Christianity throughout Mexico, conquered some of Honduras

Second Continental Congress

managed the Colonial war effort and moved incrementally towards independence. It eventually adopted the Lee Resolution which established the new country on July 2, 1776, and it agreed to the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The Congress acted as the de facto national government of the United States by raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and making formal treaties such as the Olive Branch Petition.

Temperance

moderation or voluntary self-restraint. It is typically described in terms of what an individual voluntarily refrains from doing. This includes restraint from retaliation in the form of non-violence and forgiveness, restraint from arrogance in the form of humility and modesty, restraint from excesses such as splurging now in the form of prudence, and restraint from excessive anger or craving for something in the form of calmness and self-control

Maysville Road Veto

occurred on May 27, 1830, when United States President Andrew Jackson vetoed a bill that would allow the federal government to purchase stock in the Maysville, Washington, Paris, and Lexington Turnpike Road Company, Congress passed a bill in 1830 providing federal funds to complete the project. Jackson vetoed the bill on the grounds that federal funding of intrastate projects of this nature was unconstitutional. He declared that such bills violated the principle that the federal government should not be involved in local economic affairs. Jackson also pointed out that funding for these kinds of projects interfered with paying off the national debt

Judiciary Act of 1801

officially An act to provide for the more convenient organization of the Courts of the United States) represented an effort to solve an issue in the U.S. Supreme Court during the early 19th century. There was concern, beginning in 1789, about the system that required the Justices of the Supreme Court to "ride circuit" and reiterate decisions made in the appellate level courts.[1] The Supreme Court Justices had often voiced concern and suggested that the judges of the Supreme and circuit courts be divided. President Thomas Jefferson did not want the judiciary to gain more power over the executive branch

Indentured servants

often a way for poor Europeans to immigrate to the American colonies: they signed an indenture in return for a costly passage. After their indenture expired, the immigrants were free to work for themselves or another employer. It has been argued by at least one economist that indentured servitude occurred largely as "an institutional response to a capital market imperfection"

Republican Party

one of the two major political parties, the other being its historic rival, the Democratic Party. The party is named after republicanism, a major ideology of the American Revolution. Founded by anti-slavery activists, economic modernizers, ex-National-Republicans, ex-Free Soilers and Whigs in 1854, the Republicans largely dominated politics nationally and in the majority of northern states between 1860 and 1932

Homestead Act

opened up millions of acres. Any adult who had never taken up arms against the US government could apply, women and immigrants who had applied for citizenship were eligible, 1866 Act explicitly included black Americans and encouraged them to participate, but rampant discrimination slowed black gains

Platt Amendment

part of the 1901 Army Appropriations Bill, stipulated seven conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops remaining in Cuba at the end of the Spanish American War, and an eighth condition that Cuba sign a treaty accepting these seven conditions, defined the terms of Cuban-U.S. relations to essentially be an unequal one of US dominance over Cuba

Interchangeable parts

parts (components) that are, for practical purposes, identical. They are made to specifications that ensure that they are so nearly identical that they will fit into any assembly of the same type. One such part can freely replace another, without any custom fitting, such as filing. This interchangeability allows easy assembly of new devices, and easier repair of existing devices, while minimizing both the time and skill required of the person doing the assembly or repair

Funding & Assumption

passed in 1790 by the United States Congress as part of the Compromise of 1790, to address the issue of funding (i.e., debt service, repayment and retirement) of the domestic debt incurred by the Colonies; the States in rebellion; in independence; in Confederation, and subsequently the States' comprising and within, a single, sovereign, Federal Union. By the Act the newly-inaugurated federal government under the US Constitution assumed (and thereby retired), the debts of each of the individual Colonies' in rebellion and the bonded debts of the States in Confederation — debts that each state had individually and independently issued, on its own "full faith and credit", when each of them were in effect, an independent nation

