APUSH Unit 5

Westward expansion and Manifest Destiny

Westward expansion continues in this period, as do growing concerns over slave and free states and where the extent of slave states should be. This is exacerbated with the Mexican American War and the territory gained from it.

Mexican American War

Invasion of Mexico by America by the United States Army from 1846 - 1848 that was caused by a territorial dispute stemmed from American annexation of Texas. James Polk advocated heavily for war against the Mexicans, especially after they had supposedly shed American blood on American soil following their crossing of the Rio Grande. The Mexican American War severely exacerbated disputes over slave states, and created growing tension between the North and the South (increased sectionalism).

Wilmot Proviso

Unsuccessful proposal to ban slavery in the newly acquired territories from the Mexican American War. The conflict over this was one of the many leading causes before the Civil War.

Compromise of 1850

Package of five separate bills that temporarily calmed tensions between slave and free states leading up to the Civil War. It called for the admission of California to the Union as a free state, provided for a territorial government for Utah and New Mexico, established a boundary between Texas and the United States, and amended the Fugitive Slave Act while calling for abolition of slavery in Washington D.C.

Fugitive Slave Act

Provided for the seizure and return of runaway slaves who escaped from one state to another or to another federal territory. This highly angered abolitionists and some other northerners, and was the South cracking down further on slaves. This furthered tensions between the sections of the country leading up to the Civil War.

Popular Sovereignty and Slavery

Many people thought that the issue of slavery should be up to each state to decide as it entered the Union in order to defuse some of the tension that came with the slavery question on a federal scale.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Forced through congress by Stephen Douglas, this act forced the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and allowed popular sovereignty to determine the fates of states previously prohibited from slavery.

Bleeding Kansas

Bleeding Kansas refers to the violent conflicts between pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups in Kansas territory from 1854 to 1859, fueled by the debate over whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state.Dre

Dred Scott Case

Dred Scott, a slave that had been moved with his owner to a free state, argued for his freedom because he did not live in a slave state anymore. However, the Supreme Court ruled against Scott and held that because Scott was not and never could be a citizen, he could remain enslaved. This case angered abolitionists and anti-slavery northerners, increasing tension between the North and the South with concentrated sectionalism.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

This novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe drew attention to the horrors and injustices of slavery to people all over the country, and propelled forward the abolitionist movement along with those that just wanted to see slavery stop spreading into Western territories.

Lincoln Douglas Debates

Debates between Lincoln and his competitor, Stephen Douglas, that launched Abe forward in his presidential campaign with the display of his eloquence and smarts. The debates led to his eventual election as president.

John Brown’s Raid

John Brown, an avid and violent abolitionist and veteran of the Bleeding Kansas conflict, attempted to provoke a general uprising of African Americans that would lead to a full out war on slavery. This conflict propelled the nation into the civil war further.

Lincoln’s Election

The election of Abraham Lincoln angered southerners ti an extreme level, and increased tensions with them even further in the lead up to the civil war. They could not believe that who they thought was an abolitionist was now in the White House.

Beginning of the Civil War

Confederate troops fired upon Fort Sumter, and less than 24 hours later, Union troops surrendered. This is largely seen as the beginning of the Civil War. Most southern states seceded from the Union, and declared themselves the Confederated States of America instead.

Battle of Antietam

This was the single deadliest day in American history, and demonstrated that the Union could stand against the Confederates in the Eastern Theater (front). This also gave Lincoln the chance to make the emancipation proclamation at a moment of strength for the Union, rather than one of desperation.

Emancipation Proclamation

Declared that all persons held as slaves “henceforth shall be free”. This is significant because it added moral strength to the union, and strengthened them militarily and politically.

Gettysburg and the Address

The battle of Gettysburg was a great Union victory, and is seen as the turning point of the war that could be seen to have a union win at the end. The battle also had a tremendous number of casualties. The Gettysburg Address expressed the importance of the preservation of the Union during the Civil War, and also reminded the nation that all men are created equal. The Address was used to justify the war because it was based on preserving democracy.

Second Inaugural Address

Previewed Lincoln’s plans to heal a divided nation, and entailed his beliefs that the war could not end until the United States had paid appropriately for the sin of slavery. He wanted to heal the nation’s wounds and move towards a lasting peace.

War ends

General Robert E. Lee surrendered the last confederate army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in April of 1865. The last battle of the war was fought at Palmito Ranch in Texas.

Lincoln’s Assassination

Lincoln was shot in the head by a Confederate sympathizer at Ford’s Theater and died the next morning. Andrew Johnson was immediately made president.

Military Reconstruction

Following the end of the civil war, Reconstruction efforts began. Union troops were sent to the South to make sure that they were abiding by the laws and plans that had been set out. However, Reconstruction lasted far too short of a period, and the South was able to combat it in other ways like developing Jim Crow laws and segregating.

14th amendment

Declared that all people born in the United States were United States citizens and had equal protection under the law, and the foreigners could be naturalized US citizens.

15th amendment

granted African American men the right to vote

13th amendment

Emancipation for slaves

Election of US Grant

Newly freedmen helped to vote for US Grant, but he did not win by a lot. He had a scandalous presidency and was not necessarily a professional politician.

Compromise of 1877

Informal agreement between Southern Democrats and allies of Republican Rutherford Hayes to settle the results of the 1876 presidential election and marked the end of the Reconstruction Era. The Democrats agreed not to block Hayes’ victory in then agreement that all Union troops would be pulled out of the South.

Mason-Dixon Line

Demarcated where the North and the South started during the civil war.

Tariffs

Protectionist tariffs hurt the south, but helped the north: increased sectional tensions

Rio Grande Border Dispute

Texas claimed its southern border was the Rio Grande; Mexico wanted the border drawn at the Nueces River, about 100 miles north of the Rio Grande.

Gadsden Purchase

was made for a variety of reasons however the main reason was the route of the proposed southern Atlantic/Pacific railroad.

Free Soilers

opposing the extension of slavery into U.S. territories and the admission of slave states into the Union prior to the Civil War

John O’Sullivan

articulated the long-standing American belief in the God-given mission of the United States to lead the world in the transition to democracy

Hiram Revels

Hiram Rhodes Revels was an American Republican politician, minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and a college administrator. Born free in North Carolina, he later lived and worked in Ohio, where he voted before the Civil War.

Effects of dred scott on the missouri compromise

declared it to be unconstitutional