Period 4: 1800–1848 (AP US History)

Period 4: 1800-1848

The new republic struggled to define and extend democratic ideals in the face of rapid economic, territorial, and demographic changes. Topics may include:

 

 

Image Source: A detail from The Times, a lithograph by Edward Williams Clay and Henry R. Robinson, printed in New York, 1837. (Library of Congress)

Lithograph showing a satyrical urban scene, intended to blame the depressed state of the American economy on Andrew Jackson, represented in the sky by floating hat, spectacles, and clay pipe with the word glory

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Key Concepts

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.

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.

4.3: The U.S. interest in increasing foreign trade and expanding its national borders shaped the nation’s foreign policy and spurred government and private initiatives.

The Rise of Political Parties

Details from John Marshall's handwritten where visible text includes "the democrats fear that" and "depends absolutely [on] the election"

The Presidential Election of 1800

by Joanne B. Freeman

Read about the drama and legacies of the tied presidential election of 1800.

  • Essay
Detail of John Quincy Adams face from a black and white facsimile of John Singleton Copley's portrait

Adams v. Jackson: The Election of 1824

by Edward G. Lengel

Learn about the contest between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson and the "corrupt bargain."

  • Essay
Print from 1856 showing speechifying in front of a crowd

The Rise and Fall of the Whig Party

by Michael F. Holt

Watch a discussion of the American Whig Party.

  • Video
View of published with visible text extolling Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson’s Shifting Legacy

by Daniel Feller

Explore the ever-changing legacy of Andrew Jackson.

  • Essay
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American Foreign Policy

View from a woodcut engraving depicting an early nineteenth-century battle, with clouds of gunsmoke and Euroamericans and Native Americans engaged in hand to hand combat.

The Battle of the Thames

1812

Woodcut depicting different stages of the battle in a single view

  • Primary Source
Detail from handwritten letter by Thomas Jefferson with the word "aggression" prominently featured

Jefferson on British aggression

1815

Jefferson defends American nationalism after the War of 1812

  • Primary Source
View of the first page of a 1863 published paper about the Monroe Doctrine

The Monroe Doctrine

1823

Monroe declaring the Western Hemisphere closed to European encroachment

  • Primary Source
View of early nineteenth century map of Louisiana showing placenames and waterways draining into the Gulf of Mexico

A map of the Louisiana Territory

1806

Map depicting Lewis and Clark's trek across western North America

  • Primary Source
Top of a published letter addressed to "the Citizens of Texas" with visible text describes how the author is "besieged" and under "continual bombardment"

A plea to defend the Alamo

1836

Letter to Texans from the Alamo stating that "I shall never surrender nor retreat"

  • Primary Source
View of the published "Unanimous Declaration of Independence of . . . Texas" with the title prominently featured.

Texas Declaration of Independence

1836

Formal declaration written from Washington-on-the-Brazos

  • Primary Source
See All Resources

Innovations in Technology, Agriculture, and Business

Black and White Photograph of the Whitehouse

Photography in Nineteenth-Century America

by Martha A. Sandweiss

Learn about the arrival of photography from France in 1839.

  • Essay
Detail from oil painting (1882-93) depicting doctors gathered around patient in medical theater, performing the first operation with ether

Medical Advances in Nineteenth-Century America

by Bert Hansen

Read about the "birthday" of modern medicine in America.

  • Essay
Detail from an official patent concerning the combination of the steam whistle and the boiler, with a partial view of the seal. The patent is largely printed but certain parts have been filled in by hand.

Technology of the 1800s

by Brent D. Glass

Read about the links between expansion and invention in an emerging democracy.

  • Essay
Engraving showing women operating looms at a cotton mill in Lowell, Massachusetts

Lowell Mill Girls and the factory system

1840

Opposing views of the life of factory workers in Lowell, Massachusetts

  • Primary Source
1870s engraving depicing the interior of the New York Clearing House featuring lines of people come to enact financial transactions

The US Banking System

by Richard Sylla

Read about the emergence of the banking industry in the United States.

  • Essay
Detail from ca. 1900 photograph showing the front of the New York Stock Exchange

The Rise of an American Institution: The Stock Market

by Brian Murphy

Read about the historical context of the emergence of the stock market.

  • Essay
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Debates about Federal Power

Detail from mezzotint depicting full-body portrait of General George Washington with an African or African American man behind him holding his horse.

The New Nation, 1783–1815

by Alan Taylor 

Timeline of the New Nation (1783–1815) and essay explaining the early development of the US.

