ALL APUSH TERMS

Technological innovation - you should understand the significance and impact of each of the following - Canals - Railroads - Telegraph - Cotton gin - Steel plow and mechanical reaper - Interchangeable parts

Canals connected existing waterways. The railroad opened vast new areas of the American interior to settlement, while stimulating the mining of coal for fuel and the manufacture of iron for locomotives and rails. The first commercial railroad, Baltimore and Ohio, grew to 30,000 miles. At the same time, the telegraph made possible instantaneous communication throughout the nation. It was put into commercial operation in 1844. Initially, the telegraph was a service for businesses, and especially newspapers, rather than individuals. It helped speed the flow of information and brought uniformity to prices throughout the country.

Committees of Correspondence

Committees of Correspondence, organized by patriot leader Samuel Adams, was a system of communication between patriot leaders in New England and throughout the colonies. They provided the organization necessary to unite the colonies in opposition to Parliament. The committees sent delegates to the First Continental Congress.

James Madison

"Father of the Constitution," Federalist leader, and fourth President of the United States.

Virtual Representation

"Virtual representation" was the British theory that each member of Parliament represented the entire empire. However, the colonists felt that they were underrepresented in Parliament.

Alexander Hamilton

1789-1795; First Secretary of the Treasury. He advocated creation of a national bank, assumption of state debts by the federal government, and a tariff system to pay off the national debt.

Battle of New Orleans

A battle during the War of 1812 where the British army attempted to take New Orleans. Due to the foolish frontal attack, Jackson defeated them, which gave him an enormous popularity boost.

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. The Northwest Ordinance pledged that "the utmost good faith" would be observed toward local Native Americans and their land would not be taken without consent. But national policy assumed that whether through purchase, treaties, or voluntary removal, the Native American presence would soon disappear. The ordinance also prohibited slavery in the Old Northwest, which had far-reaching consequences.

Land Ordinance of 1784

A series of measures approved by Congress during the 1780s defined the terms by which western land would be marketed and settled. Drafted by Thomas Jefferson, the Ordinance of 1784 established stages of self government for the West. That region would be divided into districts, eventually admitted to the Union as member states.

Checks and Balances

A system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches in order to prevent abuse of power

Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith's great treatise on economics, The Wealth of Nations, was beginning to become known in the United States. Smith's argument that the "invisible hand" of the free market directed economic life more effectively and fairly than governmental intervention offered intellectual justification for those who believed that the economy should be left to regulate itself.

Cotton Kingdom

Although the market revolution and westward expansion occurred simultaneously in the North and the South, their combined effects heightened the nation's sectional divisions. In some ways, the most dynamic feature of the American economy in the first 30 years of the 19th century was the rise of the Cotton Kingdom. The early industrial revolution centered on factories producing cotton textiles with water-powered spinning and weaving machinery. These factories generated an immense demand for cotton. Until 1793, the marketing of cotton had been slowed by the laborious task of removing seeds from the plant itself. But in that year, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. A fairly simple device consisting of rollers and brushes, the gin quickly separated the seed from the cotton. Whitney's invention revolutionized American slavery, an institution that many Americans had expected to die out because its major crop, tobacco, exhausted the soil. After the War of 1812, the federal government moved to consolidate American control over the Deep South, forcing defeated Indians to cede land, encouraging white settlement, and acquiring Florida. Settlers from the older southern states flooded into the region. Planters monopolized the most fertile land. After Congress prohibited the Atlantic slave trade in 1808, a massive trade in slaves developed within the United States, supplying the labor force required by the new Cotton Kingdom. Slave trading became a well-organized business. Slave coffles--groups chained to one another on forced marches to the Deep South--became a common sight. A source of greater freedom for many whites, the westward movement meant to African-Americans the destruction of family ties, the breakup of long-standing communities, and receding opportunities for liberty. Between 1793 when Whitney designed his invention and 1820, there was a dramatic surge in cotton production.

Manifest Destiny

American freedom had long been linked with the availability of land in the West. A New York journalist, John L. O'Sullivan, first employed the phrase "manifest destiny," meaning that the United States had a divinely appointed mission, so obvious as to be beyond dispute, to occupy all of North America. Americans, he proclaimed, had a far better title to western land than could be provided by any international treaty, right of discovery, or long-term settlement.

Religious Liberty

As remarkable as the expansion of political freedom was the Revolution's impact on American religion. Some colonies, like Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, had long made a practice of toleration. But freedom of worship before the Revolution arose more from the reality of religious pluralism than from a well-developed theory of religious liberty. Most colonies supported religious institutions with public funds and discriminated in voting and officeholding against Catholics, Jews, and even dissenting Protestants.

Thomas Jefferson

Assumed office on March 4, 1801. He hoped to dismantle as much of the Federalist system as possible. Among his first acts as president was to pardon all those imprisoned under the Sedition Act. During his eight years as president, he reduced the number of government employees and slashed the army and navy. He abolished all taxes except the tariff. He aimed to minimize federal power and eliminate government oversight of the economy. His policies ensured that the United States would not become a centralized state on a European model, as Hamilton had envisioned. ->Louisiana Purchase ->Louis and Clark ->Embargo Act

Lowell mills

At Lowell, the most famous center of early textile manufacturing, young unmarried women dominated the workforce that tended the spinning machines. To persuade parents to allow their daughters to leave home to work the mills, Lowell owners set up boarding houses with strict rules regulating personal behavior.

Abolition

At the time of the Revolution, slavery was already an old institution in America. It existed in every colony and formed the basis of the economy and social structure from Maryland southward. Virtually every founding father owned slaves at one point in his life. Some patriots argued that slavery for black people made freedom possible for white people. Owning slaves offered a route to the economic autonomy widely deemed necessary for genuine freedom.

