HST201 American History 1 Test #3

Henry Clay

(1777-1852) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House Speaker as well as the ninth Secretary of State, also receiving electoral votes for president in 1824, 1832, and 1844 presidential elections. He helped found both the National Republican Party and the Whig Party. For his role in defusing sectional crises, he earned the appellation of the "Great Compromiser" and was part of the "Great Triumvirate" of Congressmen, alongside fellow Whig Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun. He finished with the fourth-most electoral votes in the multi-candidate 1824 presidential election, and he helped John Quincy Adams win the contingent election held to elect the president. President Adams appointed him to the prestigious position of secretary of state; as a result, critics alleged that the two had agreed to a "corrupt bargain". Despite receiving support from him and other National Republicans, Adams was defeated by Democrat Andrew Jackson in the 1828 presidential election. He won election to the Senate in 1831 and ran as the National Republican nominee in the 1832 presidential election, but he was defeated decisively by President Jackson. After the 1832 election, he helped bring an end to the Nullification Crisis by leading the passage of the Tariff of 1833. During Jackson's second term, opponents of the president, including Daniel Webster, William Henry Harrison, and himself, created the Whig Party, and through the years, he became a leading congressional Whig. He sought the presidency in the 1840 election but was passed over at the Whig National Convention by William Henry Harrison. When Harrison died and his vice president ascended to office, he clashed with Harrison's successor, John Tyler, who broke with Clay and other congressional Whigs after taking office upon Harrison's death in 1841.

Adams-Onis Treaty

(1819) A treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 ceded Florida to the U.S. and defined the boundary between the U.S. and New Spain. It settled a standing border dispute between the two countries and was considered a triumph of American diplomacy. Florida had become a burden to Spain, which could not afford to send settlers or garrisons, so the Spanish government decided to cede the territory to the United States in exchange for settling the boundary dispute along the Sabine River in Spanish Texas. The treaty established the boundary of U.S. territory and claims through the Rocky Mountains and west to the Pacific Ocean, in exchange for the U.S. paying residents' claims against the Spanish government up to a total of $5 million and relinquishing the U.S. claims on parts of Spanish Texas west of the Sabine River and other Spanish areas, under the terms of the Louisiana Purchase.

First Great Panic

(1819) Also known as the Panic of 1819 was the first widespread and durable financial crisis in the United States that slowed westward expansion in the Cotton Belt and was followed by a general collapse of the American economy that persisted through 1821. The Panic heralded the transition of the nation from its colonial commercial status with Europe toward an independent economy. The Panic of 1819 was brought about by the collapse of cotton prices in Britain and lasted three years. The cause of this recession was the low demand for American goods, excessive borrowing, and Fraud in the National Bank. This corruption put a lot of pressure on the Federalist Party and State Banks. The ensuing financial panic, in conjunction with a sudden recovery in European agricultural production in 1817, led to widespread bankruptcies and mass unemployment. The financial disaster and recession provoked popular resentment against banking and business enterprise, along with a general belief that federal government economic policy was fundamentally flawed. Americans, many for the first time, became politically engaged so as to defend their local economic interests.

Missouri Compromise

(1820) was United States federal legislation that stopped northern attempts to forever prohibit slavery's expansion by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state in exchange for legislation that prohibited slavery in the remaining Louisiana Purchase lands north of the 36°30′ parallel except for Missouri. The 16th United States Congress passed the legislation on March 3, 1820, and President James Monroe signed it on March 6, 1820. It was very controversial, and many worried that the country had become lawfully divided along sectional lines. The Kansas-Nebraska Act effectively repealed the bill in 1854, and the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), both of which increased tensions over slavery and contributed to the American Civil War. The compromise both delayed the Civil War and sowed its seeds; Thomas Jefferson writing contemporaneously predicted the line it had drawn would someday tear the Union apart. 40 years later, the North and South would split closely along the 36°30′ parallel and fight for four bloody years.

Monroe Doctrine

(1823) Was a United States policy that opposed European colonialism in the Americas. It argued that any intervention in the politics of the Americas by foreign powers was a potentially hostile act against the United States. It began in 1823; however, the term itself was not coined until 1850. December 2, 1823, at a time when nearly all Latin American colonies of Spain had achieved or were at the point of gaining, independence from the Spanish Empire. It stated that further efforts by various European states to take control of any independent state in the Americas would be viewed as "the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States." At the same time, the doctrine noted that the U.S. would recognize and not interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal affairs of European countries.

