US1 Conlon Final Exam Notes

I. Founding Era & Early Republic

●​ Federalists split into 2 factions over financial policy & the French Revolution, led by
Hamilton & Jefferson
○​ Jefferson ⇒ agricultural nation governed by local officials
○​ Hamilton ⇒ strong national govt & manufacturing economy

New Constitution
●​ Federalists won the election of 1788 & GW became president
○​ Maintained Confederation’s practices - executive depts of State, Treasury, &
War
○​ TJ heads State, Hamilton heads Treasury
●​ Constitution mandated a supreme court → Judiciary Act of 1789 to create a
national court system
○​ Reflected the Federalists’ desire for a strong national institution
1)​ Federal district courts in each state
2)​ Three circuit courts above them to appeal district courts
3)​ Supreme Court as last resort

Bill of Rights
●​ 10 amendments were approved by Congress & ratified by the states
●​ Safeguard rights - speech, religion, legal procedures
●​ Eased Antifederalists’ fears of oppressive govt & ensured legitimacy of the
Constitution
●​ Addressed issue of federalism - proper balance btwn national/state authority

Hamilton’s Financial Program

●​ Hamilton wished to boost national authority & assist financiers/merchants
●​ Program of national mercantilism - govt-assisted economic development
○​ Created a permanent national debt & boosted wealthy creditors
○​ Also wanted to assume states’ war debts
○​ In return, the capital would be in the South
●​ Split the Federalist factions - Hamilton against Jefferson/Madison

Bank of the US
●​ Provide stability to the American economy which was really poor
●​ Making loans to merchants, handling govt funds, issuing bills of credit
○​ Congress granted a 20-year charter
●​ Strict Interpretation: Jefferson argued that the Bank wasn’t a power explicitly
delegated
 ●​ Loose Interpretation: Hamilton argued that Congress could make all laws
necessary and proper to carry out the provisions of the Constitution

Tariffs
●​ Hamilton imposed excise taxes (taxes on goods) including on whiskey which raised a
lot of money
●​ Angered small farmers who used whiskey as income & currency → Whiskey
Rebellion
○​ Farmers protested, refused to pay, and some attacked tax collectors
○​ The rebellion grew into an armed resistance
○​ Washington sent 13,000 troops to suppress the rebellion
●​ Significance:
○​ First real test of federal authority under the Constitution
○​ Proved that the federal govt could enforce its laws

Neutrality (French Revolution)

●​ French Revolution began in 1789 → in 1793, Washington issued a Proclamation of
Neutrality
○​ Wanted to ensure trade between both France and GB
●​ Citizen Genet: French diplomat sent to the US in 1793 to recruit American citizens
to support France despite neutrality
○​ Violated Washington’s Proclamation of Neutrality
○​ France replaced Genet but he stayed in the US fearing execution in France
●​ After Britain seized American ships, John Jay went to Britain for diplomacy →
Jay’s Treaty
1)​ Britain agreed to withdraw troops from US western forts
2)​ US gained limited trade rights with British colonies in the Caribbean
3)​ No promise from Britain to stop impressment
○​ Jeffersonians believed this favored Britain
○​ Federalists supported the treaty - prevented war & helped the economy
short-term

Relations with Spain

●​ In 1795, Pinckney, a US envoy to Spain negotiated Pinckney’s Treaty
○​ Spain granted the US free navigation of the Mississippi River
○​ US gained the right to deposit goods at New Orleans
○​ Set the northern border of Florida → clarified boundaries
●​ Major diplomatic win for the US & strengthened US control and trade in the
Mississippi River Valley

Rise of Political Parties

●​ First Party System – Division between the Federalists and Republicans
 ○​ Shared public interest collapsed due to conflicts over Hamilton’s fiscal policies
●​ Federalists: Financiers – Merchants/creditors
●​ Republicans: Agriculturalists – Southern tobacco & rice planters, debt-conscious
western farmers, Germans & Scots-Irish in the south, & subsistence farmers in the
Northeast
●​ Washington announced he would not seek a 3rd term → Washington’s Farewell
Address:
○​ Avoid political parties/sectionalism
○​ Avoid permanent foreign alliances
○​ Promote education, religion, and morality
○​ Support the Constitution

Conflicts Under Adams’ Presidency

●​ Adams became president in 1796 & Federalists gained a majority in Congress
○​ Jefferson became vice president
●​ Adams continued Hamilton’s pro-British policy
●​ France was angry about Jay’s treaty → seized Americans ships → XYZ Affair
○​ US diplomats went to France to negotiate
○​ French agents (X, Y, and Z) demanded bribes and loans before talks could
begin
○​ Americans were outraged & strengthened US nationalism → sparked the
Quasi-War
●​ Quasi-War with France:
○​ Triggered by the XYZ affair & ongoing French attacks on American ships
trading with Britain
○​ Fought mostly at sea but no formal declaration of war by either side
○​ Asserted US independence in foreign affairs
○​ Tensions btwn Federalists (strong response) and Democratic-Republicans
(supported France)
●​ Federalists jointly became hostile to the French Republic & the Republicans →
enacted the Alien & Sedition Acts in 1798:
○​ Naturalization Act: Increased time to become a US citizen
○​ Alien Act: Detain/deport non-citizens deemed dangerous
○​ Alien Enemies Act: Wartime arrest/deportation of citizens from enemy nations
○​ Sedition Act: Crime to criticize the govt
●​ Sparked a constitutional crisis - Madison & Jefferson turned to state legislatures →
Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions
○​ States have the right to challenge/nullify federal laws they believe violate the
Constitution
○​ Didn’t lead to immediate nullification but became a basis for later states’
rights arguments
○​ Deepened the divide btwn Federalists & Democratic-Republicans
II. Jeffersonian & Early Madison Era (1800-1815)

Election/Revolution of 1800
●​ Tie between Adams and Burr & House of Reps had to break the tie
●​ Jefferson was chosen as president & Burr became vice president
○​ First peaceful transfer of power between political parties from federalists to
Democratic-Republicans
●​ 12th Amendment - presidents and VP run on the same ticket
●​ Federalists lost influence - Jefferson + next few presidents reversed many policies &
actively supported westward expansion

Barbary Pirates
●​ For a few decades the Barbary Pirates had been raiding merchant ships &
demanded an annual bribe to protect vessels
●​ Jefferson initially refused but then signed a peace treaty that returned prisoners
●​ 1815 → President Madison sent a fleet of warships to force leaders to respect
American sovereignty