Albany Plan of Union

Before the war, the colonies had been largely isolated from one another. The Albany Plan of Union of 1754, drafted by Benjamin Franklin at the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, envisioned the creation of a Grand Council composed of delegates from each colony. The plan was rejected by colonial assemblies.

Boston Massacre

Boston once again became the focal point of conflict. Royal troops had been stationed in the city. The soldiers became more and more unpopular. In 1770, a fight between a snowball-throwing crowd of Bostonians and British troops escalated into an armed confrontation that left 5 Bostonians dead. This was called the Boston Massacre.

Revolution of 1800

By the election of 1800, Republicans had developed effective techniques for mobilizing voters, such as printing pamphlets, handbills, and newspapers to promote their cause. The Federalists found it difficult to match this mobilization. Nonetheless, they still dominated New England and enjoyed considerable support in the Middle Atlantic states. Jefferson beat Adams Both Jefferson and his running mate Burr received 73 electoral votes, so the election was thrown into the House of Representatives. They ended up tying there too. Finally, Hamilton intervened and supported Jefferson. To avoid a repetition of the crisis, Congress and the states soon adopted the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution, requiring electors to cast separate votes for president and vice president.

Two Party System

By the mid-1790s, two increasingly coherent parties had appeared in Congress, calling themselves Federalists and Republicans.

Separation of Powers

Constitutional division of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, with the legislative branch making law, the executive applying and enforcing the law, and the judiciary interpreting the law

Coverture

Coverture remained intact in the new nation. The husband still held legal authority over the person, property, and choices of his wife. Despite the expansion of democracy, politics remained overwhelmingly a male realm. A woman's relationship to the larger society was mediated through her relationship with her husband. In both law and social reality, women lacked the essential qualification of political participation--the opportunity for autonomy based on ownership of property or control of one's own person.

Virginia Plan

Differences quickly emerged between large and small states. Madison presented what came to be called the Virginia Plan, which proposed the creation of a two-house legislature with a state's population determining its representation in each.

New Immigration

Economic expansion fueled for labor, which was met, in part, by increasing immigration from abroad. Between 1840 and 1860, over 4 million entered the United States, the majority from Ireland and Germany. About 90% headed for the northern states, where job opportunities were most abundant and the new arrivals would not have to compete with slave labor. Numerous factors inspired this massive flow of population across the Atlantic. In Europe, the modernization of agriculture and the industrial revolution disrupted centuries-old patterns of life, pushing peasants off the land and eliminating the jobs of traditional craft workers. The introduction of the oceangoing steamship and the railroad made long-distance travel more practical. Moreover, America's political and religious freedom attracted Europeans. The largest number of immigrants, however, were refugees from disaster--Irish men and women fleeing the Great Famine of 1845-1851, when an infestation destroyed the potato crop on which the island's diet relied. Lacking industrial skills and capital, these impoverished agricultural laborers and small farmers ended up filling the low-wage unskilled jobs native-born Americans sought to avoid. Male Irish immigrants built America's railroads, dug canals, and worked as common laborers, servants, long-shoremenm and factory operatives. Irish women frequently went to work as servants in the homes of native-born Americans. 4/5 of Irish immigrants lived in the Northeast. The second-largest group of immigrants, Germans, included a considerably larger number of skilled craftsmen than the Irish. Germans also settled in easten cities, but many were able to move to the West. The "German triangle," as the cities of Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Milwaukee were sometimes called, all attracted large German populations. Some 40,000 Scandinavians also emigrated to the United States in these years, many of whom settled on farms in the Northwest.

Ratification

Even though the Constitution provided that it would go into effect when 9 states had given their approval, ratification was by no means certain. Each state held an election for delegates to a special ratifying convention.

Federalist Papers

Even though the Constitution provided that it would go into effect when 9 states had given their approval, ratification was by no means certain. Each state held an election for delegates to a special ratifying convention. To generate support, Hamilton, Madison, and Jay composed a series of 85 essays that were gathered as a book titled The Federalist in 1788. Again and again, Hamilton and Madison repeated that rather than posing a danger to American liberties, the Constitution in fact protected them, and that checks and balances and division of power made political tyranny almost impossible.

Federalism

Federalism refers to the relationship between the national government and the states. Compared with the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution significantly strengthened national authority. It charged the president with enforcing the law and commanding the military. It empowered Congress to levy taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce, declare war, deal with foriegn nations and Native Americans and promote the general welfare. The Constitution also included strong provisions to prevent the states from infringing on property rights. They were barred from issuing paper money, impairing contracts, interfering with interstate commerce, and levying their own import or export duties. On the other hand, most day-to-day affairs of government remained in the hands of the states. The system of checks and balances refers to the way Constitution seeks to prevent any branch of the national government from dominating the other two. Authority within the government is diffused and balanced against itself.

Blacks in the Revolution

George Washington accepted black recruits after Lord Dunmore's proclamation offered freedom to slaves who fought for the British. Five thousand African-Americans enlisted in state militias and the Continental army and navy. Some slaves gained freedom by serving in place of an owner. Siding with the British offered slaves far more opportunities for liberty.

Free Blacks

Gradual as it was, the abolition of slavery in the north drew a line across the new nation, creating the dangerous division between free and slave states. Abolition in the North, voluntary emancipation in the Upper South, and the escape of thousands of bondage created, for the first time in American history, a sizeable population of free blacks. On the eve of independence, virtually every black person in America had been a slave. Now, free communities came into existence.

Proclamation Line of 1763

In 1763, Ottawas, Hurons, and other Indians surrounded Detroit, then a major British military outpost, seized nine other forts, and killed hundreds of white settlers. British forces soon launched a counterattack, and over the next few years the tribes one by one made peace. But the uprising inspired the government in London to issue the Proclamation of 1763, prohibiting further colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. The British aim was less to protect the Indians than to stabilize the situation on the colonial frontier and to avoid being dragged into an endless series of border conflicts.

