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Credit Sprint's Guide to U.S. History, Period 4: Expansion and Reform, 1800 to 1848

AP® weight 10–17%CLEP® Exam I

The young republic expanded west, built a market economy and wrestled with democracy and slavery. Jeffersonian ideas gave way to Jacksonian democracy, while reform movements and a new cotton economy deepened both opportunity and inequality.

The nine periods of U.S. history11491–160721607–175431754–180041800–184851844–187761865–189871890–194581945–198091980–nowAP® periods run in overlapping blocks of years

What you need to know

  • The Louisiana Purchase (1803) doubled the size of the nation. Lewis and Clark explored it. Jefferson stretched his constitutional powers to make the purchase.
  • Marbury v. Madison (1803) established judicial review. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) upheld the national bank and broad federal power. Gibbons v. Ogden gave Congress power over interstate commerce.
  • The War of 1812 grew out of impressment and trade restrictions. It boosted nationalism and led to the "Era of Good Feelings," the American System (tariff, national bank, internal improvements) and the Monroe Doctrine (1823).
  • The Market Revolution brought canals, steamboats, railroads and factories. The cotton gin made cotton the leading export and expanded slavery in the South.
  • Jacksonian democracy widened voting for white men and used the spoils system. Jackson opposed the national bank, faced the Nullification Crisis and signed the Indian Removal Act, which led to the Trail of Tears.
  • The Second Great Awakening inspired reform: temperance, public schools, women's rights (Seneca Falls, 1848), prison reform and abolition. Transcendentalists such as Emerson and Thoreau stressed individualism.
  • Abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass attacked slavery. Slave owners defended it as a "positive good" and tightened slave codes. The Missouri Compromise (1820) set a line for slavery in the Louisiana Territory.
  • Manifest Destiny drove expansion. Texas annexation, the Oregon Treaty and the Mexican-American War (1846–48) gained Texas, California and the Southwest. The Wilmot Proviso reopened the question of slavery in new lands.

Exam traps

Watch forJudicial review comes from Marbury v. Madison. McCulloch is about federal power over a state.
Watch forThe Monroe Doctrine warned Europe to stay out of the Americas. It was not a treaty and was enforced mostly by the British navy.
Watch forJacksonian democracy expanded democracy for white men and did not extend it to Native Americans, women or enslaved people.

Key terms

  • Louisiana Purchase (1803): The purchase of French land west of the Mississippi that doubled the country.
  • Marbury v. Madison (1803): The case that established judicial review.
  • Judicial review: The power of courts to strike down laws that violate the Constitution.
  • McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): The Court ruled that Congress could create a national bank and that states could not tax it.
  • Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): The Court ruled that Congress controls interstate commerce.
  • Embargo Act (1807): A law that banned American exports to pressure Britain and France; it hurt American merchants.
  • War of 1812: A conflict with Britain over impressment and trade that boosted American nationalism.
  • Hartford Convention: A meeting of New England Federalists that opposed the war and hurt the party.
  • American System: Henry Clay's plan of a protective tariff, a national bank and internal improvements.
  • Monroe Doctrine (1823): A policy that warned Europe not to colonize the Americas.
  • Missouri Compromise (1820): An agreement that admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as free and banned slavery north of 36°30'.
  • Market Revolution: The shift to a national economy based on factories, canals and railroads.
  • Cotton gin: Eli Whitney's invention that made cotton profitable and expanded slavery.
  • Erie Canal: A New York canal (1825) that linked the Great Lakes to the Atlantic and spurred growth.
  • Jacksonian democracy: An era of expanded voting for white men and stronger presidential power.
  • Spoils system: Giving government jobs to political supporters.

Practice questions

Five of the 55 Period 4 questions in Credit Sprint. Every choice is explained in the app.

1. Marbury v. Madison (1803) established the principle of
  1. executive privilege, the president's power to withhold information
  2. popular sovereignty, the people's right to decide on slavery
  3. nullification, a state's power to void federal laws
  4. judicial review, the Supreme Court's power to strike down unconstitutional laws
Show answer

judicial review, the Supreme Court's power to strike down unconstitutional laws. Chief Justice Marshall ruled that part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 conflicted with the Constitution, claiming the Court's authority to interpret it.

2. The Missouri Compromise (1820) did which of the following?
  1. Let settlers vote on slavery in each new state
  2. Admitted both Missouri and Maine as slave states
  3. Admitted Missouri as a slave state
  4. Abolished slavery everywhere in the Louisiana Territory
Show answer

Admitted Missouri as a slave state. It preserved the balance of slave and free states in the Senate and set a line for slavery's expansion.

3. The 'cult of domesticity' idealized women as
  1. moral guardians of the home who taught virtue to their families
  2. political leaders in the new democracy
  3. workers who should enter factories as a calling
  4. equal partners in the legal system
Show answer

moral guardians of the home who taught virtue to their families. It limited women's public roles while praising their moral influence, shaping middle-class gender norms.

4. Jackson opposed the Second Bank of the United States because he believed it
  1. was run by foreign governments in Europe
  2. gave special privileges to wealthy elites
  3. should be expanded to every state to help small farmers
  4. was unconstitutional because it printed too much money for farmers
Show answer

gave special privileges to wealthy elites. He vetoed its recharter in 1832 and moved federal deposits to state 'pet banks,' framing the fight as one for the common man.

5. Which idea did Transcendentalists such as Emerson and Thoreau stress?
  1. Government planning of every citizen's daily life
  2. Individual intuition and self-reliance
  3. Strict obedience to established churches and political parties in every area of life, as a guide to moral action
  4. Industrial growth as the highest national goal
Show answer

Individual intuition and self-reliance. They urged people to trust their own conscience over conformity and wealth, which influenced later reform and civil disobedience.