Notes
Politics and democracy
- Jefferson's election (1800) was a peaceful transfer of power between parties. He bought the Louisiana Purchase (1803) from France, doubling the country's size, even though the Constitution didn't clearly allow it.
- Marbury v. Madison (1803) established judicial review. Chief Justice John Marshall's court also strengthened federal power (McCulloch v. Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden).
- The War of 1812 against Britain boosted nationalism. The Era of Good Feelings followed, with one main party.
- Jacksonian democracy: voting expanded to most white men (property requirements dropped). Andrew Jackson vetoed the Second Bank of the U.S. and supported Indian removal. The Whig Party formed in opposition.
- Nullification Crisis (1832): South Carolina tried to nullify a federal tariff.
The market revolution
- New technology and infrastructure: the cotton gin (1793), steamboats, the Erie Canal (1825), railroads, and the telegraph.
- The North industrialized: textile mills (the Lowell system employed young women), wage labor and growing cities. The South expanded cotton production, which deepened its reliance on slavery.
- Henry Clay's American System: a national bank, protective tariffs, and internal improvements.
- Immigration rose, especially from Ireland and Germany, which led to nativist backlash.
Reform movements
The Second Great Awakening inspired reform: temperance, public education (Horace Mann), prison and asylum reform (Dorothea Dix), and abolition (William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass). The Seneca Falls Convention (1848) demanded women's rights, including the vote.
Native Americans and expansion
- The Indian Removal Act (1830) forced Native nations west. The Cherokee won in court (Worcester v. Georgia, 1832), but Jackson didn't enforce the decision; the Trail of Tears followed.
- The Missouri Compromise (1820) admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as free, banning slavery north of 36°30′ in the Louisiana territory.
- The Monroe Doctrine (1823) warned Europe against new colonization in the Americas.
- Manifest Destiny justified westward expansion.
Practice
The Supreme Court could strike down laws that conflict with the Constitution.
Jefferson, who favored strict construction, had to stretch his views.
Processing cotton faster made it far more profitable.
Lowell textile mills hired mostly young New England women.
States dropped property requirements for white men.
The Cherokee were forced west despite a Supreme Court ruling.
It produced the Declaration of Sentiments.
It also drew the 36°30′ line.
Free response
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Free-response question
Answer (a), (b) and (c).
(a) Briefly describe ONE way the market revolution changed the Northern economy between 1800 and 1848.
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Factories and wage labor grew, as in the Lowell textile mills, and canals and railroads like the Erie Canal connected farms to city markets.
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(b) Briefly describe ONE way the market revolution affected the South.
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The cotton gin and demand from textile mills made cotton hugely profitable, so the South expanded cotton farming and slavery into new lands.
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(c) Briefly explain ONE way the Second Great Awakening influenced reform.
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It taught that people could improve themselves and society, which inspired movements like temperance and abolition.
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