APUSH Unit 5 Key Events

Dates Quiz

Election of James K. Polk (The 'Manifest Destiny' election).

1844

Texas Annexation

1845

John O’Sullivan coins the term ‘Manifest Destiny’

1845

The Mexican-American War.

1846-1848

The Wilmot Proviso is proposed (attempt to ban slavery in Mexican Cession lands; it fails but heightens tension).

1846

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the war

1848

Free-Soil Party formed

1848

Seneca Falls Convention

1848

California Gold Rush begins.

1849

Fugitive Slave Act

1850

CA enters as free state

1850

Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

1852

Formation of Republican Party

1854

Kansas-Nebraska Act (Repeals Missouri Compromise; introduces popular sovereignty)

1854

The Brooks-Sumner Affair in the Senate

1856

'Bleeding Kansas' (Violence between pro- and anti-slavery settlers)

1856

Dred Scott v. Sandford decision (Rules slaves are not citizens and Congress cannot ban slavery in territories).

1857

Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

1858

John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry.

1859

Election of Abraham Lincoln; South Carolina secedes.

1860

Fort Sumter fired upon (War begins); First Battle of Bull Run.

1861

Homestead Act and Pacific Railway Act

1862

Battle of Antietam.

1862

Battle of Gettysburg and Battle of Vicksburg (Turning points in July).

1863

The Emancipation Proclamation (Effective Jan 1)

1863

Sherman's March to the Sea begins.

1864

13th amendment ratified (abolishing slavery)

1865

Appomattox Court House (Lee surrenders to Grant)

1865

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

1865

14th Amendment ratified (Citizenship and Equal Protection)

1868

Impeachment of Andrew Jackson

1868

Completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad.

1869

15th Amendment ratified (Universal male suffrage).

1870

Panic of ____ (Economic downturn that distracts the North from Reconstruction).

1873

Hayes becomes President, federal troops withdraw from the South, Reconstruction ends.

1877