Virginia and Kentucky Resolves

political statements drafted in 1798 and 1799, in which the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures took the position that the federal Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional. The resolutions argued that the states had the right and the duty to declare as unconstitutional those acts of Congress that were not authorized by the Constitution. In doing so, they argued for states' rights and strict constructionism of the Constitution. The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798 were written secretly by Vice President Thomas Jefferson and James Madison respectively, The principles stated in the resolutions became known as the "Principles of '98". Adherents argue that the states can judge the constitutionality of central government laws and decrees. The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 argued that each individual state has the power to declare that federal laws are unconstitutional and void. The Kentucky Resolution of 1799 added that when the states determine that a law is unconstitutional, nullification by the states is the proper remedy. The Virginia Resolutions of 1798 refer to "interposition" to express the idea that the states have a right to "interpose" to prevent harm caused by unconstitutional laws. The Virginia Resolutions contemplate joint action by the states

Sherman Antitrust Act

prohibits (1) anticompetitive agreements and (2) unilateral conduct that monopolizes or attempts to monopolize the relevant market, authorizes the Department of Justice to prohibit conduct violating the Act, and additionally authorizes private parties injured by conduct violating the Act to bring suits for treble damages (i.e. three times as much money in damages as the violation cost them), making certain types of anticompetitive conduct per se illegal, and subjecting other types of conduct to case-by-case analysis regarding whether the conduct unreasonably restrains trade

Pacific Railway Act

promoted the construction of a "transcontinental railroad" in the United States through authorizing the issuance of government bonds and the grants of land to railroad companies, began federal government grant of lands directly to corporations

12th Amendment

provides the procedure for electing the President and Vice President. It replaced the procedure provided in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, by which the Electoral College originally functioned. Problems with the original procedure arose in the elections of 1796 and 1800. The Twelfth Amendment refined the process whereby a President and a Vice President are elected by the Electoral College. The amendment was proposed by the Congress on December 9, 1803, and was ratified by the requisite three-fourths of state legislatures on June 15, 1804

Corrupt Bargain

refers to three historic incidents in American history in which political agreement was determined by congressional or presidential actions that many viewed to be corrupt from different standpoints. Two of these involved the resolution of indeterminate or disputed electoral votes from the United States presidential election process, and the third involved the disputed use of a presidential pardon. In all three cases, the president so elevated served a single term, or singular vacancy, and either did not run again, or was not reelected when he ran

Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.

ruled that the unapportioned income tax on interest, dividends and rents imposed by the Income Tax Act of 1894 were, in effect, direct taxes, and were unconstitutional because they violated the provision that direct taxes be apportioned, superseded in 1913 by the 16th Amendment

Credit Mobilier

scandal of 1872-1873 damaged the careers of several Gilded Age politicians-major stockholders in the Union Pacific Railroad formed a company, and gave it contracts to build the railroad, they sold or gave shares in this construction to influential congressmen, a lucrative deal for the congressmen, because they helped themselves by approving federal subsidies for the cost of railroad construction without paying much attention to expenses, enabling railroad builders to make huge profits, the affair also tarnished the careers of outgoing vice president Schuyler Colfax, incoming vice president Henry Wilson, and Representative James A Garfield, all of whom were implicated (although Garfield denied the charges and was subsequently elected president), the scandal also showed how corruption tainted Gilded Age politics, and the lengths railroads and other economic interests would go to assure and increase profits

Populist Platform of 1892

seen as "The Second Declaration of Independence," as it called for reestablishing American liberty, represent the merger of the agrarian concerns of the Farmers' Alliance with the free-currency monetarism of the Greenback Party while explicitly endorsing the goals of the largely urban Knights of Labor, called for a wide range of social reforms, goal- to increase the coinage of silver to gold at a 16:1 ratio, suggested a federal loans system so that farmers could get the money they needed- the elimination of private banks, required a system of federal storage facilities for the farmers' crops, to allow the farmers to control the pricing of their products, made a special taxing system for them so that they would have to pay taxes depending on how much money they made, asked for an eight-hour workday and the direct election of senators, as opposed to them being elected by state legislatures, focused on helping rural and working-class Americans

Winfield Scott

served as a general in the U.S. Army longer than any other person in American history. He is rated as one of the Army's most senior commissioned officers, and is ranked by many historians as the best American commander of his time. Scott was also a candidate for the Whig Party presidential nomination three times; selected in 1852, he lost the general election to Franklin Pierce

Webster-Ashburton Treaty

signed 1842, was a treaty that resolved several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies (the region that became Canada). Signed under John Tyler's presidency, it resolved the Aroostook War, a nonviolent dispute over the location of the Maine-New Brunswick border

