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U.S. History

Unit 3

The Early Republic and Expansion

7 topics · 27 practice questions · Free responseNot yet reviewed

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Notes

Building the new government

  • Washington set precedents: a cabinet, two terms and a Farewell Address warning against parties and foreign alliances.
  • Hamilton's financial plan (national bank, debt, tariffs) and loose reading of the Constitution clashed with Jefferson's strict reading, creating the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.
  • The Alien and Sedition Acts sparked the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. The election of 1800 was a peaceful transfer of power.
  • ***Marbury v. Madison* (1803) established judicial review**.

Growth and nationalism

  • The Louisiana Purchase (1803) doubled the nation; Lewis and Clark explored it.
  • The War of 1812 (impressment, trade, Native resistance) ended in a draw but boosted nationalism. The Monroe Doctrine (1823) warned Europe out of the Americas.

The Age of Jackson

  • Jackson expanded the spoils system, destroyed the national bank and faced down South Carolina in the Nullification Crisis.
  • The Indian Removal Act (1830) led to the Trail of Tears, even after Worcester v. Georgia sided with the Cherokee.

Expansion and economic change

  • Manifest Destiny drove the annexation of Texas, the Oregon settlement and the Mexican-American War, which brought the Mexican Cession.
  • The Market Revolution: cotton gin, factories, canals and railroads tied regions together while making them more different.

Topics in this unit

Each topic has its own short notes and practice.

Practice

Which pair of leaders disagreed over whether the Constitution allowed a national bank?
Which event most directly expanded the power of the federal courts?
Read this excerpt from Washington's Farewell Address (1796): "The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible." Washington is advising the nation to:
The Nullification Crisis and the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions both raised the question of:
Which is the best example of Manifest Destiny in action?
How did the Market Revolution affect the regions of the United States?

Free response

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Free-response question

Between 1830 and 1848, the United States grew rapidly in size.

(a) Describe the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and ONE of its effects.

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The act allowed the president to make treaties moving Native nations of the Southeast to lands west of the Mississippi. One effect was the Trail of Tears, when the army forced the Cherokee west in 1838 to 1839 and about 4,000 died.

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(b) Explain the idea of Manifest Destiny and give ONE example of expansion it was used to justify.

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Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States was destined to spread across North America. It was used to justify the Mexican-American War, which gave the U.S. California and the Southwest.

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(c) Explain how westward expansion increased tensions over slavery.

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Every new territory raised the question of whether it would allow slavery. Northerners feared the Mexican Cession would add slave states, while Southerners wanted slavery allowed so they would not be outvoted in Congress.

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