  • Essay
Detail from handwritten letter by Thomas Jefferson with the text "so called federalists" prominently featured

Thomas Jefferson’s opposition to the Federalists

1810

A letter to David Howell discussing Jefferson's opposition to the Federalist Party

  • Primary Source
Map showing Cherokee land in Georgia divided into grids

Indian Removal

by Theda Perdue

Read about Native American responses to political pressures and their subsequent removal.

  • Essay
Detail from cartoon depicting Andrew Jackson as a king, holding a scroll saying "Veto" in one hand

Andrew Jackson and the Constitution

by Matthew Warshauer

Gain an understanding of Jackson as "a most law-defying, law-obeying citizen."

  • Essay
Close up of David Crockett's handwritten letter from 1834 with the name "Andrew Jackson" prominently featured

Davy Crockett on the removal of the Cherokees

1834

Davy Crockett opposing the removal of Cherokee from their lands

  • Primary Source
Top of the first page of printed letter by Andrew Jackson with the title "To the Cherokee Tribe ofIndians East of the Mississippi River" prominently featured

Andrew Jackson to the Cherokee Tribe

1835

Jackson's circular supporting removal of the Cherokee westward

  • Primary Source
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The Second Great Awakening

Portrait of Jarena Lee

Richard Allen and Jarena Lee

by Margaret Washington

Read about the role of religion in the lives of early nineteenth-century African Americans.

  • Essay
Lithograph depicting a scene at a religious revival in the woods, including a preacher gesticulating and many people in the crowd in various states of emotional convulsion.

Transcendentalism and Social Reform

by Philip F. Gura

Learn about Transcendentalism's roots in American Christian communities.

  • Essay
Early twentieth-century advertisement showing a box of Graham Crackers made by the National Biscuit Company

Sylvester Graham and Antebellum Diet Reform

by Cindi Lobel

Learn about the connection between diet reform and the religious revivals in the United States.

  • Essay
Detail of watercolor painting showing a religious revival meeting with the preacher featured prominently as the focal point of the image.

National Expansion and Reform, 1815–1860

by Joyce Appleby

Learn about the political, cultural, and social circumstances surrounding the Second Great Awakening in the young republic.

  • Essay
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Reform Movements

Broadside with title "A Mirror for the Intemperate" composed of a series of images, poems, and prose.

A Mirror for the Intemperate

ca. 1830

Broadside reflecting the temperance movement’s crusade against alcohol consumption

  • Primary Source
Modern day photograph showing rows of looms at the old Boott Cotton Mill No. 6 in Lowell, Massachusetts

Women and the Early Industrial Revolution

by Thomas Dublin

Learn about the impact of the early Industrial Revolution on women's lives and their place in the American story.

  • Essay
View of published 1855 declaration of the Convention of "Radical Politial Abolitionists" with words "Principles and Measures" featured prominently.

Abolition and Antebellum Reform

by Ronald G. Walters

Learn about abolitionism in relation to Higginson’s Sisterhood of Reforms.

  • Essay
Lithograph from 1870 with seven portraits of prominent women in the suffrage movement.

The Seneca Falls Convention

by Judith Wellman

Learn about origins of the national stage for women’s suffrage.

  • Essay
Title page of Lydia Maria Child's book of "Letters from New York"

Lydia Maria Child on women’s rights

1843

Editorial and commentaries on women’s rights

  • Primary Source
View of Ralph Waldo Emerson from a carte de visite

The First Age of Reform

by Ronald G. Walters

Learn about reform movements from roughly 1815 through the Civil War.

  • Essay
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The Experience of African Americans

View of Sojourner Truth from a carte de visite

Black Women and the Abolition of Slavery

by Margaret Washington

Learn how gender shaped the African American struggle for emancipation.

  • Essay
Handwritten letter from John Quincy Adams with visible text discussing "the Supreme Court of the United States" and "the Captives of the Amistad"

John Quincy Adams and the Amistad case

1841

Letter from John Quincy Adams agreeing to represent the Amistad captives' petition for freedom before the Supreme Court

  • Primary Source
View of Frederick Douglass's portrait taken from his autobiography My Bondage and my Freedom

The Importance of Frederick Douglass

by David Blight

Learn about Frederick Douglass's emergence as abilitionist, orator, and statesman.

  • Video
Landscape view of Monticello estate

The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.

by Annette Gordon-Reed

Examine the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings.

