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American System
A movement spearheaded by Speaker of the House Henry Clay that called for Internal Improvements, higher protectionist Tariffs, and a strong National Banking System. The system’s supporters, including Daniel Webster, succeeded in chartering the Bank of The United States in 1816 and creating both the Tariff of 1816 and the steeper Tariff of Abominations in 1828. They also funded the Cumberland Road from Maryland to Missouri and supported the construction of various other roads and canals.
Bank of the United States
A private bank, chartered in 1816 by proponents of Henry Clay’s American System, that provided the fledgling United States with solid credit and financial stability in the 1820s and 1830s under the leadership of Nicholas Biddle. Many in the West and South, however, despised the Bank because they saw it as a symbol for aristocracy and greed. In 1832, Andrew Jackson initiated the Bank War by vetoing a bill to renew the Bank’s charter. He eventually destroyed the Bank in the 1830s by withholding all federal gold and silver deposits and putting them in smaller banks instead. Without any reserves, the Bank withered until its charter expired in 1836. Deprived of stable credit, the blossoming financial sector of the economy crashed in the Panic of 1837.
The Bank War
A conflict between Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay over 1832 legislation that was intended to renew the charter of the Bank of The United States. Clay pushed the bill through Congress, hoping it would slim Jackson’s reelection chances: signing the charter would cost Jackson support among southern and western voters who opposed the bank, whereas vetoing the charter would alienate wealthier eastern voters. Jackson vetoed the bill, betting correctly that his supporters in the South and West outnumbered the rich in the East. Upon reelection, Jackson withheld all federal deposits from the Bank, rendering it essentially useless until its charter expired in 1836.
Burned-Over District
An area of western New York State that earned its nickname as a result of its especially high concentration of hellfire-and-damnation Revivalist preaching in the 1830s. The Burned-Over District was the birthplace of many new faiths, sects, and denominations, including the Mormon Church and the Oneida Community. Religious zeal also made the area a hotbed for Reform Movements during the 1840s.
Cohens v. Virginia
An 1821 Supreme Court ruling that set an important precedent reaffirming the Court’s authority to Review all decisions made by state courts. When the supreme court of Virginia found the Cohen brothers guilty of illegally selling lottery tickets, the brothers appealed their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Marshall heard the case and ruled against the family. Though he concurred with the state court’s decision, he nonetheless cemented the Supreme Court’s authority over the state courts. This case was one of many during the early 1800s in which Marshall expanded the Court’s and the federal government’s power.
Compromise Tariff of 1833
A tariff, proposed by Henry Clay, that ended the Nullification Crisis dispute between Andrew Jackson and South Carolina. The compromise tariff repealed the Tariff of Abominations and reduced duties on foreign goods gradually over a decade to the levels set by the Tariff of 1816.
The “Corrupt Bargain”
A scandal that arose during the election of 1824 that tainted John Quincy Adams’s entire term in office. When neither Adams nor his opponent, Andrew Jackson, received enough electoral votes to become president, the election was thrown to the House of Representatives. Speaker of the House Henry Clay, who hated Jackson, threw his support behind Adams, which effectively won him the presidency. When Adams later announced Clay as his new Secretary of State, Jackson and his supporters cried foul. Adams was accused of having made a “corrupt bargain,” and the political fallout rendered him politically wounded during his term.
Cotton Gin
A 1793 invention by Eli Whitney that enabled automatic separation of cotton seeds from raw cotton fiber. The cotton gin made cotton farming much easier and more profitable for southern planters, prompting them not only to increase their cotton output but also to increase their demand for Slave Labor. Along with Whitney’s other innovation, the use of interchangeable parts, the cotton gin stimulated the growth of Textile Manufacturing in the North and the birth of the Wage Labor system.
Cumberland Road
A federally funded road, also known as the National Road, that was completed in 1837 and then expanded several times throughout the antebellum period. When finally completed, the Cumberland Road stretched all the way from Maryland to Illinois. It was a one of the most significant internal improvements made under Henry Clay’s American System.
Dartmouth College v. Woodward
An 1819 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the right of private institutions to hold Private Contracts. When the New Hampshire state legislature revised Dartmouth College’s original charter from King George III, the college appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that even though the college’s contract predated the Revolutionary War, it was still a legal contract with which the state of New Hampshire could not interfere. This precedent asserted federal authority and protected contracts from state governments.
Declaration of Sentiments
A statement read at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention for Women’s Rights. The Declaration of Sentiments mimicked the Declaration of Independence by stating that “all men and women were created equal.” Written primarily by suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton, it is regarded as one of the most important achievements of the early women’s rights movement.
Era of Good Feelings
A nickname given to James Monroe’s early years as president (1816–1819), when the Democratic-Republicans were the only political party and nationalist Americans concentrated on improving America. The Era of Good Feelings dissipated after the crisis over Missouri in 1819 and the Panic of 1819.
