Vocab Test Chapters 9 - 13 MANSFIELD

Cotton gin

A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.

American System

A federal economic policy proposed in the early 19th century aimed at promoting economic growth and development in the United States. The policy included three main components — infrastructure improvements, protective tariffs, and a strong national bank.

Middle Class

Led to the emergence of a consumer culture, as people started to have more disposable income to spend on goods and services.

John C. Calhoun

A staunch defender of the institution of slavery, and a slave-owner himself, Calhoun was the Senate's most prominent states' rights advocate, and his doctrine of nullification professed that individual states had a right to reject federal policies that they deemed unconstitutional. "Arch Nullifier" Supported Henry Clay's American System, an economic plan that consisted of a high protective tariff, a large national bank, and a system of federally funded internal improvements funded by high taxes.

Brook Farm

A transcendentalist Utopian experiment, put into practice by transcendentalist former Unitarian minister George Ripley at a farm in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, at that time nine miles from Boston. The community, in operation from 1841 to 1847, was inspired by the socialist concepts of Charles Fourier.

Election of 1860

Abraham Lincoln (Republican) won the presidential election of 1860 in a four-way contest. Although Lincoln received less than 40% of the popular vote, he easily won the Electoral College vote over Stephen Douglas (Democrat), John Breckenridge (Southern Democrat), and John Bell (Constitutional Union)

Robert Fulton

American inventor and businessman known for his work on the steamboat.

Charles Sumner

American lawyer, politician, and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading American advocate for the abolition of slavery.With the end of war and ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, he concentrated on providing full political and civil rights to African Americans and went on to author one of the nation's first civil rights bills.

Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842)

American legal case in which the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that the common-law doctrine of criminal conspiracy did not apply to labor unions. Until then, workers' attempts to establish closed shops had been subject to prosecution.

Transcendentalists

At its core celebrated the divine equality of each soul. There was no arbitrary division between saved and damned, for anyone could have a transcendent experience and thereafter live his life connected to the spiritual world.

Franchise

Between 1820 and 1860, most states revised their constitutions to extend the vote to all adult white males. Nowhere else in the world did ordinary farmers and wage earners exercise such political influence.

"Bleeding Kansas"

Between roughly 1855 and 1859, Kansans engaged in a violent guerrilla war between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in an event known as Bleeding Kansas which significantly shaped American politics and contributed to the coming of the Civil War.

Nullification Crisis

Confrontation between the state of South Carolina and the federal government in 1832-33 over the former's attempt to declare null and void within the state the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832.

Martin Van Buren

Credited with being a party leader/manager for the Democratic party (ran Jackson's campaign), had multiple nicknames 'The Little Magician' and 'Martin Van Ruin' but was most notable for being Jackson's vice president, the 8th president of the US, was president during the Panic of 1837, vetoed any legislation concerning the bank, and lost in the Election of 1840.

Republican Party

Emerged to combat the expansion of slavery into American territories after the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The early Republican Party consisted of northern Protestants, factory workers, professionals, businessmen, prosperous farmers, and after the Civil War, former black slaves.

Harriet Tubman

Enslaved, escaped, and helped others gain their freedom as a "conductor" of the Underground Railroad. Tubman also served as a scout, spy, guerrilla soldier, and nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War.During the Civil War, she became the first woman to lead an armed military raid in June 1863. She was also a Union scout, spy, and nurse.

Popular sovereignty

Government based on consent of the people. The government's source of authority is the people, and its power is not legitimate if it disregards the will of the people. Government established by free choice of the people is expected to serve the people, who have sovereignty, or supreme power.

Panic of 1819

In 1819 a financial panic swept across the country. The growth in trade that followed the War of 1812 came to an abrupt halt. Unemployment mounted, banks failed, mortgages were foreclosed, and agricultural prices fell by half. Investment in western lands collapsed.

Eli Whitney

He is best remembered as the inventor of the cotton gin (1793), which led to greatly increased production of the short-staple cotton grown in much of the South, making the region prosperous. The most important innovation credited to Whitney may be the concept of mass production of interchangeable parts.

Free Soil Party

Ideology and positions. The platform openly denounced the institution of slavery, demanding that the federal government "relieve itself of all responsibility for the existence and continuance of slavery" by abolishing slavery in all federal districts and territories.

Roger Taney

In Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge, the Court asserted that private property had a social responsibility, and contracts made by the legislature should be construed in the public interest. Taney's most infamous decision was the Dred Scott v. "Coodies" and became the "King Coody.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

In his essay, "Self Reliance," Emerson's sole purpose is the want for people to avoid conformity. Emerson believed that in order for a man to truly be a man, he was to follow his own conscience and "do his own thing." Essentially, do what you believe is right instead of blindly following society.