Peace of Paris (1783)

signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War. The treaty set the boundariesbetween the British Empire in North America and the United States, on lines "exceedingly generous"to the latter. Details included fishing rights and restoration of property and prisoners of war, This treaty and the separate peace treaties between Great Britain and the nations that supported the American cause — France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic — are known collectively as the Peace of Paris, Only Article 1 of the treaty, which acknowledges the United States' existence as free, sovereign, and independent states, remains in force

Pinckney's Treaty

signed in San Lorenzo de El Escorial on October 27, 1795 and established intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain. It also defined the border between the United States and Spanish Florida, and guaranteed the United States navigation rights on the Mississippi River. With this agreement, the first phase of the ongoing border dispute between the two nations in this region, commonly called the West Florida Controversy, came to a close

Border States

slave states that did not declare a secession from the Union and did not join the Confederacy. To their north they bordered free states of the Union and to their south they bordered Confederate slave states. Of the 34 US States in 1861, nineteen were free states and fifteen were slave states. Two slave states never declared a secession or adopted an ordinance: Delaware and Maryland. Four others did not declare secession until after the Battle of Fort Sumter and were briefly considered to be border states: Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia—after this, they were less frequently called "border states". Also included as a border state during the war is West Virginia, which was formed from 50 counties of Virginia and became a new state in the Union in 1863

Jim Crow Laws

state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. All were enacted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by white Democratic-dominated state legislatures after the Reconstruction period. The laws were enforced until 1965

Grandfather clause

statutory or constitutional device enacted by seven Southern states between 1895 and 1910 to deny suffrage to African Americans, those who had enjoyed the right to vote prior to 1866 or 1867, or their lineal descendants, would be exempt from educational, property, or tax requirements for voting. Because the former slaves had not been granted the franchise until the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, those clauses worked effectively to exclude black people from the vote but assured the franchise to many impoverished and illiterate whites

Protective tariffs

tariffs that are enacted with the aim of protecting a domestic industry.[1] Tariffs are also imposed in order to raise government revenue, or to reduce an undesirable activity (sin tax). Although a tariff can simultaneously protect domestic industry and earn government revenue, the goals of protection and revenue maximization suggest different tariff rates, entailing a tradeoff between the two aims

James K. Polk

the 11th President of the United States (1845-1849). He previously was Speaker of the House (1835-1839) and Governor of Texas (1839-1841). A protégé of Andrew Jackson, he was a member of the Democratic Party and an advocate of Jacksonian Democracy. During Polk's presidency, the United States expanded significantly with the annexation of the Republic of Texas, the Oregon Territory, and the Mexican Cession following the American victory in the Mexican-American War

Zachary Taylor

the 12th President of the United States, serving from March 1849 until his death in July 1850. Taylor previously was a career officer in the United States Army, rose to the rank of major general and became a national hero as a result of his victories in the Mexican-American War. As a result, he won election to the White House despite his vague political beliefs. His top priority as president was preserving the Union, but he died sixteen months into his term, before making any progress on the status of slavery, which had been inflaming tensions in Congress

Election of 1844

the 15th quadrennial presidential election, held in 1844. Democrat Jams K. Polk defeated Whig Henry Clag in a close contest that turned on the controversial issues of slavery and the annexation of the Republic of Texas

Annexation of Texas

the 1845 annexation of the Republic of Texas into the United States of America, which was admitted to the Union as the 28th state in 1845

Ulysses S. Grant

the 18th president from 1869 to 1877, commanding general in the army, soldier, international statesman, and author, led the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy with the supervision of President Abraham Lincoln, led the Republicans in their efforts to remove the vestiges of Confederate nationalism, racism, and slavery

William McKinley

the 25th US president, serving from 1897, until his assassination six months into his second term, led the nation to victory in the Spanish American War, raised protective tariffs to promote American industry and kept the nation on the gold standard in a rejection of free silver, McKinley was the last president to have served in the American Civil War, he was the Republican nomination in the election of 1896 amid a deep economic depression, defeated his Democratic rival William Jennings Bryan after a front porch campaign in which he advocated "sound money" (the gold standard unless altered by international agreement) and promised that high tariffs would restore prosperity