Erie Canal
A canal between the New York cities of Albany and Buffalo, completed in 1825. The canal, considered a marvel of the modern world at the time, allowed western farmers to ship surplus crops to sell in the North and allowed northern manufacturers to ship finished goods to sell in the West.
Fletcher v. Peck
An 1810 Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that the Georgia state legislature could not cancel a Contract that a previous legislature had already granted. The decision by Chief Justice John Marshall protected the permanence of legal contracts and established the Supreme Court’s power to overrule state laws.
Force Bill
An 1833 bill that authorized the federal government to use military force to collect tariff duties. The bill demonstrated Andrew Jackson’s resolve to end the 1832–1833 Nullification Crisis in South Carolina.
Gag Resolution
An order that the House of Representatives, beleaguered by the growing abolitionist movement in the North, passed in 1836 to ban further discussion of slavery.
Gibbons v. Ogden
An 1824 Supreme Court ruling that declared that the state of New York could not grant a monopoly to a company engaged in Interstate Commerce. Chief Justice John Marshall thus exerted federal power by upholding that only the federal government had the right to regulate interstate commerce according to the Constitution.
Independent Treasury Bill
An 1840 bill that created an independent U.S. Treasury. The bill established the independent treasury to hold public funds in reserve and to prevent excessive lending by state banks, thus guarding against inflation. The Independent Treasury Bill was a response to the Panic of 1837, which many blamed on the risky and excessive lending practices of state banks.
Indian Removal Act
An 1830 act, supported by Andrew Jackson, that authorized the U.S. Army to evict by force all Native Americans east of the Mississippi River and resettle them in “permanent” Reservations in present-day Oklahoma and Nebraska. Thousands of Native Americans died on the “Trail of Tears” to their new and unwanted home. The Army was forced to fight the Black Hawk War and Second Seminole War after some tribes refused to leave.
Interchangeable Parts
A system, devised by Eli Whitney in 1797, that allowed machines to mass-produce identical goods. This innovation prompted a boom in new factories in the North during the antebellum period.
Internal Improvements
A term referring to infrastructure projects, mostly involving transportation, that were key features of Henry Clay’s American System. Scores of canals and roads were dug to link the East with the West during the period from 1816 to 1852. The most famous of these were the Erie Canal and the Cumberland Road.
Know-Nothing Party
A party, known formally as the American Party, of nativist Americans who wanted to stop the tide of foreign immigrants from Ireland and Germany entering the United States in the 1840s and 1850s. The Know-Nothings nominated former president Millard Fillmore in the 1856 presidential election. Members of the American Party were so secretive that they often claimed to “know nothing” whenever questioned, hence the nickname.
Liberty Party
A northern abolitionist party that formed in 1840 when the Abolitionist Movement split into a social wing and a political wing. The party nominated James G. Birney in the election of 1844 against Whig Henry Clay and Democrat James K. Polk. Surprisingly, the Liberty Party siphoned just enough votes away from Clay to throw the election to the Democrats.
Maine Law
An 1851 law that prohibited the sale, manufacture, and consumption of alcohol in the state of Maine. The law, a huge victory for the Temperance Movement, encouraged other states in the North to pass similar prohibitory laws.
Manifest Destiny
A belief, common in the United States in the mid-1800s, that Americans had been “manifestly destined” by God to settle and spread democracy across the continent and perhaps even the entire western hemisphere. To achieve this destiny, thousands left their homes during the 1840s and 1850s and embarked on journeys on the Oregon Trail, on the Mormon Trail to Utah, or to mine for gold in California. Manifest destiny also led many southerners to seek—unsuccessfully—new slave territories in places as far away as Nicaragua and Cuba. Manifest destiny led presidents John Tyler and James K. Polk to annex Texas, acquire Oregon from Britain, and wage the Mexican War to seize California.
McCulloch v. Maryland
An 1819 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the constitutionality of the Bank Of The United States. Chief Justice John Marshall, like Alexander Hamilton, was a loose constructionist who believed that the federal government was authorized to create the Bank even though the Constitution said nothing about it. President Andrew Jackson ignored Marshall’s ruling and vetoed a bill to renew the Bank’s charter in 1832 on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.
Mechanical Mower-Reaper
An invention by Cyrus McCormick that had a profound effect on agriculture in the West during the 1840s and 1850s. Most western farmers had been planting corn, but the mower-reaper allowed them to plant wheat, which was far more profitable than corn. As farmers planted more and more wheat, they began to ship their surpluses to manufacturing cities in the North and Northeast.
Missouri Compromise
An 1820 compromise, devised by Henry Clay, to admit Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. The compromise maintained the sectional balance in the Senate—twelve free states and twelve slave states—and forbade slavery north of the 36° 30' parallel. It ended a potentially catastrophic dispute and tabled all further slavery discussions for the next couple of decades.
Monroe Doctrine
An 1823 policy statement, drafted by James Monroe and his secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, warning Old World colonial powers to stay out of affairs in the Western Hemisphere. The doctrine stated that the New World was closed to further colonization and that European attempts to interfere would be considered hostile acts against the United States. In return, the United States would not interfere in Europe’s internal affairs or with existing European colonies in the New World. Britain, anxious to preserve a hold on its remaining colonies in North America, helped enforce the doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine has had great influence on American foreign policy over the years.