National Judiciary
●​ Jefferson inherited Federalist appointees including John Marshall
●​ President Adams filled many positions (that were newly opened by the Judiciary
Act of 1801) at the last moment with midnight judges
●​ James Madison refused to give Marbury (midnight judge) his letters → Marbury v.
Madison
○​ Marshall argued that although the clause did give Marbury the right to get
the letter, the clause itself was unconstitutional
○​ Established judicial review
●​ Jefferson & the Republicans reversed other Federalist policies by charging them as
unconstitutional and using executive powers
○​ Abolished internal taxes, reduced the army, ousted other midnight judges
○​ Retained competent policies and officeholders - Bank of the US

Louisiana Purchase
●​ Napoleon started expanding in Haiti and Louisiana but after resistance, he sold the
territory for $15 million
●​ Forced Jefferson to reconsider his strict interpretation of the Constitution - used its
treaty-making powers
●​ Some Federalists feared western expansion and discussed leaving the Union and
forming a confederacy of northeastern states → won the support of Burr → Burr
Conspiracy
○​ After killing Hamilton, Burr’s political career collapsed
 ○​ Planned:
■​ Create an independent nation in the American Southwest
■​ Seize New Orleans/LA Territory
■​ Lead a rebellion and break up the US
○​ Partnered with Wilkinson who later betrayed him
○​ Gathered armed followers but the plan unraveled
○​ Jefferson had Burr arrested and charged with treason - first major treason
trial
○​ Acquitted by John Marshall due to lack of concrete evidence of war against
the US → ruined reputation

Louisiana Territory
●​ Jefferson sent Lewis & Clark
○​ Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Sacagawea
○​ Mapped vast western areas
○​ Collected valuable scientific and geographic information
○​ Strengthened US claims to the Oregon Territory

Battle of Tippecanoe
●​ Supported by the British, Shawnee war chief Tecumseh revived the Indian Western
Confederacy
●​ William Henry Harrison – governor of the Indiana Territory – destroyed
Prophetstown at the Battle of Tippecanoe

III. War of 1812 & Afterwards (1812-1824)

Road to the War of 1812

●​ British Orders in Council: series of British laws that restricted neutral trade,
especially targeting France during the Napoleonic Wars
○​ Required neutral ships (including American) to stop at British ports before
trading with Europe
○​ Aimed to blockade Napoleon’s Europe & weaken the French economy
○​ Britain also seized ships that didn’t comply
●​ Chesapeake Affair: British warship boarded an American Ship USS Chesapeake
and killed & impressed American soldiers
○​ Increased tensions with Britain & calls for war
○​ Led to the Embargo Act
●​ Embargo Act: Jefferson banned all American ships from foreign trade to punish
Britain and France for attacking American ships and violating neutrality
●​ Nonintercourse Act: Repealed the Embargo Act; allowed trade with all nations
except Britain and France
 ●​ Macon’s Bill No. 2: Reopened trade with France, but promised that if one side
recognized American neutrality, the US would stop trade with the other
○​ Napoleon promised to stop violations
○​ US embargoed Britain
●​ War Hawks:
○​ As a result of Britain assisting Indians in western territories & seizing
American ships in the Atlantic, War Hawks pushed President Madison
toward war, including Henry Clay & John C. Calhoun
○​ Wanted to seize territory in British Canada & Spanish Florida

The War of 1812

●​ Madison asked Congress to declare war on Britain – Congress voted in favor
○​ Federalists voted against the war
○​ Democratic-Republicans supported the war
●​ Main Causes of the War of 1812:
○​ British impressment of American sailors
○​ Interference with US trade
○​ British support for Native American resistance on the frontier
○​ Desire by War Hawks to expand into Canada
●​ Major Events of the War of 1812:
○​ US invasion of Canada failed
○​ British burned Washington, DC in 1814
○​ Battle of Fort McHenry inspired the Star-Spangled Banner
○​ Battle of New Orleans in 1815 was a major US victory under Andrew Jackson
although it was fought after the war ended
●​ New England federalists opposed the war & prohibited their states’ militias from
attacking Canada
○​ Boston merchants/banks refused to lend money to the govt → made the war
difficult to finance
●​ Treaty of Ghent (1814): Ended the war with no clear winner
○​ No land changes, but restored peace
●​ In 1814, New England Federalists who were upset about the war’s economic impact
& Democratic-Republican control met at the Hartford Convention
○​ Met to discuss grievances & propose constitutional amendments
○​ Bad timing - right after the Treaty of Ghent & Battle of New Orleans made
the Federalists look disloyal and unpatriotic
○​ Led to the collapse of the Federalist Party & marked the end of major
opposition to the Democratic-Republicans

Republican Revolution
●​ After the war, the Republicans split into 2 camps led by Henry Clay & Madison
 ●​ Under Henry Clay’s American System, National Republicans pursued
Federalist-like policies
○​ Pushed through the Second Bank of the US
○​ Won passage of the Bonus Bill, which created a national fund for roads &
other internal improvements
●​ Madison supported traditional Jeffersonian Republican principles & vetoed the
Bonus Bill
○​ National govt lacked the constitutional authority to fund internal
improvements
●​ Albert Gallatin: Secretary of the Treasury under Jefferson & Madison
○​ Helped reduce the national debt significantly
○​ Cut military spending & govt expenses
○​ Opposed the Federalist economic programs, especially Hamilton’s plan
○​ Supported funding for internal improvements

Marshall’s Federalist Law

●​ Despite the fall of the Federalist party, its policies still lived on due to John
Marshall’s long tenure on the Supreme Court
●​ Defined by judicial authority, supremacy of national laws, & traditional property
rights
●​ McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): State of Maryland tried to tax the Second Bank of
the US
○​ Marshall ruled that Congress can create a bank using the Elastic Clause
○​ States cannot tax the federal government
○​ Reinforced federal supremacy
●​ Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): Ogden had a state-granted monopoly from NY to operate
steamboats & Thomas Gibbons had a federal license to operate in the same waters
○​ Ogden sued Gibbons for violating the state monopoly
○​ Marshall ruled that only Congress can regulate interstate commerce, not the
states
○​ NY’s monopoly was unconstitutional
●​ Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819): NH tried to change Dartmouth College
from a private to a public institution
○​ Wanted to alter the college’s original charter granted by King George III
○​ Marshall ruled that the charter is a contract & states cannot interfere with or
change private contracts
○​ Strengthened protection of private property & contracts
○​ Limited state power over private institutions

