Issued in 1823, this foreign policy statement warned European nations not to interfere with or attempt to recolonize independent nations in North and South America.
What is the Monroe Doctrine?
Under Jacksonian Democracy, this political practice involved appointing loyal political supporters to federal government positions to limit the power of established elites.
What is the spoils system?
Concluded by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, this war resulted in the United States acquiring California and New Mexico in the Mexican Cession.
What is the Mexican War (or Mexican-American War)?
This Union general captured Atlanta in 1864 before leading a devastating "March to the Sea" across Georgia, destroying Southern railways and supplies.
Who is William T. Sherman?
Spanning from 1865 to 1877, this period focused on readmitting former Confederate states to the Union and rebuilding Southern society.
What is Reconstruction?
Despite his strict constructionist ideology, Thomas Jefferson expanded presidential power in 1803 by purchasing this territory from France for $15 million.
What is the Louisiana Purchase?
Henry Clay's economic initiative aimed to unite the nation through protective tariffs, a national bank, and federal funding for internal infrastructure improvements.
What is the American System?
Belief that Americans received divine favor and protection in their conquest to settle the North American continent.
What is Manifest Destiny?
President Abraham Lincoln suspended this constitutional right during the Civil War to hold suspected Confederate sympathizers without a trial.
What is habeas corpus?
Ratified in 1868 to guarantee civil rights, this constitutional amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and extended equal protection under the law.
What is the 14th Amendment?
Passed under John Adams to quiet Democratic-Republican opposition, these contentious laws restricted free speech and increased immigrant citizenship naturalization requirements from 5 to 14 years.
What are the Alien and Sedition Acts?
Organized in 1848 by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, this convention produced the Declaration of Sentiments and launched the Women's Rights Movement.
What is the Seneca Falls Conference?
Formulated by Henry Clay in 1820, this agreement preserved Senate balance by admitting Maine as a free state, Missouri as a slave state, and drawing a line at latitude 36°30'.
What is the Missouri Compromise?
Fought in Maryland in September 1862, this deadliest single-day battle of the war led Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
What is the Battle of Antietam?
Reconstruction officially came to an end following this informal political deal, which awarded Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency in exchange for removing remaining federal military troops from the South.
What is the Compromise of 1877?
George Washington established presidential authority to enforce federal law by leading a militia force to suppress this 1794 Pennsylvania rebellion over a liquor tax.
What is the Whiskey Rebellion?
This Black preacher led an 1831 slave rebellion on four Virginia plantations that killed roughly 60 white settlers, resulting in stricter slave codes across Southern states.
Who is Nat Turner?
Passed to address territorial expansion, this group of five laws admitted California as a free state while establishing a strict national Fugitive Slave Law.
What is the Compromise of 1850?
Delivered in November 1863, this brief speech by Abraham Lincoln dedicated a military cemetery and urged the nation to ensure a "new birth of freedom".
What is the Gettysburg Address?
Established in 1865 to assist formerly enslaved people transition to freedom, this federal agency provided food, clothing, medical care, and built thousands of schools across the South.
What is the Freedmen's Bureau?
One major reason James Madison cited for declaring war against Great Britain in 1812 was this British practice of forcing captured American merchant sailors into military service.
What is impressment?
Horace Mann led this 1840s movement that advocated for free, locally funded public education to teach civic responsibility and reduce crime.
What is the Common School Movement?
This 1857 Supreme Court decision ruled that enslaved or free Black people could not be U.S. citizens and declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.
What is Scott v. Sanford (or the Dred Scott decision)?
Union General Ulysses S. Grant secured total control of the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in two by winning this July 1863 siege.
What is the Battle of Vicksburg?
Passed by Southern state legislatures immediately after the Civil War, these restrictive laws aimed to limit African Americans' freedom, restrict their movement, and compel them to work in low-wage labor contracts.
What are the Black Codes?