Key Concept 4.1:
The United States began to develop a modern democracy and celebrated a new national culture, while Americans sought to define the nation’s democratic ideals and change their society and institutions to match them. |
I. The nation’s transition to a more participatory democracy was achieved by
expanding suf frage from a system based on property ownership to one based on voting by all adult white men, and it was accompanied by the growth of political parties. |
What I'm learning... |
How do I know that? |
A) In the early 1800s, national political parties continued to debate issues such as the tariff, powers of the federal government, and relations with European powers. |
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B) Supreme Court decisions established the primacy of the judiciary in determining the meaning of the Constitution and asserted that federal laws took precedence over state laws. |
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C) By the 1820s and 1830s, new political parties arose — the Democrats, led, by Andrew Jackson, and the Whigs, led by Henry Clay — that disagreed about the role and powers of the federal government and issues such as the national bank, tariffs, and federally funded internal improvements. |
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D) Regional interests often trumped national concerns as the basis for many political leaders’ positions on slavery and economic policy. |
II: While Americans embraced a new national culture, various groups developed distinctive cultures of their own.
What I'm learning |
How do I know this? |
A) The rise of democratic and individualistic beliefs, a response to rationalism, and changes to society caused by the market revolution, along with greater social and geographical mobility, contributed to a Second Great Awakening among Protestants that influenced moral and social reforms and inspired utopian and other religious movements. |
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B) A new national culture emerged that combined American elements, European influences, and regional cultural sensibilities. |
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C) Liberal social ideas from abroad and Romantic beliefs in human perfectibility influenced literature, art, philosophy, and architecture. |
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D) Enslaved blacks and free African Americans created communities and strategies to protect their dignity and family structures, and they joined political efforts aimed at changing their status. |
III. Increasing numbers of Americans, many inspired by new religious and intellectual movements, worked primarily outside of government institutions to advance their ideals.
What I'm learning... |
How do I know that? |
A) Americans formed new voluntary organizations that aimed to change individual behaviors and improve society through temperance and other reform efforts. |
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B) Abolitionist and antislavery movements gradually achieved emancipation in the North, contributing to the growth of the free African American population, even as many state governments restricted African Americans’ rights. Anti slavery efforts in the South were largely limited to unsuccessful slave rebellions. |
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C) A women’s rights movement sought to create greater equality and opportunities for women, expressing its ideals at the Seneca Falls Convention. |
Key Concept 4.2:
Innovations in technology, agriculture, and commerce powerfully accelerated the American economy, precipitating profound changes to U.S. society and to national and regional identities. |
I. New transportation systems and technologies dramatically expanded
manufacturing and agricultural production. |
What I'm Learning... |
How do I know that? |
A) Entrepreneurs helped to create a market revolution in production and commerce, in which market relationships between producers and consumers came to prevail as the manufacture of goods became more organized. |
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B) Innovations including textile machinery, steam engines, interchangeable parts, the telegraph, and agricultural inventions increased the efficiency of production methods. |
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C) Legislation and judicial systems supported the development of roads, canals, and railroads, which extended and enlarged markets and helped foster regional interdependence. Transportation networks linked the North and Midwest more closely than either was linked to the South. |
II. The changes caused by the market revolution had significant effects on U.S. society, workers’ lives, and gender and family relations.