APUSH Unit 4.4-4.6 (+AMSCO)

It's called the antebellum era because the Latin phrase "ante bellum" literally means "before the war". Italics are for books and parentheses indicate that it falls under the same category/subject. AMSCO chapters are 13, 14, and 15💔✌🏻

John Tyler

• 10th president; Democrat at heart

• Disagreed with Whigs over economic programs - vetoed several Whig programs (American System)

• Whigs attempt to impeach him; first president to lose support from his political party

Manifest Destiny

• The belief that Americans were divinely destined to eventually expand all the way to the Pacific Ocean

• Claimed by John O. Sullivan

Texas Territory / Immigration

• Mexico gains independence from Spain & opens Texas to American settlers

• 1829: Mexico outlaws slavery and forces Americans to convert to Catholicism, Americans refused

• Americans ignored prohibition of slavery

Texas Revolt

• 1836 - American settlers led by Sam Houston revolts and declares Texas an independent republic (Lone Star Republic)

• Santa Anna leads troops into Texas, later defeated and forced to sign their declaration of independence

• Mexico doesn’t recognize it; annexation of Texas delayed & eventually leads to Mexican-American War

Oregon Trail

• More than 350k Americans traveled the Oregon Trail

• Americans hoped for annexation

• Reflected the belief of Manifest Destiny

Election of 1844

• James Polk wins the election

• Southerners want to Annex Texas; Northerners were against annexation

• Henry Clay criticized the annexation of Texas; lost support

• Polk planned for the annexation of Texas; John C. Fremont to fortify NorCal

Causes for War with Mexico

• Mexico still claims Texas; disputes over Rio and Nueces River

• Democrats supported the war, they believed in Manifest Destiny

• Polk attempts to buy California & New Mexico from Mexico; they refuse an offer of $30 million

• Polk sends Zachary Taylor into disputed territory; war begins

Wilmot Proviso

• 1846; a proposal aiming to ban slavery in territories acquired from Mexico

• Failed in the Senate, where Southern senators dominated

• North saw the rejection as a plot to extend slavery; South supported it

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

• Mexico recognized the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas; the United States paid $15 million and assumed responsibility for claims of American citizens on Mexico

• Mexico cedes hella land to the United States (California, New Mexico, etc.)

• Northern Democrats & Whigs opposed the treaty since they saw it as an immoral expansion of slavery

• Some Southern Democrats disliked the treaty; they wanted the U.S to take all of Mexico

Free-Soil Party

• Based in the North; primarily New York; key figures include Martin van Buren

• Consisted of “consience” Whigs (opposed slavery) and antislavery Democrats (called barnburners, since their opposition split the Democrats)

• Opposed the spread of slavery into new territories; wanted land for white males instead of slaves

• Didn’t support abolition

1848 Election

• Zachary Taylor (Whig) vs Lewis Cass (Democrat)

• Taylor took no position on slavery

• Lewis Cass ran on the idea of popular sovereignty; citizens can vote to keep slavery

• Cass lost popularity and Taylor won, becoming the 12th president

California Gold Rush

• 1849; “forty-niners'“ rush to California in search of gold

• California ratified a constitution which prohibited slavery; created sectional upset

• President Taylor supported this, even though he was a Southern slaveholder

Congressional Debate on Slavery in California

• Free Soil: didn’t want slavery to extend to new states

• Southerners: slaves are property and owners have a constitutional right to that property

• Popular sovereignty: voters in the state decide

• Abolitionists: didn’t want slavery lol

Compromise of 1850 / Pop FACT

Drafted by Henry Clay

• Pop -Divide the remainder of Mexico cession territory into Utah and New Mexico; allow popular sovereignty to determine slavery

• F- More fugitive slave law

• A - Abolish slave trade in Washington D.C but allow slaveholding

• C - California admitted as a free state

• T - Give disputed land between Texas & New Mexico territory to new territories in return for federal government assuming Texas’ public debt of $10 million

Fugitive Slave Act

• Track down runaway slaves who escaped to the North and return them to the South

• African Americans were denied jury trials

• Persuaded Southerners to accept the loss of California to abolitionists and Free-Soilers

• Enforcement in North was bitterly and sometimes even resisted

Northern Resistance / Underground Railroad

• The Underground Railroad was a loose network of Northern free blacks and ex-slaves

• The North responded to the Fugitive Slave Act by passing liberty laws

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• 1852; written by Harriet Beecher Stowe & documented harsh slave life

• Moved a generation of Northerners and Europeans to regard slave owners as cruel

• Southerners condemned the “untruths” in this book and saw it as the North’s prejudice against their way of life (slavery)

