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Cotton Gin
A machine that separates cotton seeds from cotton fiber. it was an important invention because it dramatically reduced the amount of time it took to separate cotton seeds from cotton fiber.
significance: reduced the number of workers needed to remove the seeds from the fiber, it actually increased the number of slaves the plantation owners needed to plant, cultivate, and harvest the cotton. -
Interchangeable Parts
A manufacturing system which uses standardized parts which are all identical and thus, interchangeable. Before this, each part of a given device had been designed only for that one device; if a single piece of the device broke, it was difficult or impossible to replace.
significance: allowed relatively unskilled workers to produce large numbers of weapons quickly and at lower cost, and made repair and replacement of parts infinitely easier. -
The Louisiana Purchase
The acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from France in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or approximately eighteen dollars per square mile, acquired a total of 828,000 sq mi.
significance: greatly strengthened the country materially and strategically, provided a powerful impetus to westward expansion, and confirmed the doctrine of implied powers of the federal Constitution -
Embargo Act
A general trade embargo on all foreign nations enacted by the United States Congress.
significance: Agricultural prices and earnings fell. Shipping-related industries were devastated. -
Steamboat
It used steam power to travel upstream. Steamboats were soon used to transport people and goods along rivers throughout the country.
significance: They soon changed river travel and trade. ... These great steam-powered boats also played an important role in America's westward expansion. -
Cumberland Road
The first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government and connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main transport path to the West for thousands of settlers.
significance: had an immediate effect on the economy of the frontier regions. When the road reaches Wheeling, transportation times betweens the Ohio river and the eastern seaboard are halved. -
War of 1812
a conflict fought between the United States and the United Kingdom, with their respective allies, from June 1812 to February 1815.
significance: It effectively destroyed the Indians' ability to resist American expansion east of the Mississippi River. -
Lowell System
a labor production model designed so that every step of the manufacturing process was done under one roof and the work was performed by young adult women instead of children or young men.
significance: Textile mills relied heavily on a labor force of women and children. It expanded the idea of the factory system. It was all part of the Industrial System. -
Antebellum Period
The period before the civil war and after the War of 1812marked by the economic growth of the region, largely due to its heavy reliance on slavery, and of its political influence on the U.S. federal government.
significance: The technological advances and religious and social movements led to westward expansion to the Pacific, a population shift from farms to industrial centers, sectional divisions that ended in civil war and the abolition of slavery. -
Hartford Convention
A series of meetings in which 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 power.
significance: resulted in a declaration calling on the Federal Government to protect New England and to supply financial aid to New England's badly battered trade economy. -
McCullogh v Maryland
A U.S. Supreme Court decision that defined the scope of the U.S. Congress's legislative power and how it relates to the powers of American state legislatures. The dispute in McCulloch involved the legality of the national bank and a tax that the state of Maryland imposed on it.
significance: The “Necessary and Proper” Clause gave Congress the power to establish a national bank. -
Missouri Compromise
A federal legislation that admitted Maine to the United States as a free state, simultaneously with Missouri as a slave state—thus maintaining the balance of power between North and South in the United States Senate.
significance: It marked the beginning of the prolonged sectional conflict over the extension of slavery that led to the American Civil War. -
Gibbons v Ogden
Supreme Court 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.
significance: expanded the power of Congress and the federal government. Now, Congress could regulate any commercial activity which moved between two states. This meant that the vast majority of business could become regulated by the United States. -
The American System
An economic plan that consisted of three mutually reinforcing parts: a tariff to protect and promote American industry; a national bank to foster commerce; and federal subsidies for roads, canals, and other "internal improvements" to develop profitable markets for agriculture.
significance: shaped national economic policy and helped the young nation to grow in strength. -
Revolution of 1828
Andrew Jackson's victory in the election of 1828 broke the line of presidents from Virginia and Massachusetts, and to many citizens represented the triumph of the common man.
significance: Marked the rise of Jacksonian Democracy and the transition from the First Party System to the Second Party System. -
Anti-Masonic party
The first third party in the United States. It strongly opposed Freemasonry as a single-issue party and later aspired to become a major party by expanding its platform to take positions on other issues.
significance: Opponents of this society seized upon the uproar to create the Anti-Masonic Party. -
Spoils System
the political tactic of employing and promoting civil servants who are the supporters and friends of the group in power to office. The Spoils System was started by Andrew Jackson when he became President. He fired most of the previous President's appointees and put his own people in place.
significance: it affected the economy to a certain degree. Because the rich had access government at a personal level, they had access to influencing the economy to reflect their wants and needs. -
The Market Revolution
a historical model which argues that there was a drastic change of the economy that disoriented and coordinated all aspects of the market economy in line with both nations and the world.
significance: traditional commerce was made obsolete by improvements in transportation, communication, and industry. -
Specie Circular
A presidential executive order issued by President Andrew Jackson in 1836 pursuant to the Coinage Act. It required payment for government land to be in gold and silver.
significance: restrained excessive land speculation in the west and to curtail the enormous growth of paper money in circulation. -
Seneca Falls Convention
The first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman". Held in Seneca Falls, New York.
significance: the meeting launched the women's suffrage movement, which more than seven decades later ensured women the right to vote.
