Historical Terms PDF

1. **Judicial Review**: The power of courts to review and, if necessary, invalidate government actions that are deemed unconstitutional. 2. **The Embargo Act (1807)**: A U.S. law that prohibited American ships from trading with foreign nations to avoid involvement in European conf...

1. **Judicial Review**: The power of courts to review and, if necessary, invalidate government actions that are deemed unconstitutional. 2. **The Embargo Act (1807)**: A U.S. law that prohibited American ships from trading with foreign nations to avoid involvement in European conflicts, particularly the Napoleonic Wars. 3. **Maysville Road Veto**: President Andrew Jackson\'s veto of a bill in 1830 that would have funded the construction of a road in Kentucky, citing the belief that the federal government should not fund state projects. 4. **The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom**: A law passed in 1786 that established religious freedom in Virginia, asserting that no person should be compelled to support any religion. 5. **"Corrupt Bargain"**: Refers to the alleged deal between John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay during the 1824 election, where Clay\'s support for Adams led to Adams\' victory in the House of Representatives, and Clay was appointed Secretary of State. 6. **"Tariff of Abominations"**: The nickname for the Tariff of 1828, which raised duties on imported goods and angered Southern states, particularly South Carolina, who saw it as economically harmful. 7. **Jacksonian Democracy**: A political movement in the 1820s and 1830s promoting greater democracy, including expanded suffrage for white men, against aristocratic privilege, and favoring the \"common man.\" 8. **McCulloch v. Maryland**: A landmark 1819 Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of the Second Bank of the U.S. and affirmed federal supremacy over state actions. 9. **Marbury v. Madison**: A 1803 Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review, allowing courts to strike down laws and government actions deemed unconstitutional. 10. **December 24, 1814**: The date the Treaty of Ghent was signed, officially ending the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain. 11. **The American Anti-Slavery Society**: An organization founded in 1833 to advocate for the abolition of slavery in the United States. 12. **Dorothea Dix**: A social reformer who worked to improve conditions for the mentally ill and to establish mental health hospitals. 13. **Horace Mann**: An education reformer who advocated for public schooling, better teacher training, and standardized education. 14. **Jeremiad**: A sermon or speech that condemns moral or social decay, often invoking a call for repentance or reform. 15. **Utilitarianism**: A philosophy that argues actions should be judged based on their outcomes, specifically whether they maximize happiness or well-being for the greatest number of people. 16. **Transcendentalism**: A philosophical and literary movement in the 19th century emphasizing intuition, spirituality, and the inherent goodness of people and nature. 17. **Millerism**: A religious movement founded by William Miller in the 1830s, which predicted the Second Coming of Christ in 1844, a prediction that ended in disappointment (known as the \"Great Disappointment\"). 18. **Energetic Lowland Whites/Yeoman Farmer**: A term describing small, independent farmers in the South who were not part of the elite plantation system, but who aspired to social mobility through hard work. 19. **"Cotton Snobs"**: A derogatory term used to describe wealthy Southern cotton plantation owners who were seen as elitist and overly reliant on slave labor. 20. **Semi-isolated Mountain Whites**: A group of rural white families, primarily in the Appalachian Mountains, who were isolated from mainstream Southern society, often poor and non-slaveholding. 21. **Clay Eaters**: A term used to describe poor white farmers in the South, often seen as living in extreme poverty and engaging in subsistence farming. 22. **"Total War"**: A military strategy that seeks to break the enemy's will to fight by targeting not just military forces but also civilian infrastructure and resources. 23. **Kansas-Nebraska Act**: A 1854 law that allowed the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise. 24. **Popular Sovereignty**: The principle that the people of a territory should decide for themselves whether to allow slavery, rather than having it imposed by Congress. 25. **Frederick Douglass**: An escaped slave and prominent abolitionist who became a powerful writer, speaker, and advocate for emancipation and equality. 26. **Harriet Tubman**: An escaped slave who became a conductor on the Underground Railroad, helping other slaves escape to freedom. 27. **Anaconda Plan**: The Union\'s strategic plan during the Civil War, aiming to suffocate the Confederacy by blockading southern ports and controlling the Mississippi River. 28. **Bleeding Kansas**: A term used to describe the violent conflicts in Kansas in the mid-1850s between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions, triggered by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. 29. **Mary Lyon**: A pioneering educator who founded Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1837, one of the first institutions for higher education for women. 30. **William Tecumseh Sherman**: A Union general during the Civil War, known for his \"March to the Sea\" and the use of total war tactics in the Southern states. 31. **Sylvester Graham**: A diet reformer in the 19th century, best known for advocating the consumption of whole-grain bread and the creation of the graham cracker. 32. **"Era of Good Feelings"**: A period of political harmony and national unity in the U.S. following the War of 1812, particularly during James Monroe\'s presidency (1817-1825). 33. **Monroe Doctrine and Isolationism**: A U.S. foreign policy statement (1823) asserting that the Western Hemisphere was closed to European colonization and interference, promoting isolation from European conflicts. 