Contextualizing Period 4 - AP U.S. History

Increased emphasis on social reforms. Religious revival inspired humanitarian reform movements.

The Nullification Crisis. High tariffs hurt Southern agricultural interests.

Speculative lending practices and the failure of banks. Jackson's banking policies contributed to economic instability.

The practice of giving government jobs to political supporters. Jackson expanded this practice to reward loyal followers.

The Mormons. Led by Brigham Young after Joseph Smith's death.

To limit immigration and naturalization. Nativist reaction against Irish and German immigration.

Harriet Beecher Stowe. Novel dramatized slavery's horrors for Northern audiences.

To prohibit slavery in territories acquired from Mexico. Failed attempt to prevent slavery's western expansion.

Landscape painting. American artistic movement celebrating natural wilderness.

Annexation of Texas. Polk's expansionist policies led to territorial conflict.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexico ceded vast western territories to America.

British interference with American shipping and impressment. Britain forced American sailors into service and disrupted trade.

Rapid population growth in California. 49ers rushed west seeking fortune in gold fields.

Henry Clay. The Great Compromiser balanced sectional interests again.

Denied citizenship to African American slaves. Supreme Court ruled African Americans weren't citizens.

The Republican Party. Formed to oppose slavery's expansion into new territories.

State's rights versus federal authority. South Carolina threatened to nullify federal tariffs.

The women's suffrage movement. Emerged from the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848.

The development of canals and railroads. Connected distant regions and facilitated westward expansion.

Agriculture, particularly cotton production. Slavery-based plantation system dominated the region.

The abolitionist movement. Led by figures like William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass.

To advocate for women's rights. First organized women's rights convention in America.

Industrial economy. Manufacturing and commerce drove Northern economy.

To maintain the balance of slave and free states. Missouri entered as slave state, Maine as free state.

To strengthen the U.S. economy through tariffs, a national bank, and infrastructure. Henry Clay's plan for national economic development.

Annexation of Texas. Polk's expansionist policies led to territorial conflict.

To reduce alcohol consumption. Part of broader social reform movements of the era.

The Treaty of Ghent. Restored pre-war boundaries without territorial changes.

Opposition to European colonialism in the Americas. Warned European powers against further colonization attempts.