John Quincy Adams’ Diplomatic Legacy

●​ John Quincy Adams was crucial in negotiating the Treaty of Ghent which ended the
War of 1812, then served as secretary of state for 2 terms under Monroe
 ○​ Negotiated the Rush-Bagot Treaty & the Adams-Onis Treaty
○​ Pursued Monroe to declare the Monroe Doctrine
●​ Rush-Bagot Treaty (1817): agreement between the US & GB that demilitarized
the Great Lakes & limited naval forces on both sides
●​ Adams-Onis Treaty (1819): agreement between the US and Spain
○​ US gained Florida from Spain
○​ Spain gave up its claim to the Oregon Territory
○​ US gave up claims to Texas
○​ Set the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase
●​ Monroe Doctrine: issued by Monroe & written largely by John Quincy Adams
○​ Europe must not colonize or interfere in the Western Hemisphere
○​ Any European attempt to do so would be seen as a threat to US security
○​ In return, the US would stay out of European affairs
●​ Era of Good Feelings: Period of national unity, patriotism, and political harmony
under Monroe after the War of 1812
○​ Collapse of the Federalist party → only one major political party
○​ Growth of national pride and identity
○​ Expansion of infrastructure, industry, and westward settlement
○​ Strong influence of Henry Clay’s American System

IV. Antebellum America (1820s-1840s)

Credit and Banking

●​ After the War of 1812, local banks were increasingly founded
○​ Jeffersonians attacked the Bank of the US as unconstitutional
○​ State legislatures chartered their own banks
●​ Bad banking practices overall led to the Panic of 1819
○​ Causes:
■​ Over-speculation in western land
■​ Easy credit from state banks & Second Bank of the US
■​ Falling agricultural prices
■​ European demand for US goods dropped after the Napoleonic Wars
○​ Effects:
■​ Bank failures, foreclosures, and unemployment
■​ Widespread debt and bankruptcy
■​ Increased support for Andrew Jackson’s anti-bank stance later on

Transportation and the Market Revolution

●​ A commonwealth system developed that funneled aid to internal improvement
projects
●​ Transportation Revolution: rapid growth and innovation in transportation,
including roads, canals, steamboats, and railroads
 ○​ Ex: Erie Canal, built in 1825, linked Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean
○​ Boosted Westward expansion and urban growth
○​ Increased national unity and economic development
●​ The Market Revolution as the economic boom resulting from new banking and
transportation systems where Americans had more capital and opportunities to use
that capital

Industrial Revolution
●​ In the first half of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution Came to the United
States
●​ The cotton complex was the relationship between northern industry and southern
agriculture
○​ Merchants and manufacturers invested in new textile mills, which created a
vast demand for cotton, which transformed the southern economy
○​ Southern planters poured capital into land and slaves
●​ Waltham & Lowell Mills: Early American textile factories that combined all steps
of cloth production under one roof
○​ Used water power and machinery to mass-produce textiles
○​ Employed young, unmarried women from New England farmies
○​ Strict Waltham-Lowell System with strict regulations for these women
○​ Female workers struck back after wage reductions
●​ Robert Fulton and the Clermont:
○​ Robert Fulton: American inventor who developed the first successful
commercial steamboat
○​ Clermont was the first commercially successful steamboat to navigate up the
Hudson River from NYC to Albany

Jacksonian Era
Missouri Crisis
●​ Missouri applied for admission to the Union in 1819, creating conflict over whether
Missouri would enter as a slave or free state
●​ Southern Pro-Slavery Argument:
○​ Principle of equal rights - Congress couldn’t impose conditions on Missouri
that it didn’t on other territories
○​ State’s sovereignty gives rights to internal affairs and domestic institutions,
including slavery
○​ Congress had no authority to infringe on the property rights of individual
slaveholders
○​ Religious justifications - Christ gave a sanction to slavery
○​ Slavery is a positive good - planter aristocracy + paternalism
 ●​ Speaker of the House Henry Clay devised a series of political agreements known
collectively as the Missouri Compromise
○​ Maine enters the Union as a free state & Missouri enters as a slave state
○​ Slavery is prohibited above the 36°30’ except for Missouri

Election of 1824
●​ Andrew Jackson won the most popular & electoral votes but didn’t get the majority
○​ National Republicans: John Quincy Adams + Henry Clay
○​ Jeffersonian Republican: William Crawford
●​ Election was decided by the House of Representatives & Henry Clay supported
Adams
●​ Adams was chosen as president & Adams appointed Clay as Secretary of State
●​ Jackson and his supporters called it a Corrupt Bargain - believed they made a deal
to secure the presidency

John Quincy Adams’ Policies

●​ Endorsed Henry Clay’s American System + its 3 elements:
○​ Protective tariffs to stimulate manufacturing
○​ Federally subsidized roads & canals to facilitate commerce
○​ National bank to control credit & provide a uniform currency
●​ Popular in the northeast/midwest but not in the South
○​ Planters opposed protective tariffs bc they raised the price of manufactures
○​ Feared powerful banks could force them into bankruptcy
○​ Some argued that the American System was the responsibility of the states
●​ Tariff of Abominations was passed under Adams in 1828 & raised the cost of
imported goods
○​ Helped Northern manufacturers by reducing foreign competition
○​ Hurt the Southern economy, which relied on imported goods and exported
○​ Southerners hated it, especially in South Carolina
●​ In response to the Tariff, Vice President John C. Calhoun anonymously wrote the
South Carolina Exposition and Protest
○​ Constitutional arguments that protective tariffs and other national
legislation that operated unequally on the various states lacked fairness and
legitimacy
○​ State convention could declare a congressional law to be void within the
state’s borders
○​ Based on Jefferson & Madison’s arguments in the Kentucky and Virginia
Resolutions of 1798

Jackson in Power
●​ Jackson was elected in 1829
●​ Used his popular mandate to transform the national govt
 ●​ Enhanced presidential authority, destroyed the mercantilist and nationalist
American System, established a new ideology of limited govt, and supported Indian
removal
●​ Jackson used the spoils system to reward his allies and win backing for his policies
- rotation of officeholders
●​ Jackson vetoed four internal improvement bills in 1830, including an extension of
the National Road bc they were states’ powers
○​ Thus undermined the case for protective tariffs by eliminating expenses
●​ In the face of fierce opposition to high tariffs throughout the South/South Carolina,
planters attacked the tariff

Nullification
●​ In 1832, Congress reenacted the Tariff of Abominations
●​ In response, South Carolina called a state convention & adopted an Ordinance of
Nullification, which rested on the constitutional arguments developed in the South
Carolina Exposition and Protest
○​ Prohibited the collection of duties in South Carolina
○​ Threatened secession if federal officials tried to collect them
●​ Jackson declared that the Ordinance violated the Constitution & passed a military
Force Bill → compelled South Carolina’s obedience to national laws
●​ Jackson passed a new tariff act that reduced tariff rates → South Carolina didn’t
press its constitutional stance on nullification

Bank War
●​ Jackson opposed the bank & wanted to destroy it according to his populist vision of
protecting the common man
○​ Believed it was unconstitutional & elitist, favoring the rich and the powerful
○​ Gave too much power to private bankers - especially the Bank’s president
Nicholas Biddle
●​ In 1832, Jackson vetoed the Bank’s recharter Bill
●​ In 1833, Jackson ordered federal funds removed from the Bank & placed in pet
banks, which were state banks that were loyal to him
○​ Led to a financial struggle between Jackson and Biddle
●​ Weakened the Second Bank of the US which expired in 1836
●​ Contributed to inflation & speculation → Panic of 1837
●​ Deepened the split between Jacksonian Democrats + emerging Whigs

