Glossary of the 1800s
The Great Triumvirate: Clay, Webster, and Calhoun
Definition of the Great Triumvirate: Clay, Webster, and Calhoun
Abolitionist
Definition of abolitionist.
American Colonization Society
Definition of the American Colonization Society
American Lyceum Movement
The American Lyceum Movement was a thriving social movement to spread education through lectures and other programs. Learn about the lyceums and the difference they made in early America.
American System (Economic Ideas Advanced by Henry Clay)
Definition of American System
Anaconda Plan
Definition of Anaconda Plan
Antebellum Era
Definition of Antebellum Era.
Bank War Waged By President Andrew Jackson
Definition of The Bank War
Barnburners and Hunkers
Definition of Barnburners and Hunkers
Bleeding Kansas
Definition of Bleeding Kansas
Boycott
Definition of Boycott
Brokered Convention
Definition of Brokered Convention
California Gold Rush
Definition of California Gold Rush
California Trail
Definition of California Trail
Chartist Movement, or Chartism
Definition of Chartist Movement or Chartism
Chinese Exclusion Act
Definition of Chinese Exclusion Act
Clipper ship
Definition of clipper ship.
Code Duello
Definition of Code Duello
Compromise of 1877
Definition of Compromise of 1877
Conestoga Wagon
Definition of Conestoga wagon
Congreve Rocket
Definition of Congreve Rocket, British Weapon Referred to in the "Star-Spangled Banner."
Copperhead
Definition of Copperhead
Crittenden Compromise
Definition of Crittenden Compromise
Daguerreotype
Definition of daguerreotype.
Dark Horse Candidate
History of the term dark horse candidate and its 19th century origins.
Decoration Day
Definition of Decoration Day
Dime Novel
Definition of dime novel.
Doughface
Definition of Doughface
East India Company
Definition of East India Company
Emancipation Proclamation
Definition of The Emancipation Proclamation
Embargo Act of 1807
The Embargo Act of 1807 was Thomas Jefferson's misguided plan to punish Britain for interfering with American trade.
Era of Good Feelings
Definition of Era of Good Feelings
Fenian Movement
Definition of Fenian Movement.
Fire-Eaters
Fire-Eaters
Forty Acres and a Mule
Definition of Forty Acres and a Mule
Franklin Expedition
Definition of the Franklin Expedition.
Freedmen's Bureau
Definition of Freedmen's Bureau
Fugitive Slave Act
Definition of Fugitive Slave Act.
Gadsden Purchase
Definition of Gadsden Purchase
Gerrymander
Definition of Gerrymander
Grand Army of the Republic
Definition of the Grand Army of the Republic
Great Game, The
Definition of The Great Game
Greenbacks
Definition of Greenbacks
Impressment of Sailors
Definition of Impressment of Sailors
King Cotton
Definition of King Cotton
Kitchen Cabinet
Definition of Kitchen Cabinet
Knights of Labor
Definition of Knights of Labor
Know-Nothing Party
Definition of the Know-Nothing Party.
Land League
Definition of Land League.
Lecompton Constitution
Lecompton Constitution
Loco-foco
Definition of Loco-foco
Louisiana Purchase
Definition of Louisiana Purchase
Lowell Mill Girls
Definition of Lowell Mill Girls and the Lowell System of Labor
Luddites
Definition of Luddites
Manifest Destiny
Definition of Manifest Destiny.
McCormick Reaper
Definition of McCormick Reaper
Molly Maguires
Definition of Molly Maguires
Monroe Doctrine
Definition of Monroe Doctrine
Mountain Men
Definition of mountain men.
Mugwumps
Definition of Mugwumps
National Road
Definition of National Road
Nullification Crisis
Definition of Nullification Crisis
Opium War
Definition of Opium War.
Oregon Trail
Definition of Oregon Trail.
Packet ship or packet liner
Definition of packet ship or packet liner.
Penny post
Definition of penny post.
Phrenology
Definition of Phrenology
Pogrom
Definition of Pogrom
Pony Express
Definition of Pony Express
Prairie Schooner
Definition of Prairie Schooner
Privateers
Definition of Privateers
Radical Republicans
Definition of Radical Republicans
Reconstruction
Definition of Reconstruction
Santa Fe Trail
Definition of Santa Fe Trail.
Scotland Yard
Definition of Scotland Yard
Scrimshaw
Definition of scrimshaw.
Secession
Definition of Secession
The Secret Six
Definition of The Secret Six
Sharecropping
Definition of Sharecropping
The Spoils System
Definition of Spoils System
Stump Speech
Definition of Stump Speech
Tariff of Abominations
Definition of Tariff of Abominations
Transcendentalist
Definition of Transcendentalist
Transportation (as Punishment)
Definition of transportation as punishment
Treaty of Ghent
Definition of Treaty of Ghent
United States Colored Troops
Definition of United States Colored Troops
United States Sanitary Commission
Definition of U.S. Sanitary Commission
Van Diemen's Land
Definition of Van Diemen's Land.
Victorian
Definition of Victorian
War Hawks
Definition of War Hawks
Wet Plate Collodion Process of Photography
Definition of Wet Plate Method (of Photography
Whig Party
Definition of the Whig Party
Yosemite Valley Grant Act
Definition of Yosemite Valley Grant Act
Young Ireland
Definition of Young Ireland.
Treaty of Kanagawa
Definition of Treaty of Kanagawa
Adams-Onis Treaty
Definition of Adams-Onis Treaty
Wilmot Proviso
Definition of Wilmot Proviso
Free Soil Party
Definition of Free Soil Party
Pendleton Act
Definition of the Pendleton Act, which reformed the Civil Service in the 1880s.
Robber Baron
Definition of Robber Baron
Homestead Act
Definition of Homestead Act