Nat Turner's Rebellion

In the early hours of August 22, 1831, a slave that led more than fifty followers in a bloody revolt in Southampton, Virginia, killing nearly 60 white people, mostly women and children. The local authorities stopped the uprising by dawn the next day.

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

In this ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court stated that enslaved people were not citizens of the United States and, therefore, could not expect any protection from the federal government or the courts. The opinion also stated that Congress had no authority to ban slavery from a Federal territory.

'King Cotton'

Is a slogan that summarized the strategy used before the American Civil War (of 1861-1865) by secessionists in the southern states (the future Confederate States of America) to claim the feasibility of secession and to prove there was no need to fear a war with the northern states.

Seneca Falls Convention

It was organized by prominent activists, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Modeled after the Declaration of Independence, the convention's centerpiece was the "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions," demanding equality and voting rights for women.

Erie Canal

Man-made waterway that stretches 363 miles across New York State. Built n the 19th Century, it helped connect the Atlantic Coast to America's interior, transforming trade, growing the national economy, and encouraging sectional trade.

Common schools

Mann started a public education movement, The movement pushed for better-developed, tax-funded, secular school systems. Mann also pushed for better trained teachers thinking that it would increase student learning.

Trail of Tears

Many Native American peoples in the south and north, comprising as many as 100,000 people, were removed from their homelands and relocated under similar conditions. The Choctaw, for example, had their own Trail of Tears. These journeys have come to symbolize the tragedy and injustice in the Native-American experience.

Market Revolution

Many of them embraced new technologies and business models, and they sought out new markets and opportunities for expansion.

Industrial Revolution

Marked by rapid industrialization and economic changes.

John Brown

Participated in the underground railroad and in 1851 helped found the League of Gileadites, an organization of whites, free blacks, and runaway slaves dedicated to protecting fugitive slaves from slave catchers. In the 1840s Brown was in contact with such antislavery leaders as Gerrit Smith and Frederick Douglass.Oswatomie Brown, Old Man Brown, Captain Brown and Old Brown of Kansas

Spoils system

Practice in which the political party winning an election rewards its campaign workers and other active supporters by appointment to government posts and with other favors.

'Fifty-Four Forty or fight'

President James K. Polk actually campaigned on the slogan "Fifty-four forty or fight," which reflected his demands for all of the land beneath the 54°40′ geographic parallel. While Polk advocated expansion, others in the government felt that expansion could lead to political weaknesses of different sorts.

William Lloyd Garrison

Published a newspaper, The Liberator (1831-65), and helped lead the successful abolitionist campaign against slavery in the United States. Helped found antislavery societies.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty. It also produced a violent uprising known as "Bleeding Kansas," as proslavery and antislavery activists flooded into the territories to sway the vote.

Henry Clay

Speaker of the House, and secretary of state, Clay helped guide a fragile Union through several critical impasses. As senator, he forged the Compromise of 1850 to maintain the Union, but such compromises could not settle the fractious issues that ultimately resulted in Civil War. "The Great Compromiser" Democratic-Republican Party

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Tells the story of Uncle Tom, an enslaved person, depicted as saintly and dignified, noble and steadfast in his beliefs. While being transported by boat to auction in New Orleans, Tom saves the life of Little Eva, an angelic and forgiving young girl, whose grateful father then purchases Tom.

Monroe Doctrine

The European powers, according to Monroe, were obligated to respect the Western Hemisphere as the United States' sphere of interest. President James Monroe's 1823 annual message to Congress contained the Monroe Doctrine, which warned European powers not to interfere in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere.

Fugitive Slave Act

The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves.

Compromise of 1850

The acts called for the admission of California as a "free state," provided for a territorial government for Utah and New Mexico, established a boundary between Texas and the United States, called for the abolition of slave trade in Washington, DC, and amended the Fugitive Slave Act.

'Self-made man'

The annals of business did include stories of individuals rising from rags to riches but they also included stories of people moving form riches back to rags.

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

The court decided that the Federal Government had the right and power to set up a Federal bank and that states did not have the power to tax the Federal Government. Marshall ruled in favor of the Federal Government and concluded, "the power to tax involves the power to destroy."

Worcester v. Georgia

The court struck down Georgia's extension laws. In the majority opinion Marshall wrote that the Indian nations were "distinct, independent political communities retaining their original natural rights" and that the United States had acknowledged as much in several treaties with the Cherokees.