Indian Removal
●​ Georgia gave up its western land claims in return for a federal promise to extinguish
Indian landholdings in the state
●​ Jackson withdrew the federal troops that had protected Indian enclaves
 ●​ Jackson pushed the Indian Removal Act of 1830 which authorized the forced
relocation of Indian tribes east of the Mississippi River to lands in the west
○​ Affected the Five Civilized Tribes - Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw,
and Seminole
○​ Led to the Trail of Tears where thousands died from disease and starvation
●​ Cherokee claimed the status of a foreign nation in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
○​ Argued that Georgia’s actions violated treaties and their sovereignty
○​ Marshall ruled that the Cherokee Nation was not a foreign nation but a
domestic dependent nation & had no jurisdiction to hear the case
●​ In Worcester v. Georgia, Marshall and the Court sided with the Cherokees
○​ Missionaries living on Cherokee land without Georgia’s permission were
arrested & argued that Georgia had no authority over Cherokee territory
○​ Marshall ruled that the Cherokee Nation was as sovereign nation & Georgia
had no authority
○​ Jackson ignored the ruling & Georgia continued Indian Removal

2nd National Party

●​ Mid 1830s, a second national party of the Whigs created
●​ First Party System: Federalists vs Jeffersoniain Republicans, which ended with the
collapse of the Federalist Party & the “era of good feeling”
●​ Second Party System: Whigs vs Democrats, which ended when the Whig Party
fractured in the 1850s
●​ Whig Party arose in 1834 to contest Jackson’s policies and conduct
○​ Accused Jackson of violating the Constitution with his spoils system &
undermining elected legislators
○​ “King Andrew I”
○​ Under Webster, Clay, and Calhoun, they became a cohesive party celebrating
the entrepreneur & moneyed capitalists
●​ Southern Whigs consisted of wealthy planters who invested in railroads/banks or
sold their cotton to NY merchants & poorer whites who resented the power of
Democratic planters
○​ Under Calhoun, southern Whigs rejected their party’s high tariffs and social
mobility
○​ Common enemy of enslaved blacks and propertyless whites

Whig Conflict
●​ Many Whig voters previously supported the Anti-Masons which opposed the Order
of Freemasonry → gravitated to the Whig Party
●​ Election of 1836 → Whigs v. Democratic MVB
○​ MVB denounced the American System & condemned Whigs
○​ Whigs ran four candidates but still didn’t win
Panic of 1837
●​ Began shortly after MVB became president
●​ Causes:
○​ Speculation in land and unstable banking practices
○​ Jackson’s policies:
■​ Bank War - destruction of the 2nd BUS
■​ Specie Circular: Required gold/silver for land purchases
○​ Collapse of state pet banks
○​ Decline in British investment and falling cotton prices
●​ Effects:
○​ Bank failures, business bankruptcies, widespread unemployment
○​ People lost savings and homes
○​ Van Buren resisted govt intervention & deepened the crisis
●​ Damaged the Democratic Party & hurt MVB’s reputation → helped the Whig Party
gain support for William Henry Harrison’s win in 1840

Reform Era
Second Great Awakening
●​ Major religious revival movement in the early 1800s which emphasized personal
salvation, emotional preaching, and moral reform
●​ Key beliefs:
○​ Salvation is open to all individuals
○​ Free will + individual responsibility
○​ Active faith thru good works and social action
●​ Inspired many reform movements like abolition of slavery, temperance (anti-alcohol,
women’s rights, and prison/education reform)
○​ William Lloyd Garrison: Radical abolitionist, journalist, social reformer;
founded The Liberator which was an anti-slavery newspaper, co-founded the
American Anti-Slavery Society, criticized for being too radical
○​ Separate Spheres: Belief that men and women had different roles in society
- public (work, politics, business) vs private (home, family, morality) sphere
○​ Horace Mann: Education reformer and politician, believed that education
should be free, universal, moral, and nonsectarian
○​ Seneca Falls Convention: First women’s rights convention in the US held
in 1848 - Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott
■​ Produced the Declaration of Sentiments which asserted that women
are equal to men, right to vote, education/employment/marriage
reforms
 ○​ Frederick Douglass: Former slave who escaped to freedom and became an
abolitionist, orator, writer, and social reformer; founded The North Star,
advocated for immediate emancipation
○​ Dorothea Dix: Focused on improving conditions for the mentally ill and
prisoners
○​ Nat Turner: Slave who led one of the most significant slave rebellions in US
history in 1831 → captured, tried, executed
○​ Underground Railroad: Secret network of routes and safe houses used to
help slaves escape from the South to free states and Canada
●​ New denominations - Methodists, Baptists
○​ Mormonism: Founded by Joseph Smith in early 1800s, faced persecution for
beliefs and practices, forced to move multiple times, settled in Utah Territory
○​ Unitarianism: God is one, not three persons, Jesus is a great moral teacher
but not divine, humans are inherently good, reason + ethics are central to
faith
○​ Transcendentalism: Founded by Ralph Waldo Emerson, influenced by
unitarianism, and stressed individual intuition/spiritual connection with
nature, inherent goodness of people, rejected organized religion and
materialism
●​ Intellectuals and Literature:
○​ Henry David Thoreau: American writer who was a leader in the
Transcendentalist movement, advocated simple living and individual
conscience, Walden & Civil Disobedience
○​ Walt Whitman: American writer who was a leader in the Transcendentalist
movement, celebrated democracy/individualism/the common man, Leaves of
Grass

Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1840)

●​ Treaty between the US and GB that settled border disputes btwn the US and British
North American Colonies (Canada)
●​ Established the northeast boundary btwn Maine and Canada
●​ Settled the border of the Great Lakes region
●​ Agreed on joint efforts to suppress the slave trade along the African coast

Manifest Destiny
Society
●​ Middling Classes: The growing middle class during the Market Revolution
○​ Shopkeepers, small business owners, clerks, teachers, artisans, skilled
workers
○​ Distinct from both wealthy elites and manual laborers/poor
 ○​ Strong believers in “separate spheres” and the cult of domesticity
●​ Yeomen: Small, independent farmers who owned and worked their own land -
no/few slaves
○​ Typically grew subsistence crops and some cash crops
○​ Largest group of white southern farmers
●​ American System of Manufacturing: System of mass production using
interchangeable parts and mechanized tools
○​ First widely used in gun manufacturing
○​ Mechanization reduced need for skilled labor
○​ Revolutionized industrial production in the US & spread to industries like
textiles, clocks, sewing machines

