Untitled

• APUSH Period 4 (1802-1848)

  • Rapid economic, territorial, and demographic changes in the US
  • Increasing sectionalism
  • Extending and struggling to define democratic ideals
  • Various reform movements seeking to change American society
• The size of the US more than doubled during this period
• The US attempted to increase foreign trade and expand borders


  The US also attempted to isolate itself from foreign affairs after the War of 1812
• Factors enabling Western expansion

  • Transportation improvements like canals, roads, and railroads
  • Increased cotton production and slavery
  • Removal of threats like Napoleon and British forts
• Native American land declined significantly from 1783 to 1850
• Key events in Native American land loss

  • Battle of Tippecanoe
  • First Seminole War
  • Indian Removal Act
  • Trail of Tears
• The US struggled to preserve neutrality before the War of 1812
• The War of 1812 was fought to defend US neutrality, national honor, and frontier security
• The US sought to expand its global presence


  By focusing expansion on the North American continent and continuing to promote foreign trade
• Key events in US expansion and foreign relations

  • Louisiana Purchase
  • War with Barbary Pirates
  • Rush-Bagot Treaty
  • Adams-Onis Treaty
  • Monroe Doctrine
  • Texas Independence
  • Mexican-American War
• Rise of nationalism


  • Cultural nationalism in art, literature, and science
  • Economic nationalism through the American System
  • Political nationalism with the one-party system and the "Era of Good Feelings"
• The Federalist Party declined, leading to the one-party Democratic-Republican system
• The "Era of Good Feelings" was not entirely peaceful, with disputes over issues like tariffs and slavery
• The "Age of the Common Man"


  New state laws allowed more white men to vote, increasing political participation
• The election of Andrew Jackson led to the rise of the two-party system with the Democrats and Whigs
• Women's roles were restricted, with the idea of "Republican Motherhood" and the "Cult of Domesticity"
• The Seneca Falls Declaration of Rights and Sentiments in 1848 outlined grievances and demands for equal rights for women
• The pro-slavery argument was on the rise during this period
• The Democratic Party is similar to the old-school Democratic Republicans and the Whig party is similar to the Federalists in terms of their beliefs
• Women's roles will be restricted and there will be the idea of the cult of domesticity where a woman's place is in the domestic sphere
• As the nation became a republic, there was the idea of Republican motherhood where women should raise good citizens to be active in the democratic process, especially their young sons
• In 1848, the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments at Seneca Falls outlined women's grievances towards the country and demanded full equal rights
• There will be the rise of pro-slavery arguments and racism in both the North and the South, and the complete exclusion of African-Americans and Native people from the national culture
• As the nation moves West, there will be the rise of sectionalism despite the increase in nationalism
• State governments will resist the authority of the federal government, as seen in the Hartford Convention and the Nullification Crisis
• Examples of sectional tensions

  • Second Bank of the United States (supported by North, opposed by South)
  • Internal transportation improvements (favored by West, opposed by state rights supporters)
  • Protective tariff of 1816 (supported by Northern manufacturers, resisted by Southerners)
  • Missouri issue (divided North and South on slavery expansion)
  • Nullification issue (South Carolina resisting tariff)
• There is a commitment to the Union, as seen in the debates between Daniel Webster and Robert Haines, and Andrew Jackson's response to the Nullification Crisis
• The Supreme Court under John Marshall increased the power of the federal government through cases like Marbury v. Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland, and Gibbons v. Ogden
• The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 transformed cotton production and slave ownership became a sign of status in the South, leading to the rise of an aristocratic plantation class
• The majority of Southerners did not own slaves, but supported the institution of slavery in the hope of one day owning slaves themselves
• Southerners developed a code of chivalry and became defensive of the institution of slavery as northerners became critical of it and slave revolts took place
• Slaves relied on extended or surrogate families to maintain emotional bonds and resist the inhumanity of slavery, and many slaves took on Christianity during the Second Great Awakening
• Slave resistance took many forms, including sabotage, running away, work slowdowns, and rebellions like those led by Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner
• The threat of slave rebellions led southern states to pass stricter slave codes
• There was a growing abolitionist movement in the North, with individuals like David Walker, the American Colonization Society, and William Lloyd Garrison and his newspaper The Liberator
• The North developed a unique regional identity with the rise of manufacturing, the factory system, and the growth of cities, while the South relied on southern agriculture and slave labor
• The economic activities of the South and North were linked, with southern cotton providing raw material for manufacturing in the Northeast
• The Second Great Awakening and various social reform movements, such as the temperance movement, prison reform, abolitionism, and women's rights, took place during this period
• Utopian societies, both religious and secular, were established during this time, such as the Mormons, Shakers, and Brook Farm
• Thomas Jefferson


  1800-1816 age of jefferson, third president. Stressed popular acceptance of the basic principles of constitutional gov't.