Unit 4 General Questions 1. What did Alexis de Tocqueville admire most about America when he visited here in 1831? What caused him worries? 2. What fears were present in the minds of most Americans as they entered an era of economic change/industrialization and westward expansion in the early 19c? 3. What were the general characteristics of "Jacksonian Democracy" [its philosophy, practice, etc.]? 4. What groups were excluded from this widening of political opportunity? Why? 5. How have historians differed over the nature of Jacksonian Democracy? 6. How did the ideology of the "Albany Regency," led by Martin Van Buren, change peoples' views concerning political parties? 7. How did the spoils system fit into Jackson's "democratic" plans? What other means did he use to bring more people into the political process? 8. What was John C. Calhoun's theory of nullification as set forth in the South Carolina Exposition and Protest? 9. What were the origins of the Calhoun-Jackson split? How did the Eaton Affair contribute to this division? 10. What was the major point of disagreement between Webster and Hayne? What arguments were advanced on either side? How did this debate fit into the controversy between Jackson and Calhoun? 11. What precipitated the nullification crisis in 1832? How was it finally resolved? 12. What were the whites' attitudes toward Native American tribes? How did they contribution to the decision in favor of their removal westward? 13. What was the program (inherited by Jackson) designed to deal with the Indians who lived east of the Mississippi? What happened when this program was applied to the Cherokee in Georgia? 14. Explain the Supreme Court's decisions regarding the Indian tribes and Jackson's response. 15. How did Jackson's action in the matter of the Cherokee removal correspond to his views on the role of the president and on the issue of states' rights? 16. How were Jackson's views concerning the Indians "little different" from those of most white Americans? What was the meaning of "removal?" 17. Why was the outcome of the Seminole War different from that of the Trail of Tears? 18. What were some of the alternatives to Indian removal? 19. What is the difference between the views of "hard-money" followers and "soft-money" advocates? President Jackson allied himself with which group? Why? 20. What was Jackson's opinion on the Bank of the United States? On what did he base his views? What other factors contributed to his stand? 21. What roles did Daniel Webster and Henry Clay play in the re-chartering of the Second Bank of the United States? 22. How did Jackson respond to the efforts to re-charter the Second BUS? What reasons did he give for his action? 23. How did the supporters of the Bank respond to Jackson's action? What did Biddle do? What were the results? 24. How did the Supreme Court under Roger B. Taney differ from the court under John Marshall? What groups profited from Taney's decisions?
25. What were the major components of Whig and Democratic political philosophies. Who were the chief constituents of each party? From which parts of the country did they come? 26. Why did the Whigs attach themselves to the Anti-Masons? 27. Which cultural and religious groups were attracted to the Democratic Party and why? to the Whig Party and why? 28. What were the major components of Clay's "American System?" 29. What was the Whig strategy in the election of 1836? Who was their candidate? Why was he selected? 30. What were the results of the 1836 presidential election? 31. What was the general condition of the American economy in 1836? What factors contributed to that condition? 32. What caused the Panic of 1837? What effect did it have on the nation? on the Democratic Party? 33. What programs did Martin Van Buren propose? How did these proposals reflect the balance of power in the Democratic Party? 34. How did the "penny press" capture the spirit of the "Age of Jackson?" 35. Why did the Whigs select William Henry Harrison as their presidential candidate in 1840? How did his campaign set a new pattern for presidential contests? 36. What was the legislative program that Clay and the leading Whigs hoped to institute under Tyler? On what parts did Tyler agree? disagree? 37. What was the origin of the split between Tyler and Clay? What effect did it have on the administration? on the Whig Party? 38. What were the accomplishments of Whig diplomacy? 39. How did the advent of the "penny press" reflect the social, technological, and cultural changes taking place in America during the 1820s and 1830s? 40. How did the United States change from the War of 1812 to the Civil War? 41. What were the new economic characteristics by the middle of the 19c of the Northeast? the western lands? in the South and Southeast? 42. What were the three trends that characterized the American population between 1820 and 1840? What were were some of the reasons for the rapid population increases in this time period? 43. Why was the rise of New York City so phenomenal? What forces combined to make it America's leading city? 44. How were the Irish and German patterns of settlement in America different? What were the reasons for this difference? 45. Why did industrialists, land speculators, and political bosses welcome large numbers of immigrants? 46. List all of the arguments that the nativists made against the influx of large numbers of foreign immigrants. 47. How did the nativists respond politically to the surge in immigration between 1830 and the 1850s? 48. Why did Americans continue to use, whenever possible, water routes for transportation and travel? What advantages did water have over land? 49. How did Americans propose to overcome the geographic limitations on water travel? What role was the federal government forced to play in this? Why?
50. Which area took the lead in canal development? What was the effect of these canals on that section of the country? How did other sections respond to this example? 51. What advantages did railroads have over other forms of transportation? What were the results of the introduction of major trunk lines on the nation into different regions of the country? 52. What role did state and local governments play in the development of rail transportaion? the role of the federal government? 53. How did innovations in communications and journalism draw communities together? How did these innovations help divide the sections? 54. What forces contributed to the rise of the factory in the Northeast? How did this promote industrial development? 55. What influence did technology have on the growth of American industry? What role did the federal government play in this early stage of technological innovations? 56. Who were the merchant capitalists? Why did they begin to decline by the middle of the 19c? Who replaced them? 57. What role did American inventors and industrial ingenuity play in the growth of American industry? 58. How did the textile mills recruit and use labor? What was the general response to the Lowell method, by worker and by observer? 59. How were working conditions for women and children in the textile mills somewhat better than in England or the rest of Europe? 60. What problems did the "Lowell girls" have in adjusting to factory and factory-town life? 61. What caused the breakdown of the Lowell [or Waltham] system? 62. With the growth of industry came the growth of labor--what groups organized first, and why? 63. What advantages did immigrant labor have over native labor? 64. What impact did the factory system have on the American artisan tradition? 65. What attempts were made to better conditions in northeastern factories? What role did unions play in these attempts? What was accomplished? 66. What successes did worked in general achieve in the 1840s and 1850s in their attempts to unionize? women specifically? 67. How did the middle class concept of a woman's place within the family shift in the new industrial society of mid-19c America? 68. What were some of the characteristics of a distinct female culture that developed during this early industrial age? 69. What were some of the benefits to women of the "Cult of Domesticity?" 70. Why did unmarried middle class women fare poorly in the era of the "Cult of Domesticity?" 71. What was "the most important economic development in the South of the mid-19 c?" 72. Identify the different agricultural regions in the Antebellum South as well as the shifting patterns of agricultural production there. 73. How did cotton become "king" in the South? Why did short-staple cotton become such a popular crop? 74. What role did James B. D. DeBow and his magazine play in supporting the idea that the Antebellum South had a "colonial" economy? 75. Why did the South do so little to develop a larger industrial and commercial economy of its own in the 19C?
76. What was the "Cavalier" image created by Southerners? How did they view Northern industrialists? 77. How was the aristocratic "ideal" more a myth in the Antebellum South than a reality? 78. How did the idea of "honor" affect southern life in the years prior to the Civil War? 79. How was the role played by affluent southern white women like that of their northern counterparts? How was it different? 80. What accounted for the differences between southern and northern women? What additional burdens did white southern women have to deal with that their northern counterparts did not? 81. What was life like for southern "plain folk' or yeomen? Why were their opportunities for economic and social advancement limited? 82. How did the people living in the "hill country" differ from their white counterparts in the rest of the South? 83. What was life like for the "crackers" or "poor white trash" of the Antebellum era? Why were they so despised by all white southerners? by slaves as well? 84. Why did so few non-slaveholding whites oppose the slaveholding oligarchy? Where did these opponents live? 85. What were the most widely recognized slave revolts? What did they accomplish? 86. What was the role of white "slave patrols?" 87. How was the work of James Fennimore Cooper the culmination of an effort to produce a truly American literature? What did the work suggest about the nation and its people? 88. List the major characteristics of the early 19 c artistic movement known as the Hudson River School. 89. Why was Whitman called the "poet of American democracy?" 90. Who were the transcendentalists? What was their philosophy? How did they express it in literature? 91. How were the transcendentalists among the first Americans to anticipate the environmental movement of the 20 c? 92. What are the basic characteristics of utopian socialism? 93. How did the transcendentalists attempt to apply their beliefs to the problems of everyday life at Brook Farm? What was the result? 94. What other utopian schemes were put forth during this period? How did these utopian societies propose to reorder society to create a better way of life? 95. How did the antebellum utopian communities attempt to redefine gender roles? Which communities were most active in this effort? What did they accomplish? 96. Who were the Mormons? What were their beliefs? Why did they end up in Utah? 97. The "philosophy of reform" that shaped this era rose from what two distinct sources? 98. How were early 19 c political ideals connected to evangelical Christianity? 99. What was the view of 18 c Americans concerning crime, poverty, and deviance? How did this view change in the 19 c? 100. How did these changes in attitude impact ideas on prison, work house, and asylum reform during the first half of the 19 c? 101. What gave rise to the crusade against drunkenness? What successes and failures resulted from the movement's efforts? 102. What was the biggest problem facing American medicine during this period? What impact did this problem have on health care in the United States?
103. How did efforts to produce a system of universal public education reflect the spirit of the age? 104. What were the problems facing public education? What types of institutions were created to deal with them? 105. Why did New England play a significant role in the education reform movement? 106. What conditions put women in a "separate sphere?" What were the characteristics of the "distinctive female culture" women developed? 107. What was the "Cult of Domesticity?" What costs and benefits did it bring to middle-class women? to working-class women? 108. How did the rise of feminism reflect not only the participation of women in social crusades, but also a basic change in the nature of the family? 109. What is the historical significance of the Seneca Falls Convention and its adoption of the Declaration of Sentiments? 110. What legal rights did single women have in the early 19 c? married women? 111. How did feminists benefit from their association with other reform movements, most notably abolitionists, and at the same time suffer as a result? 112. Explain how sentimental novels of the antebellum era "gave voice to both female hopes and female anxieties."