(1) The document summarizes key events in the growth and expansion of the United States from 1783 to the mid-1800s, including land acquisitions, explorations, inventions, economic policies, transportation developments, wars, and social reforms. (2) It discusses treaties, laws, and policies that shaped the nation, such as the Louisiana Purchase, Monroe Doctrine, Indian Removal Act, and Oregon Trail. (3) Prominent figures that played important roles are also mentioned, such as Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Sam Houston, and Harriet Tubman.

1. AHSGE Chapter 4
Growth of a New Nation
Land Acquisitions and Explorations
Treaty of Paris 1783 – Gave the United
States all the land east to the Mississippi
River, to Canada in the North and to the
northern border of Spanish Florida.

2. Land Ordinance of 1785 – Land area
from Ohio River to the Mississippi River
would be made into new states. When
required population reached, the
territory could apply for statehood.

3. Northwest Ordinance – Creation of 3 to
5 states in the Northwest Territory.
Prohibited slavery in the territory and
guaranteed freedom of religion, trial by
jury and access to free public education.

4. Louisiana Purchase – bought from
France. More than doubled the size of
the United States.

5. Reservations – tiny parcels of land where
Native American’s were forced to live because
of westward expansion.
Louis and Clark Expedition – Expedition to
find a water route to the Pacific Ocean.
Sacajawea – Shoshone
woman who was translator
and guide for Louis and Clark.
1819 – Year Alabama became a
state.

6. President James Monroe
Country experienced political
unity during his presidency.
Era of Good Feelings – name for
Monroe’s presidency because of national unity
and optimistic mood of the country.
Monroe Doctrine – policy that stated the
United States would not interfere in the
internal affairs of European countries and
would oppose any European intervention in the
countries in Latin and South America.

7. Important Inventions
Eli Whitney (cotton gin) – inventor of a
machine that separated the seeds from
the cotton.
Interchangeable parts – in muskets,
each part was produced with such
precision that it could fit with all the
other parts. Became the basis for
industrial development in the U.S.

8. Henry Clay’s American System
Henry Clay was a prominent senator
from Kentucky.
American System – plan to propose a
(1) protective tariff (a tax on imports
to keep American manufacturing growing).
Protective Tariff of 1816 – raised tariffs on
imports by 20%.
(2) Internal Improvements – better
canals and roadways funded by the
federal government’s tariff revenue.

9. (3) A Strong National Bank - 1st Bank of
U.S. charter not renewed. States
started issuing their own bank notes
(paper money). Many different bank
notes made commerce difficult. Clay
encouraged Congress to charter 2nd
Bank of the United States to stabilize
money and hold government funds.

10. What did Clay wish to accomplish with
his vision? The tariff would protect
the growing industries in the Northeast.
The money from the tariff would pay
for improvements in roads and canals. A
strong national bank would stabilize this
flow of commerce.

11. Roads and Canals
National Road – Congress approved and
funded road which stretched east to
west from Maryland to Virginia.

12. President Andrew Jackson
First man to rise from
childhood poverty to the
presidency. Represented
the “Common Man”.
Jacksonian Democracy –during his term
property qualifications for voting were
dropped.

13. Spoils System – The policy of allowing
friends and supporters to have high
positions in government.
Doctrine of Nullification – came about
when South Carolina protested the high
tariffs imposed on British goods. Stated
that if Congress passed a bill that was
harmful to a state, that state was not
obligated to enforce it.

14. The Indian Removal Act
Indian Removal Act – Jackson’s order for the
forced removal of five Native American
Nations to Oklahoma in order to make room
for white settlers.
Trail of Tears – The forced march of the
Cherokee Nation to reservations in Oklahoma
(800 miles). Many died from disease,
starvation and exposure.

15. The Trails to the West
Oregon Trail – Trail to
Pacific Coast.
Mormon Trail – Trail to Utah that
Mormons took to escape persecution for
their religious beliefs (polygamy – more
than one wife).

