AP U.S. History Unit 5 Review Flashcards heilmer

Flashcards covering the key vocabulary and concepts from the AP U.S. History Unit 5 review, spanning 1844-1877.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that Americans had a God-given right to possess a nation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

Reasons for American Embrace of Manifest Destiny

Access to more natural and mineral resources, more economic opportunities for settlers, and religious refuge for those seeking such freedoms.

Texas Territory in the 1820s

Americans settled in Texas when it was still Mexican territory.

Mexican Government's Actions in Texas (1829)

Mandated conversion to Roman Catholicism and outlawed slavery, leading to tension with American settlers.

James K. Polk and Manifest Destiny

President elected in 1844 who strongly believed in manifest destiny and sought to annex Texas, Oregon, and California.

Annexation of Texas

Texas was officially annexed into the Union, leading to the Mexican-American War.

Mexican-American War

Conflict primarily over the southern border of Texas, with the US claiming the Rio Grande and Mexico claiming the Nueces River.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

Ended the Mexican-American War, established the southern border of the US at the Rio Grande, and granted the Mexican Cession (including California and New Mexico) to the US.

Wilmot Proviso

Amendment proposed during the Mexican-American War stipulating that any land gained would be ineligible for the spread of slavery; it was struck down in the Senate but symbolized growing tensions over slavery.

California Gold Rush (1848)

Discovery of gold led to a massive influx of settlers, rapidly increasing California's population.

Southern Position on Slavery

Argued that slavery was a constitutional right and wanted the Missouri Compromise line extended to the Pacific.

Free Soil Position

Northern Democrats and Whigs wanted all land gained in the West to be free territory, envisioning it as a land of white opportunity and prosperity.

Popular Sovereignty

The idea that people living in the territories should decide for themselves whether their state would be free or slave.

Compromise of 1850

Created by Henry Clay, it divided the Mexican Cession into Utah and New Mexico territories (with popular sovereignty), admitted California as a free state, outlawed the slave trade in D.C., and passed a stricter Fugitive Slave Act.

Fugitive Slave Act

Part of the Compromise of 1850, it required Northerners to report runaway slaves and facilitate their return, causing significant tension.

Underground Railroad

A series of trails and safe houses that helped Southern slaves escape to the North.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

A novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe that exposed the brutal realities of slavery and fueled the abolitionist movement in the North.

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Divided the Nebraska Territory into Kansas and Nebraska, and allowed popular sovereignty to decide the slavery question, effectively overturning the Missouri Compromise.

Bleeding Kansas

Violence that erupted in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions as they fought for control of the territory.

Republican Party

Formed as a coalition of free soilers, anti-slavery Whigs, and Democrats with the main goal of stopping the spread of slavery.

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

Supreme Court case ruling that slaves were not citizens and could not sue in federal court, and that slaves were property and could be taken anywhere in the United States, effectively allowing slavery to exist anywhere.

John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry (1859)

John Brown led followers to raid the Federal Arsenal with the intention of arming the slave population and starting an uprising causing the Southerners to think that the North's intention was to dismantle South with slave rebellions

Election of 1860

Abraham Lincoln won the presidency without a single Southern electoral vote, leading to the secession of Southern states.

Confederate States of America

Formed by secessionist states, with a constitution similar to the US Constitution but with strict limitations on federal power and the enshrinement of slavery.

Border States

Delaware, Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland were slave states that did not secede from the Union.

Anaconda Plan

Union strategy to blockade Southern seaports and control the Mississippi River, cutting the Confederacy in half.

Emancipation Proclamation (1862)

Proclaimed that all enslaved people in rebellious territories would be forever free, enlarging the scope of the war to include the abolishment of slavery and incentivizing black people to flee planatations and join the Union Amry

Key Union Victories

The Union won the Battle of Vicksburg (gaining control of the Mississippi River), Battle of Gettysburg Lincoln worked to unite the country using the ideal that all men are created equal, and Ulysses S. Grant led efforts to pressure Confederates as the Commanding General of the Union Army.

Reconstruction

The period after the Civil War focused on how the South should be treated (leniently or as conquered foes).

Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan

Proposed that if 10% of a state's population swore an oath of allegiance to the Union and the Constitution, the state could re-establish its government as well as ratification of the thirteenth amendment to the constitution which abolished slavery in The United States.

Andrew Johnson

Lincoln's vice president, who became president after Lincoln's assassination and attempted to carry out Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction.

Radical Republicans

Group in Congress that pushed for civil rights for blacks and wanted to punish the South for secession.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

Proclaimed that all blacks were officially citizens of the United States, overturning the Dred Scott decision.

Fourteenth Amendment

Stated that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were citizens and that no state could deny any citizen equal protection of the laws.

Reconstruction Act

Divided the South into five zones subject to military occupation, increased requirements for states rejoining the Union by requiring them to ratify the fourteenth amendment and add clauses to their state constitutions providing for universal male suffrage.

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Process of trial and removal from office. Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, Johnson fired a Secretary of War, and articles of impeachment were drawn up. After a three month trial, Congress fell one vote short of removing him from office.

Fifteenth Amendment

Ratified in 1870, it protected the voting rights of former slaves.

Black Codes

Laws adopted by Southern legislatures that prevented blacks from borrowing money to buy land, prohibited blacks from testifying against whites in court, and established racial segregation.

Compromise of 1877

Democrats allowed Republican Rutherford Hayes to have the presidency in return for the removal of all federal troops from the South.