Unit 4 Study Guide

The Jeffersonian Era

Major changes:
Rise of education due to Republican ideals for an educated citizenry
Increased efforts to educate Indians (noble savages)
Strengthening of the medical community as physicians started displacing midwives, narrowing
opportunities for women and restricting access to childbirth care for poor mothers
Growth of a distinct American culture that differed from European influences
Noah Websteradvocated for the American schoolboy to be educated as a nationalist
Washington Irvingwidely acknowledged leader of American literary life
Revivalismthe Second Great Awakening
Deism (God is real, but isolated from humans)
Spread of idea that religious salvation could be achieved through repudiation of skeptical
rationalism and through faith/good works
Opened up opportunities of importance for women as women converts outnumber males
Handsome Lakerevivalism of native American religions
Growth of technology allowed for industrialization through an efficient transportation network
Cotton gin (Eli Whitney, 1793)allowed for heavily increased profitability of cotton in the
South, firmly planted the slave system, and provided much profit for the national economy
Interchangeable partscontributed to the development of mass manufacturing of machine
tools
Development of the steamboat and turnpikes
Jefferson persuaded Congress to abolish all internal taxes, while Secretary of the Treasury Albert
Gallatin reduced government spending
Administration was able to cut the national debt almost in half
Scaled down the armed forces (national army) by almost half
Rise of the judiciary branch as a coequal branch of the gov. (Marshalls decisions, Marbury v.
Madison)
Doubling of American land through the Louisiana Purchase
Exploration of the West (Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike)
Exploitation of Indian treaties and westward expansion
Jeffy appoint William Henry Harrison to administer the solution to the Indian problem
(an ultimatum between assimilation or relocation)
Led to Indian resistance in coalition with the British before the War of 1812
Proliferation of Federalist secessionist opposition (Hartford Convention of 1814 during Madisons
presidency)
Continuities:
Native Americans/African Americans still remained at the bottom of the social hierarchy
America remained an overwhelmingly rural/agrarian nation, nations top cities still couldnt
compare with Englands big cities
National debt still remained present after Jeffersons actions
Two-party system still remained (Federalists vs. Republicans)

Jefferson: a true Republican, or a charlatan?

Attempted to cut down government spending and was able to cut down the national debt, but
national debt still remained prominent
Armed forces were scaled down, but were built back up for the First Barbary War with Tripoli
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Louisiana Purchasenot explicitly stated in the Constitution that the president had the authority
to acquire new territory under the nation, while Republican ideals stated that the Constitution be
read as literally as possible

The War of 1812

Causes:
Desire for Florida (owned by the Spanish [allies with Britain]; a war with Britain could be used as
an excuse for a war over Florida)
British impressment often abducted true Americans as deserters (Chesapeake-Leopard incident)
French/British warUS chose to favor France because of Britains impressment policies
After Chesapeake-Leopard incident, British began to expect a US invasion of Canada and thus
discreetly supplied the Indians with supplies to resist the US
War fever in America (Henry Clay and John Calhoun) pressured gov. to declare war
Effects:
Decline of the Federalist Party after peace negotiations
Increased westward expansion as Indian tribes were unable to resist
Era of Good Feelingsend of the two party system, increased nationalism
Population growth and the great migration west
New efforts to strengthen national economic development because the war produced chaos in
shipping/banking (large number of states had issued vast quantities of banknotes, creating a
confusing variety of currency)
Congress also promoted manufacturing, which had been greatly stimulated by the war
Tariff of 1816limited competition from abroad on a wide range of items

The Era of Good Feelings

Truth:
One-party system after fall of the Federalists
Growth in the gov./economy (Second Bank of the US, promotion of domestic manufacturing [Tariff
of 1816-limited foreign competition])
Rapid expansion of internal improvements in technology (steam-powered ships, National Road)
Dramatic surge in the westward expansion of white Americans
Succeeded in gaining Florida from the Spanish after the Seminole War
Growing nationalist views
Monroe Doctrine (1823)established the idea of the US as the dominant power in the Western
Hemisphere
John Marshalls decisionsmolded the development of the Constitution, strengthened the
Supreme Court, increased the power of the federal gov., and advanced the interests of the
propertied and commercial classes
Fletcher v. Peck (1810): Marshall held that a land grant was a valid contract and could not
be repealed even if corruption was involved
Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819): expanded meaning of the contract clause of the
Constitution (placed restrictions on ability of state gov. to control corporations)
Cohens v. Virginia (1821): Marshall explicitly affirmed the constitutionality of federal
review
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): confirmed the implied powers of Congress by upholding
the constitutionality of the Bank of the US (Banks are necessary and proper to the US)
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): strengthened Congress power to regulate interstate commerce
(promoted domestic manufacturing by getting rid of the monopoly)
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Johnson v. McIntosh (1823) and Worcester v. Georgia (1832): Marshall defined a place for
Indian tribes within the American political system and gave them rights of property outside
of the state governments

