History 110 FINAL EXAM

Latter Day Saints

(also called the LDS movement or LDS restorationist movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 15 million members. The vast majority of adherents belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), with their predominant theology being Mormonism. The LDS Church self-identifies as Christian. A minority of Latter Day Saint adherents, such as members of the Community of Christ, believe in traditional Protestant theology, and have distanced themselves from some of the distinctive doctrines of Mormonism. Other groups include the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which supports lineal succession of leadership from Smith's descendants, and the more controversial Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which defends the practice of polygamy.

Spoils System

(also known as a patronage system) is a practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government 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.

Perfectionist Society

-Found by John Humphrey -Located in Vermont -Society believes: sinless perfection is possible -Marriages in the society were very compelx -They moved to upstate New York in 1845 -In 1879 it ended

American Colonization Society

-Free slaves; sand them back to Africa (wow) -ultimatley it fails -most slaves don't want to go to Africa (no connection) 1860: 3 norhtern states give vote to free blacks

Millenialism

-Sinless perfection possible; once chirst returns -Christ will return in 1843 -A lot of follower convert because of this -People go crazy leading up to the arrival of Christ: People sell their belonging, people committing suicide, murder, thief, debauchery, rape. -1843 comes and goes, follower make new time -1844 -Date passed then everyone gives up

La Plata, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Mexico

1822: U.S. recognizes 5 new nations independence: 1) Mexico 2) Columbia 3) Peru 4) Chile 5) La Plata (Argentina)

Erie Canal

Age of Turnpikes: -Dramatic increase of new roads (not enough to meet demand) -Development of Canals in response (made of transportation) EX: ERIE CANAL: HUGE SUCCESS; pays off in 7 years -Construction tire -Can ship goods New York City to New Orleans (on land canals)

"Bleeding Kansas"

Bloody Kansas or the Border War was a series of violent political confrontations in the United States involving anti-slavery "Free-Staters" and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian" elements in Kansas between 1854 and 1861.

Brook Farm

Created by George Ripley -Completely independent of outside world; self-sufficient society. -They grew their own food, did their own hard labor, taught each other lessons and education. -After awhile they just couldn't financially support themselves and it ended after 6 years.

J. Q. Adams

Created the Monroe Doctrine. Was an American statesman who served as the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. He also served as a diplomat, a Senator and member of the House of Representatives. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties.

Corrupt Bargain

Election between Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams. No one wins the popular vote so it goes to the (house or senate or congress) which is heaviliy influenced by Henry Clay (who hates AJ). John Quincy Adams wins and immediately hires Henry Clay as the Secretary of State (known as the fastest stepping stone to the presidency). Andrew Jacksons supports claim the election was fixed. This really delays and blocks John Quincys ideas at every turn from here on out.

Trail of Tears

In 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects.

Missouri Compromise (compromise of 1820)

In an effort to preserve the balance of power in Congress between slave and free states, the Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. Furthermore, with the exception of Missouri, this law prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the 36° 30´ latitude line. In 1854, the Missouri Compromise was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. P.S. (Three years later the Missouri Compromise was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision)

Eli Whitney

Inventor of the 'cotton gin'. This was a big advancement for the industrial revolution and shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Whitney's invention made upland short cotton into a profitable crop, which strengthened the economic foundation of slavery in the United States.

Stephen Austin

Known as the Father of Texas, and the founder of Texas he led the second, and ultimately successful, colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States to the region in 1825. In addition, he worked with the Mexican government to support immigration from the United States. -Brought in hundreds of families into Texas (owned by Mexico) -come from South; bring slaves w them -Mexican gov. very pleased; wanted land to develop -People increased; Mexican people ban slavery; upsets everyone.

Monroe Doctrine

Made by John Quincy Adams: The doctrine warns European nations that the United States would not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs. The doctrine was conceived to meet major concerns of the moment, but it soon became a watchword of U.S. policy in the Western Hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine was invoked in 1865 when the U.S. government exerted diplomatic and military pressure in support of the Mexican President Benito Juárez. This support enabled Juárez to lead a successful revolt against the Emperor Maximilian, who had been placed on the throne by the French government.

Dredd Scott Decision

On this day in 1857, the United States Supreme Court issues a decision in the Dred Scott case, affirming the right of slave owners to take their slaves into the Western territories, therebynegating the doctrine of popular sovereignty and severely undermining the platform of the newly created Republican Party.

