APUSH: Period 4 Terms

Constituencies

A body of voters in a specified area who elect a representative to a legislative body.

Market Revolution

A drastic change in how manual labor was conducted in the United States.

Free African Americans

A free negro or free black was the legal status in the territory of the United States of an African American person who was not a slave.

Tariffs

A government tax on imports or exports.

Textile machinery

A machine for making textiles (knitted fabrics, sewing yarn and thread, etc.).

Telegraph

A machine, invented in 1830, that greatly increased the speed at which messages could be sent.

Urban entrepreneurs

A person who organizes, manages, and takes on the risks of a business.

Louisiana Purchase

A treaty signed with France in 1803 by which the U.S. purchased for $15,000,000 the land extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Semi-subsistence agriculture

A type of farming in which some of the produce (subsistence crop) is consumed by the farmer and his family, leaving little or nothing to be marketed.

Canals

An artificial waterway constructed to allow the passage of boats or ships inland or to convey water for irrigation.

Xenophobia

Intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries.

Agricultural inventions

Key agricultural inventions of the early 1800s including the McCormick Reaper of 1845. Helped to aid in agricultural growth.

Arable land

Land capable of being dug up and used to grow crops.

Democratic - Republicans

Led by Thomas Jefferson, believed people should have political power, favored strong STATE governments, emphasized agriculture, strict interpretation of the Constitution, pro-French, opposed National Bank.

Steam Engines

Machine which provided energy to run factory machines and allowed new inventions to be created. Allowed factories to be built anywhere. Improved technology and productivity. Transportation became easier and faster.

Railroads

One of the oldest mode of transportation involving the creation of roads on land. It was expensive and the cost was high to fix them.

National bank

Part of Hamilton's financial plan. Government could safely deposit its money and make loans to the government and business. An idea that people who believed in states rights rejected.

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.

Missouri Compromise

People were afraid of the shift of power in congress, so Henry Clay came up with the Missouri compromise, which stated Missouri would be a slave state, but amine would become free. Also, any states within the Louisiana purchase north of Missouri would not allow slavery, and any state south of it wold allow slavery.

Democrats

People who retained Jefferson's suspicion of strong federal government and preference for states' rights.

Whigs

People who were previously Republicans who believed that national government should actively encourage economic development.

Participatory democracy

Political system in which all of most citizens participate directly by either holding office or making policy. The town meeting, in which citizens vote on major issues, is an example of participatory democracy.

Internal improvements

Public works from the end of the American Revolution through much of the 19th century, mainly for the creation of a transportation infrastructure: roads, turnpikes, canals, harbors and navigation improvements.

Second Great Awakening

Significant in the history of American religion. People were converted and many churches were changed and revived. Influenced prison reform, the women's rights movement, abolishment of slavery, advancements in literature, and reform in education.

Human perfectibility (perfectibility of man)

The doctrine, that people are capable of achieving perfection on earth through natural means, without the grace of God.

International slave trade

The international slave trade was abolished in 1808 after Thomas Jefferson had signed a bill that prohibited the importation of of slaves into the United States on March 3, 1807, which went into effect on January 1, 1808, and the British House of Lords passed an act that abolished the slave trade in Britain.

Secular reforms

The principle of the separation of government institutions and persons mandated to represent the state from religious institutions and religious dignitaries.

The American System

The three-part plan developed by Henry Clay that stressed a strong banking system, protective tariffs, and a network of roads and canals. Clay's plan was essential in developing a profitable home market. This home market enabled America to become a self-sufficient, isolated country.

Federalists

These supporters grew into the Federalist Party committed to a fiscally sound and nationalistic government. The United States' only Federalist president was John Adams; although George Washington was broadly sympathetic to the Federalist program, he remained an independent during his entire presidency.