Lincoln-Douglas debates

The debates consisted of Douglas accusing Lincoln of being an abolitionist while Lincoln accused Douglas of wanting to nationalize slavery. These main topics were reflective of the major issues that the country was facing at a national level with both sides battling for what they thought would better the Union.

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

The decision was an important development in interpretation of the commerce clause of the Constitution, and it freed all navigation of monopoly control. The dismantling of navigational monopolies in New York and Louisiana, in particular, facilitated the settlement of the American West.

Women suffrage

The fight for a woman's right to vote began in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention, in which women came together to declare their intention to gain their constitutional right to vote. From there, the movement slowly gained momentum until the 1900's, when it became a more recognized and popular national struggle.

Mexican-American War

The immediate cause was a disputed boundary between the United States and Texas on the Nueces Strip. Mexico did not recognize Texas as legitimate American territory and Texas admission to the United States antagonized Mexican officials and citizens.

Era of Good Feelings

Was a period in American history from 1815 to 1824. It followed the Jeffersonian Era and preceded the Jacksonian Era. The Era of Good Feelings was marked by a sense of nationalism and patriotism following the War of 1812 and the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.

The Liberator

The most widely circulated anti-slavery newspaper during the antebellum period and throughout the Civil War. It was published and edited in Boston by William Lloyd Garrison, a leading white abolitionist and founder of the influential American Anti-Slavery Society.

Abolitionism

The movement in the United States was an attempt to eliminate slavery in a country that valued individual liberty and believed that "all men are created equal." Slave owners dug in as abolitionists became louder in their demands, aggravating regional tensions that eventually led to the American Civil War.

Fugitive slaves

The provisions of the law mandated the return of runaway slaves to their owners upon capture, regardless of whether they had fled to a state that did not permit slavery.

Underground Railroad

The resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, through the end of the Civil War—refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage. Wherever slavery existed, there were efforts to escape.

American Anti-Slavery Society

The society's goal was to immediately and unconditionally abolish slavery. The AASS sponsored speaking tours of orators, including Frederick Douglass, and published antislavery books, newspapers, and pamphlets. By the late 1830s, the AASS had hundreds of chapters and 250,000 members.

Tariff of Abominations

The tariff of 1828 raised taxes on imported manufactures so as to reduce foreign competition with American manufacturing. Southerners, arguing that the tariff enhanced the interests of the Northern manufacturing industry at their expense, referred to it as the Tariff of Abominations.

Manifest Destiny

The term was created by newspaper journalist John O'Sullivan in an article on the annexation of Texas. To put it simply, Manifest Destiny was the belief that America had the "God-given" right to expand from sea to shining sea

Mechanics

They developed innovations in all fields of production. (Mechanics improved the waterwheel, developed locomotives, made advances in chemistry and mechanical design, and eventually received a good 4,000 patents a year on their developments.)

Bank War

Was a political struggle that ensued over the fate of the Second Bank of the United States during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. In 1832, Jackson vetoed a bill to recharter the Bank, and began a campaign that would eventually lead to its destruction.

Nativism

This fear of immigrants would eventually lead to laws restricting immigration into the US

Missouri Compromise

This legislation admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, so as not to upset the balance between slave and free states in the nation. It also outlawed slavery above the 36º 30' latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

This treaty, signed on February 2, 1848, ended the war between the United States and Mexico. By its terms, Mexico ceded 55 percent of its territory, including the present-day states California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming.

Tariff of 1816

This was a protective tariff that was principally intended to hold the production of textiles and goods. This tariff was made in order to defend the industries that were established during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, promoting new industries.

Second Bank of the United States

Was a private financial institution that operated from 1816 until 1836. The Second B.U.S. served as the country's central bank. Its primary purpose was to stabilize the country's economy, which at the time of its creation suffered from war debt

Mexican Cession

Was a significant portion of land ceded to the United States by Mexico after the Mexican American War. In the 19th century, the United States followed Manifest Destiny, a powerful ideology that spurred national expansion westward.

Indian Removal Act

To achieve his purpose, Jackson encouraged Congress to adopt the Removal Act of 1830. The Act established a process whereby the President could grant land west of the Mississippi River to Indian tribes that agreed to give up their homelands.

The Amistad

Two Spanish plantation owners, Pedro Montes and Jose Ruiz, purchased 53 Africans and put them aboard the Cuban schooner Amistad to ship them to a Caribbean plantation. On July 1, 1839, the Africans seized the ship, killed the captain and the cook, and ordered Montes and Ruiz to sail to Africa.