Pontiac's Rebellion

In 1763, in the wake of the French defeat, Indians of the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes launched a revolt against British rule called Potanic's Rebellion.

Sons of Liberty

In 1765, New York City residents were organized by the newly created Sons of Liberty, who led them in protest processions and took the lead in enforcing the boycott of the British imports.

Stamp Act Congress

In 1765, the Stamp Act Congress, with 27 delegates from nine colonies, met in New York. They insisted that the right to consent to taxation was essential to the freedom of the people. Soon, merchants throughout the colonies agreed to boycott British goods until Parliament repealed the Stamp Act. This was the first major cooperative action among Britain's mainland colonies.

Townshend Duties

In 1767, the government in London decided to impose a new set of taxes on Americans, which was devised by Charles Townshend, who persuaded Parliament to impose new taxes on goods imported into the colonies and to create a new board of customs and commissioners to collect them and suppress smuggling. Opposition to the Townshend duties developed more slowly than in the case of the Stamp Act.

XYZ Affair

In 1797, John Adams assumed leadership of a divided nation. His presidency was beset by crises. On the international front, the country was nearly dragged into the ongoing European war. As a neutral nation, the United States claimed the right to trade nonmilitary goods with both Britain and France, but both countries seized American ships. In 1797, American diplomats were sent to Paris to negotiate a treaty to replace the old alliance of 1778. French officials presented them with a demand for bribes before negotiations could proceed. When Adams made public the envoys' dispatches, the French officials were were designated the last three letters of the alphabet. This "XYZ affair" poisoned America's relations with its former ally. By 1798, the US and France were engaged in a "quasi war" at sea. In 1800 Adams negotiated peace with France.

Missouri Compromise of 1820

In 1819, Congress considered a request from Missouri, which was part of the Louisiana Purchase, to draft a constitution in preparation for admission to the Union as a state. Missouri's slave population already exceeded 100,00. James Tallmadge, a Republic congressman, moved that the introduction of further slaves be prohibited and that children of those already in Missouri be freed at age 25. Tallmadge's proposal sparked 2 years of controversy. His restriction passed the House, but died in the Senate. When Congress reconvened, Senator Jesse Thomas proposed a compromise. Missouri would be authorized to draft a constitution without Tallmadge's restriction. Maine, which prohibited slavery, would be admitted to the Union to maintain the sectional balance between free and slave states. And slavery would be prohibited in all remaining territory within the Louisiana Purchase north of Missouri. This was called the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromise raised for the first time what would prove to be a fatal issue--the westward expansion of slavery. The sectional division it revealed aroused widespread feelings of dismay. For the moment, however, the slavery issue faded once again from national debate.

Hartford Convention

In December 1814, a group of New England Federalists gathered at Hartford, Connecticut, to give voice to their party's long-standing grievances, especially the domination of the federal government by Virginia presidents. The Hartford Convention did not call for secession or disunion. But it affirmed the right of a state to interpose its authority if the federal government violated the Constitution. The Federalists could not free themselves from the charge of lacking patriotism. Within a few years, the party no longer existed.

Republic vs. Democracy

In a republic, a contract protects the rights of the people and often enumerates inalienable rights that cannot be taken away by the government. In a pure democracy, the majority will dominate all things. This would set up a system where the majority can always force its will on the minority.

American System

In his annual message to Congress in 1815, President James Madison put forward a blueprint for government-promoted economic development that came to be known as the American System, a label coined by Henry Clay. The plan rested on three pillars: a new national bank, a tariff on imported manufactured goods to protect the American industry, and federal financing of improved roads and canals. The last was particularly important to those who worried about the dangers of disunity. Congress enacted an internal-improvements program drafted by Calhoun, only to be astonished when the president, on the eve of his retirement from office in 1817, vetoed the bill. Since calling for its enactment, Madison had become convinced that allowing the national government to exercise powers not mentioned in the Constitution would prove dangerous to individual liberty and southern interests. The other two parts of his plan, however, became law. The tariff of 1816 offered protection to goods that could be produced in the United States, especially cheap cotton textiles, while admitting tax-free those that could not be manufactured at home. Many southerners supported the tariff.

Shays's Rebellion

In late 1768, crowds of debt-ridden farmers closed the courts in western Massachusetts to prevent the seizure of their land for failure to pay taxes. They called themselves "regulators". The uprising became known as Shays's Rebellion. The participants in the rebellion received no sympathy from the governor, who dispatched an army to disperse them. The uprising was a culmination of a series of events in the 1780s that persuaded an influential group of Americans that the national government must be strengthened so that it could develop uniform economic policies. The danger to individual rights, they came to believe, now arose not from a tyrannical central government, but from the people themselves.

Free Trade

In opposition to the traditional view that men should sacrifice for the public good, believers in free trade argued that economic development arose from economic self-interest.

Factory system

In some industries, most notably textiles, the factory superseded traditional craft production altogether. Factories gathered large groups of workers under central supervision and replaced hand tools with power-driven machinery. Spinning factories produced yarn, which was then sent to traditional hand-loom weavers and farm families to be woven into cloth. This "outwork" system, in which rural men and women earned money by taking jobs from factories, symbolized early industrialization. The cutoff of British imports because of the Embargo and the War of 1812 stimulated the establishment of the first large-scale American factory utilizing power looms for weaving cotton cloth. This was constructed by a group of merchants called the Boston Associates. In the 1820s, they expanded their enterprise by creating an entirely new factory town on the Merrimack River. Here they built a group of modern textile factories that brought together all phases of production. The earliest factories were located along the "fall line", where waterfalls and river rapids could be harnessed to provide power for spinning and weaving machinery. By the 1840s, steam power made it possible for factory owners to locate in towns that were nearer to the coast. What came to be called the "American system of manufactures" relied on the mass production of interchangeable parts that could be rapidly assembled into standardized finished products.

