US Presidential Election of 1840

The Dred Scott Decision

• The Supreme Court ruled that Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in the territories, and that Dred Scott, a slave, was not a citizen and had no right to sue in court.
• The decision stated that neither Dred Scott nor his family were made free by being carried into a free territory.

American Literature

• Examples of American Renaissance literature include Moby Dick, The Scarlet Letter, and Leaves of Grass.
• This literary movement was characterized by a focus on individualism, nature, and democracy.

William Lloyd Garrison

• William Lloyd Garrison was an abolitionist who proposed the immediate emancipation of slaves without compensation for slaveholders.

Women's Education

• After the American Revolution, some men argued that women should be educated so that they could oversee the instruction of their sons to be good citizens.

Free Soil Ideology

• The Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party that opposed the expansion of slavery into the Western territories.
• The party's primary arguments were "free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men."
• The party worked to remove existing laws that discriminated against freed African Americans in states such as Ohio.

Women's Rights

• The 1848 women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, NY, protested against customs and laws that gave women a status inferior to that of men.

The Railroads

• The railroads' most important impact on the economy was that they provided mid-western farmers with accessibility to eastern urban markets.

Shay's Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion

• Both rebellions were precipitated by burdensome tax policies.

The Underground Railroad

• The Underground Railroad was a means by which some people escaped slavery in the South.

The American Revolution

• The acquittal of John Peter Zenger in 1735 reflected the growing colonial belief that newspaper editors should have the right to criticize public officials.

Bacon's Rebellion

• Bacon's Rebellion was a revolt by poor farmers and indentured servants in the Chesapeake Bay area.

The American Victory at Saratoga

• The American victory at Saratoga in October 1777 helped convince France to enter the War.

Colonial History

• Colonists in the Chesapeake Bay area exported tobacco to England in the early 17th century.
• The Pennsylvania colony was founded on the principles of religious freedom and tolerance, as stated in its charter.

The Treaty of Paris

• The Treaty of Paris of 1783 recognized American independence and promised to set the western boundary of the United States at the Mississippi River.

The War of 1812

• The War of 1812 resulted in the decline of the Federalist Party, increased domestic manufacturing, and the emergence of Andrew Jackson as a war hero.

The Presidential Election of 1840

• The presidential election of 1840 was the first "modern" election, in which both parties widely campaigned among all eligible voters.

Manifest Destiny

• The idea of Manifest Destiny included the belief that westward expansion was both inevitable and beneficial.

The Compromise of 1850

• The Compromise of 1850 was a series of resolutions introduced by Senator Henry Clay to seek a compromise between the North and South.
• The Compromise included the Fugitive Slave Act, the abolition of the slave trade in Washington, D.C., the admittance of California as a free state, and the creation of a territorial government in Utah.

Agriculture

• The development of American agriculture during the first half of the 19th century was influenced by the settlement of the western territories, the trend toward regional economic specialization, and improvements in transportation by water.

The US Economy

• The US position in the world economy during the period 1790-1860 relied heavily on European capital for its economic expansion.

Reconstruction

• After the Civil War, the majority of freed people found work in the South as tenant farmers.
• Abraham Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction included the reestablishment of state government after 10% of the voters in a state pledged their allegiance to the United States.
• The Radical Republican program included the provision of 40 acres to each freedman household, the enactment of the Fourteenth Amendment, military occupation of the South, and punishment of Confederate leaders.

The Freedmen's Bureau

• The Freedmen's Bureau was established to provide food, clothing, medical care, and shelter to war victims, reunite families of freedmen, and establish a network of courts and schools for freed people.

The Gadsden Purchase

• The Gadsden Purchase was a 29,670-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States purchased in 1853 to build a transcontinental railroad.
• The purchase was the last substantial territorial acquisition in the contiguous United States.