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Oregon Trail
A historic east to west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of the future state of Kansas, and nearly all of what are now the states of Nebraska and Wyoming. The western half of the trail spanned most of the future states of Idaho and Oregon. The Oregon Trail was laid by fur trappers and traders from about 1811 to 1840, and was only passable on foot or by horseback. -
Monroe Doctrine
An exclusive statement of American policy warning European powers not to interfere with the Americans. Most likely as the result of the events in The War of 1812 against the British and disputes of land with Spain. Many citizens were frustrated with losing land or fighting in wars which helped produce this statement. -
Nationalism
The feelings of pride and loyalty to a nation. Around 1815 the national unity had a strong supporter in US Representative and Kentucky statesman Henry Clay. Clay believed that a strong national economy who promote nationalism and reduce conflicts. He then developed the American System which created the American economy self-sufficient. -
Era of Good Feelings
From 1815 to 1825 the United States experienced and enjoyed the Era of Good Feelings which was an era of peace, pride, and progress. This phrase was created by a Boston editor in 1817 during James Monroe’s visit to New England at the beginning of his presidency. The emphasis on national unity was spread through the ideas of nationalism. This was emphasized in two Supreme Court decisions which reinforced the power of the federal government. -
Sectionalism
Around 1815 to 1825 during the Era of Good Feelings, there were disagreements between regions. This was called sectionalism, and threatened the union. One conflict which arose in congress around 1819 was the application of Missouri to join not only as a state but as a slave state. There were currently 11 slave and non-slave states, and adding Missouri would make the number unbalanced and giving the number of senate to the south this caused lots of disagreement. -
Adams-Onis Treaty
In 1819 the US and Spain signed the Adams-Onis Treaty, which settled border disputes between Spain and the United States. This treaty gave the US East Florida but the US also gave up claims to what is now Texas. US leaders agreed to pay up to 5 million dollars of US citizens’ claims against Spain. This infuriated many owners in the west near Texas who were forced to give up their land while many people in Florida and Georgia were able to expand south to Florida. -
McCulloch v. Maryland
(1819), was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court. The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland. Though the law was generally applicable to all banks not chartered in Maryland, the Second Bank of the United States was the only out-of-state bank then existing in Maryland, and the law was recognized in the court's opinion as having specifically targeted the Bank of th -
Missouri Compromise
http://www.history.com/topics/missouri-compromiseA compromise which Henry Clay got congress to agree on which settled the conflict on Missouri’s application as a slave state. There were three conditions one being Missouri would enter the union being a slave state. Maine would join the union as a free state to keep the number of slave and free states equal. Slavery is prohibited in any new states or territories formed north of Missouri’s southern border. -
Santa Fe Trail
A 19th-century transportation route through central North America that connected Independence, Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, it served as a commercial highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880. Santa Fe carried trade from Mexico City. -
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Formed in 1824, an agency of the federal government of the United States within the U.S. Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of 55,700,000 acres of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American Tribes and Alaska Natives -
Jacksonian Democracy
Democracy Is the political movement during the Second Party System toward greater democracy for the common man symbolized by American politician Andrew Jackson and his supporters. The Jacksonian Era lasted roughly from Jackson's 1828 election as president until the slavery issue became dominant after 1850 and the American Civil War dramatically reshaped American politics as the Third Party System emerged. -
Tariff of Abominations
A protective tariff passed by Congress on May 19, 1828, designed to protect industry in the northern United States. The major goal of the tariff was to protect industries in the northern United States which were being driven out of business by low-priced imported goods by taxing them. The South, however, was harmed directly by having to pay higher prices on goods the region did not produce, and indirectly because reducing the exportation of British goods to the U.S. made it difficult for the Bri -
Whig Party
A political party active in the middle of the 19th century in the United States. Four presidents were members of the party during their terms in office. Along with the rival Democratic Party, it was central to the Second Party System from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s. It was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson (in office 1829–37) and his Democratic Party. -
Indian Territory
An evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Indians. In general, the tribes took land they occupied in exchange for land grants in an area purchased by the United States federal government from the Louisiana Purchase. The concept of an Indian Territory was an outcome of the 18th- and 19th-century policy of Indian removal. -
Trail of Tears
http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/trail-of-tearshttp://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/trail-of-tears A series of forced relocations of Native American nations in the United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The relocated people suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while in route, and more than ten thousand died before reaching their various destinations. The removal included members of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations, from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to an area west of the Mississippi River. -
Indian Removal Act
Passed by Congress on May 28, 1830. The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Indian tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their ancestral homelands. The act was supported by the non-Indian peoples of the South, who were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the southeastern tribes. -
States’ Rights Doctrine
(1832-1865) Refers to political powers reserved for the U.S. state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, and the Tenth Amendment. The enumerated powers that are listed in the Constitution include exclusive federal powers that are shared with the states, and all of those powers are contrasted with the reserved power, also called states' rights, that only the states possess. -
Nullification Crisis
A sectional crisis in 1832–1833 which involved a confrontation between South Carolina and the federal government. The crisis erupted after South Carolina declared that the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional and therefore null and void within the sovereign boundaries of the state. The nation suffered an economic downturn throughout the 1820s, and South Carolina was particularly affected. -
Alamo
A city in Texas which was the location of The Battle of the Alamo. The Battle of Alamo, February 23 to March 6, 1836, was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops launched an assault on the Alamo Mission, near modern-day San Antonio, Texas, killing all of the Texian defenders. Texas settlers and adventurers from the United States joined the Texian Army. The Texians defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, ending the revol -
Spoils System
(1843-1845) A practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its supporters, friends and relatives as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party, opposed to a merit system, where offices are awarded on the basis of some measure of merit, independent of political activity. -
Manifest Destiny
In the 19th century (around 1845), manifest destiny was a widely held belief in the United States that its settlers were destined to expand across North America. There are three basic themes to manifest destiny. The special virtues of the American people and their institutions. America's mission to redeem and remake the west in the image of America. An irresistible destiny to accomplish this essential duty. -
Donner Party
A group of American pioneers led by George Donner and James F. Reed who set out for California in a wagon train in May 1846. Delayed by a series of mistakes, they spent the winter of 1846–47 in snow in the Sierra Nevada. The journey west usually took between four and six months, but the Donner Party was slowed by following a new route called Hastings Cutoff. The rugged terrain and difficulties encountered while traveling along the Humboldt River in present-day Nevada, resulted in the loss of man -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
(Signed 1848) With the defeat of its army and the fall of its capital, Mexico entered into negotiations to end the war. The treaty called for the US to pay $15 million to Mexico and to pay off the claims of American citizens against Mexico up to $3.25 million. It gave the United States the Rio Grande as a boundary for Texas, and gave the US ownership of California and a large area comprising roughly half of New Mexico, most of Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. -
California Gold Rush
http://www.history.com/topics/gold-rush-of-1849(1848–1855) Was a period in American history which began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California.The news of gold brought 300,000 gold-seekers called "forty-niners", as in "1849" to California. While most of the newly arrived were Americans, the Gold Rush also attracted tens of thousands from South America, Central America, Europe, and Asia. http://www.history.com/topics/gold-rush-of-1849 -
Forty-Niners
The first people to rush to the goldfields, beginning in the spring of 1848, were the residents of California themselves. These first miners tended to be families in which everyone helped in the effort. Women and children of all ethnicities were often found panning next to the men. The women often brought in steady income while their husbands searched for gold. -
Gadsden Purchase
A 29,640-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed on December 30, 1853 by James Gadsden who was the American ambassador to Mexico at that time. It was then ratified, with changes, by the U.S. Senate on April 25, 1854, and signed by 14th President Franklin Pierce, with final approval action taken by Mexico's government and their General Congress or Congress of the Union on June 8, 1854.
