Test Van Buren through Polk

20127771	Martin Van Buren	Hand-picked successor to Andrew Jackson - 8th President (1 Term) PARTY - Democrat; known as the "Little Magician"
20127772	Election of 1836	Martin Van Buren v. WHIGS (William Henry Harrison, Daniel Webster, Hugh Lawson White). NEW PARTY - The Whigs (formed as opposition to Andrew Jackson); Whig strategy - by running several candidates, no one would receive a majority of the electoral vote sending it the House of Representatives (where they thought they could defeat Van Buren and the Democrats)! Martin Van Buren won big!
20127773	Whig strategy in Election of 1836	run several candidates, no one would receive a majority of the electoral vote sending it the House of Representatives (where they thought they could defeat Van Buren and the Democrats)!
20127774	Panic of 1837	This was Martin Van Buren's greatest challenge as president (it cost him in the next election)
20127775	Panic of 1837	Caused by the loose lending of "pet banks" and the Specie Circular (gov. land can only be purchased w/gold or silver). Banks didn't have enough gold and silver to exchange with people's paper money causing banks to close!
20127776	Independent Treasury Act	1840 - "divorce bill" set up by Martin Van Buren (as a result of the Panic of 1837) to protect federal money from bad loans!
20127777	Martin Van Buren	He supported slavery, but was worried that if Texas were admitted to the union, it would cause a controversy and re-open the slavery debate. He opposed the annexation of Texas b/c of this!
20127778	The Caroline Affair	(1837) WHAT - Some Americans supported Canadian rebels attacking Toronto to stop British rule, Britain retaliated burning the supply ship and sending it over Niagara Falls! RESULT - strained British and U.S. relations for a while.
20127779	Transcendentalism	A spiritual movement that arose in the 1830s as a challenge to rationalism. Promoted individualism, self-reliance, and freedom from social constraints, and emphasized emotions. They aimed to achieve an inner, emotional understanding of God rather than a rational, institutionalized one. Examples - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller.
20127780	Frontier women	gained respect and "earned" more equality that their counterparts in the east b/c they had braved the challenges of the frontier.
20127781	Telegraph	In 1844, Samuel F.B. Morse developed this communication by sending electric pulses over wire! He also developed Morse code! - "What hath God wrought?" - a revolution in communication
20127782	Willliam Henry Harrison	9th President (1 Term - only part, he died in office!); PARTY - Whigs
20127783	William Henry Harrison	He became a hero at both the Battle of Fallen Timbers, 1794 and the Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811 (as Governor of Indiana territory, he fought and defeated Tecumseh's brother, becoming a hero and leading Tecumseh to side with the British during the War of 1812)!
20127784	Election of 1840	Hard Cider and Log Cabin campaign (80% voter turnout) - Whigs v. Democrats. First campaign to use modern advertising, buttons, brushes, tobacco tins, etc. (slogan - Tippecanoe and Tyler Too...) - William Henry Harrison mocked by a newspaper that he would be content with a barrel of hard cider and a log cabin: NOT TRUE! - He was very wealthy (lived in 22 room mansion)! BUT the Whigs used it the comment to make him look like the common man!
20127785	Martin Van Buren	He was called a "dandy" that ate golden apples and bathed in cologne. The Panic of 1837 hurt his chances to get re-elected! He was hand-picked by Andrew Jackson.
20127786	Whigs	Operating from 1833 to 1856, it was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party. In particular, they supported the supremacy of Congress over the executive branch and federal over state government. They also favored many reforms and Clay's American System.
20127787	John Tyler	10th President (1 Term - served the remainder of Harrison's term) - PARTY - Whig. He was called "His Accidency" and was the first president to have a veto over-ridden and the first president that was ever attempted to be impeached (abuse of his veto power)
20127788	John Tyler	He hurt the Whigs (he was added to the ticket to because he didn't like the Democrats or Andrew Jackson) b/c he didn't actually like Whig policies (strong federal government) he was a state's righter! Henry Clay did not like him! - He was wanted to use the federal government to build a strong country (federal over state) - Think American System! He believed in states rights; federal government was a threat to individual freedom; a strong federal government would outlaw slavery! Harrison followed Clay's ideas, This guy DID NOT!
20127789	3rd National Bank	Clay proposed a bill for this twice. Tyler vetoed it both times (angering his party)! - his cabinet resigned (except Secretary of State Daniel Webster - too busy). RESULTS - The Whigs disowned John Tyler (first president to serve w/o a party)! The Whigs attempted to impeach him (first president to have that happen) but it failed!
20127790	Aroostook War	(1838, 1839) A local border dispute that the British and American governments had to settle! The only war ever declared by a state! WHAT - argument between the Canadian region of New Brunswick and the state of Maine. CAUSE - Canadian lumberjacks kicked out of disputed area of Aroostook by Maine officials. PROBLEM SETTLED BY - Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842 - Established Maine's northern border and the boundaries of the Great Lake states.
20127791	Webster-Ashburton Treaty	(1842) Established Maine's northern border and the boundaries of the Great Lake states and solved crisis over Aroostook War.
20127792	Texas	This was annexed in 1845 by the U.S. under Tyler's administration after Democrat James K. Polk was elected on a platform of expansion
20127793	Election of 1844	Election in which John Tyler had been thrown out of the Whig setting up Henry Clay (Whig) v. James K. Polk (Democrat - Young Hickory, the Dark Horse)
20127794	Henry Clay	He lost the Election of 1844 because he flip-flopped on the Texas issue saying he wanted Texas but it could wait.
20127795	James K. Polk	The first dark horse candidate in U.S. presidential election history. He was from Tennessee ("Young Hickory") and was sponsored by Andrew Jackson. He was a major supporter of expansion.