34. **Missouri Compromise**: An 1820 agreement that admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, while establishing a boundary (36°30′ line) dividing free and slave territories in the Louisiana Territory. 35. **Dred Scott Decision**: A 1857 Supreme Court ruling that declared African Americans, whether free or slave, could not be U.S. citizens, and that Congress had no authority to ban slavery in U.S. territories. 36. **Compromise of 1850**: A package of five laws aimed at resolving slavery-related issues, including admitting California as a free state, strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act, and allowing popular sovereignty in other territories. 37. **Thornton Stringfellow**: A pro-slavery Baptist minister and defender of slavery, who argued that slavery was biblically justified and beneficial to both slaves and society. 38. **Josiah Nott**: A physician and pro-slavery advocate who promoted the idea of racial science, arguing that African Americans were inferior to whites based on pseudoscientific theories. 39. **Charles Finney**: A leading figure in the Second Great Awakening, known for his revivalist preaching and advocacy for social reforms like abolition and temperance. 40. **Lyman Beecher**: A prominent Congregationalist preacher and social reformer who supported the temperance movement and was a leader in the Second Great Awakening. 41. **Albert Barnes**: A Presbyterian minister and theological writer who was a major figure in the religious revival movements of the 19th century and a strong advocate for abolition. 42. **Cult of Domesticity**: A 19th-century cultural belief that women's roles were primarily centered around the home, family, and moral influence, reinforcing gender roles and expectations for women. 43. **Temperance and Teetotalism**: Social movements advocating for the reduction or prohibition of alcohol consumption, with teetotalism specifically promoting complete abstinence. 44. **Ellen White**: A co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, known for her visions and teachings, particularly concerning health, education, and the second coming of Christ. 45. **Wage Slavery**: A term used to describe the condition of workers who, though not enslaved, are financially dependent on low wages, often working in poor conditions with little opportunity for advancement. 46. **Romanticism**: A cultural movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries that emphasized emotion, individualism, and nature, often in reaction to the Industrial Revolution and Enlightenment rationalism. 47. **Harriet Beecher Stowe**: An abolitionist and author of *Uncle Tom\'s Cabin* (1852), a novel that helped galvanize anti-slavery sentiment in the U.S. and abroad. 48. **William Henry Harrison and the Election of 1840**: Harrison, the Whig candidate, won the presidency in 1840, famously portrayed as a man of the people in the \"Log Cabin Campaign,\" but died shortly after taking office. 49. **John Tyler**: The 10th president of the U.S. (1841--1845), who became president after Harrison\'s death and oversaw the annexation of Texas, but faced opposition from his own party. 50. **Manifest Destiny**: The 19th-century belief that the U.S. was destined by God to expand across the North American continent, often used to justify territorial acquisition and the displacement of Native Americans. 51. **Eli Whitney**: An inventor best known for inventing the cotton gin in 1793, which revolutionized cotton production and contributed to the expansion of slavery in the South. 52. **Chattel Slavery**: A form of slavery where slaves are treated as personal property that can be bought, sold, and inherited, often associated with African Americans in the United States. 53. **Stephen Douglas**: A U.S. senator and architect of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which promoted popular sovereignty to decide slavery in territories, and was a key figure in the debates over slavery and expansion. 54. **Hartford Convention**: A series of meetings in 1814-1815 where New England Federalists discussed their grievances with the War of 1812 and even considered secession, but the war ended before any major action was taken. 55. **Battle of First Manassas (July 21, 1861)**: Also known as the First Battle of Bull Run, it was the first major battle of the Civil War, resulting in a Confederate victory and dispelling illusions that the war would be quick. 56. **New York Riots (1863)**: Also known as the Draft Riots, these were violent protests in New York City against the Union draft during the Civil War, with racial tensions and class resentments playing a major role. 57. **Homestead Act of 1862**: A U.S. law that provided 160 acres of land in the West to settlers who would farm the land for at least five years, helping promote westward expansion. 58. **Clara Barton**: A nurse during the Civil War and founder of the American Red Cross, known for her work in organizing medical care for soldiers and promoting humanitarian aid. 59. **Thomas Holmes**: A Union Army surgeon during the Civil War who is often credited with creating the first military ambulance corps and improving battlefield medical care. 60. **The Lost Cause**: A Southern ideology that romanticized the Confederacy and its fight in the Civil War, depicting it as a noble cause and downplaying the role of slavery. 61. **Election of 1864**: The U.S. presidential election during the Civil War in which incumbent President Abraham Lincoln was re-elected, defeating George McClellan and ensuring continued Union efforts in the war. 62. **Panic of 1857**: A financial panic caused by a decline in international grain prices and the collapse of banks, leading to widespread economic hardship, particularly in the North. 63. **Vicksburg**: The 1863 Civil War battle and siege where Union forces, under General Ulysses S. Grant, captured the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River. 64. **Compromise of 1876**: An informal agreement that resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election by giving Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency in exchange for withdrawing federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction.