AP Notes, Outlines, Study Guides, Vocabulary, Practice Exams and more!

AP US History, Chapter 14 Flashcards

Terms : Hide Images
15469532740"Self-Reliance"(1841) Ralph Waldo Emerson's popular lecture-essay that reflected the spirit of individualism pervasive in American popular culture during the 1830s and 1840s.0
15469532741RendezvousThe principal marketplace of the Northwest fur trade, which peaked in the 1820s and 1830s. Each summer, traders set up camps in the Rocky Mountains to exchange manufactured goods for beaver pelts.1
15469532742Ecological imperialismHistorians' term for the spoliation of western natural resources through excessive hunting, logging, mining, and grazing.2
15469532743Ancient Order of Hibernians(mid-nineteenth century) Irish semisecret society that served as a benevolent organization for downtrodden Irish immigrants in the United States.3
15469532744Molly Maguires(1860s-1870s) Secret organization of Irish miners who campaigned, at times violently, against poor working conditions.4
15469532745Tammany Hall(established 1789) Powerful New York political machine that primarily drew support from the city's immigrants, who depended on Tammany Hall patronage, particularly social services.5
15469532746Know-Nothing party(1850s) Nativist political party, also known as the American party, that emerged in response to an influx of immigrants.6
15469532747Awful Disclosures(1836) Maria Monk's sensational exposé of alleged horrors in Catholic convents. Its popularity reflected nativist fears of Catholic influence.7
15469532748Industrial RevolutionShift toward mass production and mechanization that included the creation of the modern factory system.8
15469532749Cotton gin(1793) Eli Whitney's invention that sped up the process of harvesting cotton. This made cotton cultivation more profitable, revitalizing the southern economy and increasing the importance of slavery in the South.9
15469532750Patent OfficeFederal government bureau that reviews applications. A patent is a legal recognition of a new invention, granting exclusive rights to the inventor for a period of years.10
15469532751Limited liabilityLegal principle that facilitates capital investment by offering protection for individual investors, who, in cases of legal claims of bankruptcy, cannot be held responsible for more than the value of their individual shares.11
15469532752Commonwealth v. Hunt(1842) Massachusetts Supreme Court decision that strengthened the labor movement by upholding the legality of unions.12
15469532753Factory girlsYoung women employed in the growing factories of the early nineteenth century, they labored long hours in difficult conditions, living in socially new conditions away from farms and families.13
15469532754Cult of domesticityPervasive nineteenth-century cultural creed that venerated the domestic role of women. It gave married women greater authority to shape the home life but limited opportunities outside the domestic sphere.14
15469532755McCormick reaper(1831) Mechanized the harvest of grains, such as wheat, allowing farmers to cultivate larger plots. The introduction of this in the 1830s fueled the establishment of large-scale commercial agriculture in the Midwest.15
15469532756TurnpikePrivately funded, toll-based public road constructed in the early nineteenth century to facilitate commerce.16
15469532757Erie Canal(completed 1825) New York state canal that linked Lake Erie to the Hudson River. It dramatically lowered shipping costs, fueling an economic boom in upstate New York and increasing the profitability of farming in the Old Northwest.17
15469532758Clipper ships(1840S-1850s) Small, swift vessels that gave American shippers an advantage in the carrying trade. These were made largely obsolete by the advent of sturdier, roomier iron steamers on the eve of the Civil War.18
15469532759Pony Express(1860-1861) Short-lived, speedy mail service between Missouri and California that relied on lightweight riders galloping between closely placed posts.19
15469532760Transportation revolutionTerm referring to a series of nineteenth-century transportation innovations - turnpikes, steamboats, canals, and railroads - that linked local and regional markets, creating a national economy.20
15469532761Market revolutionEighteenth- and nineteenth-century transformation from a disaggregated, subsistence economy to a national commercial and industrial network.21
15469532762Samuel SlaterBritish-born mechanic and father of the American "Factory System," establishing textile mills throughout New England.22
15469532763Eli WhitneyGreat American inventor, best known for his Cotton Gin, which revolutionized the Southern economy. He also pioneered the use of interchangeable parts in the production of muskets.23
15469532764Elias HoweMassachusetts-born inventor of the sewing machine. Unable to convince American manufacturers to adopt his invention, he briefly moved to England before returning to the United States to find his sewing machine popularized by Isaac Singer. He won a patent infringement suit against Singer in 1854 and continued to produce sewing machines until his death.24
15469532765Isaac SingerAmerican inventor and manufacturer, who made his fortune by improving on Elias Howe's sewing machine. His machine fueled the ready-made clothing industry in New England.25
15469532766Samuel MorseInventor of the telegraph and the telegraphic code that bears his name. He led the effort to connect Washington and Baltimore by telegraph and transmitted the first long-distance message—"What hath God wrought"—in May of 1844.26
15469532767John DeereInventor of the steel plow, which revolutionized farming in the Midwest, where fragile wooden plows had failed to break through the thick soil.27
15469532768Cyrus McCormickInventor of the _____ mower-reaper, a horse-drawn contraption that fueled the development of large-scale agriculture in the trans-Allegheny West.28
15469532769Robert FultonPennsylvania-born painter-engineer, who constructed the first operating steam boat, the Clermont, in 1807.29
15469532770DeWitt ClintonGovernor of New York state and promoter of the Erie Canal, which linked the Hudson River to the Great Lakes. "_____'s Big Ditch", as the canal was called, transformed upstate New York into a center of industry and gave rise to the Midwestern cities of Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago.30
15469532771Cyrus FieldPromoter of the first transatlantic cable which linked Ireland and Newfoundland in 1854. After the first cable went dead, he lobbied for a heavier cable, which was finally laid in 1866.31
15469532772John Jacob AstorGerman-born fur trader and New York real estate speculator, who amassed an estate of $30 million by the time of his death.32

Need Help?

We hope your visit has been a productive one. If you're having any problems, or would like to give some feedback, we'd love to hear from you.

For general help, questions, and suggestions, try our dedicated support forums.

If you need to contact the Course-Notes.Org web experience team, please use our contact form.

Need Notes?

While we strive to provide the most comprehensive notes for as many high school textbooks as possible, there are certainly going to be some that we miss. Drop us a note and let us know which textbooks you need. Be sure to include which edition of the textbook you are using! If we see enough demand, we'll do whatever we can to get those notes up on the site for you!