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Second Great Awakening
A Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The movement began around 1790, gained momentum by 1800 and, after 1820, membership rose rapidly among Baptist and Methodist congregations whose preachers led the movement -
Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin
a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. -
Thomas Jefferson Elected President
This election represents the first shift of political parties in America -
Gabriel Prosser Slave Revolt
A Blacksmith's revolt in Virginia, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty..." -
Louisiana Purchase
A land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827K square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. -
Marbury v. Madison
One of the most important cases in Supreme Court history. It was the first U.S. Supreme Court case to apply the principle of "judicial review" -- the power of federal courts to void acts of Congress in conflict with the Constitution. -
Beginning of Lewis and Clark Expedition
The beginning of this expedition led by Lewis and Clark was important because it started the exploration of the Louisiana purchase -
Embargo Act
The Embargo Act tried to prohibit American ships from trading in foreign ports. It was intended to punish Britain and France for interfering with American trade while the two major European powers were at war with each other. -
Chesapeake-Leopard Affair
A naval battle off the coast of Norfolk, VA in which the British ship the HMS Leopard attacked the American frigate. Britain Won. -
James Madison Elected President
Madison defeated Federalist candidate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to become the nation's fourth chief executive. In retaliation, Madison issued a war proclamation against Britain in 1812. -
Non-Intercourse Act
Lifted all embargoes on American shipping except for those bound for British or French ports. Its intent was to damage the economies of the United Kingdom and France -
Francis Cabot Smuggling
Francis took his textile mill plans from machester and helped build America and the industry with his smuggled plans from Manchester, England -
Beginning of Manifest Destiny
The Manifest Destiny is most often associated with the territorial expansion of the United States from 1812 to 1860. -
Death of Tecumseh
Tecumseh's death at the end of the War of 1812 and at the Battle of Themes in 1813 led to the collapse of the alliance between Indians and Britain against America. -
The British Burn Washington D.C.
The successful invasion of the British during the battle of 1812 in which they took over the capital, destroyed buildings, and occupied DC. -
Harford Convention
The New England Federalist Party met to discuss their grievances concerning the ongoing War of 1812 and the political problems arising from the federal government's increasing problems -
End of the War of 1812
Ending in a stalemate, the Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 24, 1814, and returned territorial conquests made the two sides -
Battle of New Orleans
The battle was quickly followed with a peace treaty which spread positive influenced and gave fame to the war hero, Andrew Jackson -
Treaty of Ghent
Peace negotiations that started in Belgium and lasted for 4 months was finally signed, ending the battle of 1812 -
Era of Good Feeling Began
A period in US History that reflected a sense of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the War of 1812 -
James Monroe Elected President
A Republican candidate who won on his election and re-election in 1820 who studied and fought with George Washington -
Rush-Bagot Treaty
Its goal was to significantly eliminate both countries' burgeoning naval fleets stationed in the Great Lakes -
Anglo-American Convention
The restoration of slaves between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. -
Adams-Onis Treaty
A treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that gave Florida to the U.S. and defined the boundary between the U.S. and New Spain. -
McColloch v. Maryland
In this case, the Supreme Court held that Congress has implied powers derived from those listed in Article I, Section 8. The “Necessary and Proper” Clause gave Congress the power to establish a national bank -
Missouri Compromise
An effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted -
Panic of 1819
Post War-of-1812, banks throughout the country failed; mortgages were foreclosed, forcing people out of their homes and off their farms. -
Dartmouth College v Woodward
A landmark decision in United States corporate law from the United States Supreme Court dealing with the application of the Contracts Clause of the United States Constitution to private corporations. -
Denmark Vesey Slave Revolt
A literate, skilled carpenter and leader among African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina. He was accused and convicted of being the ringleader of "the rising," a major potential slave revolt planned for the city. (Executed in 1822) -
Monroe Doctrine
A foreign policy statement which created separate spheres of European and American influence. The US promised to stay out of European business and told the Europeans to stay out of theirs (Western Business) -
John Adams Elected (Corrupt Bargain)
When John Adams named Henry Clay to be his secretary of state, Jackson denounced the election as "the corrupt bargain.". Adams then served four years as president before being defeated by Jackson when he ran for reelection in 1828. -
Gibbons v Odgen
A decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce, granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, encompassed the power to regulate navigation. -
Robert Owen Founded the New Harmony Community
With the intention of creating a new utopian community and renamed it New Harmony. While the Owenite social experiment was an economic failure two years after it began, the community made some important contributions to American society -
Erie Canal Completion
The famous waterway connecting The Great Lakes with New York City -
Andrew Jackson Elected President
After the Corrupt Bargain, Andrew Jackson finally became president -
Tariff of Abominations
A protective tariff passed by the Congress of the United States designed to protect industry in the northern United States -
Lyman Beecher delivers his "Six Sermons on Intemperance"
Beecher published his Six Sermons speech on Nature, Occasions, Signs, Evils, and Remedy of Intemperance -