Conneticut Compromise

In the end a compromise was reached called the Connecticut Compromise--a two-house Congress consisting of a Senate, in which each state has two members, and a House of Representatives, apportioned according to population. Senators would be chosen by state legislatures for 6 year terms, and Representatives were to be elected every 2 years by the people.

Battle of Saratoga

In the summer of 1777, Burgoyne's British army advanced south from Canada, hoping to link up with Howe's British Army and isolate New England, but instead, Howe abandoned him and American forces forced Burgoyne to surrender at Saratoga. This victory provided a significant boost to American morale. During the winter of 1777-1778, Washington's army was encamped at Valley Forge, where they suffered terribly from the frigid weather. Men who had other options went home. By the end of the winter, immigrants and African Americans made up half of the soldiers at Valley Forge. But Saratoga helped to persuade the French that American victory was possible. In 1778, American diplomats led by Ben Franklin concluded a Treaty of Amity and Commerce in which France recognized the United States and agreed to supply military assistance. Soon afterward, Spain also joined the war on the American side. At the outset, however, the French fleet showed more interest in attacking British outposts in the West Indies than directly aiding the Americans.

Loyalists

Loyalists, those who retained their allegiance to the crown--experienced the conflict and its aftermath as a loss of liberty. There were Loyalists in every colony, but they were most numerous in New York, Pennsylvania, and the backcountry of the Carolinas and Georgia. Some were wealthy men whose livelihoods depended on close working relationships with Britain. Many feared anarchy in the event of an American victory. When the war ended, many Loyalists were either banished from the United States or emigrated voluntarily. But for those who remained, hostility proved to be short-lived. In the Treaty of Paris, Americans pledged to end the persecution of Loyalists.

Assimilation

Mant prominent figures, however, rejected the idea that Native Americans were inferior to white Americans. To pursue the goal of assimilation, Congress in the 1790s authorized President Washington to distribute agricultural tools and livestock to Native American men and spinning wheels and looms to Native American women. To whites, adoption of American gender norms would be a crucial sign that Native Americans were becoming "civilized." But the American notion of civilization required so great a transformation of Native American life that most tribes rejected it. To Native Americans, freedom meant retaining tribal autonomy and identity, including the ability to travel widely in search of game.

Gibbons v. Ogden

Many Americans distrusted corporate charters as a form of government-granted special privilege, but the courts upheld their validity. In Gibbens vs. Ogden, the Court struck down a monopoly the New York legislature had granted for steamboat navigation. This established the principle that states cannot, by legislative enactment, interfere with the power of Congress to regulate commerce.

Bill of Rights

Many of the rights Americans value today such as the freedoms of speech, press, and religion, were not in the original Constitution but were contained in the first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights. Every state constitution contained some kind of declaration of citizen's rights, and Federalists and Anti-Federalists alike believed the national Constitution should also have one. The Bill of Rights was ratified by the states in 1791. 1st Amendment: Prohibits Congress from legislating with regard to religion or infringing on freedom of speech, freedom of the press, or the right to assembly. 2nd Amendment: Upholds the people's right to "keep and bear arms" in conjunction with "a well-regulated militia." 10th Amendment: Affirms that powers not delegated to the national government or prohibited to the states continue to reside with the states. Others prohibit abuses such as arrests without warrants and forcing a person accused of a crime to testify against himself. Although the roots and even the specific language of some parts of the Bill of Rights lay far back in English history, other provisions reflected the changes in American life brought on by the Revolution. The most remarkable of these was constitutional recognition of religious freedom. The Constitution is a purely secular document that contains no reference to God and bars religious tests for federal officeholders. The First Amendment prohibits the federal government from legislating on the subject of religion. The Bill of Rights aroused little enthusiasm on ratification and for decades was all but ignored. Not until the 20th century would it come to be revered as an indispensable expression of American freedom. Nonetheless, the Bill of Rights subtly affected the language of liberty. Applying only to the federal government, it reinforced the idea that concentrated national power posed the greatest threat to freedom.

strict constructionist

Many southerners who had supported the new Constitution now became "strict constructionists", who insisted that the federal government could exercise only powers specifically listed in the document.

Naturalization Act of 1790

Many white Americans excluded black people from their conception of the American people. The Constitution empowered Congress to create a uniform system by which immigrants became citizens, and the Naturalization Act of 1790 offered the first legislative definition of American nationality. With no debate, Congress restricted the process of becoming a citizen from abroad to "free white persons." For 80 years, no non-white immigrant could become a naturalized citizen.

Declaration of Independence

On July 2nd, 1776, the Congress formally declared the United States an independent nation. Two days later, it approved the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson. Most of the Declaration consists of a lengthy list of grievances directed against King George III. The Declaration's enduring impact came from Jefferson's preamble, which begins, "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." By "unalienable rights," Jefferson meant rights so basic, so rooted in human nature itself, that no government could take them away. Liberty had become a universal entitlement. Jefferson then went on to justify the breach with Britain, which was that when a government threatens its subjects' natural rights, the people have the authority to alter or abolish it.

Olive Branch Petition

On July 8, 1775, the colonies made a final offer of peace to Britain, agreeing to be loyal to the British government if it addressed their grievances (repealed the Coercive Acts, ended the taxation without representation policies). It was rejected by Parliament, which in December 1775 passed the American Prohibitory Act forbidding all further trade with the colonies.

Marbury v. Madison

On the eve of leaving office, Adams had appointed a number of justices of the peace for the District of Columbia. Madison, Jefferson's secretary of state, refused to issue commissions to these "midnight commisioners". Four, including William Marbury, sued for their offices. Marshall's decision declared unconstitutional the section the section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that allowed the courts to order executive officials to deliver judges' commissions. It exceeded the power of Congress as outlined in the Constitution and was therefore void. The Court had no power under the Constitution to order Madison to deliver the commision. The Supreme Court had assumed the right to determine whether an act of Congress violates the Constitution--a power known as "judicial review."