Western Settlement
●​ After winning independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico started pursuing a
settlement policy & offered land grants to both its citizens & American emigrants
●​ Stephen Austin: “Father of Texas” - led the first legal American settlement in
Mexican Texas
○​ Received permission to settle 300 American families in Texas under Mexican
rule
●​ Texans opposed Mexican laws banning slavery and restricting immigration from the
US
●​ Mexican President Santa Anna increasingly centralized power and military
enforcement

Texan Rebellion
●​ 1836 → American rebels proclaimed the independence of Texas and adopted a
constitution legalizing slavery
●​ To put down the rebellion, Santa Anna led the Battle of the Alamo (1836) where
Texan defenders were killed by Mexican forces
○​ Increased nationalist sentiment after the Alamo and the massacre at Goliad
→ American adventurers joined rebel forces
●​ Battle of San Jacinto was a decisive Texan victory led by Sam Houston, resulting in
Santa Anna’s capture → de facto independence that Mexico didn’t recognize
●​ Texans voted for annexation by the US but President MVB refused to bring the issue
before Congress → feared a war & sectionalizing conflict

Push to the Pacific

●​ Manifest Destiny: Belief that the US was destined to expand across the North
American continent
●​ Divine right and mission to spread democracy, civilization, and freedom
●​ Oregon:
 ○​ In 1818, bc of overlapping trade activities, Britain and the US agreed to joint
control of the Oregon Country → settlement by both nations
○​ In the mid-1800s, American interest in Oregon spiked - “Oregon fever” -
thousands braved the Oregon Trail to move to Oregon, California, and the
Utah Territor
●​ California:
○​ Some migrants from the Oregon Trail settled in California and settled around
the Sacramento River where there were few Mexicans
○​ Dozens of agents were dispatched to buy leather from California

Election of 1844
●​ James K. Polk (D), Henry Clay (W), Birney (Liberal Party)
●​ Main issues were the annexation of Texas, manifest destiny, and expansion of
slavery
○​ Calls for American sovereignty over the entire Oregon Country
●​ James K. Polk ran on the platform of “Fifty-four forty or fight” - false claim that
both Texas and Oregon already belonged to the US

Mexican War
●​ Democrats admitted Texas using a joint resolution of Congress instead of ratifying a
treaty of annexation - needed less votes
●​ Aggressive occupation of Mexican lands
●​ US and Mexican armies clashed near the Rio Grande → declared war & the US soon
took control of northeastern Mexico
●​ Revolts in California → Bear Flag Republic
●​ American forces seized the Mexican capital which cost Santa Anna his presidency →
new Mexican govt made a forced peace with the US
●​ Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo: Signed in 1848, the US agreed to pay Mexico $15
million in return for more than ⅓ of its territory
●​ In 1848 Congress also created the Oregon Territory & granted farm-sized plots of
land
●​ Mr. Polk’s War became a nickname for the Mexican-American war
○​ Critics - northern Whigs - saw it as a war of aggression to expand slave
territory under the banner of Manifest Destiny

Free Soil Politics

●​ Wilmot Proviso: Ban on slavery in any territories gained from the war with Mexico
→ didn’t pass
●​ Free Soil Ideology: A political movement that opposed the expansion of slavery
○​ Depicted slavery as a threat to republicanism and to the Jeffersonian ideal of
a freeholder society
○​ Arguments that won broad support among aspiring white farmers
Election of 1848
●​ Right after the Mexican-American War
●​ Taylor (W) vs Cass (D) vs MVB (Free-Soil)
●​ Key issues:
○​ Slavery in the new western territories gained from Mexico, popular
sovereignty/federal decision on slavery, rise of the Free Soil Party
●​ Taylor won the election

Compromise of 1850
●​ Gold rush → miners moved to California & California gained enough of a population
to apply for statehood
○​ Brought up the question of slavery/free states
●​ Idea of popular sovereignty first came - that ultimate power lies in the hands of
the voters
●​ Henry Clay’s Omnibus Bill: Package of proposals introduced by Clay (The Great
Compromiser) to settle tensions btwn North and South over slavery and land from
the Mexican-American War
○​ Failed to pass as a whole in Congress → Stephen Douglas broke the bill into
separate measures which were eventually passed individually as the
Compromise of 1850
●​ 5 separate laws collectively known as the Compromise of 1850 passed due to
Henry Clay and Stephen Douglas
○​ California admitted as a free state
○​ Utah and New Mexico territories organized with popular sovereignty
○​ Slave trade banned in Washington, DC
○​ Fugitive Slave Act passed, requiring citizens to help unfairly capture
runaway slaves
○​ Texas gave up some western land claims in exchange for $10 million
●​ Daniel Webster: Prominent Whig statesman and orator - famous for his speeches
defending the Union and promoting nationalism, supported the Compromise of 1850
●​ Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin in line with strengthening
abolitionist sentiment in the north
●​ Many states passed personal liberty laws in response that guaranteed to all
residents, including alleged escapees from slavery, the right to a jury trial

Election of 1852
●​ Pierce (D) vs Scott (W) vs Hale (Free-Soil)
●​ Pierce won & pursued expansionism domestically & internationally
○​ Gadsden Purchase: Purchase of land from Mexico that became Arizona and
New Mexico → allowed to build a transcontinental railroad from New
Orleans to Los Angeles
Nativism
●​ Movement favoring the interests of native-born Americans over immigrants
●​ Immigrants (especially Catholics) were a threat to American jobs, culture, and
politics
●​ American / Know-Nothing Party: Anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic political party
that arose in response to mass immigration - also an antislavery/free soil outlook
○​ Elected to the House of Reps & given ctrl of state govts of Massachusetts and
Pennsylvania → seemed to be on pace to replacing the Whigs

Ostend Manifesto (1854)

●​ Secret document written by American diplomats in Ostend, Belgium
●​ Proposed the US should buy Cuba from Spain & implied the US might take it by
force if Spain refused
●​ Goal was to expand Southern slaveholding territory by adding Cuba as a slave state
→ caused outrage, especially in the North, when leaked to the public

Bleeding Kansas
Emergence of the Republican Party
●​ Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854: Proposed by Senator Douglas, created the territories
of Kansas and Nebraska, and allowed popular sovereignty
●​ Repealed the Missouri Compromise line & opened new territories to possible
expansion of slavery
●​ Split the Democratic Party, destroyed the Whig Party, helped launch the Republican
Party - former Democrats joined ex-Whigs and Free Soil supporters to form the
Republican Party
○​ Opposed the expansion of slavery into western territories
○​ Supported the preservation of the Union
○​ Promoted free labor, free soil, and free men