"Corrupt Bargain"

(1824) After the votes were counted in the U.S. presidential election of 1824, no candidate had received the majority needed of the Presidential Electoral votes (although Andrew Jackson had the most), thereby putting the outcome in the hands of the House of Representatives. There were four candidates on the ballot: John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, and William H. Crawford. Following the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment, however, only the top three candidates in the electoral vote were admitted as candidates, eliminating Henry Clay. To the surprise of many, the House elected John Quincy Adams over rival Andrew Jackson. It was widely believed that Clay, the Speaker of the House, convinced Congress to elect Adams, who then made Clay his Secretary of State. Jackson's supporters denounced this as a "corrupt bargain." The "corrupt bargain" that placed Adams in the White House and Clay in the State Department launched a four-year campaign of revenge by the friends of Andrew Jackson. Claiming that the people had been cheated of their choice, Jacksonians attacked the Adams administration at every turn as illegitimate and tainted by aristocracy and corruption.

American System

(1824) Was an economic plan that played an important role in American policy during the first half of the 19th century. Rooted in the "American School" ideas of Alexander Hamilton, the plan "consisted of three mutually reinforcing parts: a tariff to protect and promote American industry; a national bank to foster commerce; and federal subsidies for roads, canals, and other 'internal improvements' to develop profitable markets for agriculture". A plan to strengthen and unify the nation, the American System, was advanced by the National Republicans and a number of leading politicians including Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams. Motivated by a growing American economy bolstered with major exports such as cotton, tobacco, native sod, and tar they sought to create a structure for expanding trade. This System included such policies as: -Support for a high tariff to protect American industries and generate revenue for the federal government -Maintenance of high public land prices to generate federal revenue -Preservation of the Bank of the United States to stabilize the currency and rein in risky state and local banks -Development of a system of internal improvements (such as roads and canals) which would knit the nation together and be financed by the tariff and land sales. Clay protested that the West, which opposed the tariff, should support it since urban factory workers would-be consumers of western foods. In Clay's view, the South (which also opposed high tariffs) should support them because of the ready market for cotton in northern mills. This last argument was the weak link. The South never strongly supported the American System and had access to plenty of markets for its cotton exports. Portions of the American System were enacted by the United States Congress. The Second Bank of the United States was rechartered in 1816 for 20 years. High tariffs were first suggested by Alexander Hamilton in his 1791 Report on Manufactures but were not approved by Congress until the Tariff of 1816. Tariffs were subsequently raised until they peaked in 1828 after the so-called Tariff of Abominations. After the Nullification Crisis in 1833, tariffs remained at the same rate until the Civil War. However, the national system of internal improvements was never adequately funded; the failure to do so was due in part to sectional jealousies and constitutional squabbles about such expenditures. In 1830, President Jackson rejected a bill which would allow the federal government to purchase stock in the Maysville, Washington, Paris, and Lexington Turnpike Road Company, which had been organized to construct a road linking Lexington and the Ohio River, the entirety of which would be in the state of Kentucky. Jackson's Maysville Road veto was due to both his personal conflict with Clay and his ideological objections.

Temperance Movement

(1826) Is a social movement against the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote complete abstinence from alcohol (teetotalism), and its leaders emphasize alcohol's negative effects on people's health, personalities and family lives. Typically the movement promotes alcohol education and it also demands the passage of new laws against the sale of alcohol, either regulation on the availability of alcohol, or the complete prohibition of it. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the temperance movement became prominent in many countries, particularly in English-speaking and Scandinavian ones, and it eventually led to national prohibitions in Canada (1918 to 1920), in Norway (spirits only from 1919 to 1926), and in the United States (1920 to 1933), as well as provincial prohibition in India (1948 to present). A number of temperance organizations exist that promote temperance and teetotalism as a virtue. Created the American Society for the promotion of Temperance in 1826.