Henry David Thoreau

Walking was a way to merge with nature, it was purification of the self. For Thoreau, it is society that leads humans astray. In contrast, "true freedom is found in nature." In his Walking essay, "All good things are wild and free" is the theme.

Panic of 1837

Was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages dropped, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment rose, and pessimism abounded.

Lower South

Was a land of cotton and slavery, a land dominated economically by the plantation agriculture.

Division of labor

Was a new, more efficient, system used in manufacturing that assigned specific tasks to each worker. Self-made men were men of the middle class who rose to wealth or to a higher social status from humble origins through self-discipline, hard work, and temperate habits.

Stephan A. Douglas

Was a staunch supporter of the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War. In 1847, the Illinois legislature selected Stephen Douglas to represent the state in the United States Senate. Stephen Douglas served three terms in the United States Senate from 1847 until his death on June 3, 1861.

Cult of Domesticity

Was a system of cultural beliefs governing gender roles of upper- and middle-class Americans in the 19th century. According to the Cult of Domesticity, the True Woman should have four main virtues: purity, piety, submissiveness, and domesticity

Oregon Trail

Was a westward route that thousands of American pioneers traveled as they emigrated western part of the United States. It was most popular from 1841 to 1869. The trail was initially blazed by frontiersman Robert Stuart in 1812-1813.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Was an American leader in the women's rights movement who, in 1848, formulated the first organized demand for woman suffrage in the United States. Stanton received a superior education at home, at the Johnstown Academy, and at Emma Willard's Troy Female Seminary, from which she graduated in 1832.

Gadsden Purchase

Was an agreement between the United States and Mexico, finalized in 1854, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico.

Dorothea Dix

Was an author, teacher and reformer. Her efforts on behalf of the mentally ill and prisoners helped create dozens of new institutions across the United States and in Europe and changed people's perceptions of these populations.

Unions

Was created in order to have better communication between workers and employers. As working conditions decreased during the Second Industrial Revolution, the need for better communication and better working conditions were needed.

Temperance

Was established in 1826 to combat the drinking problems of men. It called for total abstinence from alcohol, and the effects showed the success of this movement. Within two decades, the consumption of alcohol dropped by more than half.

American Colonization Society

Was formed in 1817 to send free African-Americans to Africa as an alternative to emancipation in the United States. In 1822, the society established on the west coast of Africa a colony that in 1847 became the independent nation of Liberia.

Wilmot Proviso

Was issued on August 8th, 1846 by Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman David Wilmot. It prohibited the expansion of slavery into any territory acquired by the United States from Mexico as a result of the Mexican-American War settlement.

Upper South

Was primarily the domain of slaveless yeoman farmers, an area largely devoid of cotton and other subtropical cash crops.

The 'Peculiar Institution'

Wealth in the South was measured in the terms of land and slaves. Slaves were treated as property, subject to being bought and sold. Some whites were sensitive about how they treated the other humans that they referred to slavery as "that peculiar institution"

Whig Party

Were originally colonists supporting independence. In the mid 1830s, the Whig Party opposed Jackson's strong-armed leadership style and policies. The Whigs promoted protective tariffs, federal funding for internal improvements, and other measures that strengthened the central government.

Mills Girls

Were young female workers who came to work in textile mills in Lowell, Massachusetts during the Industrial Revolution in the United States. The workers initially recruited by the corporations were daughters of New England farmers, typically between the ages of 15 and 35.

Nativist movement

When Catholics began immigrating as well, many people saw them as inferior and worked to isolate them and prohibit any cultural or political influence. The goal of the Nativist Movement was to keep the American culture "untainted." The political party that arose out of the Nativist Movement was the Know-Nothing Party.

Gold Rush

When gold nuggets were discovered at Sutter's Mill in the Sacramento Valley. 2. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill unleashed the largest migration in United States history, drawing people from various countries to California to seek their fortunes.

Second Great Awakening

Which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. Revivals were a key part of the movement and attracted hundreds of converts to new Protestant denominations. The Methodist Church used circuit riders to reach people in frontier locations.

Individualism

a belief in freedom of Americans from traditional constraints. Individualists encouraged everyone to be unique and to resist conformity. This term was coined by Alexis de Tocqueville.

Steamboat

completely changed the way Americans in the early 1800's shipped and received goods and how people traveled. A period of rapid growth in the speed and convenience of travel because of new methods of transportation.