Election of 1896

the 28th quadrennial presidential election in 1896, former Governor William McKinley, the Republican candidate, defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan, took place during an economic depression known as the Panic of 1893, was a realigning election that ended the old Third Part System and began the Fourth Party System, Bryan, an attorney and former Congressman, galvanized support with his call for a reform of the monetary system and attacked business leaders as the cause of ongoing economic depression, Bryan then won the nomination of the Populist Party, which had won several states in 1892 and shared many of Bryan's policies, McKinley won

Federalists

the Pro-Administration party until the 3rd United States Congress (as opposed to their opponents in the Anti-Administration party), was the first American political party. It existed from the early 1790s to 1816. It appealed to business and to conservatives who favored banks, national over state government, manufacturing, and (in world affairs) preferred Britain and opposed the French Revolution, called for a strong national government that promoted economic growth and fostered friendly relationships with Great Britain as well as opposition to revolutionary France. The party controlled the federal government until 1801, when it was overwhelmed by the Democratic-Republican opposition led by Thomas Jefferson

Insular cases (Downes v Biddell)

the United States had to answer the question of whether or not people in newly acquired territories were citizens, a question the country had never faced before, preliminary answer came from a series of Supreme Court rulings, now known as the Insular Cases, which responded to the question of how American constitutional rights apply to those in United States territories. The Supreme Court held that full constitutional protection of rights does not automatically extend to all places under American control

Louisiana Purchase

the acquisition of the Louisiana territory by the United States from France in 1803, included land from fifteen present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The territory contained land that forms Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, Minnesota; the portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi River; a large portion of North Dakota; a large portion of South Dakota; the northeastern section of New Mexico; the northern portion of Texas; the area of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide; Louisiana west of the Mississippi River (plus New Orleans); and small portions of land within the present Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Its non-native population was around 60,000 inhabitants, of whom half were African slaves

Abolition

the action or an act of abolishing a system, practice, or institution, the movement to end slavery. In the 1850s in the fifteen states constituting the American South, slavery was legally established. While it was fading away in the cities as well as in the border states, it remained strong in plantation areas that grew cotton for export, or sugar, tobacco or hemp. According to the 1860 United States Consensus, the slave population in the United States had grown to four million.] American abolitionism was based in the North, and white Southerners alleged it fostered slave rebellion

Separatists

the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. Separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy. Most separatists argue that separation by choice may serve useful purposes and is not the same as government-enforced segregation. Separatist groups practice a form of identity politics, or political activity and theorizing founded in the shared experiences of injustice visited upon members of certain social groups. Such groups believe attempts at integration with dominant groups compromise their identity and ability to pursue greater self-determination.

Social Darwinism

the application of the evolutionary concept of natural selection to human society. The term itself emerged in the 1880s

Frontier Thesis

the argument advanced by historian Fredrick Jackson Turner in 1893 that American democracy was formed by the American frontier, stressed the process—the moving frontier line—and the impact it had on pioneers going through the process, the American frontier established liberty by releasing Americans from European mindsets and eroding old, dysfunctional customs, frontier had no need for standing armies, established churches, aristocrats or nobles, nor for landed gentry who controlled most of the land and charged heavy rents, frontier land was free for the taking

Prison reform

the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, establish a more effective penal system or implement alternatives to incarceration

Utopianism

the belief in or pursuit of a state in which everything is perfect, typically regarded as unrealistic or idealistic

Toussaint L'Ouverture

the best-known leader of the Haitian Revolution, His military and political acumen saved the gains of the first Black insurrection in November 1791. He first fought for the Spanish against the French; then for France against Spain and Great Britain; and finally, for Saint-Domingue against Napoleonic France. He then helped transform the insurgency into a revolutionary movement, which by 1800 had turned Saint-Domingue, the most prosperous slave colony of the time, into the first free colonial society to have explicitly rejected race as the basis of social ranking

Pike's Peak

the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in 1858 and lasted until roughly the creation of the Colorado Territory in 1861, an estimated 100,000 gold seekers took part in one of the greatest gold rushes

Saratoga

the climax of the Saratoga campaign, giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War. British General John Burgoyne led a large invasion army southward from Canada in the Champlain Valley, hoping to meet a similar British force marching northward from New York City and another British force marching eastward from Lake Ontario; the southern and western forces never arrived, and Burgoyne was surrounded by American forces in upstate New York. He fought two small battles to break out which took place 18 days apart on the same ground, 9 miles (14 km) south of Saratoga, New York. They both failed.