The Bank War

(1829-1832) This was a political struggle that developed over the issue of rechartering the Second Bank of the United States (B.U.S.) during the presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829-1837). The affair resulted in the shutdown of the Bank and its replacement by state banks. The Second Bank of the United States was established as a private organization with a 20-year charter, having the exclusive right to conduct banking on a national scale. The goal behind the B.U.S. was to stabilize the American economy by establishing a uniform currency and strengthening the federal government. Supporters of the Bank regarded it as a stabilizing force in the economy due to its ability to smooth out variations in prices and trade, extend credit, supply the nation with a sound and uniform currency, provide financial services for the treasury department, facilitate long-distance trade, and prevent inflation by regulating the lending practices of state banks. Jacksonian Democrats cited instances of corruption and alleged that the B.U.S. favored merchants and speculators at the expense of farmers and artisans, appropriated public money for risky private investments and interference in politics, and conferred economic privileges on a small group of stockholders and financial elites, thereby violating the principle of equal opportunity. Some found the Bank's public-private organization to be unconstitutional and argued that the institution's charter violated state sovereignty. To them, the Bank symbolized corruption while threatening liberty. In early 1832, the president of the B.U.S., Nicholas Biddle, in alliance with the National Republicans under Senators Henry Clay (Kentucky) and Daniel Webster (Massachusetts), submitted an application for a renewal of the Bank's twenty-year charter four years before the charter was set to expire, intending to pressure Jackson into making a decision prior to the 1832 presidential election, in which Jackson would face Clay. When Congress voted to reauthorize the Bank, Jackson vetoed the bill. His veto message was a polemical declaration of the social philosophy of the Jacksonian movement that pitted "the planters, the farmers, the mechanic and the laborer" against the "monied interest", benefiting the wealthy at the expense of the common people.[3] The B.U.S. became the central issue that divided the Jacksonians from the National Republicans. Although the Bank provided significant financial assistance to Clay and pro-B.U.S. newspaper editors, Jackson secured an overwhelming election victory. Fearing economic reprisals from Biddle, Jackson swiftly removed the Bank's federal deposits. In 1833, he arranged to distribute the funds to dozens of state banks. The new Whig Party emerged in opposition to his perceived abuse of executive power, officially censuring Jackson in the Senate. In an effort to promote sympathy for the institution's survival, Biddle retaliated by contracting Bank credit, inducing a mild financial downturn. A reaction set in throughout America's financial and business centers against Biddle's maneuvers, compelling the Bank to reverse its tight money policies, but its chances of being rechartered were all but finished. The economy did well during Jackson's time as president, but his economic policies, including his war against the Bank, are sometimes blamed for contributing to the Panic of 1837.

Indian Removal Act

(1830) Was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern (including Mid-Atlantic) Native American tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for white settlement of their ancestral lands. The Act was signed by Andrew Jackson and it was strongly enforced under his administration and that of Martin Van Buren, which extended until 1841. The Act was strongly supported by southern and northwestern populations but was opposed by native tribes and the Whig Party. The Cherokee worked together to stop this relocation, but were unsuccessful; they were eventually forcibly removed by the United States government in a march to the west that later became known as the Trail of Tears. The Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee-Creek, Seminole, and original Cherokee nations had been established as autonomous nations in the southeastern United States and were the five tribes to be removed.

Eaton Affair

(1831) The Petticoat Affair (also known by another name) was a political scandal involving members of President Andrew Jackson's Cabinet and their wives, from 1829 to 1831. Led by Floride Calhoun, wife of Vice President John C. Calhoun, these women, dubbed the "Petticoats", socially ostracized Secretary of War John Eaton and his wife, Peggy Eaton, over disapproval of the circumstances surrounding the Eatons' marriage and what they deemed her failure to meet the "moral standards of a Cabinet Wife". The Petticoat Affair rattled the entire Jackson Administration and eventually led to the resignation of all but one Cabinet member. The ordeal facilitated Martin Van Buren's rise to the presidency and was in part responsible for Vice President Calhoun's transformation from a national political figure with presidential aspirations into a sectional leader of the southern states.

Nat Turner's Rebellion

(1831) Was a rebellion of enslaved Virginians that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831, led by Nat Turner. The rebels killed between 55 and 65 people, at least 51 of whom were White. The rebellion was put down within a few days, but Turner survived in hiding for more than two months afterward. The rebellion was effectively suppressed at Belmont Plantation on the morning of August 23, 1831. There was widespread fear in the aftermath, and militias organized in retaliation to the rebels. The state executed 56 enslaved people accused of being part of the rebellion, and many non-participant enslaved individuals were punished in the frenzy. Approximately 120 enslaved people and free African Americans were killed by militias and mobs in the area. State legislatures passed new laws prohibiting education of enslaved people and free Black people, restricting rights of assembly and other civil liberties for free Black people, and requiring White ministers to be present at all worship services.