Bleeding Kansas
●​ Period of violent conflict in the Kansas Territory between pro-slavery and
anti-slavery settlers - incentivized by winning popular sovereignty
●​ Border Ruffians (pro-slavery Missourians) crossed into Kansas to influence the vote
●​ Anti-slavery settlers formed their own government in protest
○​ Proslavery govt: Lecompton
○​ Antislavery govt: Topeka
●​ Sack of Lawrence (1856): pro-slavery mob attacked a Free Soil town
●​ Pottawatomie Massacre: abolitionist John Brown and followers killed 5 pro-slavery
settlers in relatiation
 ●​ Charles Sumner & Preston Brooks: In Congress, Republican senator Charles
Sumner accused Andrew Butler of having taken “the harlot slavery” as his mistress
→ Butler’s cousin Preston Brooks beat him unconscious with a cane
●​ Election of 1856 → James Buchanan (D) won

Dred Scott Case (1857)

●​ Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom because he lived in free territories
(Illinois & Wisconsin)
●​ Justice Taney ruled against Dred Scott
○​ African Americans (slave or free) were not US citizens and couldn’t sue in
federal court
○​ Congress had no power to ban slavery in the territories → declared the
Missouri Compromise unconstitutional
○​ Enslaved people were considered property, protected by the 5th Amendment

V. Civil War

Road to the Civil War

Lincoln-Douglas Debates
●​ In 1858, Lincoln ran for the US Senate seat held by Stephen Douglas
●​ Lincoln-Douglas Debates: series of debates btwn Lincoln & Douglas held during
the Illinois Senate race which focused mainly on the issue of slavery in the
territories
●​ Key issues:
○​ Expansion of slavery and popular sovereignty
○​ Dred Scott decision
○​ Douglas’ Freeport Doctrine (territories could exclude slavery by not
supporting it legally)
●​ Douglas won the Senate seat but Lincoln gained national attention and became a
leading Republican figure

Election of 1860
●​ Lincoln (R) vs Douglas (N. D) vs Breckinridge (S. D) vs Bell (Const. Union)
○​ Republicans opposed expansion of slavery
○​ Northern Dems supported popular sovereignty
○​ Southern Dems wanted federal protection for slavery in the territories
○​ Bell focused on preserving the Union and avoiding secession
●​ Lincoln won with less than the popular vote but a majority in the Electoral College
●​ Support came entirely from the North and West - not on the ballot in Southern
states
The Civil War
Confederate States of America
●​ First Group - following South Carolina, states in the deep south began to secede -
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas
●​ Second Group - after Fort Sumter, the upper south seceded - Virginia, Arkansas,
Tennessee, North Carolina
●​ Confederate States of America was formed in 1861 in Alabama
○​ Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was chosen as president
○​ Constitution resembled that of the US but created a weak central govt
○​ Guaranteed slavery & the president served 6-year terms
●​ Border States - slave states that chose not to secede - Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland,
Delaware

Secession Reaction in the North

●​ Crittenden Compromise: last-ditch proposal to prevent Civil War, aimed to
appease the South by protecting slavery where it already existed
○​ Restore the Missouri Compromise line (36°30’) across all US territories
○​ Guarantee slavery’s protection in existing slave states
○​ Prohibit Congress from interfering with slavery in states or Washington, DC
○​ Protect owners of fugitive slaves
●​ Rejected by Republicans, including President-elect Lincoln - oposed the expansion of
slavery into the territories → failed in Congress
●​ Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address: Declared that secession was illegal & committed
to not interfere with slavery where it already existed, and intending to protect
federal property by force if necessary
●​ Jefferson Davis tried to seize Fort Sumter → Union surrendered → Lincoln called on
75,000 state militiamen

Early Expectations for the War

●​ Patriotic fervor throughout both the Union and Confederate armies
●​ Especially in the south - strong military tradition and culture of masculine honor
●​ Confederates identified with the American colonists during the time of the
Revolution

Confederate Strategy
●​ Only needed to defend new boundaries to achieve independence
●​ 9 million people → huge armies & slaves could produce food for the army and raw
cotton for export
●​ Cotton Diplomacy: Strategy to use cotton exports to gain foreign support,
especially from Britain and France → diplomatic recognition & military/financial aid
from major European powers - failed
 ○​ Britain and France had stockpiled cotton before the war
○​ They turned to other suppliers like Egypt and India
○​ European nations opposed slavery and were hesitant to support a
slaveholding rebellion
○​ The Union’s naval blockade limited Southern exports
●​ Trent Affair: US naval captain intercepted a British ship The Trent to capture to
Convederate diplomats en route to London
○​ Nearly caused war btwn the US and Britain → Lincoln released the prisoners
and crisis subsided
●​ Robert E. Lee: Confederate general and commander of the Army of NoVa - known
for military skill, leadership, loyalty to Virginia over the Union
○​ Turned down command of Union forces at start of the war
○​ Led Confederate forces in the Second Battle of Bull Run, Antietam,
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg

Union Strategy
●​ Needed to bring the rebellious states back into the Union to win the war
●​ Winfield Scott proposed economic sanctions + naval blockade but Lincoln thought it
was to slow → aggressive military campaign to restore the Union
●​ Hoped for a quick strike against capital at Richmond - battle of Bull Run/Manassas
○​ Confederates counterattacked and DC grew vulnerable → showed the
rebellion’s strength
○​ Next attempt → advanced slowly toward Richmond which allowed
Confederates to mount a counterstrike → Union withdrew again
●​ Lincoln wanted to keep strategic border slave states
○​ Secessionists in Maryland destroyed railroad bridges and telegraph lines →
Lincoln suspended habeas corpus & ordered Union troops to arrest
sympathizers which Democrats disagreed over
○​ Ex parte Merryman: Landmark court case that challenged Lincoln’s
suspension of habeas corpus; Taney ruled that only Congress could suspend
habeas corpus which Lincoln ignored - protecting the Union required
extraordinary powers
○​ In Kentucky, Lincoln allowed trade with the Cofederacy to continue -
following a Union takeover, the responsive Confederate attack hurt the
rebellion’s reputation
●​ General Grant used ironclads (riverboats clad with iron plates) to capture forts
along the Tennessee River
●​ Bare Union victories kept Missouri although they did not end violent local conflicts
throughout the war
●​ Naval forces captured New Orleans from the Gulf of Mexico which was the Deep
South’s financial center and largest city & took ctrl of 1500 plantations and slaves
●​ William Seward: Secretary of State under Lincoln and Johnson
 ○​ Managed foreign affairs during the Civil War, helping to keep European
powers neutral
○​ Helped prevent British and French intervention in the Civil War

Antietam
●​ 2nd Battle of Bull Run → Union win & didn’t follow Lee’s retreat into Virginia
●​ Antietam → bloodiest single day in US military history - Union victory
●​ Lincoln criticized McClellan for not pursuing Lee, dismissed him, searched for an
aggressive commanding general