Antifederalist Papers

the collective name given to works written by the Founding Fathers who were opposed to or concerned with the merits of the United States Constitution of 1787, Although less influential than their counterparts, The Federalist Papers, these works nonetheless played an important role in shaping the early American political landscape and in the passage of the US Bill of Rights

Federalism

the constitutional division of power between U.S. state governments and the federal government of the United States. Since the founding of the country, and particularly with the end of the American Civil War, power shifted away from the states and towards the national government, Federalism was a political solution for the problems with the Articles of Confederation which gave little practical authority to the federal government, The movement was greatly strengthened by the reaction to Shays' Rebellion of 1786-1787

Triangle Shirtwaist Co. Fire

the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history, caused the deaths of 146 garment workers - 123 women and 23 men, most of the victims were recent Italian and Jewish immigrant women aged 14 to 23, the owners had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits - a then-common practice to prevent workers from taking unauthorized breaks and to reduce theft, led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers

Critical Period

the era of United States history in the 1780s after the American Revolution and prior to the ratification of the United States Constitution, The fledgling United States faced several challenges, many of which stemmed from the lack of a strong national government and unified political culture. The period ended in 1789 following the ratification of the United States Constitution, which established a new, more powerful, national government.

Lewis and Clark

the first American expedition to cross the western portion of the United States. It began near St. Louis, made its way westward, and passed through the Continental Divide of the Americas to reach the Pacific coast. The Corps of Discovery was a selected group of US Army volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark

Roanoke

the first attempt at founding a permanent English settlement in North America. It was established in 1585 on Roanoke Island in what is today's Dare County, North Carolina. The colony was sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh, although he himself never set foot in it.

Mayflower Compact

the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the male passengers of the Mayflower consisting of separatist Puritans, adventurers, and tradesmen. The Puritans were fleeing from religious persecution by King James of England. The Mayflower Compact was signed aboard ship on November 11, 1620. Signing the covenant were 41 of the ship's 101 passengers while the Mayflower was anchored in Provincetown Harbor within the hook at northern tip of Cape Cod.

National (Cumberland) Road

the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the 620-mile (1,000 km) road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main transport path to the West for thousands of settlers. When rebuilt in the 1830s, it became the second U.S. road surfaced with the macadam process pioneered by Scotsman John Loudon McAdam

Panic of 1819

the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States. It was followed by a general collapse of the American economy that persisted through 1821. The Panic announced the transition of the nation from its colonial commercial status with Europe toward an independent economy, increasingly characterized by the financial and industrial imperatives of central bank monetary policy, which made it susceptible to boom and bust cycles, Though the downturn was driven by global market adjustments in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, its severity was compounded by excessive speculation in public lands, fueled by the unrestrained issue of paper money from banks and business concerns

Lexington and Concord

the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War.[9] The battles were fought on April 19, 1775 in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, In late 1774, Colonial leaders adopted the Suffolk Resolves in resistance to the alterations made to the Massachusetts colonial government by the British parliament following the Boston Tea Party. The colonial assembly responded by forming a Patriot provisional government known as the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and calling for local militias to train for possible hostilities. The Colonial government exercised effective control of the colony outside of British-controlled Boston. In response, the British government in February 1775 declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion.

National Labor Union

the first national labor federation in the United States, founded in 1866 and dissolved in 1873, paved the way for other organizations, such as the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor, led by William H Sylvis and Andrew Cameron

Northwest Ordinance

the first organized territory of the United States, from lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains, between British North America and the Great Lakes to the north and the Ohio River to the south. The upper Mississippi River formed the Territory's western boundary, It was the response to multiple pressures: the westward expansion of American settlers, tense diplomatic relations with Great Britain and Spain, violent confrontations with Native Americans, the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, and the empty treasury of the American government. It superseded the Land Ordinance of 1784