  • Video
Haitian military officer, holding a printed copy of the Constitution of 1801

The Haitian Revolution: A New Vision of Freedom in the Atlantic World

by Laurent Dubois

Examine the widely divergent notions of freedom that developed in Haiti and the United States

  • Video
Text from an 1805 broadside describing the conditions of enslaved peoples

The horrors of slavery

1805

Broadside and interactive explaining the horrors of enslavement

  • Primary Source
Detail from printed speech given by Senator Rufus King with visible text discussing admission of new states

A Founding Father on the Missouri Compromise

1819

Rufus King's speeches on limiting the expansion of slavery

  • Primary Source
Detail from handwritten letter discussing the progress of a trip

A northerner’s view of southern slavery

1821

A transplanted Connecticut woman extols life in the South

  • Primary Source
Print showing the capture of Nat Turner

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

1831

Nelson Allyn's letter about retaliation against African Americans in the context of Turner's rebellion.

  • Primary Source
Handdrawn illustration of the Liberian Senate

Liberian Independence and Black Self-Government

by Claude A. Clegg III

Read about a Black American settler class that sought to rule over a territory primarily populated by indigenous Africans.

  • Essay
A certificate, with a seal at left reading "Lex in Tenebris" in Latin surrounding a schooner, a flying dove holding a piece of paper reading "Liberia," and a rising sun in the right of the seal. At right, palm tree leaves, with the signature of James Madison below.

American Colonization Society

1833

American Colonization Society's efforts to send America’s free Black population to Africa

  • Primary Source
Image showing an enslaved person being exchanged for a horse

The Slave Narratives: A Genre and a Source

by David Blight

Learn about the memoirs of formerly enslaved people.

  • Essay
Detail from Antislavery Almanac showing an enslaved person in chains crossing from a Slave State into a Free State

The Bondwoman's Narrative

by Henry Louis Gates

Examine one of the first novels written by a formerly enslaved woman.

  • Video
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American History Timeline: 1800-1848

Image Citations

Listed in order of appearance in the sections above

The Rise of Political Parties

The Rise of Political Parties

  • Marshall, John. Letter to Charles Pinckney, November 22, 1800. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC04996.
  • Detroit Publishing Co. John Quincy Adams. Detroit, 1900-1912. Photograph of a painting by John Singleton Copley. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. 
  • Bingham, George Caleb. Stump Speaking. New York: Goupil & Co., 1856. Hand-colored engraving. The Gilder Lehrman Institute Institute of American History, GLC04075.
  • Lee, Henry. A Vindication of the Character and Public Services of Andrew Jackson. Boston, 1828. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC08500.01.

American Foreign Policy

American Foreign Policy

  • Bowen, A. A View of Col. Johnson's Engagement with the Savages (Commanded by Tecumseh) near the Moravian Town, October 5th, 1812 [i.e., 1813]. In Henry Trumbull, History of the Discovery of America ... and Their Most Remarkable Engagements with the Indians. Boston, 1828. Hand-colored woodcut. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC03798.
  • Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to James Maury, June 16, 1815. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC09077.
  • Everett, Edward. "The Monroe Doctrine." Loyal Publication Society 34. New York, ca. 1863. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC01265.12.
  • Lewis, Samuel, and Aaron Arrowsmith. Louisiana. s.l, [1805]. Map. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.
  • Travis, William B. To the Citizens of Texas. February 28, 1836. San Felipe de Austin, TX. Broadside. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC03230.02.
  • Texas. Unanimous Declaration of Independence by the Delegates of the People of Texas in General Convention, March 2, 1836. San Felipe de Austin: Baker and Bordens, 1836. Broadside. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of America nHistory, GLC02559.

Innovations in Technology, Agriculture, and Business

Innovations in Technology, Agriculture, and Business

  • Plumbe, John. President's House (i.e., White House). Washington DC, ca. 1846. Daguerreotype. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
  • Hinckley, Robert. The First Operation Under Ether. 1882-1893. Oil painting. Boston Medical Library. Image from Center for the History of Medicine, Harvard Countway Library.
  • Madison, James, Edmund Pendleton, and US Patent Office. Patent for Matthias Baldwin's combination of the steam whistle and the boiler. May 28, 1846. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC00063.
  • American Bank Note Company. "Lowell Girls" vignette. ca. 1859-1893. Engraving. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library.
  • Miranda. "New York City -- the New York Clearing House." Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, August 21, 1875. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library.
  • Detroit Publishing Co. New York Stock Exchange. New York, 1900-1905. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Debates about Federal Power

Debates about Federal Power

  • Green, Valentine, engraver. General Washington. London, 1781. Mezzotint based on a painting by John Trumbull. Library of Congres Prints and Photographs Division.
  • Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to David Howell, December 15, 1810. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC01027.
  • Bethune, John, Surveyor General. A map of that part of Georgia occupied by the Cherokee Indians, taken from an actual survey made during the present year , in pursuance of an act of the general assembly of the state: this interesting tract of country contains four millions three hundred & sixty six thousand five hundred & fifty four acres, many rich gold mines & many delightful situations & though in some parts mountainous, some of the richest land belonging to the state. Milledgeville, Ga.: John Bethune, 1831. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/2004633028/.
  • King Andrew the First. [New York], 1833. Lithograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
  • Crockett, David. Letter to Charles Schultz, December 25, 1834. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC01162.
  • Jackson, Andrew. To the Cherokee Tribe of Indians East of the Mississippi. March 16, 1835. Washington DC. Circular. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC07377.

