US HISTORY FINAL UNIT 2

Missouri Compromise of 1820

Allowed Missouri to enter the union as a slave state, Maine to enter the union as a free state, prohibited slavery north of latitude 36˚ 30' within the Louisiana Territory (1820)

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

An American foreign policy opposing interference in the Western hemisphere from European powers.

Eli Whitney

United States inventor of the mechanical cotton gin (1765-1825)

Andrew Jackson

The seventh President of the United States (1829-1837), who as a general in the War of 1812 defeated the British at New Orleans (1815). As president he opposed the Bank of America, objected to the right of individual states to nullify disagreeable federal laws, and increased the presidential powers.

Spoils System

A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.

Indian Removal Act

(1830) a congressional act that authorized the removal of Native Americans who lived east of the Mississippi River

Trail of Tears (1838)

The forced relocation of the Cherokee tribe to the Western United States; resulted in the deaths of an estimated 4,000 Cherokees.

abolistionist movement

Movement to end slavery

Manifest Destiny

A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific. (From sea to shining sea)

Mexican-American War (1846-1848)

President Polk provoked this war by ordering U.S. troops into disputed territory between Texas and Mexico. The U.S. won the war and vastly increased its territory.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

Treaty that ended the Mexican War, granting the U.S. control of Texas, New Mexico, and California in exchange for $15 million

Compromise of 1850/Fugitive Slave Act

1) California enters as a free state

2) Other states will be decided by popular sovereignty

3) Fugitive Slave Act added (runaway slaves had to be returned to their owners)

Uncle Tom's Cabin

written by harriet beecher stowe in 1853 that highly influenced england's view on the American Deep South and slavery. a novel promoting abolition. intensified sectional conflict.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854 - Created Nebraska and Kansas as states and gave the people in those territories the right to chose to be a free or slave state through popular sovereignty.

Popular Sovereignty

A government in which the people rule by their own consent.

Harper's Ferry

John Brown's scheme to invade the South with armed slaves, backed by sponsoring, northern abolitionists; seized the federal arsenal; Brown and remnants were caught by Robert E. Lee and the US Marines; Brown was hanged

Dred Scott Decision

Supreme Court ruling that declared slaves were not viewed as citizens but as property.

Election of 1860

Lincoln, the Republican candidate, won because the Democratic party was split over slavery. As a result, the South no longer felt like it has a voice in politics and a number of states seceded from the Union.

Battle of Antietam (1862)

Civil War battle fought in Maryland, the single bloodiest day in U.S. military history, Lee's march North was stopped.

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

Battle of Gettysburg (1863)

The bloodiest overall battle of the Civil War; many historians claim that the Southern defeat in this battle was the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.

13th Amendment (1865)

Abolition of slavery w/o compensation for slave-owners

14th Amendment (1868)

Declares that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens and are guaranteed equal protection of the laws

15th Amendment (1870)

U.S. cannot prevent a person from voting because of race, color, or creed

Black Codes (1865-1866)

Laws passed in southern states to restrict the rights of former slaves; to nullify the codes, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment.

Freedmen's Bureau (1865-1872)

Created to aid newly emancipated slaves by providing food, clothing, medical care, education, and legal support. Its achievements were uneven and depended largely on the quality of local administrators.

Homestead Act of 1862

Encouraged westward settlement by allowing heads of families to buy 160 acres of land for a small fee ($10-30); settlers were required to develop and remain on the land for five years. Over 400,000 families got land through this law.

Massacre at Wounded Knee

(1890) the U.S. Army's killing of approximately 150 Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota; ended U.S-Indian wars on the Plains

Dawes Act of 1887

Sought to "Americanize" Native Americans.