Queen Liliuokalani & Hawaii

the first queen regnant and the last sovereign monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, ruling from 1891 until the overthrow of the kingdom of Hawaii in 1893, she wrote her autobiography Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen during her imprisonment following the overthrow, attempted to draft a new constitution which would restore the power of the monarchy and the voting rights of the economically disenfranchised, threatened by her attempts to abrogate the Bayonet Constitution, pro-American elements in Hawaiʻi overthrew the monarchy on January 17, 1893. The overthrow was bolstered by the landing of US Marines under John L. Stevens to protect American interests, which rendered the monarchy unable to protect itself

Tariff of 1816

the first tariff passed by Congress with an explicit function of protecting U.S. manufactured items from overseas competition. Prior to the War of 1812, tariffs had primarily served to raise revenues to operate the national government. Another unique aspect of the tariff was the strong support it received from Northern states

Whiskey excise tax

the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government. It became law in 1791, and was intended to generate revenue for the war debt incurred during the Revolutionary War. The tax applied to all distilled spirits, but American whiskey was by far the country's most popular distilled beverage in the 18th century, so the excise became widely known as a "whiskey tax"

Seneca Falls

the first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman". Held in Seneca Falls, New York, it spanned two days over July 19-20, 1848. Female Quakers local to the area organized the meeting along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was not a Quaker. They planned the event during a visit to the area by Philadelphia-based Lucretia Mott. Mott, a Quaker, was famous for her oratorical ability, which was rare for non-Quaker women during an era in which women were often not allowed to speak in public

Election of 1800

the fourth United States presidential election. It was held from Friday, October 31 to Wednesday, December 3, 1800. In what is sometimes referred to as the "Revolution of 1800",[2][3] Vice President Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican Party defeated incumbent President John Adams of the Federalist Party. The election was a realigning election that ushered in a generation of Democratic-Republican rule

Missouri Compromise

the legislation that provided for the admission to the United States of Maine as a free state along with Missouri as a slave state, thus maintaining the balance of power between North and South in the United States Senate. As part of the compromise, slavery was prohibited north of the 36°30′ parallel, excluding Missouri. The 16th United States Congress passed the legislation on March 9, 1820, and President James Monroe signed it on May 6, 1820, Sets a geographic boundary: slaves vs. no slaves, Geographic limit,What do people do with the Louisiana territory

Gun-slave cycle

the long-standing idea that European gunpowder technology played a key role in growing the transatlantic slave trade, guns-for-slaves-in-exchange, guns-for-slaves-in-production, slaves-for-guns-derived and the gun-slave cycle. Three econometric results emerge. (1) Gunpowder imports and slave exports were co-integrated in a long-run equilibrium relationship. (2) Positive deviations from equilibrium gunpowder "produced" additional slave exports. This guns-for-slaves-in-production result survives 17 placebo tests that replace gunpowder with non-lethal commodities imports. It is also confirmed by an instrumental variables estimation that uses excess capacity in the British gunpowder industry as an instrument for gunpowder. (3) Additional slave exports attracted additional gunpowder imports for 2-3 more years. Together these dynamics formed a gun-slave cycle. Impulse-response functions generate large increases in slave export in response to increases in gunpowder imports

Vertical Trusts

the method used by Andrew Carnegie to gain control over the steel industry in which every step of the process (discovery, farming, manufacturing, selling) is done/produced in the name of one company

Horizontal Trusts

the method used by John D Rockefeller to gain control over the oil industry in which a holding company is developed to but large trusts/shares in other companies, gaining a monopoly over such industry

General Court

the original colonial legislature of the Plymouth Colony from 1620 to 1692. The body sat in judgement of judicial appeals cases. The General Court of the Colony of New Plymouth was founded in 1620 when the Pilgrims came to New England, and the General Court served as the colony's legislature and judicial court. In 1636 the Court created North America's first written legal code with a set of statutes including a rudimentary bill of rights protecting traditional liberties such as the right to a jury trial. The early law of the colony was based roughly on English common law and Mosaic law, but the judicial structure resembled local manor and borough courts in England rather than the higher King's Court, which created common law. The Plymouth colony was officially incorporated by charter into the Province of Massachusetts Bay on October 7, 1691, although the General Court of Plymouth remained an effective government until the new charter arrived on May 14, 1692, carried by William Phips.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

the peace treaty signed in 1848, in the Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo, between the United States and Mexico that ended the Mexican American War (1846-1848), The treaty called for the U.S. to pay $15 million to Mexico and to pay off the claims of American citizens against Mexico up to US$5 million. It gave the United States the Rio Grande as a boundary for Texas, and gave the U.S. ownership of California and a large area comprising roughly half of New Mexico, most of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. Mexicans in those annexed areas had the choice of relocating to within Mexico's new boundaries or receiving American citizenship with full civil rights