Lies:
Divisions in the government still remained (internal improvements bill by Calhoun was vetoed by
Madison)
Transportation network still remained disconnected
Sectionalism grew
The Missouri Compromise: when Missouri was admitted to the Union as a state in 1819,
slavery was already well established there; however, Rep. James Tallmadge Jr. of NY
proposed an amendment that there should be a prohibition on further introduction of
slaves into Missouri
Previously, there had been eleven free states and eleven slave states, but the admission of
Missouri would upset that balance
Maine was also getting accepted as a new (and free) state
Thomas Amendment (Missouri is a slave state, but the rest of the territory north of the
southern border of Missouri would be free)guided with great difficulty by Speaker Clay
through the House
In 1828, Adams got the NE votes, but Jackson got the South and the West
Panic of 1819demonstrates the fragile state of the economysix years of depression followed
As whites expanded further west, Indians were rapidly being supplanted
The Corrupt BargainJohn Quincy Adams corrupt election, re-emergence of two-party
politics

The Age of Jackson

Changes:
Transformed politics in that Jackson extended the right to vote to a new groups other than white
landowning males (expanding democracy)
By 1828, electors were chosen by popular vote in every state except S. Carolina
Extension of voting rights to nearly all whites contributed to growing white supremacy ideals
Return of the two-party system (Democrats [Jackson] vs. the Whigs [anti-Jackson])
Jackson extended opportunities to the rising classes of the West and the South rather than
keep it just in the eastern aristocracy
Came up with the spoils system
Presidential candidates were now nominated by a national party convention by the people rather
than nominated by the congressional caucus (expansion of democracy to the common man)
Attitudes towards Indiansmany whites came to view them as savages who should be removed
from all lands east of the Mississippi
Black Hawk War (1831-1832)
Trail of Tears (1838)
Jackson despised the national bank and wanted to see it destroyedweakened the national bank
severely by removing federal gov. deposits from it, forcing Biddle to call in loans and raising
interest rates, causing a recessionBank of the US died in 1836 and the country was left with an
unstable and fragmented banking system that would affect the economy for years
Roger B. Taneys appointment as the new chief justice of the Supreme Court after Marshall died;
Taneys decisions fostered economic growth rather than constitutionality of contracts
Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge (1837)got rid of monopolies
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Continuities
Distribution of wealth/property in America remained fairly the same from before and after
Jacksons presidency
Democracy still only applied to whitesblacks and women still could not vote
Tocqueville (Democracy in America) wrote about how traditional aristocracies were falling
and new elites could rise/fall regardless of background, but it was limited to the white
man
Idea of nullification from Jefferson came up again with John C. Calhoun
The nullification crisis: S. Carolina responded angrily to a congressional tariff bill in 1832
that offered them no relief from the 1828 tariff of abominations
S. Carolina held a state convention and voted to nullify the tariffs of 1828/1832, but
Jackson insisted that nullification was treason
Jackson proposes force bill in 1833 that would authorize the president to use
military force to see that acts of Congress was obeyed
Henry Clays compromise of 1833: tariff would gradually be lowered over the years
Webster-Hayne debate (1830)
Native Americans were still viewed as inferior and white settlement westward continued to
grow
Changes in political propaganda: both Democrats/Whigs tried to win elections rather than sticking
to their political philosophy
Anti-Mason Party: Whigs used the Anti-Mason frenzy to depict Democrats as antidemocratic
conspiracists
William Henry Harrison and his Log Cabin Campaign
Political candidates began to target the common man rather than elite aristocrats in
order to pull in votes

Democrats vs. Whigs

Democrats:
Believed that the federal gov. should be limited in power, except to eliminate social/economic
arrangements that stifled opportunity and fostered privilege
More likely than Whigs to support territorial expansion, which would widen opportunities for
aspiring Americans
Locofocos: most radical members of the party
The Whiggery
Favored the expansion of federal power/industrial and commercial development
Cautious about westward expansion, fearful that it would create instability
Tended to favor entrepreneurs and institutions that most effectively promoted economic growth

The Market Revolution

Causes:

Effects:

Vocab/significant people:
1. Robert Livingston
2. Aaron Burr (conspiracy)
3. Essex Junto
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4. Marbury v. Madison
5. First Barbary War (with Tripoli)
6. impressment (Chesapeake-Leopard incident)
7. Embargo of 1807
8. Tecumseh
9. Battle of Tippecanoe/Battle of the Thames
10. William Henry Harrison
11. The Hartford Convention
12. Treaty of Ghent
13. Henry Clay
14. John C. Calhoun
15. James Monroe
16. John Quincy Adams
17. the spoils system
18. nullification crisis (1832-1833), force bill and compromise (1833)
19. Webster-Hayne debate
20. Black Hawk War (1831-1832)