Treaty of Greenville

Open warfare continued in the Ohio Valley after ratification. In 1791, the leader of the Miami Confederacy inflicted a humiliating defeat on American forces. With 630 dead, this was the costliest loss ever suffered by the US Army at the hands of the Native Americans. In 1794, American troops defeated their forces at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. This led directly to the Treaty of Greenville of 1795, in which 12 Native American tribes ceded most of Ohio and Native Americana to the federal government.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of 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 and small farmers who saw no need for a stronger 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 repeatedly predicted that the new government would fall under the sway of merchants, creditors, and others hostile to the interests of ordinary Americans. "Liberty" was the Anti-Federalists' motto. They felt that the Constitution threatened that. They also pointed to the Constitution's lack of a Bill of Rights, which left unprotected rights such as trial by jury and freedom of speech and press. In general, pro-Constitution sentiment flourished in the nation's cities and in rural areas closely tied to the commercial marketplace. The Constitution's most energetic supporters were men of substantial property. Anti-Federalism drew its support from small farmers in more isolated rural areas. In the end, the supporters' energy and organization, coupled with their domination of the colonial press, carried the day. Madison also won support for the new Constitution by promising that the first Congress would enact a Bill of Rights. By mid-1788, the required nine states had ratified. Only Rhode Island and North Carolina voted against ratification, but they had no choice but to join the new government. Anti-Federalism died. But as with other movements in American history that did not immediately achieve their goals, some of the Anti-Federalists' ideas eventually entered the political mainstream.

Virtue

Patriot leaders worried about the character of future citizens, especially how to encourage the quality of "virtue," the ability to sacrifice self-interest for the public good. Some leaders put forward plans for the establishment of public schools, which would instruct future citizens in the "principles of freedom"

Hamilton's Financial Plan

Political divisions surfaced over the financial plan developed by Hamilton in 1790 and 1791. Hamilton's immediate aims were to establish the nation's financial stability, bring to the government's support the country's most powerful financial interests, and encourage economic development. His long-term purpose was to make the United States a major commercial and military power. Hamilton's program had 5 parts: Establish the new nation's credit worthiness--that is, to create conditions under which persons would loan money to the government by purchasing its bonds, confident that they would be repaid. Hamilton proposed that the federal government assume responsibility for paying off at its full face value the national debt inherited from the War of Independence, as well as outstanding debts of the states. Creation of a new national debt. The old debts would be replaced by new interest-bearing bonds issued to the government's creditors. This would give men of economic substance a stake in promoting the new nation's stability. Creation of a Bank of the United States, modeled on the Bank of England, to serve as the nation's main financial agent. It would hold public funds, issue bank notes that would serve as currency, and make loans to the government when necessary, all the while returning a tidy profit to its stockholders. Establish a tax on whiskey in order to raise revenue Imposition of a tariff (a tax on imported foriegn goods) and government subsidies to encourage the development of factories that could manufacture products currently purchased from abroad.

McCulloch v. Maryland

Reasserting his interpretation of governmental powers, Marshall declared the Bank a legitimate exercise of congressional authority under the Constitution's clause that allowed Congress to pass "necessary and proper" laws.

War of 1812

Reports that the British were encouraging Tecumseh's efforts contributed to the coming of the War of 1812. In June 1812, with assaults on American shipping continuing, Madison asked Congress for a declaration of war. The vote revealed a deeply divided country. Both Federalists and Republicans representing the states from New Jersey northward, where most of the mercantile and financial resources of the country were concentrated, voted against war. The South and West were strongly in favor. The bill passed. It was the first time the United States had declared war on another country. Fortunately for the United States, Great Britain at the outset was preoccupied with the struggle in Europe. But it easily repelled two American invasions of Canada and imposed a blockade that all but destroyed American commerce. In 1814, having finally defeated Napoleon, Britain invaded the United States. Its forces seized Washington DC and burned the White House. Americans did enjoy a few military successes. In August 1812, the American frigate Constitution defeated the British warship Guerriere. Commodore Oliver H. Perry defeated a British naval force in September 1813. In the following year, a British assault on Baltimore was repulsed. Like the War of Independence, the War of 1812 was a two-front struggle--against the British and against the Indians. The war produced significant victories over western Indians who sided with the British. Andrew Jackson dictated terms of surrender that required the Indians, hostile and friendly alike, to cede more than half their land to the federal government. Jackson then proceeded to New Orleans, where he engineered the war's greatest American victory. Although a slaveholder, Jackson recruited the city's free men of color into his forces, promising them the same pay and land bounties as white recruits. With neither side wishing to continue the conflict, the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent, ending the war. No territory exchanged hands, nor did any provisions relate to impressment or neutral shipping rights.

Republicans

Republicans, led by Madison and Jefferson, were more sympathetic to France than the Federalists and had more faith in democratic self-government. They drew their support from an alliance of wealthy southern planters and ordinary farmers throughout the country. Republicans were far more critical than the Federalists of social and economic inequality, and more accepting of broad democratic participation as essential to freedom.

New Jersey Plan

Smaller states, fearing that populous Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania would dominate the new government, rallied behind the New Jersey Plan. This called for a single-house Congress in which each state cast one vote.

Universal Suffrage

The "principle of universal suffrage" meant that "white males of age constituted the political nation." As democracy triumphed, the intellectual grounds for exclusion shifted from economic dependency to natural incapacity. White males were considered inherently superior in character and abilities to non-whites and women.

Writs of Assistance

The British government had already alarmed many colonists by issuing writs of assistance to combat smuggling. These were general search warrants that allowed customs officials to search anywhere they chose for smuggled goods. Colonists felt their liberty was threatened by these.