The Second Great Awakening

The Second Great Awakening

  • Huffy, A., artist, and P. S. Duval. "Mrs. Jarena Lee." In Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee. Philadelphia, 1849. Engraving. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. 
  • Bridport, Hugh, lithographer, and Alexander Rider, artist. Camp-meeting. ca. 1829. Kennedy & Lucas Lithography. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
  • National Biscuit Company. "Keeping Quality in the Pantry." In American Cookery 20, no. 1 (June-July 1915). Advertisement. Internet Archive.
  • Burbank, J. Maze. Religious Camp Meeting. 1839. Watercolor. Old Dartmouth Historical Society-New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Massachusetts. Gift of William F. Havemeyer (187).

Reform Movements

Reform Movements

  • Bowen, Henry. A Mirror for the Intemperate. Boston, 1830. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC08600.
  • Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. Looms inside the old Boott Cotton Mill No. 6 in Lowell, Massachusetts. United States Lowell Massachusetts, None. [Between 1980 and 2006] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2011631938/.
  • "Principles and Measures: Declaration of the Convention of 'Radical Political Abolitionists,' at Syracuse, June 26th, 27th, and 28th, 1855." Abolition Documents. Number One. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC04717.22.
  • Schamer. L. Representative Women. Boston: L. Prang & Co., 1870. Lithograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.  
  • Child, Lydia Maria Francis. Letters from New York: Second Series. New York and Boston, 1845. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC06218.
  • Whipple, John Adams. Ralph W. Emerson. Boston, ca. 1860. Carte de visite. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC05141.

The Experience of African Americans

The Experience of African Americans

  • Unknown photographer. Sojourner Truth. s.l., 1864. Photograph. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC06391.20.
  • Adams, John Quincy. Letter to Roger S. Baldwin, November 11, 1840. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC00582.
  • My bondage and my freedom. Part I : Life as a slave. Part II : Life as a freeman. By Frederick Douglass with an introduction. By James McCune Smith. Published by Miller, Orton & Mulligan. Includes an engraving of a young Douglass by J. C. Buttre from a daguerreotype. Signed on front free yellow endpaper by Maggie R. Marriott 1 June 1861. My bondage and my freedom. Part I : Life as a slave. Part II : Life as a freeman. By Frederick Douglass with an introduction. By James McCune Smith. The Gilder Lehrman Institute Institute of American History, GLC05820
  • The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. "Late residence of Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, Va." New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed February 5, 2024. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-258e-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
  • Le 1er. Juillet , Toussaint-L'Ouverture, chargés des pouvoirs du peuple d'Haïty et auspices du Tout-puissante, proclame la Gouverneur général, assisté des mandataires légalement convoqués, en présenceet sous les Constitution de la république d'Haïty / lith. de Villain, r. de Sèvres No. 11. Haiti, 1801. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2004669332/.
  • Wood, Samuel. Injured Humanity; Being A Representation of What the Unhappy Children of Africa Endure from Those Who Call Themselves Christians. New York, 1805. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC05113.
  • King, Rufus. Substance of Two Speeches, Delivered in the Senate of the United States on the Subject of the Missouri Bill. New York, 1819. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC02384.
  • Hale, Aurelia. Letter to Sarah Hale, June 11, 1821. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC08934.020.
  • Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. "Discovery of Nat Turner" New York Public Library Digital Collections. 
  • Griffin, Robert K., 1836?-, Artist. Liberian senate / drawn by Robert K. Griffin, Monrovia. Liberia, ca. 1856. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/96521350/.
  • Madison, James, R. R. Gurley, and American Colonization Society. Membership certificate, signed blank. December 1, 1833. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC04675.02.
  • Walker, Jonathan. A Picture of Slavery, for Youth. Boston, [184-] . Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
  • American Anti-Slavery Almanac. Illustrations of the American anti-slavery almanac for . New York, New York. United States New York, 1840. New York. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2007680126/.