Franklin Pierce

• 14th President (1853-1857)

• Beat Winfield Scott, who was a Whig

Ostend Manifesto

• A secret plan to buy Cuba from Spain

• Wanted to make Cuba a slave state

• Northerners feared the South was trying to make a slave empire

Gadsden Purchase

• Secretary of War Jefferson Davis buys land from Mexico for transcontinental railroad

• Known as the Golden Purchase; acquired southern sections of New Mexico and Arizona

Kansas-Nebraska Act

• Key figure: Stephen A. Douglas; wanted to win approval from South to build transcontinental railroad

• Divide Northern Louisiana Territory into Kansas & Nebraska

• Popular sovereignty implemented by Douglas; voided Missouri Compromise

• Northern Democrats condemned this bill since it repealed the Missouri Compromise

Bleeding Kansas

• Douglas expected peace to settle in; Midwest antislavery farmers migrated to Kansas, transport paid by Free-Soilers and Northern abolitionists

• Proslavery Missourians (aka “Border Ruffians”) crossed the border to create proslavery legislature; fighting broke out between the two

• John Brown led slaves and stole guns, persuading them to revolt, killing 5 settlers

Lecompton Constitution (Bleeding Kansas)

• Created by proslavery Missourians; tried to make their own legislature and their own state

Caning of Charles Sumner

• Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner verbally attacked the Democratic administration

• His remarks bashed South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler; Butler’s nephew Preston Brooks beat Sumner with a cane

• Brook’s actions angered the North; South applauded his actions

Republican Party

• Composed of Free-Soilers, anti-slavery Whigs, and northern Democrats

• Wanted to stop the spread of slavery, not abolish it

• Democrats generally supported slavery

Election of 1856

• John C. Fremont (Republican) vs James Buchanan

• James Buchanan wins and becomes 15th president (1857-1861)

Dred Scott v. Sanford

• Dred Scott was a slave; him and his slaveowner live in the North (Wisconsin and Illinois)

• When Scott returns, he sues for his freedom which makes it to the Supreme Court

• Roger Taney ruled that African Americans are not citizens (you can’t sue in federal courts) & slaves are property

Dred Scott v. Sanford Impacts

• Overturned the Missouri Compromise and popular sovereignty

• Split the Democrats; Southern Democrats were happy but Northern Democrats saw this as an expansion of slavery

• Renews sectional tensions

Lincoln-Douglas Debate

• Lincoln (Republican) debates Douglas (Democrat) for a seat in the Illinois Senate in 1858

• 7 debates were held; Douglas championed popular sovereignty; Lincoln wasn’t an abolitionist but spoke on the moral issues of slavery

• Lincoln challenges Douglas to reconcile popular sovereignty with the Dred Scott decision

Freeport Doctrine / Views on the Doctrine

• Citizens in a territory can prevent the expansion of slavery by not passing laws that supported it

• Southern Democrats were outraged with Douglas’ response, they wanted his 100% support of slavery

John Brown’s Raid on Harper Ferry

• John Brown hoped to spark a slave revolt in 1859

• Attempts to seize the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry

• Doesn’t go well; charged with treason and hanged

Views of John Brown’s Raid on Harper Ferry

• South was angered; some felt that this confirmed the true intentions of the North

• Moderates in the North & Republican leaders condemned Brown’s use of violence

• John Brown was hailed as a martyr by antislavery Northerners & abolitionists

Election of 1860

• Abraham Lincoln wins & becomes 16th president

• South realizes they don’t have much political power in elections

• Other candidates: Stephen Douglas (North Democrat) & John Breckenridge (Southern Democrat; proslavery)

• After election of Lincoln, secessionist fever swept through South

Crittenden Plan

A last ditch plan to keep the union; Lincoln agreed to the first term but not the 2nd which failed

1. Constitutional amendment to permanently protect slavery in the states where it already existed

2. Extend the Missouri Compromise line west to California border for new territories

Fort Sumter

• First battle of the American Civil War

• April 1861: Fort Sumter surrendered to Confederate States

• Lincoln responded with militia forces and Confederates open fire after he tries to resupply them

• No lives lost but Union surrenders

Border States

• Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, & Kentucky

• Slave states that remained in the Union; kept because of military and political goals for Lincoln

• Lincoln also respected the neutrality of Kentucky; waited for the South to violate it

• Lincoln waited for emancipation; didn’t want to upset the loyal slave states

Union Advantages

• Existing banking & finance industries

• Held the majority of railroads and factories

• Larger population of about 22 million

• Navy and established government

Union Disadvantages

• No real sense of purpose; only wanted to preserve the Union

• Lack of leadership

Confederacy Advantage

• They were fighting a defensive war; didn’t have to win

• Sense of purpose; they were fighting for independence (like the Revolution)

