A French-American writer who described early America as a place where people from different nations were blending into a “new race” in his work Letters from an American Farmer.
Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur
Crèvecoeur’s idea that America created a new type of person—independent, hardworking, and free from European class divisions.
The “new man” and the “new race”
A political philosophy emphasizing civic virtue, self-government, and the idea that power should come from the consent of the governed rather than monarchy.
Republicanism
Franklin embodied the ideal that anyone could rise through hard work, discipline, and education, becoming a model for American individualism.
Benjamin Franklin/“self-made man”
A personal code Franklin created to guide moral self-improvement and virtuous living, including traits like temperance, industry, and humility.
Franklin’s List of 13 Virtues
The legislative body established in 1789 that implemented the new Constitution, created key institutions, and set precedents for the federal government.
The First U.S. Congress
Federalists supported a strong central government and the Constitution; Anti-federalists feared tyranny and demanded a Bill of Rights.
Federalists vs. Anti-federalists
A 1794 protest by farmers against a federal whiskey tax, testing the new government’s authority to enforce its laws.
The Whiskey Rebellion
The growing belief in the early 19th century that success came from personal effort and independence rather than social class or birth.
The “new individualism”
One of the first American women, and the first African American woman, to give public speeches advocating for racial equality and women’s rights.
Maria Stewart
A French observer who wrote Democracy in America, praising U.S. equality and democracy while warning of “the tyranny of the majority.”
Alexis de Tocqueville
Thomas Jefferson’s major work analyzing Virginia’s society, economy, and government, including controversial views on race and slavery.
“Notes on the State of Virginia” (Jefferson)
A period of rapid technological and industrial growth that transformed labor, production, and society in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
The Industrial Revolution
The shift toward a national economy based on cash exchange, wage labor, and growing commercial networks.
The new market economy
An economic system where production and trade are privately owned and driven by profit, competition, and market forces.
Capitalism
An early labor movement advocating for shorter workdays, better wages, and workers’ rights in response to industrialization.
The Workingmen’s Party of Charlestown
A short story illustrating the alienation and dehumanization of workers in a capitalist society through the passive character Bartleby.
“Bartleby” (Herman Melville)
The belief that women should raise virtuous, civically-minded sons to sustain the republic’s democratic values.
Republican Motherhood
A 19th-century ideal that women’s proper role was in the home, emphasizing piety, purity, and domestic responsibility
The Cult of Domesticity
The cultural division between men’s public roles (work and politics) and women’s private roles (home and family).
Separate spheres
An early advocate for women’s education and equality, arguing that women’s intellect was equal to men’s.
Judith Sargent Murray
A reformer who promoted women’s education but within traditional domestic roles, seeing motherhood as a moral duty.
Catharine Beecher
Held in Seneca Falls, New York, it issued the Declaration of Sentiments, demanding legal and social equality for women.
Women’s Rights Convention (1848)
A formerly enslaved woman who became a powerful abolitionist and women’s rights activist, known for her “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech.
Sojourner Truth
