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Thomas Jefferson Presidency
Jefferson was a democratic-republican. He continued Washington's foreign policy and made no permanent alliances with other countries. His belief about the government was that "the best government was the one that governed least!" He believed the federal government should collect taxes, count the people, and deliver the mail. Jefferson reduced the size of the military, ended naval expansion, and lowered government costs. -
The Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 brought into the United States about 828,000 square miles of territory from France, doubling the size of the young republic. Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark along with Sacogewia to explore, make maps, record scientific data, and communicate with Native Americans. They discovered many new plants and species of animals. The purchase made the unknown known and paved the way for the settlement of this territory. -
Marbury v. Madison
Adams, before leaving office, appointed Marbury as a justice of the peace. The new Secretary of State, James Madison, refused to deliver his commission making him a justice of the peace. Marbury argued that the Judiciary Act gave the Supreme Court the power to force Madison to deliver the commission. The court ruled that the act was void. This case established judicial review, which strengthened the judiciary branch by making it the final authority in interpreting the Constitution. -
War of 1812
Causes of the war included British attempts to restrict U.S. trade, the Royal Navy’s impressment of American seamen, and America’s desire to expand its territory. American troops were able to repulse British invasions in New York, Baltimore and New Orleans (fought after the treaty was signed because of slow communication), boosting national confidence and fostering a new spirit of patriotism. The ratification of the Treaty of Ghent on February 17, 1815, ended the war. -
Missouri Compromise
Henry Clay engineered a compromise in which Missouri was admitted to the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state, while banning slavery from the remaining Louisiana Purchase lands located north of the 36º 30’ parallel. -
The Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine is the best known U.S. policy toward the Western Hemisphere. Buried in a routine annual message delivered to Congress by President James Monroe in 1823, the doctrine warns European nations that the United States would oppose any attempts by European powers to establish new colonies or to restore Spanish rule in countries in the Western Hemisphere that had achieved their independence. Basically, he told Europeans to keep their hands off the Western Hemisphere. -
Gibbons v. Ogden
Ogden had been granted a monopoly by New York State to operate a steamboat between New York and New Jersey. Gibbons was granted a similar license by the federal government. Ogden sued to stop Gibbons from competing with him. Gibbons appealed to the Supreme Court. Marshall ruled that Congress could regulate ferry boats crossing the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey as part of its power under the Constitution to control interstate commerce. -
The Completion of the Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a 363-mile waterway that connects the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River in upstate New York. The channel was considered an engineering marvel when it first opened in 1825. The Erie Canal provided a direct water route from New York City to the Midwest, triggering large-scale commercial and agricultural development as well as immigration to the sparsely populated frontiers of western New York, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and points farther west. -
The Telegraph
The spread of railroads was accompanied by the invention of the telegraph, which is a device for sending and stopping electrical impulses. This provided a faster way to communicate. It received its first practical demonstration in 1844 and mad instant communication with the entire nation a reality. Thanks to the telegraph, daily newspapers, could now publish next-day accounts of speeches, elections, and battles. -
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U.S.- Mexican War
After Texas was annexed, a fight emerged between the U.S. and Mexico over whether the southern border of Texas was the Rio Grande or the Nueces River. Polk planned to use the conflict as a way to expand America’s borders, so he declared war on Mexico. Mexico was forced to give up California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of Colorado and New Mexico. By signing the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the United States agreed to pay $15 million for these areas, known as the Mexican Cession. -
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The Civil War
The American Civil War resulted from long-standing sectional differences not fully resolved when the U.S. Constitution was ratified- primarily the issue of slavery and states rights. With the defeat of the Southern Confederacy and the subsequent passage of the XIII, XIV, and XV amendments to the Constitution, the Civil War’s lasting effects include abolishing slavery and redefining the United States as a single, indivisible nation rather than a collection of independent states.
