Louisiana Purchase
a land deal in 1803 between the US & France where the US got 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million (doubled the size of the nation)
Macon's Bill #2
a law made in 1810 intended to motivate Great Britain & France to stop seizing American vessels during the Napoleonic Wars; purpose to reopen trade; would halt trade with the other if one repealed restrictions
Embargo Act
an 1807 law passed and signed by Pres. Jefferson prohibiting American ships from trading in all foreign ports; response to British attack on American warship off coast of Virginia
Milan Decree
a decree by Napoleon closing all Continental ports to British trade (1806)
Trail of Tears
the Cherokee were forced to leave their lands in Georgia during the winter of 1838 & travel under military guard to Oklahoma; exposure & disease killed 1/4 of the 16,000 Cherokees
Whigs
the second party system began in 1830's and ended in the 1850's with the rise of the Republican party
Martin Van Buren
8th President of the US from 1837-1841; Democratic; didn't deal with economic depression following the Panic of 1837 that led to his defeat in 1840
Emancipation Proclamation
Pres. Lincoln proclaimed that the slaves of the Confederacy were free in 1863
Border States
slave states that didn't secede from the Union (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland & Missouri stayed that way); very divided within states as to which side to fight for; brother fought brother
West Virginia
broke away from Virginia in 1863 after unionists set up a loyalist state government
13th Amendment
ratified in 1865, it prohibits slavery & involuntary servitude
Cotton
first mass consumer commodity; important to the growth of the US economy in the 1830's and 1840's; cotton gin led to more production, therefore a need for more slaves
Anaconda Plan
the Union's plan to defeat the confederacy at start of Civil War; Goal was to blockade the southern ports & control the Mississippi; It would have worked but fellow Union commander wanted to aggressively attack south and defeat them in battle
William Henry Harrison
Whig candidate who defeated Van Buren in 1840; died after only a month in office
Abolition
the action of ending slavery
Uncle Tom's Cabin
a book published by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 that portrayed slavery as brutal & a threat to family
William Lloyd Garrison
a white newspaper publisher that demanded abolition of slavery immediately rather than gradually; The Liberator
Nat Turner
a slave who led a rebellion in Virginia in 1831 in which 55-65 white people died; they were executed and rebellions were stopped for a while
Cotton Gin
invented by Eli Whitey in 1793; caused the cotton industry to be more efficient (less costly) therefore more cotton therefore more slaves needed
Adams-Onis Treaty
allowed for annexation of Florida in 1819; signed by Adams & Luis de Onis
Henry Clay
helped negotiate the Compromise of 1820 & 1850; developed the "American System"; Whig; in politics for over 40 years; called the Great Compromiser
John Calhoun
established the Second Bank of US; advocated state veto or nullification of any law that impinged on their interests; defended slave plantations; in politics from 1815-1850
Andrew Jackson
7th President; supporter of states rights & slavery; forced Indian relocation; against Bank of US; General in Warn of 1812
Tecumseh
a Shawnee leader who rejected classification as a member of his tribe & indentified himself as only "Indian"; tried to unite the various tribes
Manifest Destiny
1845; a doctrine in support of territorial expansion based on belief that US should expand to encompass all of America
"49ers"
would-be gold miners who flocked to California in search of gold
Missouri Compromise
a sectional compromise in 1820 that admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state & Maine as a free state; it also banned slavery in part of the Louisiana Purchase Territory
Compromise of 1850
Five Federal laws that temporarily calmed the sectional crisis; it made California a free state, ended the slave trade in District of Columbia and strengthened the Fugitive Slave Law
Kansas-Nebraska Act
an 1854 act that repealed the Missouri Compromise, split Louisiana Purchase into 2 territories & allowed its settlers to accept or reject slavery by popular sovereignty
Popular Sovereignty
the concept that the settlers of a newly organized territory had the right to vote on whether to accept slavery or not
Nullification Crisis
South Carolina declared that the Federal tariffs of 1828 & 1832 were unconstitutional and therefore not in force
Interchangeable Parts
increased production of manufactured goods by "continuous process"
Battle of New Orleans
a battle that occurred in 1815 at the end of the War of 1812 when US forces defeated a British attempt to seize New Orleans
Impressments
the act of taking men into a military by compulsion with or without notice
Gettysburg
a battle where Lee's Confederate army lost many soldiers & had to withdraw
Antietam
bloodiest one-day battle of Civil War; 5000 killed & 18000 wounded; it was a draw
Shiloh
bloody Civil War battle where only the arrival of reinforcements prevented the annihilation of Union troops backed up against the Tennessee River
Vicksburg
Lee's soldiers attacked Union troops on Cemetery Ridge with many casualties; had to withdraw
Free Soilers
the first broad, sectional, antislavery party; backed by Van Buren
Anti-Nebraska Coalition
a political alignment formed in opposition to the Kansas Nebraska Act
Reconstruction
process of rebuilding the South after the Civil War
10% Plan
reconstruction plan proposed by Lincoln as a quick way to readmit former Confederate states, pardon all Southerners except Confederate leaders, and allow readmission if 10% signed a loyalty oath & state abolished slavery
Congressional Reconstruction
belief that Congress, not the President, should direct reconstruction after the Civil War