Nullfication Crisis

(1832-1833) Was a United States sectional political crisis in 1832-33, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, which involved a confrontation between the state of South Carolina and the federal government. It ensued after South Carolina declared the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 unconstitutional and therefore null and void within the sovereign boundaries of the state. However, courts at the state and federal level, including the U.S. Supreme Court, repeatedly have rejected the theory of nullification by states. The controversial and highly protective Tariff of 1828 was enacted into law during the presidency of John Quincy Adams. The tariff was strongly opposed in the South since it was perceived to put an unfair tax burden on the Southern agrarian states that imported most manufactured goods. The tariff's opponents expected that Jackson's election as President would result in a significant reduction of it. When the Jackson administration failed to take any action to address their concerns, the state's most radical faction began to advocate that the state 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, a native South Carolinian and the most effective proponent of the constitutional theory of state nullification, the rejected legal theory that if a state believed a federal law unconstitutional, it could declare the law null and void in the state. On July 1, 1832, before Calhoun resigned the vice presidency to run for the Senate, where he could more effectively defend nullification, Jackson signed into law the Tariff of 1832. This compromise tariff received the support of most Northerners and half the Southerners in Congress. But it did not satisfy South Carolina, and on November 24, 1832, a state convention adopted the Ordinance of Nullification, which declared that the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional and unenforceable in South Carolina after February 1, 1833. South Carolina initiated military preparations to resist anticipated federal enforcement, but on March 1, 1833, Congress passed both the Force Bill—authorizing the President to use military forces against South Carolina—and a new negotiated tariff, the Compromise Tariff of 1833, which was satisfactory to South Carolina. The South Carolina convention reconvened and repealed its Nullification Ordinance on March 15, 1833, but three days later, nullified the Force Bill as a symbolic gesture of principle. The crisis was over, and both sides found reasons to claim victory. The tariff rates were reduced and stayed low to the satisfaction of the South, but the states' rights doctrine of nullification remained controversial. By the 1850s, the issues of the expansion of slavery into the western territories and the threat of Slave Power became the central issues in the nation.

Seneca Falls Convention

(1848) Was the first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman". Held in the Wesleyan Chapel of the town of Seneca Falls, New York, it spanned two days over July 19-20, 1848. Attracting widespread attention, it was soon followed by other women's rights conventions, including the Rochester Women's Rights Convention in Rochester, New York, two weeks later. In 1850 the first in a series of annual National Women's Rights Conventions met in Worcester, Massachusetts. Exactly 1,000 delegates/one-third signed. (Frederick Douglas was among them) The convention was seen by some of its contemporaries, including featured speaker Mott, as one important step among many others in the continuing effort by women to gain for themselves a greater proportion of social, civil, and moral rights, while it was viewed by others as a revolutionary beginning to the struggle by women for complete equality with men. Considered the Seneca Falls Convention to be the beginning of the women's rights movement, an opinion that was echoed in the History of Woman Suffrage, which Stanton co-wrote. The convention's Declaration of Sentiments became "the single most important factor in spreading news of the women's rights movement around the country in 1848 and into the future", according to Judith Wellman, a historian of the convention. By the time of the National Women's Rights Convention of 1851, the issue of women's right to vote had become a central tenet of the United States women's rights movement. These conventions became annual events until the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861.

During Andrew Jackson's presidency, historians have labeled this time period the "Age of Jackson." What was Jacksonian America? Jacksonian Democracy? What issues did President Jackson face during his presidency? How did he respond to these matters as chief executive?

