AP U.S. History: Unit 4 (1800-1848)

Overview

• Time Period: 1800-1848
• Main Themes:
  • Expanding role of the U.S. in world affairs
  • Transformation of society and economy
  • Growing democratic impulses

Political Context

• Election of Thomas Jefferson (1800):
  • Beginning of Democratic Republicans vs. Federalists debates
  • Key debates on American foreign relations and federal power

Foreign Relations

• Barbary Pirates:
  • Jefferson opposed paying bribes, leading to conflict and eventual reduced payments.

Federal Power

• Democratic Republicans vs. Federalists:
  • Strict constructionists (Democratic Republicans) vs. loose constructionists (Federalists)
• Louisiana Purchase (1803):
  • Purchased from France for $15 million, doubling U.S. size
  • Jefferson's moral conflict over constitutional authority
  • Exploration by Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike
• Supreme Court & Judicial Review:
  • Marbury vs. Madison (1803): Established judicial review
  • McCulloch vs. Maryland (1819): Asserted federal law's supremacy over state law

War of 1812

• Causes:
  • British impressment of American sailors
  • British incitement of Native American resistance
• Consequences:
  • Surge of nationalism
  • Demise of Federalist Party
  • Highlighted need for better infrastructure and national bank

Economic Developments

• American System (Henry Clay):
  • Internal improvements (vetoed by Madison)
  • Protective tariffs
  • Second national bank
• Market Revolution:
  • Technological advances (cotton gin, spinning machine, interchangeable parts)
  • Growth in transportation (canals, railroads)
  • Interconnected economy

Social Changes

• Immigration:
  • 2 million immigrants (mainly Germans and Irish)
• Urbanization:
  • Rise of laboring poor and middle class
  • Tenements, cultural institutions
• Women's Roles:
  • Cult of domesticity and separate spheres

Political Changes

• Expansion of Suffrage:
  • Panic of 1819; property-owning requirements loosened
• Political Realignment:
  • Split in Democratic Republican Party
  • Rise of Democrats (Andrew Jackson) and Whigs (Henry Clay)
• Andrew Jackson's Presidency:
  • Tariff of 1828 ("Tariff of Abominations") and Nullification Crisis
  • Veto of Second Bank of the U.S.
  • Indian Removal Act and Trail of Tears

Cultural Developments

• Transcendentalism:
  • Emphasized nature and personal perfection (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau)
• Second Great Awakening:
  • Evangelical revival meetings
  • Emphasis on moral and societal reform

Reform Movements

• Utopian Communities:
  • Oneida Community, communal living
• Abolitionism and Women's Rights:
  • William Lloyd Garrison's "The Liberator"
  • Seneca Falls Convention, Declaration of Sentiments

Southern Society

• Plantations and Slavery:
  • Expansion westward
  • Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831)
• Yeoman Farmers:
  • Majority of white southerners owned no slaves

Conclusion

• This period was marked by significant political, economic, and social changes as America expanded and defined its role both internally and on the world stage. Key issues around federal power, economic development, democracy, and social reform shaped the nation leading up to the Civil War era.