Treaty of Ghent

the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Both sides signed it on December 24, 1814, in the city of Ghent, United Netherlands. The treaty restored relations between the two nations to status quo ante bellum, restoring the borders of the two countries to the lines before the war started in June 1812, The treaty was approved by the UK parliament and signed into law by the Prince Regent (the future King George IV) on December 30, 1814. It took a month for news of the peace treaty to reach the United States, and in the meantime American forces under Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815. The Treaty of Ghent was not fully in effect until it was ratified by the U.S. Senate unanimously on February 17, 1815. It began two centuries and more of peaceful relations between the U.S. and Britain, although there were a few tense moments such as the Trent Affair in 1861

Checks and Balances

the principle that each of the Branches has the power to limit or check the other two, designed to maintain the system of separation of powers keeping each branch in its place

Popular Sovereignty

the principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives, who are the source of all political power. It is closely associated with social contract philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rosseau. Popular sovereignty expresses a concept and does not necessarily reflect or describe a political reality. The people have the final say in government decisions

Gadsden Purchase

the region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States purchased via a treaty that took effect in 1854, The purchase included lands south of the Gila River and west of the Rio Grande which the U.S. needed to build a transcontinental railroad along a deep southern route, which the Southern Pacific Railroad later completed in 1881-1883. The purchase also aimed to resolve border issues

Creole Affair

the result of an American slave revolt in November 1841 on board the Creole, a ship involved in the United States coastwise slave trade. As 128 slaves gained freedom after the Africans ordered the ship sailed to Nassau, it has been termed the "most successful slave revolt in US history", Two persons died as a result of the revolt, a black slave and a white slave trader

Second Bank of the United States

the second federally authorized Hamiltonian national bank in the United States during its 20-year charter from February 1816 to January 1836, The bank's formal name, according to section 9 of its charter as passed by Congress, was "The President, Directors, and Company, of the Bank of the United States

Kansas Constitutional Crisis (Lecompton Constitution)

the second of four proposed constitutions for the state of Kansas. The document was written in response to the anti-slavery position of the 1855 Topeka Constitution of James H. Lane and other free-states advocates. The territorial legislature, consisting mostly of slave owners, met at the designated capital of Lecompton in September 1857 to produce a rival document. Free-state supporters, who comprised a large majority of actual settlers, boycotted the vote. President James Buchanan's appointee as territorial governor of Kansas, Robert J. Walker, although a strong defender of slavery, opposed the blatant injustice of the Constitution and resigned rather than implement it. This new constitution enshrined slavery in the proposed state and protected the rights of slaveholders. In addition, the constitution provided for a referendum that allowed voters the choice of allowing more slaves to enter the territory

Middle Passage

the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of Africans[1] were shipped to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manufactured goods, which were traded for purchased or kidnapped Africans, who were transported across the Atlantic as slaves; the slaves were then sold or traded for raw materials,[2] which would be transported back to Europe to complete the voyage. Voyages on the Middle Passage were large financial undertakings, generally organized by companies or groups of investors rather than individuals, The "Middle Passage" was considered a time of in-betweenness for those being traded from Africa to America. The close quarters and intentional division of pre-established African communities by the ship crew motivated captive Africans to forge bonds of kinship which then created forced transatlantic communities, The sea journey undertaken by slave trips from Africa to the west indies, the journey from Africa that the slaves had to take to the new world, lots of casualities

Impressment

the taking of men into a military or naval force by compulsion, with or without notice. Navies of several nations used forced recruitment by various means. The large size of the British Royal Navy in the Age of Sail meant impressment was most commonly associated with Britain