Intolerable Acts

The British's response to the Boston Tea Party was quick and decisive. Parliament closed the port of Boston to all trade until the tea was paid for. It radically altered the Massachusetts Charter of 1691 by curtailing town meetings and authorizing the governor to appoint members to the council--positions previously filled by election. Parliament also empowered military commanders to lodge soldiers in private homes. These measures, called the Intolerable Acts by Americans, united the colonies in opposition to what was seen as a direct threat to their freedom.

Slavery Clauses

The Constituions' slavery clauses were compromises, efforts to find a middle ground between the institution's critics and defenders. Taken together, however, they embedded slavery more deeply than ever in American life and politics.

Federalists

The Federalists, supporters of Washington's administration, favored Hamilton's economic program and close ties with Britain. -Mainly prosperous merchants, farmers, lawyers, and established political leaders

Nativists

The Irish influx of the 1840s and 1850s thoroughly alarmed many native-born Americans and led to violent anti-immigrant riots in New York City and Philadelphia. Those who feared the impact of immigration on American political and social life were called "nativists." They blamed immigrants for urban crime, political corruption, and a fondness for intoxicating liquor, and they accused them of undercutting native-born skilled laborers by working for starvation wages.

Republican Motherhood

The Revolution nonetheless did produce an improvement in status for many women. According to the ideology of "republican motherhood" that emerged as a result of independence, women played an indispensable role by training future citizens. This encouraged the expansion of educational opportunities for women, so that they could impart political wisdom to their children. The idea of republican motherhood reinforced the trend toward the idea of "companionate" marriage, a voluntary union held together by affection and mutual dependency rather than male authority.

Inflation

The Revolution thrust to the forefront of politics debates over whether local or national authorities should take steps to bolster household independence and protect Americans' livelihoods by limiting price increases. To finance the war, Congress issued hundreds of millions of dollars in paper money. This produced an enormous increase in prices. In 1779, with inflation totally out of control, Congress urged states to adopt measures to fix wages and prices. This request reflected the belief that the task of the republican government was to promote the public good.

Second Bank of the United States

The Second Bank of the United States soon became the focus of public resentment. Like its predecessor, it was a private, profit-making corporation that acted as the government's financial agent, issuing paper money, collecting taxes, and paying the government's debts. It was also charged with ensuring that paper money issued by local banks had real value and preventing the overissuance of money.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

The Sedition Act thrust freedom of expression to the center of discussions of American liberty. Madison and Jefferson mobilized opposition, drafting resolutions adopted by the Virginia and Kentucky legislatures. Both resolutions attacked the Sedition Act as an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment. The Kentucky Resolution asserted that states could nullify laws of Congress that violated the Constitution. The legislature prudently deleted this passage. No other states endorsed the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions. Many Americans were horrified by the idea of state action that might endanger the Union.

Stamp Act

The Stamp Act of 1765 was a new departure in imperial policy. For the first time, Parliament attempted to raise money from direct taxes in the colonies. The act required that all sorts of printed material produced in the colonies carry a stamp purchased from authorities. Whereas the Sugar Act had mainly affected residents of colonial ports, the Stamp Act managed to offend virtually every free colonist. By imposing the stamp tax without colonial consent, Parliament directly challenged the authority of local elites who had established their power over the raising and spending of money. Opposition to the Stamp Act was the first great drama of the revolutionary era and the first major split between colonists and Great Britain over the meaning of freedom.

Infant Industries

The War of 1812 inspired an outburst of nationalist pride. But the war also revealed how far the United States still was from being a truly integrated nation. The country lacked a uniform currency and found it almost impossible to raise funds for the war effort. Given the primitive state of transportation, it proved very difficult to move men and goods around the country. The manufacturing enterprise faced intense competition from low-cost imported goods. A younger generation of Republicans, led by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, believed these "infant industries" deserved national protection.

Whiskey Rebellion

The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 broke out when backcountry Pennsylvania farmers sought to block collection of the new tax on distilled spirits. Washington dispatched 13,000 militiamen to western Pennsylvania and accompanied them part of the way to the scene. The "rebels" offered no resistance.

Daughters of Liberty

The boycott began again in Boston and soon spread to the southern colonies. Reliance of American rather than British goods became a symbol of American resistance. Women who spun and wove at home so as not to purchase British goods were hailed as Daughters of Liberty.

Erie Canal

The completion in 1825 of the 363-mile Erie Canal across upstate New York allowed goods to flow between the Great Lakes and New York City. Almost instantaneously, the canal attracted an influx of farmers migrating from New England, giving birth to cities like Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse along its path. The canal gave New York City superiority over competing ports in access to trade with the Old Northwest. In its financing by the state government, the Erie Canal typified the developing transportation infrastructure.

Vindication of the Rights of Women

The democratic ferment of the 1790s inspired renewed discussion about women's rights. In 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft published in England her extraordinary pamphlet A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Wollstonecraft did not directly challenge traditional gender roles. Her call for greater access to education and to paid employment for women rested on the idea that this would enable single women to support themselves and married women to perform more capably as wives and mothers. But she did drop a hint that women ought to have representation in government. This pamphlet signaled new opportunities for women in the public sphere. Increasing numbers began expressing their thoughts in print.

Mormons

The end of governmental support for established churches promoted competition among religious groups that kept religion vibrant and promoted the emergence of new denominations. Among the most successful of the religions that sprang up was the Church of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons, which hoped to create a Kingdom of God on earth. The Mormons were founded in the 1820s by Joseph Smith. He claimed to have been led by an angel to the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon tells the story of 3 families who traveled from ancient Middle East to the Americas, where they eventually evolved into Native American tribes. Jesus Christ plays a prominent role in the book. Mormonism emerged in a center of the Second Great Awakening, upstate New York. The church shared some features with other Christian denominations including a focus on the family and community and the rejection of alcohol. Gradually, however, there were more controversial doctrines, notably polygamy. This doctrine outraged the Mormons' neighbors. Mobs drove them out of New York, Ohio, and Missouri before they settled in Illinois, and later on present-day Utah. The Mormons' experience revealed the limits of religious toleration but also the opportunities offered by religious pluralism.

