AP US History Unit 4 Review (1800-1848)

Main Themes

• Expanding role of the US in world affairs
• Transformation of society and economy
• Democratic impulses

Political Developments

• Election of 1800: Thomas Jefferson elected, continued debates between Democratic-Republicans and Federalists
• Foreign Relations: Issues with Barbary Pirates; Jefferson opposed bribes, led to naval conflict and negotiations
• Federal Power: Democratic-Republicans favored strict construction (limited federal power); Federalists favored loose construction (more federal flexibility)
  • Louisiana Purchase: Jefferson’s constitutional dilemma and the eventual acquisition of territory
• Supreme Court: Chief Justice John Marshall's decisions increased federal power
  • Marbury v. Madison (1803): Established judicial review
  • McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): Federal law trumps state law

War of 1812

• Causes: British impressment, neutral trade interference, and frontier conflicts
• Consequences: Nationalism, Federalist Party decline, economic weaknesses exposed

Economic Developments

• Market Revolution: Linking of northern industries with western and southern farms
  • Technology: Cotton gin, spinning machine, interchangeable parts
  • Transportation: Steamboats, canals (Erie Canal), and railroads
  • Henry Clay’s American System: Infrastructure, protective tariffs, and the second national bank

Social Changes

• Immigration: Influx from Germany and Ireland; expanded urban labor force
• Middle Class Growth: Led to new social norms (cult of domesticity)
• Democratic Expansion: Panic of 1819, frontier suffrage, and political realignment
• Jacksonian Democracy
  • Tariff of Abominations: Southern opposition and nullification crisis
  • Bank War: Jackson vetoed the recharter of the national bank
  • Indian Removal: Trail of Tears after the Indian Removal Act of 1830

Cultural and Spiritual Movements

• American Identity: Noah Webster's dictionary, transcendentalism (Emerson, Thoreau)
• Second Great Awakening: Religious revivalism, temperance movement, abolitionism
  • Mormonism: Founded by Joseph Smith, led by Brigham Young to Utah

Reform Movements

• Abolitionism: William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator, American Anti-Slavery Society
• Women’s Rights: Seneca Falls Convention (1848), Declaration of Sentiments

Southern Society

• Plantation Economy: Wealthy aristocracy, slave labor
• Slavery Resistance: Cultural expressions and Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831)
• Westward Expansion: Depletion of southern soil led to westward migration

Global Affairs

• Territorial Expansion
  • Adams-Onis Treaty (1819): Acquired Florida from Spain
  • Monroe Doctrine (1823): Western Hemisphere off-limits to European influence

This covers the significant political, economic, social, and cultural changes during the period from 1800-1848, emphasizing the themes of expansion, transformation, and democratization in early US history.