James Polk

Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He later lived in and represented Tennessee. A Democrat, Polk served as the 13th Speaker of the House of Representatives (1835-39)—the only president to have served as House Speaker—and Governor of Tennessee (1839-41). Polk was the surprise (dark horse) candidate for president in 1844, defeating Henry Clay of the rival Whig Party by promising to annex the Republic of Texas. Polk was a leader of Jacksonian Democracy during the Second Party System. His nickname was "Young Hickory" because of his close association with "Old Hickory", Andrew Jackson.

Limited Liability Laws

Rise of Big Business 1- 1830, easier to make corporations 2-Limited liability laws (only on hook for how much money you invest) 3-RISE OF FACTORY

Democratic Republican Party

The Democratic-Republican Party was formed by Thomas Jefferson and others who believed in an agrarian-based, decentralized, democratic government. The party was established to oppose the Federalists who had supported and pushed through the ratification of the US Constitution.

Force Act

The Enforcement Act of 1870, also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1870 or First Ku Klux Klan Act, or Force Act was a United States federal law written to empower the President with the legal authority to enforce the first section of the Fifteenth Amendment throughout the United States

John Humphrey Noyes

The idea of Perfectionism, that it was possible to be free of sin in this lifetime, 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".[6] 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. Noyes proclaimed that "it was impossible for the Church to compel man to obey the law of God, and to send him to eternal damnation for his failure to do so."

Nullification Crisis

The nation suffered an economic downturn throughout the 1820s, and South Carolina was particularly affected. Many South Carolina politicians blamed the change in fortunes on the national tariff policy that developed after the War of 1812 to promote American manufacturing over its European competition. The Tariff of 1828 (known to its detractors as the "Tariff of Abominations"). The tariff was opposed in the South and parts of New England. By 1828, South Carolina state politics increasingly organized around the tariff issue. Its opponents expected that the election of Jackson as President would result in the tariff being significantly reduced. When the Jackson administration failed to take any actions to address their concerns, the most radical faction in the state began to advocate that the state itself declare the tariff null and void within South Carolina. In Washington, an open split on the issue occurred between Jackson and Vice President John C. Calhoun, the most effective proponent of the constitutional theory of state nullification.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Transcendentalist club leader/ creator. The club talks about writing, politics, philosophy and moral issues. They believe the industry is out of control and that manual labor is rewarding and gives a satisfying feeling of completion.

Trancendentalism

What its all about: individual growth, self reliance, optimism, American is a chosen nation (by god). Writers mostly from New England and Boston. Believe education is the best route to societal and self-improvement

Henry David Thoreaugh

Wrote: Civil Disobedience - Core; best government is the government that doesn't govern at all -Refused to pay taxes during a war he did not support; was put in jail many times for this

National Republican Party

also known as Anti-Jacksonian Party, was a political party in the United States. During the administration of John Quincy Adams (1825-1829), the president's supporters were referred to as Adams Men or Anti-Jackson.

Know Nothings

also known as the American Party, was a prominent United States political party during the late 1840s and the early 1850s. The American Party originated in 1849. Its members strongly opposed immigrants and followers of the Catholic Church

William Crawford

an American politician and judge during the early 19th century. He served as United States Secretary of War from 1815 to 1816 and United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1816 to 1825, and was a candidate for President of the United States in 1824.

Andrew Jackson

an American statesman who served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837. He was born near the end of the colonial era, somewhere near the then-unmarked border between North and South Carolina, into a recently immigrated Scots-Irish farming family of relatively modest means. During the American Revolutionary War, Jackson, whose family supported the revolutionary cause, acted as a courier. At age 13, he was captured and mistreated by his British captors. He later became a lawyer. He was also elected to Congress office, first to the U.S. House of Representatives and twice to the U.S. Senate.

WM Henry Harrison

as the ninth President of the United States (1841), an American military officer and politician, and the last President born as a British subject. He was also the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when inaugurated, the oldest president to take office until Ronald Reagan in 1981. Harrison died on his 32nd day in office[a] of complications from pneumonia, serving the shortest tenure in United States presidential history. His death sparked a brief constitutional crisis, but its resolution left unsettled many questions following the presidential line of succession in regard to Constitution up until the passage of the 25th Amendment in 1967. He was the grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, who was the 23rd President from 1889 to 1893.

Sam Houston

best known for his role in bringing Texas into the United States as a constituent state. His victory at the Battle of San Jacinto secured the independence of Texas from Mexico. battle of Alamo; rebels in texas lose -battle of son -Independent Texas sept 1836 -Wants to join union -Strongly in favor of joining US -issue of slavery complicates -Leadership of Texas grows impatient -Texas becomes leading issue in 1844 election -John Tyler; last laugh; doesn't need treaty; needs 50% in house and senate plus 1 vote to win; 1835 The only American to be elected governor of two states (as opposed to territories or indirect selection), he was also the only governor within a future Confederate state to oppose secession (which led to the outbreak of the American Civil War) and to refuse an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, a decision that led to his removal from office by the Texas secession convention.

Compromise of 1833

enacted on March 2, 1833, was proposed by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun as a resolution to the Nullification Crisis. it was adopted to gradually reduce the rates following southerners' objections to the protectionism found in the Tariff of 1832 and the 1828 Tariff of Abominations; the tariffs had prompted South Carolina to threaten secession from the Union. This Act stipulated that import taxes would gradually be cut over the next decade until, by 1842, they matched the levels set in the Tariff of 1816—an average of 20%.[1] The compromise reductions lasted only two months into their final stage before protectionism was reinstated by the Black Tariff of 1842.

Abolitionism

is a movement to end slavery, whether formal or informal. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism is a historical movement to end the African and Indian slave trade and set slaves free.

Shakers

is a religious sect, also known as the Shakers, founded in the 18th century in England, having branched off from a Quaker community. They were known as "Shaking Quakers" because of their ecstatic behavior during worship services. In 1747, women assumed leadership roles within the sect, notably Jane Wardley and Mother Ann Lee. Shakers settled in colonial America, with initial settlements in New Lebanon, New York (called Mount Lebanon after 1861) today are mostly known for their celibate and communal lifestyle, pacifism, and their model of equality of the sexes, which they institutionalized in their society in the 1780s. They are also known for their simple living, architecture, and furniture.

Indian Intercourse Act (1834)

is the collective name given to six statutes passed by the Congress in 1790, 1793, 1796, 1799, 1802, and 1834. The Act regulates commerce between Americans and Native Americans.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

officially entitled the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits and Settlement between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic, is the peace treaty signed on February 2, 1848, in the Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo (now a neighborhood of Mexico City) between the United States and Mexico that ended the Mexican-American War (1846-48).

Bank War

refers to the political struggle that developed over the issue of rechartering the Second Bank of the United States (BUS) during the Andrew Jackson administration (1829-1837).

Webster-Ashburton Treaty

signed August 9, 1842, was a treaty resolving several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies. Very modern treaty for its time. If a criminal kills in one state and flees to another, it is to the right of that state to bring back the criminal to face charges in the state the crime was committed. Also it opened trade with the market in China.

Henry Clay

skilled orator who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives. He served three non-consecutive terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives and served as Secretary of State under President John Quincy Adams from 1825 to 1829. Clay ran for the presidency in 1824, 1832 and 1844, while also seeking the Whig Party nomination in 1840 and 1848. However, he was unsuccessful.

Preston Brooks

was a Democratic Representative from South Carolina, serving from 1853 until his resignation in July 1856 and again from August 1856 until his death. Brooks was a fervent advocate of slavery and states' rights. He is primarily remembered for beating Senator Charles Sumner (Free Soil-Massachusetts), an abolitionist, with a cane on the floor of the United States Senate, on May 22, 1856.

2nd Great Awakening

was a Protestant religious revival movement 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.

Winfield Scott

was a United States Army general, and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852. Known as "Old Fuss and Feathers" and the "Grand Old Man of the Army," he served on active duty as a general longer than any other man in American history, and many historians rate him the best American commander of his time. Over the course of his 53-year career, he commanded forces in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, the Mexican-American War, the Second Seminole War, and, briefly, the American Civil War, conceiving the Union strategy known as the Anaconda Plan that would be used to defeat the Confederacy. He served as Commanding General of the United States Army for twenty years, longer than any other holder of the office.

J. C. Breckinridge

was a lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He represented the Commonwealth in both houses of Congress and in 1857, became the 14th and youngest-ever Vice President of the United States (1857-61). Serving in the U.S. Senate at the outbreak of the Civil War, he was expelled after joining the Confederate Army. He remains the only Senator of the United States convicted of treason against the United States of America by the Senate. He was appointed Confederate Secretary of War late in the war. A member of the Breckinridge family, he was the grandson of U.S. Attorney General John Breckinridge, son of Kentucky Secretary of State Cabell Breckinridge and father of Arkansas Congressman Clifton R. Breckinridge.

Andrew Reeder

was a loyal member of the Democratic Party and supported the idea of popular sovereignty which dealt with territories' decisions on the issue of slavery. On June 29, 1854, President Franklin Pierce appointed Reeder to the office of the governor of the territory of Kansas and remained in office until August 16, 1855, when he was fired.

Compromise of 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 regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War (1846-48).

The Whigs party

was a political party active in the middle of the 19th century in the United States. Three Presidents were current members of the Party. Along with the rival Democratic Party, it was central to the Second Party System from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s.

WM Lloyd Garrison

was 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. He promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United States. In the 1870s, Garrison became a prominent voice for the woman suffrage movement.

Tariff of Abominations (1828)

was a protective tariff passed by the Congress of the United States on May 19, 1828, designed to protect industry in the northern United States. Created by John Quincy Adams. The South, however, was harmed directly by having to pay higher prices on goods the region did not produce, and indirectly because reducing the exportation of British goods to the U.S. made it difficult for the British to pay for the cotton they imported from the South. The reaction in the South, particularly in South Carolina, would lead to the Nullification Crisis that began in late 1832

Free Soil Party

was a short-lived political party in the United States active in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections, and in some state elections. Founded in Buffalo, New York, it was a third party and a single-issue party that largely appealed to and drew its greatest strength from New York State.

Frederick Douglas

was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement from Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his dazzling 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.

William Miller

was an American Baptist preacher who is credited with beginning the mid-19th century North American religious movement known as the Millerites. After his prophecies of the Second Coming did not occur as expected in the 1840s, new heirs of his message emerged, including the Advent Christians (1860) and the Seventh-day Adventists (1863). Later movements found inspiration in Miller's emphasis on Bible prophecy and the Bahai faith believes his predictions of 1844 events to be accurate.

John Brown

was an American abolitionist who believed armed insurrection was the only way to overthrow the institution of slavery in the United States. During the 1856 conflict in Kansas, Brown commanded forces at the Battle of Black Jack and the Battle of Osawatomie. Brown's followers killed five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie. In 1859, Brown led an unsuccessful raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry that ended with the multi-racial group's capture. Brown's trial resulted in his conviction and a sentence of death by hanging.

Nicolas Biddle

was an American financier who served as the third and last president of the Second Bank of the United States (chartered 1816-1836).

Lewis Cass

was an American military officer, politician, and statesman: he was longtime governor of the Michigan Territory (1813-1831), Secretary of War under President Andrew Jackson, and Secretary of State under President James Buchanan. During his long political career, Cass served as an American ambassador to France, and as a U.S. Senator representing Michigan. A Mason from his years as a young man in Ohio, Cass was co-founder of the Grand Lodge of Michigan and its first Masonic Grand Master.

Charles Sumner

was an American politician and senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the antislavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the United States Senate during the American Civil War working 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 Douglass

was an American politician from Illinois and the designer of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He was a U.S. representative, a U.S. senator, and the Democratic Party nominee for president in the 1860 election, losing to Republican Abraham Lincoln. Douglas had previously defeated Lincoln in a Senate contest, noted for the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. He was nicknamed the "Little Giant" because he was short in physical stature, but a forceful and dominant figure in politics. (His height is given in various sources as being in the range of five feet to five feet, four inches; five feet four is reported most often.)

Martin Van Burren

was an American politician who served as the eighth President of the United States (1837-41). A member of the Democratic Party, he served in a number of senior roles, including eighth Vice President (1833-37) and tenth Secretary of State (1829-31), both under Andrew Jackson. Van Buren's inability as president to deal with the economic chaos of the Panic of 1837 and with the surging Whig Party led to his defeat in the 1840 election.

John Bell

was an American politician, attorney, and planter. One of Tennessee's most prominent antebellum politicians, he served in the House of Representatives from 1827 to 1841, and in the Senate from 1847 to 1859. He was Speaker of the House for the 23rd Congress (1834-1835), and briefly served as Secretary of War during the administration of William Henry Harrison (1841). In 1860, he ran for president as the candidate for the Constitutional Union Party, a third party which took a neutral stance on the issue of slavery.

John Slidell

was 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 U.S. Representative and Senator. He was the older brother of Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, a US naval officer.

Joseph Smith

was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was twenty-four, Smith published the Book of Mormon; by the time of his death fourteen years later, he had attracted tens of thousands of followers and founded a religious culture that continues to the present.

John Calhoun

was an American statesman and political theorist from South Carolina, who now is best remembered for his strong defense of slavery. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent of a strong national government and protective tariffs. After 1830, his views shifted and he became a greater proponent of states' rights, limited government, nullification and free trade, as he saw these means as the only way to preserve the Union. He is known for his strong defense of free trade and slavery, his distrust of majoritarianism, and for leading the South toward secession from the Union.

James G. Birney

was an abolitionist, politician and jurist born in Danville, Kentucky. From 1816 to 1818, he served in the Kentucky House of Representatives. In 1836, he started his abolitionist weekly publication in Cincinnati, Ohio titled The Philanthropist. He was twice a US Presidential candidate for the anti-slavery Liberty Party.

