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Manifest Destiny
Manifest destiny was the belief that all settlers were destined to settle across North America. They thought they were special and had to convert the west into an agrarian America. Although democrats endorsed the idea, people such as Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and most other whigs did not support manifest destiny. -
Nationalism
Nationalism is the feeling of pride, loyalty, and patriotism in a nation. Americans enjoyed growing nationalism when they successfully negotioated foreign affairs with Europe and defended their citizens while successfully fighting the British. -
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Era of Good Feelings
The time between 1815 and 1825 was called the Era of Good feelings because it was a time of peace, pride and progress. After the war of 1812, there was little worry of international conflicts and it also marked the end of the federalist party. -
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McMolloch v. Maryland
Another controvercial topic was the banking system and whether or not there should be a federal bank that was in charge of all of the currency. Jackson believed that the states should have to power to control the bank's operationss, and encouraged states to pass laws against it, so Maryland passed a tax that James McMolloch refused a pay. The case went all the way up to the Supreme Court and the Court ruled in favor of McColloch and ruled that the national bank was constitutional. -
Adams-Onis Treaty
Spain and the U.S. signed this treaty. Spain gave Florida to the U.S. and the U.S. gave up claims to Texas. Also, the U.S. would give up to $5 million for citizens's claims against Spain. This happened because Jackson was fighting the seminole tribe in Florida and territorial boundaries were more or less ignored during the battle -
Missouri Compromise
There was a great deal of controversy when Missouri was becomming a state. If it became a free state, then the free states would have more power in Congress and vice versa if Missouri became a slave state. Henry Clay devised a plan called the Missouri Compromise, where Missouri would become a slave state and Maine would break off of Massachusettes and become a free state. Slavery would also be prohibited above the 36° 30' latitude, Missouri's southern border, With this, tensions were still high -
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Sectionalism
Sectionalism is the disagreement between the different regions in a country. A topic that created a lot of sectionalism was slavery. Sectionalism started growing after the Missouri compromise was passed, and tensions caused the civil war to start. Sectionalism was still strongly evident all the way up to the end of reconstruction -
Santa Fe Trail
The Santa Fe trail was an important path that went from Independence, Missourri to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was an ancient route used by Natives. Settles went to Santa Fe to trade pack horses, donkeys, and other live stock for silver. -
Monroe Doctorine
Many European nations, such as Spain, had colonies that were declaring independence, and President Monroe was concerned that the European countries may try to take over the newly independent Latin American countries. He passed the Monroe Doctorine that said that the U.S. would not interfere with the affairs of European nations or the already existing colonies, but if the western hemisphere was futrher settled, the U.S. would see it as a hostile act and act accordingly. -
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Jacksonian Democracy
The period of expanding democracy was known as Jacksonian Democracy. Requirements for voting were lowered if not eliminated for white males in many states, and political parties held public nominating conventions. Jackson had reform in mind because the wealthy were tightening their grip on America. Many people believed that Jackson would stand up for the common people, and he did in his form of democracy and how he used his power in office. -
Bureau of Indian Affairs
A new government agency, this bureau managed the indian removal to the western lands, into the indian territory. It is still active to day and was formed by Calhoun in 1824. -
Tariff of Abominations
Jackson faced many issues during his presidency, including tariffs. The north supported them because imported goods would cost more and people would buy their processed goods. When congress passed a high tariff on imports, southerners were outraged, and when John Quincy Adams passed it, he lossed many votes and Jackson was elected. Southerners were outraged, but the U.S. ended up benifiting from the growth in the northern factories. -
States Rights Doctorine
John C. Calhoun, the vice president, was outraged by the Tariff of Bominations, especially its effect oh his home state's, South Carolina's, economy. He adbanced the states rightrs doctorine, which gave states more power than the federal power because they made up the national government -
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Spoils system
aaaathe process of "spoiling" supporters, Jackson used the spoils system to give his supporters government jobs. Although it still happens, the spoils system was used most prominently during the Jackson adminsistration. -
Oregon Trail
Many things encouraged people to move west, such as daring stories from fur traders who were no longer in buisness due to the change in fasion trends, all of the treaties the U.S. signed to gain land, and all of the new opportunities. Many of the people traveling west used the oregon trail. Its a 2,000 mile path that forked, and the path leading south was known as the California trail. -
Indian Removal act
President Jackson wanted to poen land east of the Mississippi river to settlers, so he passed the Indian removal act. This act permitted people to remove the Natives in the south east and force them to go to the Indian territory. -
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Nullification Crisis
Conflicts between supporters and critics of the states rights doctorine and nullification ended up being called the nullification crisis. Nullification is when states could nullify and reject federal laws. The states rights doctorine was for nullification, while opponents of the doctorine were against nullification. -
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Whig Party
THe Whig party was another political party that came up to oppose the democratic party. The name came from an English party that opposed the monarchybecause they thought Jackson was using his power like a king. -
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Indian Territory
Congress established a territory in present day Oklahoma. They dubbed it Indian territory, where they forced indians to move to. Supporters said that it would protect indians from futher conflicts. The opponents were mostly Whigs, who didn't approve of expansion in the first place. -
Battle of the Alamo
The Alamo was an abandoned mission near San Antonio. It became an important battle sight for the Texas revolution. volunteers from the U.S., lik4 Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie joined in the fight against mexico. Less that 200 Americans fought 1800 soldiers in the Mexican army. The rebels were able to successfully defend the fort in their first two charges, but got slaughtered in the third charge. -
Trail of Tears
The Cherokee tried to protect their lands by adopting a white culture, but Georgia ignored their work when they found gold on their land. Georgia forced them to be relocated, but the Cherokee sued Georgia for it. The Cherokee won the case, but Georgia ignored it and forced them to walk 800 miles in the trail of tears. Almost a quarter of the 18,000 cherokee died from starvation, cold, or disease. -
Donner Party
The Donner party was lead by George Donner and James F. Reed, who were setting out for California. They were followin g new rout called Hasting's Cuttoff. THey were trapped in the mountains and when all of the food was gone, they had to turn to cannibalism to survive. Out of the 87 original travellers, only 47 survived to make it to California. That winter, three relief parties were sent to retrieve them. -
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California Gold Rush
Gold was found by James W. Marshall, and attracted tens of thousands of Americans there, along with Latin Americans, Australians, Germans, and Asians. Because there was no system regarding property, so a system of staking claims was established. After the gold rush, explicitly anti-racial, foreign affairs made life miserable for immigrants. 1 in 12 immigrants died due to high crime rates and vivilantism. -
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49-ers
People seeking the gold and other opportunities in California were called the 49-ers because 1849 is th eyear in which most people left. The amount of people that migrated into California helped it become a state extremely quickly. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Signed in 1848, this treaty ended the Mexican-American War. The treaty asked the U.S. to pay $15 million to mexico and pay off American claims against Mexico, up to $3.25 million. In return, the U.S. got Texas up to the Rio Grande and gave the U.S. ownership of California, most of New Mexico, Arazona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado . The treaty was ratified by a vote of 38-14 in the senate, and the main opposers were the Whigs -
Gadsen Purchase
After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, some territory was disputed, so the U.S. bought about 30,000 square miles of what is now southern Arizona and parts of New Mexico for 10 million. THe preisend Pierce wanted land for the trans continental railroad, and to avoid the mountains, this land had to be used.