Jacksonian American can be defined as the "Era of the Common Man" the idea that all men, not just the elite should have the right to vote and participate in government. This meant that Jackson despised the National Bank because he deemed it corrupt and the elitist's way for taking advantage of the common mass. This would be known as "The Bank War" and would last from 1829 to 1832, with the execution of the Bank. Jackson also dealt with the Eaton Affair (1829-1831) that ruined his first cabinet besides Van Buren. The Nullification Crisis was Calhoun Jackson's first Vice President who resigned and tried to help South Carolina leave the Union because of the Tariff of 1828 and 1832. In the end, Henry Clay brokered a compromise with South Carolina with the Compromise Tariff of 1833 after Jackson had gotten the Force Bill passed through Congress to use military means to force South Carolina to stay in the Union. Jackson also signed The Indian Removal Act in 1830 that kicked the five tribes in the southeast out of their native lands and towards reserves past the Mississippi River. In each of these events, Jackson acted as a father for the United States, much like Jon Meacham's thesis the United States was Jackson's family. Therefore in all of these cases, he acted in accordance with what he thought was best for the United States. In the Eaton Affair, he wanted to respect Mrs. Eaton's personal business due to his own life experiences. The Bank War Jackson believed that the National Bank was a corrupt entity that sapped the money from the common man and therefore had to be destroyed to preserve the Union against elitists but this later caused the panics in Van Buren's Presidency. In the Nullification Crisis, Jackson even though he was a southerner believed that disunion was inherently treason that's why he had the Force Bill passed and threatened South Carolina with violence. The state was threatening that in which he held dear the United States. The Indian Removal Act was again Jackson taking matters into his own hands and removing a group of people because he saw them as a threat to the nation. He put them on reserves to keep an eye on them and to allow the states and their people to inhabit these "savages" land. Though this part of Jackson is rather questionable as he caused the Trail of Tears that lead to the death of thousands of natives.

During the "Era of Good Feelings," it was a common belief that the U.S. experienced a period of peace and tranquility. However, numerous events occurred during the period. Identify and explain these events that occurred during the era. What was their importance?

The "Era of Good Feelings" was during James Monroe's Presidency and John Qunicy Adams Presidency from 1817-1829. After the War of 1812, the United States decided to enter into a period of tranquility and peace. However, the First Great Panic of 1819 would cause an economic recession disrupting this sense of tranquility. There were also many other domestic as well as foreign issues that would plague the nation. The issue of the Bank was still prevalent, the Missouri Compromise brought up the issue of slavery and its expansion into new western territories. The Monroe Doctrine also laid the foundation for American supremacy in the Western Hemisphere but was treated like a joke to many European nations. There were many treaties brokered during this time that helped limit European influence and even granted the US land (Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819). Parties, however, started to dissolve as new parties arose to take their place. Each event during Monroe's Presidency played a key role in the development of the nation and the new key figures in the years to come. Besides the negative events of this period, there were some good events. Such as the focus on US infrastructure and the development of roads (National Road instead of state roads like Clay's Cumberland Road). The institution of the American System as an economic remedy. This was also a time where the legislature would also dominate because of Monroe and Adam's complacency. This is the time where the First Party System ended with the fall of the Federalist Party and the Second Party System began to emerge, with the dominance of the Democratic-Republicans. The "Era of Good Feelings" left the Democratic-Republicans as the only party in the Election of 1824. The Party however would begin to split during 1824 with the "corrupt bargain" between Adams and Clay, leaving the Jacksonian Democratic-Republicans displeased.

William Lloyd Garrison

Was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely-read anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator, which he founded in 1831 and published in Boston until slavery in the United States was abolished by the Constitutional amendment in 1865. Garrison promoted "no-governmentism" and rejected the inherent validity of the American government on the basis that its engagement in war, imperialism, and slavery made the government corrupt and tyrannical; he initially opposed violence as a principle and advocated for Christian nonresistance against evil -- though at the outbreak of the civil war, he abandoned his previous principles and embraced the armed struggle and the Lincoln administration. He was one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and promoted immediate and uncompensated, as opposed to gradual and compensated, the emancipation of slaves in the United States. Garrison was a typesetter and could run a printing shop; he wrote his editorials in The Liberator while setting them in type, without writing them out first on paper. Garrison also emerged as a leading advocate of women's rights, which prompted a split in the abolitionist community. In the 1870s, Garrison became a prominent voice for the women's suffrage movement. He also was a Pacsisict and when he was blamed for The Nat Turner Rebellion, he made the argument that he is against violence and that his papers are not supported in the South.

Frederick Douglass

Was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, becoming famous for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings. Accordingly, he was described by abolitionists in his time as a living counterexample to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Likewise, Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave. He also was the founder of the North Star in Rochester, NY. Douglass wrote three autobiographies, describing his experiences as a slave in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), which became a bestseller and was influential in promoting the cause of abolition. Following the Civil War, Douglass was an active campaigner for the rights of freed slaves and wrote his last autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. Douglass also actively supported women's suffrage, and held several public offices. Without his permission, Douglass became the first African-American nominated for Vice President of the United States as the running mate and Vice Presidential nominee of Victoria Woodhull, on the Equal Rights Party ticket.