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McCulloch v. Maryland argued the constitutionality of the Second Bank of the United States. The Court decided that Congress had the power to incorporate the Bank and Maryland could not tax it.
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The Missouri Compromise was an attempt to keep a balance in Congress between free and slave states. It prohibited slavery in states above the 36° 30´ latitude line.
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In the Monroe Doctrine, President Monroe warned European countries not to interfere in the Western Hemisphere. This later became a cornerstone for U.S. foreign policy.
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Gibbons v. Ogden was a supreme court case that established that Congress could regulate interstate commerce. the stated "power to regulate commerce extends to every species of commercial intercourse … among the several states"
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The Democratic Party is established as Andrew Jackson is elected as the first Democratic President. John Calhoun is elected Vice-President. Jackson also created the Spoils System with his presidency.
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Merchants in Baltimore start construction on a railroad from the harbor of the Ohio River. This railroad was the first public railroad in the United States.
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President Jackson removed Native Americans from their settled lands in the Southeast to federal land west of the Mississippi. Most notable were the Five Civilized Tribes: Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole, Cherokee, and Creek.
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Nat Turner led the only effective and sustained slave rebellion in the South and put an end to the myth that slaves were contented and could not revolt.
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Andrew Jackson is re-elected president and Martin Van Buren is elected Vice-President.
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Texas declared its independence from Mexico, 59 delegates from all the settlements approved the Texas Declaration of Independence.
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Major recession that began in the spring of 1837. Many banks collapsed, prices soared, currency lost value, and many business owners went bankrupt.
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Cherokee's are forcibly removed from Georgia to what is now Oklahoma.
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The firsts publicly funded school for training teachers accepted their first three female students. These women went to Lexington Massachusetts to take part in this new program.
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Self-reliance was Emerson's idea that an individual needs to avoid conformity and follow their own instincts and ideas.
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Frederick Douglass publishes his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. This was less than 7 years after escaping slavery.
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The United States Congress declares war on Mexico for disputes over Texas.
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Gold was found at Sutter's Mill, Coloma, California. approximately 300,000 people moved to California from around the country and abroad to find gold.
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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican war. In this treaty, Mexico succeded 55% of its territory, including Colorado.
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The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. It is a marker for the start of the suffrage movement. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott conceived and directed the convention.
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The Supreme Court case of Dred Scott vs. John F. A. Stanford decided that congress has no power to regulate slavery in the territories. The decision was made because African Americans were not citizens.
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Abraham Lincoln was elected president and Hannibal Hamlin was elected vice-president.
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South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union.