Freedom Petitions

The first concrete steps toward emancipation in revolutionary America were "freedom petitions"--arguments for liberty presented to New England's courts and legislatures in the early 1770s by enslaved African-Americans.

Articles of Confederation

The first written constitution of the United States was the Articles of Confederation, drafted by Congress in 1777 and ratified by the states four years later. The Articles sought to balance the need for national coordination of the War of Independence with widespread fear that centralized political power posed a danger to liberty. Under the Articles, the thirteen states retained their individual "sovereignty, freedom, and independence." The national government consisted of a one house Congress in which each state cast a single vote. There was no president or judiciary. Major decisions required the approval of nine states. The only powers granted to the national government were those essential to the struggle for independence--declaring war, conducting foreign affairs, and making treaties with other governments. Congress had no real financial resources. But Congress in the 1780s did not lack for accomplishments. The most important was establishing national control over land to the west of the thirteen states and devising rules for its settlement. Many people insisted that such land must belong to the nation at large. Only after the land-rich states ceded their western claims to the central government did the Articles win ratification.

Extraterritoriality

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 had been abolished.

Alien and Sedition Acts

The greatest crisis of the Adams administration arose over the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. Confronted with massive opposition, some of it voiced by immigrant pamphleteers and editors, Federalists moved to silence their critics. A new Naturalization Act extended from five to fourteen years the residency requirement for immigrants seeking American citizenship. The Alien Act allowed the deportation of persons from abroad deemed "dangerous" by federal authorities. The Sedition Act authorized the prosecution of virtually any public assembly or publication critical of the government. The new law meant that opposition editors could be prosecuted for almost any political comment they printed. The main target was the Republican press.

Louisiana Purchase

The greatest irony of Jefferson's presidency involved his greatest achievement, the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. This resulted not from astute American diplomacy but because the rebellious slaves of Saint Domingue defeated forces sent by the ruler of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, to reconquer the land. To take advantage of the sudden opportunity to purchase Louisiana, Jefferson had to abandon his conviction that the federal government was limited to powers specifically mentioned in the Constitution, because the document said nothing about buying land from a foriegn power. This vast Louisiana territory had been ceded by France to Spain in 1762 as part of the reshuffling of colonial possessions at the end of the Seven Years' War. France secretly reacquired it in 1800. Soon after taking office, Jefferson learned of the arrangement. He had long been concerned about American access to the port of New Orleans. The right to trade through New Orleans, essential to western farmers, had been acknowledged in the Treaty of San Lorenzo of 1795 between the United States and Spain. But Jefferson feared that the far more powerful French might try to interfere with American commerce. Needing money for military campaigns in Europe and with his dreams of American empire in ruins, Napoleon offered to sell the entire Louisiana Territory. The cost, $15 million, made the Louisiana Purchase one of history's greatest real estate bargains. In a stroke, Jefferson had doubled the size of the United States and ended the French presence in North America. Now, Jefferson believed, he had ensured the agrarian character of the United States and its political stability for centuries to come.

Information Revolution

The market revolution and political democracy produced a large expansion of the public sphere an explosion in printing sometimes called the "information revolution." The application of steam power to newspaper printing led to a great increase in output and the rise of mass-circulation "penny press." Newspapers introduced a new style of journalism, appealing to a mass audience by emphasizing sensationalism, crime stories, and exposés of official misconduct. The reduction in the cost of printing also made possible the appearance of "alternative" newspapers.

Gabriel's Rebellion

The momentous year of 1800 also witnessed an attempted revolution by slaves in Virginia to gain their freedom. It was organized by a Richmond blacksmith, Gabriel, and his brothers called Gabriel's Rebellion. The conspirators planned to march on the city, which had recently become the state capital, from surrounding plantations. They would kill some white inhabitants and hold the rest, including the governor, hostage until their demand for the abolition of slavery was met. The plot was soon discovered, and the leaders arrested. 26 slaves, including Gabriel, were hanged. Black people in 1800 made up half of Richmond's population. 1/5 were free. In cities like Richmond, many skilled slave craftsmen, including Gabriel, could read and write and enjoyed the privilege of hiring themselves out to employers--that is, negotiating their own labor arrangements, with their owner receiving their "wages." After the rebellion, the Virginia legislature tightened controls over the black population and severely restricted the possibility that masters could voluntarily free their slaves. Any slave freed after 1806 was required to leave Virginia or be sold back into slavery. The door to emancipation, thrown open during the American Revolution, had been slammed shut.

Suffrage

The most democratic new constitutions moved much of the way toward the idea of voting as an entitlement rather than a privilege, but they generally stopped short of universal suffrage, even for free men. Nonetheless, even with the taxpaying requirement, it was a dramatic departure from the colonial practice of restricting the suffrage to those who could claim to be economically independent.

US Constitution

The new constitution would create a legislature, an executive, and a national judiciary. Congress would have the power to raise money without relying on the states. States would be prohibited from infringing on the rights of property. And the government would represent the people. Most delegates hoped to find a middle ground between the despotism of monarchy and aristocracy and what they considered to be the excesses of popular self-government.

Tecumseh

The period from 1800 to 1812 was an "age of prophecy" among the Indians, as many tribal leaders sought to revitalize Indian life. A militant message was expounded by two Shawnee brothers--Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa. White people, Tenskwatawa preached, were the source of all evil in the world, and Indians should abandon American alcohol, clothing, food, and manufactured goods. Tecumseh meanwhile traversed the Mississippi Valley, pressing the argument that the alternative to Indian resistance was extermination. In 1810, Tecumseh called for attacks on American frontier settlements. In 1811, while he was absent, American forces destroyed Prophetstown in the Battle of Tippecanoe.