Emancipation
●​ Slaves freed themselves and followed Union camps → Congress passed the
Confiscation Act which provided legal status to the refugees by authorizing the
seizure of all property used to support the rebellion
●​ Radical Republicans: Members of the Republican Party who were bitterly opposed
to slavery and to southern slave owners; used wartime legislation to destroy slavery
○​ Salmon Chase, Charles Sumner, Thaddeus Stevens
○​ Persuaded Congress to end slavery in DC/federal territories
○​ Passed a 2nd Confiscation Act - all slaves who reached Union lines/armies
were forever free
●​ Emancipation Proclamation: Executive order issued by Lincoln that freed
enslaved people in Confederate states still in rebellion
○​ Didn’t free slaves in border states or areas already under union control
○​ Changed the moral purpose of the Civil War & allowed for enlistment of
Black soldiers in the Union Army
○​ Helped persuade Britain and France to refrain from recognizing the
Confederacy
●​ Changed military policy and popular sentiment
○​ Former slaves served in the army → northern whites were ok with this after
thousands of casualties
○​ Black union soldiers earned less, segregated regiments, higher disease death
rates
○​ Confederates treated black Union priosners as runaway slaves & execute
officers for inciting slave rebellion

Hard War in the Union

●​ Lincoln committed the Union to mobilizing all its resources - economic, political,
cultural
○​ Central govt + bold policies to pursue victory
○​ Fresh body of volunteer slave/African American soldiers
●​ Confederacy also centralized authority to harness resources
●​ Union had 2x the population of the Confederacy
 ○​ Better equipped to sustain a long & massive conflict
○​ Union canals were better than Confederate railroads but still more of both in
the Union than in the Confederacy
○​ Modernizing agricultural technology → food supply didn’t diminish as prices
rose
●​ Repubican economic and fiscal policies:
○​ Govt-assisted economic development - high tariffs, Homestead Act (free
land to farmers to boost agro output), integrated network of national banks,
transcontinental railroad
○​ Won allegiance of farmers, workers, entrepreneurs while also boosting Union
resources
○​ New industries - guns, clothes, food
○​ Republican revenue system:
■​ Increasing tariffs, high duties on alcohol and tobacco, taxes on
business corps, large inheritances, high incomes
■​ Interest-paying bonds issued by the US treasury
■​ National Bank Act: Created a national banking system - established
nationally chartered banks regulated by the federal govt which were
allowed to issue national bank notes backed by US govt bonds
■​ Legal Tender Act authorized $150 million in paper currency
(greenbacks) & required the public to accept them as legal tender
that couldn’t be exchanged for specie
●​ Enrollment Act - Union’s draft - major opposition, riots, killing
○​ In contested areas, the govt treated draft resisters & enemy sympathizers
ruthlessly → imprisoned thousands but mostly used incentives to lure
recruites

Confederate Policies and Conflicts

●​ Despite economic demands, the Confederacy initially left most matters to states, but
then later increased national ctrl
○​ Govt-owned shipyards, armories, textile mills, commandered
resources/materials, requisitioned slaves to fortifications, & directly
controlled foreign trade
●​ Confederate Congress opposed these initiatives, especially taxes → paid most war
costs by printing paper money which led to major hyperinflation
●​ Many planters were reluctant to relinquish their slaves to military fortifications
●​ One-tenth taxes required all farmers to turn over 1/10 of their crops and livestock to
the govt → pushed thousands to the brink of starvation
●​ Riots erupted in dozens of cities and towns as food prices soard
●​ Despite that the military was still strong
○​ Bought guns from Britain & captured some from Union
○​ Virgina, North Carolina, Tennesee industrial capacity
 ○​ Richmond = important manufacturing center
●​ Confederate Congress imposed the first legally binding conscription/draft with 2
loopholes → “poor man’s fight”
○​ Wealthier draftees could hire substitutes
○​ Exempted onew hite man in a household with more than 20 slaves
●​ State sovereignty → Confederacy couldn’t compel military service

Home Front
●​ Tens of thousands of civilians bought bonds, sowed banners, etc
○​ North → schools, press, reform groups ⇒ civilian mobilization
●​ Medicine and nursing → Union Sanitary Commission to provide clothing, food,
medical services
○​ 200,000 women supported as volunteers & nurses
○​ Disease and infections spread due to poor health practices
●​ Confederate troops → poorly-organized health system - scurvy, muscle ailments, low
resistance
●​ Northern women built off of antebellum public and reform activism
○​ Joined govt jobs, clerks, factory operatives
○​ Working-class women worked in munitions factories

Vicksburg and Gettysburg

●​ Grant mounted an offensive to split the Confederacy in two
○​ Defeated 2 Confederate armies near Vicksburg & laid siege to the city →
Union victory
○​ Union forces afterwards seized ctrl of the entire Mississippi River
○​ Last ditch effort by the Confederates at the Battle of Gettysburg → Union
victory
●​ Gettysburg Address: Lincoln’s speech dedicating a national cemetery at the
Gettysburg battlefield - all men are equal, dedicate themselves out of the carnage of
war to a “new birth of freedom” for the US
●​ Southern citizens grew increasingly critical of their govt & Britain pulled back its
warships/help

Union Victory
●​ Confederate leaders hoped for a battlefield stalemate & negotiated peace
●​ To remain as president, Lincoln needed to show he was winning the war
●​ Lincoln placed U.S. Grant in charge of all Union armies → Lincoln decided strategy
& Grant implemented it
●​ Both Unionists and Confederates pinned their hopes on the election of 1864
○​ Republican convention renominated Lincoln - chose Andrew Johnson as
Lincoln’s running mate to attract border-state and Democratic voters
●​ Dem party split into War Dems and Peace Dems
 ●​ National Union Party (Republicans) went on the offensive → Lincoln won the
election
●​ Legal emancipation was underway at the edges of the South → Maryland, Missouri,
Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana
●​ Congress approved the 13th Amendment which officially ended slavery in the US
(except in the prison system)
●​ Grant’s war of attrition exposed the weakness in the Confederacy of the rising
resentment among poor whites
●​ Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House