16. California Trail – Trail taken by miners
in search of gold in California due to the
California Gold Rush of 1849
(migration of people to California).

17. Texas Independence
Stephen Austin – brought a group of
settlers to settle Texas.
General Antonio Santa Anna – Mexican
general who became dictator
and did away with Mexican
Constitution and tightened
his control of U.S. settlers

18. Sam Houston – Leader of
forces to gain back control
over Santa Anna.
The Alamo – Spanish
Mission where Santa
Anna’s troops fought
Sam Houston’s men killing all of them.

19. Battle of San Jacinto – Battle where Texans
defeated Santa Anna and took him hostage.
In exchange for his freedom he would
recognize the Republic of Texas.
Texans applied to be annexed
(added) to the United States.

20. The Mexican –American War
Manifest Destiny – The belief that it was
God’s will for the United States to expand
from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
New Mexico – the area between Texas and
California that President Polk wanted to buy.

21. Mexican-American War – Mexican
president refused to meet to talk about
selling New Mexico. Polk order General
Zachary Taylor to move his troops into
the disputed territory. Mexican troops
crossed Rio Grande River and attacked
Taylor’s forces. Congress declared war.
U.S. marched into Mexico City and the
Mexicans surrendered.

22. Mexico gave up ½ its land and sold the
territories of California and New Mexico to
the U.S.
This fulfilled the country’s Manifest
Destiny.

23. Literature in the United States
Noah Webster – produced the first American
Dictionary.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – essayist and poet
known for his eloquent speech an poetic
language and a leader in the transcendental
movement. This movement believed truth
could be found beyond the physical world and
that all humans share in the spiritual unity of
creation.

24. Henry David Thoreau – writer and
naturalist who wrote Walden and “Civil
Disobedience”.
Walt Whitman – poet who emphasized
the great worth of each individual.
Nathaniel Hawthorne – novelist who
wrote about sin, punishment and
atonement. The Scarlet Letter and The
House of Seven Gables.

25. Washington Irving – First American writer to
gain international fame. Wrote short stories
“Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow”.
Edgar Allen Poe – master of the short story.
Famous for his mysterious and macabre tales
such as “The Tell-Tale Heart” and the poem
“The Raven”.
James Fenimore Cooper – novelist who
became known as the first great American
writer. Wrote The Last of the Mohicans.

26. Emily Dickinson – one of the most
influential poets of the U.S. Wrote
about love, death and immorality.
Herman Melville – based his novels on
his experiences in the U.S. Navy.
Wrote Moby Dick.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – used
simple styles and themes in his writings.
Wrote “Paul Revere’s Ride”.

27. Social Reform Movements
Horace Mann – advocated the
education of both men and women
through public funding.
Dorothea Dix – improvement
of mental institutions and prisons.
Temperance Movement – movement
to moderate the use of alcohol.

28. Abolition Movement – movement to abolish
(put an end to) slavery.
Harriet Tubman – hero of the
abolition movement who helped
hundreds of slaves to escape through the
Underground Railroad (a network of people
who helped slaves escape to the north and
Canada).
Frederick Douglas – former slave who was
very well spoken. Became the most prominent
African American speaker for abolition.

29. Suffragettes – women who supported
the right to vote.
19th amendment –
gave women the right
to vote.

30. Harriet Beecher Stowe – helped the
abolitionist cause with the publishing
of her book Uncle Tom’s Cabin
( a fictional account of the horrors of
slavery.).
Sojourner Truth – illiterate former slave who
was a very eloquent and charismatic speaker
for abolition.
William Lloyd Garrison - white abolitionist
who was the founder of the anti-slavery
newspaper The Liberator.

31. Women’s Rights Movement – movement to
give women the same rights as men. Started
by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (organized the
first women's rights convention) and Susan B.
Anthony (supported the temperance,
abolition and women’s rights
movements).
Seneca Falls Convention – meeting for
women’s rights where “Declaration of
Sentiments and Resolutions” was written.
Believed men and women were created equal.