Charles Finney

The popular religious revivals that swept the country during the Second Great Awakening added a religious underpinning to the celebration of personal self-improvement, self-reliance, and self-determination. The revivals, which began at the turn of the century, were originally organized by established religious leaders alarmed by low levels of church attendance in the young republic. But they quickly spread beyond existing churches. They reached their peak in the 1820s and 1830s when the Reverend Charles Grandison Finney held months-long revival meetings in New York. Similar to George Whitefield, Finney warned of hell in vivid language while offering the promise of salvation to converts who abandoned their sinful ways.

Transcendentalists

The restless, competitive world of the market revolution strongly encouraged the identification of American freedom with the absence of restraints on self-directed individuals seeking economic advancement and personal development. Ralph Waldo Emerson was perhaps the most prominent member of a group of New England intellectuals known as the transcendentalists, who insisted on the primacy of individual judgement over existing social traditions and institutions.

Haitian Revolution

The same Jeffersonians who hailed the French Revolution as a step in the universal progress of liberty reacted in horror at the slave revolution that began in 1791 in Saint Domingue. Toussaint L'Ouverture, an educated slave on a sugar plantation, forged the rebellious slaves into an army able to defeat British forces seeking to seize the island and then an expedition hoping to reestablish French authority. The uprising led to the establishment of Haiti as an independent nation in 1804. The Haitian Revolution affirmed the universality of the revolutionary era's creed of liberty. It inspired hopes for freedom among slaves in the United States. Among white Americans, the response to the Haitian Revolution was different. Thousands of refugees from Haiti poured into the United States, fleeing the upheaval. Their tales of the massacres of slaveowners and burning of plantations reinforced white Americans' fears of slave insurrection at home.

Annuity System

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

Jay's Treaty

The treaty contained no British concessions on impressment or the rights of American shipping. Britain agreed to abandon outposts on the western frontier. In return, the US guaranteed favored treatment to British imported goods.

Embargo Act

To Jefferson, the economic health of the United States required freedom of trade with which no foreign government had a right to interfere. American farmers needed access to markets in Europe and the Caribbean. Deciding to use trade as a weapon, he persuaded Congress to enact the Embargo, a ban on all American vessels sailing for foreign ports. In 1808, American exports plummeted by 80 percent. Unfortunately, neither Britain nor France took much notice. But the Embargo devastated the economies of American port cities. In 1809, Jefferson signed the Non-Intercourse Act, banning trade only with Britain and France but providing that if either side rescinded its edicts against American shipping, commerce with that country would resume.

Continental Congress

To coordinate resistance to the Intolerable Acts, a Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia that month, bringing together the most prominent political leaders of 12 mainland colonies (besides Georgia) The Second Continental Congress authorized the raising of an army, printed money to pay for it, and appointed George Washington its commander. In response, Britain declared the colonies in a state of rebellion, dispatched thousands of troops, and ordered the closing of all colonial ports.

Treaty of Paries 1783

Two years later, in 1783, American and British negotiators concluded the Treaty of Paris. The American delegation--John Adams, Ben Franklin, and John Jay--achieved one of the greatest diplomatic triumphs in the country's history. They not only won recognition of American independence but also gained control of the entire region between Canada and Florida east of the Mississippi River. The Americans agreed that colonists who had remained loyal to the mother country would not suffer persecution and that Loyalist's property that had been seized would be restored. With the Treaty of Paris, the United States of America became the Western Hemisphere's first independent nation.

Seven Years War

What became a worldwide struggle for imperial domination began in 1754 with British efforts to dislodge the French from forts they had constructed in western Pennsylvania. For two years, the war went against the British. The southern back-country was ablaze with fighting among British forces, colonists, and Indians. Inhumanity flourished on both sides. In Nova Scotia, the British rounded up around 5,000 local French residents, called Acadians, confiscated their land, and expelled them from the region. As the British government under Secretary of State William Pitt raised huge sums of money and poured men and naval forces into the war, the tide of battle turned. By 1759, Britain had captured pivotal French outposts. British forces also seized nearly all the islands in the French Caribbean and established control of India.

Cult of Domesticity

Women, too, found many of the opportunities opened by the market revolution closed to them. Many women saw their traditional roles undermined by the availability of mass-produced goods previously made at home. Some women began to work in factories. Others embraced a new definition of femininity, which glorified her ability to create a private environment shielded from the competitive tensions of the market economy. Women's role became to sustain nonmarket values such as love, friendship, and mutual obligation. The earlier idea of "republican motherhood" subtly evolved into the mid-nineteenth century "cult of domesticity." In whatever situation of life a woman is placed in from her cradle to her grave, "a spirit of obedience and submission, pliability of temper, and humility of mind are required of her." With more and more men leaving the home for work, women exercised considerable power over personal affairs within the family. The rapid decline of American birthrate during the 19th century cannot be explained except by the conscious decision of millions of women to limit the number of children they bore. But the idea of domesticity minimized women's participation in the outside world.

War Hawks

a group of younger congressmen were calling for war with Britain. Known as the War Hawks, this new generation of political leaders had come of age after the winning of independence and were ardent nationalists. The War Hawks spoke passionately of defending the national honor against British insults, but they also had more practical goals in mind, notably the annexation of Canada and the conquest of Florida. Members of Congress also spoke of the necessity of upholding the principle of free trade and liberating the United States once and for all from European infringements on its independence.

impressment

the British seized hundreds of American ships trading with the French West Indies and resumed the hated practice of impressment--kidnapping sailors to serve in their navy. John Jay negotiated an agreement in 1794 that produced the greatest controversy of Washington's presidency.