The Rise of Cultural Nationalism

1. What effect did Republican ideology have on education in the United States?
2. Explain the "cultural independence" that Jeffersonian Americans sought. What means of expression did this "independence" find?
3. What were the obstacles faced by Americans who aspired to create a more elevated national literary life? What efforts were made to overcome these obstacles?
4. How did the American Revolution affect traditional forms of religious practice? What challenges to religious traditionalism arose during this period?
5. What caused the Second Great Awakening?
6. Why were the Methodists, the Baptists, and the Presbyterians so successful on the frontier?
7. What were the "message" and the impact of the Second Great Awakening?

Stirrings of Industrialism

8. What was the industrial revolution? Where and why did it begin?
9. Explain the role that Eli Whitney played in America's industrial revolution. What impact did his inventions have on the South? On the North?
10. What effect did America's transportation system have on industrialization?
11. What were the characteristics of American population growth and expansion in the years between 1790 and 1800?

Jefferson the President

12. How did Jefferson's presidency represent a "fundamental change" in the direction of the federal government?
13. How was the relative "unimportance of the federal government" during the Jefferson administration symbolized by the character of the national capital?
14. What were the characteristics of the "spirit of democratic simplicity" that was the style set by Jefferson for his administration?
15. How did Jefferson combine his duties as president and as party leader in his efforts to govern the country?
16. Why did Jefferson, despite his views on government spending, go to "war" with the pasha of Tripoli? What was the outcome?
17. What were the roots of Jefferson's conflict with the federal court system, and how did the case of Marbury v. Madison fit into the controversy?
18. What method did Jefferson employ to bring the judiciary under Republican control, and what were the results?

Doubling the National Domain

19. Why was New Orleans "the one single spot" that made its possessor the "natural enemy" of the United States?
20. Which group in America was most concerned with the French possession of New Orleans, and how did this concern threaten Jefferson politically?
21. How were the negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase conducted, and what were the terms agreed on?
22. What were the reasons behind Jefferson's reservations over the purchase of Louisiana, and how was he able to reason these doubts away?
23. What was the purpose of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and what did the expedition accomplish?
24. What was the reaction of the New England Federalists to the Louisiana Purchase, and what was their plan to overcome its effects?
25. What were the circumstances that led to the duel between Hamilton and Burr?
26. What was the "Burr conspiracy," and what was its outcome?
27. How do the records kept by Lewis and Clark reflect the purpose of their expedition?

Expansion and War

28. Why was America important to both sides in the conflict between England and France, and what role did the Americans hope to play in the struggle?
29. How did each belligerent nation attempt to prevent America from trading with the other, why was one more successful than the other, and what was the American response?
30. What was Jefferson's response to the Chesapeake-Leopard affair, and why did he take this action?
31. How did the embargo affect the election of 1808, and what was the response of the new president to diplomatic problems that the embargo had addressed?
32. How did conditions in the West heighten the tension between the United States and Britain?
33. What was Tecumseh's attitude toward the treaties previously negotiated between the United States and various Indian tribes? How did he plan to prevent the expansion of white settlements?
34. Why did Americans blame the British for Indian uprisings on the frontier, and what did the frontier settlers see as the best solution to the problem?
35. Why did Americans want to wrest control of Florida from the Spanish? What attempts were made to do this before 1812? Which attempts were successful, and which failed?
36. Who were the "War Hawks," and why were they able to exert such influence on America's drift toward war?

The War of 1812

37. What were the relative successes and failures of the American military during the first year of the war?
38. How did America's fortunes of war change during 1813 and early 1814, and what were the results of this change?
39. What were the plan and purpose of the British invasion of the United States in 1814? What was the result?
40. Why did New England oppose the War of 1812? Prior to 1814, what did the New England states do to hinder the war effort?
41. What caused the leaders of New England to regard the War of 1812 as a threat to their future as a meaningful force in the United States? What did they propose to remedy this situation?
42. What effect did the Hartford Convention have on the Federalist Party?
43. What was the background to peace negotiations at Ghent? What did both sides initially demand, and why did they finally agree on the terms they did?