John Tyler

the tenth President of the United States from 1841 to 1845 after briefly being the tenth Vice President (1841); he was elected to the latter office on the 1840 Whig ticket with President William Henry Harrison, His unexpected rise to the presidency, with the resulting threat to the presidential ambitions of Henry Clay and other politicians, left him estranged from both major political parties, A strict constructionist, Tyler found much of the Whig platform unconstitutional, and vetoed several of his party's bills. Believing that the president should set policy rather than Congress, he sought to bypass the Whig establishment, most notably Kentucky Senator Henry Clay. Most of Tyler's Cabinet resigned soon into his term, and the Whigs, dubbing him His Accidency, expelled him from the party. Tyler was the first president to see his veto of legislation overridden by Congress, **first president to face serious impeachment charges**

Coercive (Intolerable Acts)

the term invented by 19th century historians to refer to a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Boston Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British to the detriment of colonial goods. In Great Britain, these laws were referred to as the Coercive Acts

Election of 1796

the third quadrennial presidential election. It was held from Friday, November 4 to Wednesday, December 7, 1796. It was the first contested American presidential election, the first presidential election in which political parties played a dominant role, and the only presidential election in which a president and vice president were elected from opposing tickets. Incumbent Vice President John Adams of the Federalist Party defeated former Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican Party, With incumbent President George Washington having refused a third term in office, the 1796 election became the first U.S. presidential election in which political parties competed for the presidency. The Federalists coalesced behind Adams and the Democratic-Republicans supported Jefferson, but each party ran multiple candidates. Under the electoral rules in place prior to the 1804 ratification of the Twelfth Amendment, the members of the Electoral Collegeeach cast two votes, with no distinction made between electoral votes for president and electoral votes for vice president. In order to be elected president, the winning candidate had to win the votes of a majority of electors; should no individual win a majority, the House of Representatives would hold a contingent election

Square Deal

three basic goals: conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection, it aimed at helping middle class citizens and involved attacking plutocracy and bad trusts while at the same time protecting business from the most extreme demands of organized labor

Open Door Policy

used to refer to the United States policy established in the late 19th century and the early 20th century that would allow for a system of trade in China open to all countries equally, used mainly to mediate the competing interests of different colonial powers in China

Muller v. Oregon

women were provided by state mandate, lesser work-hours than allotted to men, whether women's liberty to negotiate a contract with an employer should be equal to a man's, law did not recognize sex-based discrimination in 1908, a test based on the general police powers of the state to protect the welfare of women when it infringed on her fundamental right to negotiate contracts, inequality was not a deciding factor because the sexes were inherently different in their particular conditions and had completely different functions, usage of labor laws that were made to nurture women's welfare and for the "benefit of all" people was decided to be not a violation of the Constitution's Contract Clause, describes women as having dependency upon men in a manner that such women needed their rights to be preserved by the state

Iroquois Constitution

written on wampum belts, original five member nations ratified this constitution near modern-day Victor, New York, with the sixth nation (the Tuscarora) being added in 1722, laws were first recorded and transmitted not in written language, but by means of wampum symbols that conveyed meaning, part of a narrative noting laws and ceremonies to be performed at prescribed times, laws called a constitution are divided into 117 articles, nations are symbolized by an eastern white pine tree, called the Tree of Peace. Each nation or tribe plays a delineated role in the conduct of government

Thomas Whately

wrote an answering pamphlet, in which it was acknowledged that English liberty forbade taxation without consent. Whately in fact went even further and denied that any laws could be imposed on British subjects without their consent. But, he insisted, no such thing was involved in the Sugar Act or any other act of Pariliament affecting the colonists; for though they were not actually represented in the House of Commons, though they could not vote for any member, neither could most British subjects at home. Most of them (at least three-quarters of the adult male) were disqualified from voting by not owning enough property, or by living in towns that did not send members, or by archaic local regulations in the town that did send members. These people, Whately assured the colonists, were not really unrepresented. They and the colonists, without voting for anything, enjoyed a virtual representation. Every member of Parliament, according to Whately, was there to represent the whole empire and not merely the few electors who happened to choose him.

Lowell mill girls

young female workers who came to work in industrial corporations in Lowell, Massachusetts, during the Industrial Revolution in the United States. The workers initially recruited by the corporations were daughters of propertied New England farmers, typically between the ages of 15 and 35.[1] By 1840, at the height of the Industrial Revolution, the textile mills had recruited over 8,000 women, who came to make up nearly three-quarters of the mill workforce