Spot Resolutions
Resolutions introduced in 1847 by Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln, who, unconvinced that the Mexican army had attacked U.S. forces unprovoked, demanded to know the exact spot where Mexicans had attacked. Lincoln’s persistence—and the confusing answers that Democrats gave—suggested that General Zachary Taylor, or perhaps even President James K. Polk himself, had provoked the attack and initiated the Mexican War.
“South Carolina Exposition and Protest”
An essay, written anonymously by Vice President John C. Calhoun, that called on the southern states to declare the 1828 Tariff of Abominations null and void. The essay encouraged South Carolina legislators to nullify the tariff, pitting the state against President Andrew Jackson in the most serious internal conflict the nation had yet faced. This Nullification Crisis is regarded as one of the stepping stones that eventually led to Civil War.
Tallmadge Amendment
An 1819 act passed by the northern-dominated House of Representatives in an attempt to curb westward expansion of Slavery. The act declared that Missouri could be admitted to the Union as a slave state, but only on the condition that no more slaves enter the territory and that its existing slaves gradually be freed. Outraged southern legislators, who wanted to push slavery westward, blocked the act in the Senate, throwing Congress into a logjam. The crisis eventually was resolved by the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
Tariff of 1816
A tariff, passed under the leadership of Henry Clay, that was designed to protect American manufacturing (prior tariffs had had the sole purpose of raising revenue). Whereas northerners loved the tariff, southerners disliked it, for they had little manufacturing to protect but still had to pay higher prices for foreign goods. The tariff was a key component of the American System.
Tariff of 1832
A slight reduction on the “Tariff of Abominations” that was passed as a gesture of good will to encourage South Carolina to end the Nullification Crisis. Most South Carolinians saw the concessions as minimal at best and declared both the Tariff of Abominations and the Tariff of 1832 null and void out of principle.
Tariff of 1842
A tariff passed by John Tyler that brought duties on foreign manufactured goods down to the level of the Compromise Tariff of 1833.
Tariff of Abominations
A nickname for the Tariff of 1828 that reflected southerners’ enormous objections to the tariff. Vice President John C. Calhoun’s opposition to the tariff and his publication of the “South Carolina Exposition and Protest” pushed the nation into the Nullification Crisis. When South Carolina’s legislature followed Calhoun’s advice and declared the tariff null and void in their state, President Andrew Jackson threatened to use the military to enforce the tariff. Fortunately, Henry Clay proposed the Compromise Tariff of 1833 , which settled the dispute.
“Trail of Tears” Removal
The forcible removal of thousands of Native Americans, primarily Cherokee in the 1830s from their southeastern homelands and relocated to new reservations west of the Mississippi. This program of relocation was initiated under Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act. The journey has been labeled the “Trail of Tears” because countless Native Americans, forced to walk hundreds miles under horrible conditions, died along the way.
Transcendentalism
An American philosophical and intellectual movement of the 1830s–1850s whose followers believed that truth “transcended” the reality perceivable by the five senses. Transcendentalism originated in New England and was especially strong in eastern Massachusetts, where Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau lived. The movement emphasized individuality and strength of character, and most of its members were reformers, abolitionists, and Whigs.
Treaty of 1818
A treaty between the United States and Britain that established a fixed Border With Canada from Minnesota to the Rocky Mountains. The treaty also declared that both countries would occupy the Oregon Territory jointly until 1828. Though not highly regarded at the time, the treaty is considered one of John Quincy Adams’s most important achievements as secretary of state to James Monroe.
Universal Manhood Suffrage
The extension of Voting Rights to nearly every white American male during the antebellum period. In the early United States, men had had to meet certain property-ownership and literacy qualifications in order to vote, but during the 1830s and 1840s, more and more states eliminated these restrictions. As more men in the poorer classes were able to vote, the Democrats received a huge boost in popularity.
Walker Tariff
An 1846 tariff that lowered tariff rates, which had climbed higher and higher after their brief reduction in 1842.
Webster-Ashburton Treaty
An 1842 treaty between the United States and Britain that established a permanent Border Between Maine And Canada after the Aroostook War.
The Whig Party
A party formed in 1834 under the leadership of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. The Whigs, named after an anti-British party during the Revolutionary War era, promoted a platform of Social Reform (education, prison, temperance, and so on), Abolition of Slavery, and Limited Westward Expansion. Several Whig candidates ran and lost against Martin Van Buren in the election of 1836, but the party rebounded four years later when they put William Henry Harrison in the White House.
Wildcat Banks
Fly-by-night banking operations that plagued the West and South during the 1800s. The wildcat banks were highly unstable because they were impermanent, printed their own unregulated paper money, and had almost no solid credit. Whenever there was a Financial Panic, as in 1819 and 1837, many of these banks went bankrupt.