Nicholas Trist

was born in Charlottesville, Virginia and was the grandson of James Madison's former Philadelphia landlady. He attended West Point and studied law under Thomas Jefferson, whose granddaughter (Virginia Jefferson Randolph, 1818-1875) he married.:91 He was also private secretary to Andrew Jackson, whom he greatly admired.:92-93 Trist served as a conduit for James Madison to President Jackson.[

Wilmot Proviso

was designed to eliminate slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican War (1846-48). Soon after the war began, President James K. Polk sought the appropriation of $2 million as part of a bill to negotiate the terms of a treaty

Theordore Dwight Weld

was one of the architects of the American abolitionist movement during its formative years from 1830 through 1844, playing a role as writer, editor, speaker, and organizer. He is best known for his co-authorship of the authoritative compendium American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses, published in 1839. Harriet Beecher Stowe partly based Uncle Tom's Cabin on Weld's text and it is regarded as second only to that work in its influence on the antislavery movement. Weld remained dedicated to the abolitionist movement until slavery was ended by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865.

Panic of 1837

was partly caused by the economic policies of President Jackson, who created the Specie Circular by executive order and refused to renew the charter of Second Bank of the United States. The Panic of 1837 was followed by a five-year depression with failed banks and unprecedented unemployment levels

Kansas-Nebraska Act

was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 30, 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´.

Mason Dixon Line

was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the resolution of a border dispute involving Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware in Colonial America. It is still a demarcation line among four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia (originally part of Virginia). Used as the boundary of slavery toleration.

Zachary Taylor

was the 12th President of the United States, serving from March 1849 until his death in July 1850. Before his presidency, Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to the rank of major general.

Millard Fillmore

was the 13th President of the United States (1850-53), the last Whig president, and the last president not to be affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican parties. Fillmore was the only Whig president who did not die in office or get expelled from the party, and Fillmore appointed the only Whig Supreme Court Justice. As Zachary Taylor's vice president, he assumed the presidency after Taylor's death. Fillmore was a lawyer from western New York state, and an early member of the Whig Party. He served in the state legislature (1829-1831), as a U.S. Representative (1833-35, 1837-43), and as New York State Comptroller (1848-49). He was elected vice president of the United States in 1848 as Taylor's running mate, and served from 1849 until Taylor's death in 1850, at the height of the "Crisis of 1850" over slavery.

Franklin Pierce

was the 14th President of the United States (1853-57). Pierce was a northern Democrat who saw the abolitionist movement as a fundamental threat to the unity of the nation. His polarizing actions in championing and signing the Kansas-Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act failed to stem intersectional conflict, setting the stage for Southern secession.

James Buchanan

was the 15th President of the United States (1857-61), serving immediately prior to the American Civil War. He represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives and later the Senate, then served as Minister to Russia under President Andrew Jackson. He was named Secretary of State under President James K. Polk, and is to date the last former Secretary of State to serve as President of the United States. After Buchanan turned down an offer to sit on the Supreme Court, President Franklin Pierce appointed him Ambassador to the United Kingdom, in which capacity he helped draft the Ostend Manifesto.

Liberty Party

was the first antislavery party. Formed at a national convention in Albany, New York, in April 1840, the party sought to achieve abolitionist goals through political means. Its first presidential candidate was a former Alabama slave holder, James G. Birney.

John Marshall

was the fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1801-1835). His court opinions helped lay the basis for United States constitutional law and many say made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches. Previously, Marshall had been a leader of the Federalist Party in Virginia and served in the United States House of Representatives from 1799 to 1800. He was Secretary of State under President John Adams from 1800 to 1801.

John Tyler

was the tenth President of the United States (1841-45). He was elected vice president on the 1840 Whig ticket with William Henry Harrison, and became president after Harrison's death in April 1841. Tyler was known as a supporter of states' rights, which endeared him to his fellow Virginians, yet his acts as president showed that he was willing to support nationalist policies as long as they did not infringe on the rights of the states. Still, the circumstances of his unexpected rise to the presidency and his possible threat to the ambitions of other potential presidential candidates left him estranged from both major parties in Washington. A firm believer in manifest destiny, President Tyler sought to strengthen and preserve the Union through territorial expansion, most notably the annexation of the independent Republic of Texas in his last days in office.

Fox Sisters

were three sisters from New York who played an important role in the creation of Spiritualism: Leah (1814-1890), Margaret (also called Maggie) (1833-1893) and Kate (also called Catherine) Fox (1837-1892).