Catherine beecher published essays on the education of female teachers
American educator and author who popularized and shaped a conservative ideological movement to both elevate and entrench women’s place -
Indian Removal Act
The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Native American tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their lands -
Joseph Smith Founded the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints (Mormon)
During the Second Great Awakening, members believe that they belong to the restored church created by Jesus Christ. In the early Mormon history, members were often persecuted because they didn't keep slaves, they practiced polygamy, and they were outsiders for their religious beliefs -
Worcester V Georgia
A case in which the United States Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal statute that prohibited non-Native Americans from being present on Native American lands -
Andrew Jackson vetoed the Re-Charter of the Second Bank of the US
Andrew Jackson vetoed the bill re-chartering the Second Bank by arguing that in the form presented to him it was incompatible with “justice,” “sound policy” and the Constitution -
Nullification Crisis Began
The Nullification Crisis was caused by the introduction of a series of protective tariffs. The Tariff of Abominations sparked the Nullification Crisis, it was the third protective tariff implemented by the government. -
Black Hawk War
Black Hawk hoped to return his people to their homes, or at least to lands on the Rock River, and to restore his honour as a warrior. And he believed that he could force the Americans to accept the justice of Sauk and Fox claims -
Creation of the Whig Party in the US
An American political party formed to oppose President Andrew Jackson and the Democrats. Whigs stood for protective tariffs, national banking, and federal aid for internal improvements -
Treaty of New Echota
This treaty provided the legal basis for the Trail of Tears, the forcible removal of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia -
Texas Declared Independence from Mexico
The formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. It was adopted at the Convention of 1836 and formally signed the next day after mistakes were noted in the text. -
Transcendental Club's First Meeting
Frederic Henry Hedge, Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Ripley, and George Putnam met in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 8, 1836, to discuss the formation of a new club; their first official meeting was held eleven days later at Ripley's house in Boston. -
First McGuffey Reader Published
U.S. educator who is remembered chiefly for his series of elementary school reading books popularly known as the McGuffey Readers. -
Battle of the Alamo
A pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar, killing the Texian defenders -
Andrew Jackson issued Specie Circular
A presidential executive order issued by President Andrew Jackson in pursuant to the Coinage Act and carried out by his successor, President Martin Van Buren. It required payment for government land to be in gold and silver -
Horace mann elected secretary of the massachusetts
He overhauled the state's public-education system and established a series of schools to train teachers. Mann later was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and served as president of Antioch College in Ohio -
Panic of 1837
A financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major recession that lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down while unemployment went up. Pessimism abounded during the time -
Martin Van Buren Elected President
Supported by Jackson, Van Buren was elected president in 1836, defeating William Henry Harrison and two other Whig Party candidates, as well as an independent candidate. -
Ralph Waldo Emerson the divinity school address
The speech Emerson gave to the graduating class of Harvard Divinity School. -
Trail of Tears
As a part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma -
Webster Ashburton Treaty
A treaty that resolved several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies (Now Canada) -
Treaty of Wanghia with China
A diplomatic agreement between Qing-dynasty China and the United States, signed on July 3, 1844 in the Kun Iam Temple -
James Polk Elected President
Held from November 1, to December 4, 1844. Democrat James K. Polk defeated Whig Henry Clay in a close contest that turned on the controversial issues of slavery and the annexation of the Republic of Texas. -
US Annexation of Texas
During his tenure, U.S. President James K. Polk oversaw the greatest territorial expansion of the United States to date. -
Start of the Mexican War
A war between the United States and Mexico stemming from the United States' annexation of Texas in 1845 and from a dispute over whether Texas ended at the Nueces River (Mexican claim) or the Rio Grande (U.S. claim). -
Bear Flag Revolt
A small group of American settlers in California rebelled against the Mexican government and proclaimed California an independent republic. -
John Humphrey Noyes Founded the Oneida Community
He was forced out of Putney in 1847 because of his group's radical sexual practices, and he and his family and followers went West to Oneida, New York. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Officially titled the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits and Settlement between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic, -
Gold Rush Begins
James W. Marshall, a foreman working for Sacramento pioneer John Sutter, found shiny metal in the tailrace of a lumber mill Marshall was building for Sutter on the American River. -
Henry David Thoreau Published Civil Disobedience
The ever-lasting Resistance to Civil Government is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau -
Commodore Matthew Perry Entered Tokyo Harbor Opening Japan to the U.S.
Perry's show of military strength forced Japan to open its ports to trade with the West for the first time in more than 200 years. -
Gadsden Purchase
An agreement between the United States and Mexico, finalized in 1854, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for the portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico -
Kanagawa Treaty
The Treaty opened the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade and permitting the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Japan
