APUSH Chapter 7

"Empire of Liberty"

In Jefferson's phrase, it would be an "empire of liberty," bound together by a common devotion to the principles of the Declaration of Independence.

Letters from an American Farmer

In Letters from an American Farmer, Crèvecoeur popularized the idea, which would become so common in the twentieth century, of the United States as a melting pot. "Here" he wrote, "individuals of all nations are melted into a new one."

Checks and Balances

"Checks and Balances" refers to the way the Constitution seeks to prevent any branch of the national government from dominating the other two. Congress enacts laws, but the president can veto them, and a two thirds majority is required to pass legislation over his objection. Federal judges are nominated by the president and approved by Congress, but to ensure their independence, the judges then serve for life. The president can be impeached by the House and removed from office by the Senate for "high crimes and misdemeanors."

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

A final measure, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, called for the eventual establishment of from three to five states north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi. Thus was enacted the basic principle of what Jefferson called the "empire of liberty"-- rather than ruling over the West as a colonial power, the United States would admit the area's population as equal members of the political system. Territorial expansion and self-government would grow together. It said that Indian land would not be taken without consent.

The Great Compromise

A two-house Congress consisting of a Senate in which each state had two members, and a House of Representatives apportioned according to population.

Gradual emancipation

Assumed that former slaves would remain in the country, not to be colonized abroad.

civic nationalism

Civic nationalism envisions the nation as a community open to all those devoted to its political institutions and social values.

Battle of Fallen Timbers

In 1794, 3,000 American troops under Anthony Wayne defeated Little Turtle's forces at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

Land Ordinances of 1784 and 1785

Drafted by Thomas Jefferson, the Ordinance of 1784 established stages of self-government for the West. The region would be divided into districts initially governed by Congress and eventually admitted to the Union as member states. By a single vote, Congress rejected a clause that would have prohibited slavery throughout the West. A second ordinance, in 1785, regulated land sales in the region north of the Ohio River, which came to be known as the Old Northwest. Land would be surveyed by the government and then sold in "sections: of a square mile (640 acres) at $1 per acre. In each township, one section would be set aside to provide funds for public education. The system promised to control and concentrate settlement and raise money for Congress. But settlers violated the rules by pressing westward before the surveys had been completed.

ethnic nationalism

Ethnic nationalism defines the nation as a community of descent based on a shared ethnic heritage, language, and culture.

"Open immigration"

For Europeans, the immigration process was open. Only prostitutes, convicted felons, lunatics, and persons likely to become a "public charge," were barred from entering the country.

Naturalization Act of 1790

It offered the first definition of American nationality. With no debate, Congress restricted the process of becoming a citizen from abroad to "free white persons." The law initiated a policy that some historians, with only partial accuracy, call "open immigration." It excluded a large majority of the world's population from emigrating to the "asylum of mankind" and partaking in the blessings of American freedom. For eight years, no non-white immigrant could become a naturalized citizen. Africans were not allowed to do so until 1870, but not until the 1940s did persons of Asian origin become eligible. (Native Americans ere granted American citizenship in 1924.)

Virginia Plan

It proposed the creation of a two-house legislature with a states population determining its representation in each.

Notes on the State of Virginia

Jefferson published his famous comparison of the races was published in 1785. White Americans increasingly viewed blacks as permanently deficient in the qualities that made freedom possible-- the capacity for self-control, reason, and devotion to the larger community. Jefferson claimed that blacks lacked these traits in his book Notes on the State of Virginia, due to natural incapacity and partly because the butter experience of slavery had rendered them disloyal to the nation.

Miami Confederacy

Little Turtle was the leader of the Miami Confederacy. The Miami Confederacy refers to a collection of closely related Native American tribes in the 18th century. They were defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the American foces led by Arthur St, Clair, the American governor of the Northwest Territory. With 630 dead, this was the costliest loss ever suffered by the United States Army at the hands of Indians.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of the ratification, called Anti-Federalists, insisted that the Constitution shifted the balance between liberty and power too far in the direction of the latter. Anti-Federalists lacked the coherent leadership of the Constitution's defenders. They included state politicians fearful of seeing their influence diminish, among them such revolutionary heroes as Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Patrick Henry. Small farmers, many of whom supported the state debtor-relief measures of the 1780s that the Constitution's supporters deplored, also saw no need for a stronger central government. Some opponents of the Constitution denounced the document's protections for slavery; others warned that the powers of Congress were so broad that it might enact a law for abolition. Anti-Federalists insisted that "a very extensive territory cannot be governed on the principles of freedom. " They claimed that popular self-government flourished best in small communities. Anti-Federalists also pointed to the Constitution's lack of a Bill of Rights, declared Patrick henry, was "the most absurd thing to mankind that ever the world saw." Anti-Federalists drew its support from small farmers in more isolated rural areas such as the Hudson Valley of New York, western Massachusetts, and the southern backcountry.

"Annuity" system

The "annuity" system-- yearly grants of federal money to Indian tribes that institutionalized continuing government influence in tribal affairs and gave outsiders considerable control over Indian life.

Treaty of Greenville

The Battle of Fallen Timbers led directly to the Treaty of Greenville. The Treaty of Greenville of 1795, had twelve tribes cede most of Ohio and Indiana to the federal government. The treaty also established the "annuity" system.

three-fifths clause

The clause greatly enhanced the number of southern votes in the House of Representatives and therefore in the electoral college. The clause made it so that instead of the slave population not counting at all towards the population of the state, three out of every five slaves would be counted. This obviously greatly helped large slave states, because their populations increased dramatically, while the northern states did not.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments were known as the Bill of Rights. It contained the parts of the Constitution Americans most value today-- the freedoms of speech, the press, and religion; protection against unjust criminal procedures; equality before the law-- were not in the original document. Madison was so convinced that he believed that the balances of the Constitution would protect liberty that he believed a Bill of Rights "redundant or pointless." In a sense, the Bill of Rights offered a definition of the "unalienable rights" Jefferson had mentioned in the Declaration of Independence-- rights inherent to the human condition.

Fugitive Slave Clause

The fugitive slave clause accorded slave laws "extraterritoriality"-- that is, the condition of bondage remained attached to a person even if he or she escaped to a state where slavery has been abolished.

federalism

The idea that governmental authority vested in the national government and the state governments. There were enumerated rights that were acknowledged everywhere, and there were also rights that were case sensitive for every state.

New Jersey Plan

This called for a single-house Congress in which each state cast one vote, as under the Articles of Confederation.

The Federalist

To generate support, Hamilton, Madison, and Jay composed a series of eighty-five essays that appeared in newspapers under the pen name Publius and were gathered as a book, The Federalist, in 1788. Hamilton wrote fifty, Madison thirty, and Jay the remainder. Today, the essays are regarded as among the most important American contributions to political thought.