Unit 5: Manifest Destiny and the Civil War Era

Manifest Destiny

The belief that Americans were destined to expand across the entire continent.

Homestead Act

Provided free land to settlers who could survive on it.

Pacific Railroad Act

Facilitated the construction of railroads across the country.

Treaty of Kagawa

Forced Japan to open its ports to American ships.

Mexican-American War

A conflict between the U.S. and Mexico that resulted in the U.S. gaining a significant amount of land.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The treaty that ended the Mexican-American War and resulted in the U.S. gaining the Mexican Cession.

Wilmot Proviso

A proposal to ban slavery in all land gained from Mexico.

Compromise of 1850

An attempt to prevent the country from falling apart, orchestrated by Henry Clay.

California admitted as a free state

Pleased the North.

Utah and New Mexico: popular sovereignty

Territories could decide on slavery through voting.

Slave trade banned in Washington D.C.

Symbolic victory for abolitionists.

Stricter Fugitive Slave Act

Required Northerners to return escaped slaves, angering many.

Texas paid $10 million

To give up some land claims.

Underground Railroad

A network that helped enslaved people escape to the North.

Frederick Douglass

Delivered speeches exposing the hypocrisy of American freedom.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Wrote 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' which exposed the horrors of slavery and had immense influence.

Harriet Tubman

Led the Underground Railroad, helping enslaved people escape to the North.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Allowed states to vote on slavery.

Bleeding Kansas

Violence erupted as people poured into Kansas to vote on the slavery issue.

John Brown

An abolitionist who staged a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry.

Sand Creek Massacre

A bloody massacre that occurred in 1864 as a result of westward expansion.

Republican Party

Formed in 1854 in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Executive Branch

A series of weak presidents failed to address the issue of slavery effectively.

Legislative Branch

Charles Sumner was brutally beaten by Preston Brooks after delivering an anti-slavery speech.

Judicial Branch

The Dred Scott v. Sandford Supreme Court decision denied citizenship to slaves and prohibited Congress from banning slavery in southern territories.

Dred Scott decision

Essentially stated that slaves were not citizens and had no right to sue for their freedom, and that Congress could not regulate slavery in the territories.

Election of 1860

The US was deeply divided, leading to four candidates running for president.

Abraham Lincoln

Opposed the expansion of slavery into western territories.

Stephen Douglas

Advocated for popular sovereignty, letting residents vote on the issue of slavery.

John C. Breckinridge

Strongly pro-slavery, wanted slavery to be legal everywhere.

John Bell

Pledged to uphold the Constitution (but his platform lacked substance).

Fort Sumter

A US military base in South Carolina where Confederate forces attacked, officially starting the Civil War.

Union (North)

Had more people, industry, and railroads.

Confederacy (South)

Had better generals and a homefield advantage.

Anaconda Plan

A strategy to blockade the South, control the Mississippi River, and squeeze the Confederacy into submission.

Battle of Gettysburg

In 1863, Lee's offensive failed, resulting in a major Union victory.

Battle of Vicksburg

In 1863, Grant's victory gave the Union control of the Mississippi River, splitting the Confederacy.

Total war

A military strategy that targets not only enemy combatants but also infrastructure and civilian resources to undermine the enemy's ability and will to fight.

Sherman's 'March to the Sea'

Involved destroying everything in his path through Georgia to break the South's will to fight.

Appomattox Courthouse

Where Lee surrendered in 1865, ending the Civil War.

Emancipation Proclamation

A document issued by Lincoln in 1862 that freed enslaved people in Confederate-held territories, reframed the war as a fight against slavery, and prevented European powers from recognizing the Confederacy.

Gettysburg Address

A speech delivered by Lincoln after the Battle of Gettysburg that stated the war was about preserving democracy and fulfilling the ideals of the Founding Fathers.

Lincoln's 10% Plan

A plan that allowed Southern states to be re-admitted to the Union when 10% of voters pledged loyalty.

Johnson's Plan

A plan similar to Lincoln's but offered pardons to former Confederates.

Radical Republican Plan

A plan that sought to punish the South, protect black rights, and enforce these policies with military presence.

13th Amendment

An amendment that abolished slavery.

14th Amendment

An amendment that granted birthright citizenship and equal protection under the law.

15th Amendment

An amendment that gave black men the right to vote.

Black Codes

Laws passed in the South that severely limited the rights of African Americans.

Sharecropping

A system where blacks worked fields, often under conditions that mirrored slavery due to low wages.

Lynchings

Public, violent acts against African-Americans.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

An organization that used terrorism to suppress black voters.

Convict Leasing

A practice where black men were arrested for fabricated crimes and forced into unpaid labor.

Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)

Supreme Court cases that gutted the 14th Amendment, declaring civil rights were a state, not federal, matter.

U.S. v. Cruikshank

A Supreme Court case that ruled the federal government could not punish white mobs for murdering black Americans.

Compromise of 1877

An agreement that led to Rutherford B. Hayes becoming president in exchange for the removal of federal troops from the South.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws enforcing segregation.

Segregation

The separation of blacks and whites in public and private facilities.

Voter Suppression

Measures designed to prevent black people from voting.

Legacy of Reconstruction

The first U.S. attempt at civil rights that ultimately failed, but left the 14th and 15th Amendments as a legal foundation for the civil rights movement.