Reconstruction
Reconstruction Plans Under Lincoln
●​ Lincoln proposed the Ten Percent Plan which was rejected by the Confederat
states
○​ Granted amnesty to most ex-Confederates
○​ Allowed each rebellious state to return to the Union as soon as 10% of its
voters took a loyalty oath & the state approved the Thirteenth Amendment
●​ Congress proposed the Wade-Davis Bill
○​ Required an oath of allegiance by a majority of each state’s adult white men
○​ Creation of new govts formed only by those who had never taken up arms
against the Union
○​ Permanent disenfranchisement of Confederate leaders
●​ Lincoln pocket-vetoed the Wade-Davis Bill - left it unsigned when Congress
adjourned & opened talks with congressmen for a compromise
●​ 1865 → Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth
○​ Many Unionists blamed Confederates for the acts of Booth
○​ Left the presidency in the hands of Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson
●​ Poor white man from Tennessee who built his political career on the support of
farmers and laborers
●​ Refused to secede along with his state → appointed TN’s military governor
●​ Reconstruction plan
○​ Favored lenient reconstruction for southern states
○​ Opposed civil rights for freedmen
○​ Vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill and Civil Rights Act of 1866 (Congress
overrode both vetoes)
■​ Freedmen’s Bureau: Govt organization created to aid displaced
blacks and other war refugees; first federal agency in history that
 provided direct payments to assist those in poverty and to foster social
welfare
■​ Civil Rights Act of 1866: Legislation passed by Congress that
nullified the Black Codes and affirmed that African Americans should
have equal benefit of the law
●​ Under Johnson’s limited Reconstruction plan, new southern state legislatures
enacted Black Codes that denied ex-slaves the civil rights enjoyed by whites,
punished vague crimes such as “vagrancy” or failing to have a labor contract, and
tried to force African Americans back into plantation labor systems that closely
mirrored those in slavery times

Johnson’s War Against Congress

●​ Republican majorities in Congress refused to admit southern delegations when
Congress convened → blocked Johnson’s program
●​ Racial violence against African Americans eruped
●​ To protect freedmen and assert Republican power, Congress ratified the 14th
Amendment that declared that all persons born or naturalized in the US were
citizens - national citizenship > state citizenship
●​ Congressional elections → power shifted to Radical Republicans who sought
sweeping transformations in the defeated South, led by Charles Sumner

Radical Reconstruction
●​ Reconstruction Act of 1867: Divided the conquered South into five military
districts, each under the command of a US general
○​ CSA states had to grant the vote to freedmen & deny it to leading
ex-Confederates
○​ New state legislature needed to ratify the 14th Amendment
○​ Vetoed by Johnson, but Congress overrode the veto

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

●​ Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act to limit Johnson’s power, requiring
Senate approval to remove certain federal officials
●​ Johnson challenged it by firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton
●​ House of Reps impeached Johnson in 1868 → Johnson stayed in office but lost most
of his political influence

Election of 1868
●​ Republican Grant won the election of 1868
●​ The 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870 that forbade states to deny citizens the
right to vote on grounds of race, color, or “previous condition of servitude”
○​ Excluded women
●​ Horace Greeley: Founder/editor of the NY Tribune - anti-slavery newspaper
 ○​ Abolitionist and reformer
○​ Co-founder of the Republican Party
○​ Critic of harsh Reconstruction policies
○​ Ran for president in 1872 as a Liberal Republican

Freedmen’s Rights
●​ After emancipation and the Freedmen’s Bureau, freedmen hoped for land
distributions
●​ Without land, most had to work for former slave owners
●​ Sharecropping system developed - freedmen worked as renters, exchanging their
labor for the use of land, house, implements, and sometimes seed and fertilizer
●​ Crop-lien laws: Enforced lenders’ rights to a portion of harvested crops as
repayment for debts; once they owed money to a country store, sharecroppers were
trapped in debt and became targets for unfair pricing
●​ Resulted in a stagnant farm economy in widespread poverty

Scalawags & Carpetbaggers

●​ Scalawags: White southerners who supported Reconstruction and the Republican
Party
○​ Allied with freedmen and carpetbaggers to build new state govts - rose to
power
○​ Often small farmers, former Whigs, or Southerners who opposed secession
○​ Seen as traitors by other Southerners
●​ Carpetbaggers: Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War - often
seen as opportunists seeking economic gain / political influence
○​ Some were genuinely interested in helping rebuild the South or support
freedmen’s rights
○​ Southern critics portrayed them as exploitative outsiders carrying belongings
in carpetbags (cheap luggage)
●​ Both were key to implementing Reconstruction policies - helped briefly expand Black
civil rights and political representation

Ku Klux Klan
●​ Ex-Confederates formed the first Ku Klux Klan group in 1865 which proliferated
across the state
●​ Secret society that first undertook violence against African Americans in the South
after the Civil War
●​ In many towns became virtually identical to the Democratic Party - dominated
Tennessee’s delegation to the Dem national convention of 1868
●​ Murderous campaign of terror - burned freedmen’s schools, beat teachers, attacked
Republican gatherings, murdered political opponents
○​ Slashed property taxes and passed other laws favorable to landowners
 ○​ Terminated Reconstruction programs & cut funding for schools, especially
those for black students

Redemption
●​ Redeemers: Southern white Democrats who took back political control after
Reconstruction - mostly former Confeds, planters, business elites
●​ Wanted to restore white supremacy & Dem party dominance
●​ Used violence, intimidation, voter suppression, especially against Black voters
●​ Passed Jim Crow laws and supported segregation
●​ Aligned with groups like the KKK to maintain ctrl
●​ Led to the end of Reconstruction by the late 1870s → beginning of the Jim Crow era
in the South
●​ Undermined Black civil rights and reversed many Reconstruction gains

Scandals Under Grant

●​ Grantism: Describes the widespread corruption and scandals during Grant’s
presidency about his administration / associates
●​ Grant’s role:
○​ Personally not proven corrupt, but known for poor judgment in appointments
○​ Tended to be loyal to friends and allies, even when they were corrupt
●​ Impact:
○​ Damaged the Republican Party’s image
○​ Sparked growing calls for civil service reform
○​ Loss of trust in the federal govt during the post-Civil War era

Panic of 1873
●​ Severe financial crisis that triggered a major economic depression from ‘73-’79
●​ Causes:
○​ Overinvestment in railroads and industries during post-Civil War boom
○​ Collapse of major investment bank Jay Cooke & Co
○​ Speculation, unstable currency, tightened credit policies
○​ Decline in intl demand for American products
●​ Effects:
○​ Thousands of banks and businesses failed
○​ Massive unemployment and wage cuts
○​ Railroad strikes and worker unrest increased
○​ Slowed down Reconstruction, as economic issues took center stage

Compromise of 1877
●​ Informal political deal that resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election &
marked the end of Reconstruction in the South
●​ Hayes (R) vs Tilden (D)
 ○​ Tilden won the popular vote but some were disputed
●​ To secure Hayes’ presidency, Republicans agreed to:
○​ Withdraw fed troops from the South
○​ End enforcement of Reconstruction-era laws
○​ Appt a Southern Dem to Hayes’ cabinet
○​ Support federal funding for Southern railroads and intl improvements
●​ Impact
○​ Hayes became president
○​ Reconstruction officially ended
○​ Southern Dems regained ctrl → rise of Jim Crow laws + Black
disenfranchisement