20127796	Expansion	MAJOR CAMPAIGN ISSUE of the 1844 election: Polk campaign slogan 54'40 or Fight!
20127797	1st major wave of European immigration (1830-1860)	German and Irish (Northern and Western Europeans) - We start to become a "melting pot"! - 3 million total
20127798	Irish	(1,300,000) - escaping a potato famine and crop failures; most settled in NE port cities like NY, Boston, and Philadelphia (didn't have money to buy land and move west)!
20127799	Germans	(940,000) - left b/c of political persecutions, fewer opportunities; most settled in the Midwest b/c they typically had more money.
20127800	Oregon Fever!	(1843) Settlers were said to have this when they moved out for the opportunity to occupy Oregon.
20127801	Oregon Trail	2,000 mile trail from Independence, Missouri through Indian Territory to Oregon
20127802	Prairie Schooners	Covered Wagons took 6 months (about 12 miles a day)
20127803	"Log Cabin" Bill	(success for Tyler in working w/Whigs) enabled a settler to claim 160 acres of land before it was offered publicly for sale, and later pay $1.25 an acre for it.
20127804	Edgar Allen Poe	wrote first detective story The Murders in the Rue Morgue (but didn't get rich)!
20127805	"Young Hickory"	James K. Polk - 11th President (1 Term) PARTY - Democrat (1845-1849). The first "dark horse" candidate in U.S. presidential election history! First president to have inauguration reported by telegraph! First president to govern a U.S. that extended from ocean to ocean (think Oregon Treaty)!
20127806	James K. Polk	MAJOR EXPANSIONIST! - he even used the military to support "Manifest Destiny" (Texas, Oregon, and he Mexican Cession)
20127807	Manifest Destiny	"It's our God-given right to spread from NY to California"! Phrase commonly used in the 1840's and 1850's. It became a belief that expressed the inevitableness of continued expansion of the U.S. to the Pacific. First used by John L. Sullivan in 1845 article about the annexation of Texas.
20127808	John L. Sullivan	He coined the term "manifest destiny" in an 1845 article about the annexation of Texas.
20127809	Oregon Treaty	(1846) It settled the argument over Oregon Country w/Britain establishing the 49th parallel as the northern border of the U.S. from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.
20127810	49th Parallel	The Oregon Treaty of 1846 established an U.S./Canadian (British) border along this parallel. The boundary along it extended from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.
20127811	"54'40 or fight"	An aggressive slogan adopted in the Oregon boundary dispute, a dispute over where the border between Canada and Oregon should be drawn. This was also Polk's slogan - the Democrats wanted the U.S. border drawn at the 54º40' latitude. Polk settled for the 49º latitude in 1846 (made northerners mad).
20127812	Mexican-American War	1846-1848 - Causes: annexation of Texas, diplomatic ineptness of U.S./Mexican relations in the 1840's and particularly the provocation of U.S. troops on the Rio Grande. The first half of the war was fought in northern Mexico near the Texas border, with the U.S. Army led by Zachary Taylor. The second half of the war was fought in central Mexico after U.S. troops seized the port of Veracruz, with the Army being led by Winfield Scott. Results: U.S. captured Mexico City, Zachary Taylor was elected president, Santa Ana abdicated, and Mexico ceded large parts of the West, including New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California, to the U.S.
20127813	Nueces River	Mexico insisted this river was the southern border of U.S. in 1846.
20127814	Rio Grande	The U.S. insisted this river was the southern border of the U.S. in 1846.
20127815	John Slidell	Polk sent him (w/$30 million) to try and buy disputed border area, New Mexico, and California from Mexico: He was DENIED!
20127816	Zachary Taylor	He was sent by James K. Polk to occupy the disputed area and was fired on; Polk demanded a declaration for war with Mexico!
20127817	Spot Resolutions	Abraham Lincoln (thought war was a plan to expand slavery into the southwest) demanded to know where exactly on American soil soldiers where killed at the start of the Mexican-American War.
20127818	General Winfield Scott	"Old Fuss and Feathers", he was a veteran of the War of 1812 and during the Mexican-American War, he battled his way from Vera Cruz to Mexico City under harsh conditions. He took over Mexico City, ending the war and he became a WAR HERO!
20127819	John C. Fremont	He helped capture California from Mexico during the Mexican-American War.
20127820	Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo	(1848) Treaty that ended the Mexican-American War. In it: Mexico gave up claims to Texas above the Rio Grande River; Mexico gave the U. S. California and New Mexico; and the U.S. gave Mexico $15,000,000 and agreed to pay the claims of American citizens against Mexico (over $3,500,000). RESULT: - Debate over slavery opened up b/c we got new territory!
20127821	Amelia Bloomer	She created the "Loose Bloomer" for women's comfort (corsets could cause permanent organ damage)! They were considered scandalous b/c they challenged the norm!
20127822	Seneca Falls Convention	1848 - WHERE: New York; WHAT: leading feminists met to discuss their call for equal rights and the tactics to be used to attain these rights. The "Declaration of Sentiments" - stated that "all men and women are created equal"; listed the grievances that women had against men especially the laws and customs that discriminated against them. RESULTS: put women's rights in the news. PROBLEM: The women's rights movement was overshadowed by the slavery crisis.
20127823	"Declaration of Sentiments"	Issued at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, it stated that "all men and women are created equal" and listed the grievances that women had against men especially the laws and customs that discriminated against them.
20127824	Frederick Douglas	He was an escaped slave from Maryland that became a leader of the abolitionist movement! Also wrote a famous autobiography and was the best-known abolitionist speaker. He also edited the anti-slavery weekly paper, the North Star.
20127825	Donner Party	Settlers that got stuck in the snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and sort of ran out of food (Cannibals say "tastes like chicken") Of the original 87 pioneers, 39 died and 48 survived.