• Veteran military officials like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson

• Cotton diplomacy - hoped to gain help from European countries because of their trade

Confederate Strategy

• Defense; stalemate meant independence

• Convince European nations to side with them through cotton trade

• Jefferson Davis struggled with convincing states to unite; concern about state rights

• Lacked factories or railroads; wouldn’t last long in the war

Union Strategy (Anaconda Plan)

• Headed by General Winfield Scott

• Block Southern ports and cut off essential supplies from reaching the South

• Divide the Confederacy into two by taking control of the Mississippi River

• Take control of Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia

Confiscation Acts

• 1st: Seizure of all property, including slaves; used to support rebellion

• 2nd: declared fugitive slaves and those captured by the Union army “forever free” (applied to escaped/free slaves)

• Laid the groundwork for the Emancipation Proclamation

North’s Financing of the War

• Borrowed money through sale of bonds

• Revenue Act of 1861 introduced first federal income tax

• Issued paper money called Greenbacks; resulted in inflation

• Stable banking and financing industries

South’s Financing of the War

• Weak central government

• Issued unbacked paper currency which led to more inflation

• Lacked the banking industries of the North; had worse inflation

Women at Work

• Replaced men who vacated their normal jobs (farming, factory work, etc.); nurses in the war

• Made huge advancements towards equality

Copperheads

• Anti-war Northern Democrats who wanted an immediate end to the war

• Wanted to stop the freeing of slaves; didn’t want to compete with them for jobs

• Called copperheads because they were poisoning the Union

Battle of Antietam

• September 1862; Lee hoped to earn foreign recognition and bring border states into conflict

• Lee retreated to Virginia and Lincoln prepared for Emancipation Proclamation

• Chance at foreign recognition lost

Monitor vs Merrimack

• First battle between ironclad warships

• The Union switches from wooden navies to ironclad ships

Battle of Gettysburg / Siege of Vicksburg

• General Lee hoped to win a victory on Union soil; failed and retreated to Virginia

• South couldn’t launch offensive attacks anymore; a turning point in the war

• Siege of Vicksburg - General Grant in the West wins complete control of Mississippi River

Sherman’s March to the Sea / Confederate Defeat in Atlanta

• William Tecumseh Sherman led a march of deliberate destruction throughout the South; a tactic of total war

• The Confederate defeat in Atlanta in 1864 helped Lincoln to get re-elected

Surrender at Appomattox

• Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant and Union forces

• Grant allowed Lee & his soldiers to return to their homes without any arrest

• Grant’s generous terms set a tone for national reconciliation

Lincoln’s 10% Plan

• Pardons to Southerners - oath to allegiance to the Union and Constitution; had to accept the Emancipation Proclamation

• Readmission - 10% of voters in the states took a loyalty oath; state constitutions to eliminate slavery

• Caused conflict in the Republican Party; radical Republicans saw this as too lenient towards the South

Wade-Davis Bill

• 1864; a response to Lincoln’s 10% Plan

• 50% of voters of a state to take a loyalty oath

• Only non-Confederates could vote for new state constitutions

• Lincoln vetoed the bill after a Republican-dominated Congress passed it

1864 Election

• Abraham Lincoln vs George McClellan (War Democrat)

• Lincoln runs under the new National Union Party (Republicans & War Democrats)

• Lincoln wins; becomes 17th president (1865-1869)

• Lincoln gets assassinated a week after Lee’s surrender; VP Johnson takes over

Andrew Johnson

• A person with humble origins; rose to politics by appealing to the interests of poor whites; was a War Democrat

• The only senator from a Confederate state to be loyal to the Union

• A white supremacist; he was bound to clash with Republicans

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

• Pardons to former Confederates; they take an oath of allegiance

• Southern states readmitted quickly

• States pass Black Codes that restricted freedmen’s rights

• Radical Republicans outraged; believed it was too lenient

Black Codes / Sharecropping

• Black Codes prohibited African Americans from renting land or borrowing money to buy land; they couldn’t testify against whites

• Sharecropping - African Americans worked as tenant farmers, exchanging their labor for use of land; couldn’t be unemployed or else they’d be arrested

Freedman’s Bureau

• 1865; created to help freed slaves adjust to freedom

• Provided food, clothing, education, and legal help

• Established schools for African Americans (biggest contribution)

Congress Breaks with Johnson

• A response to the Black Codes

• Congress bans Southern Congressional Elects

• 1866: Freedman’s Bureau & Civil Rights Act vetoed by Johnson

• Congress does the first ever veto override; passes Civil Rights Act of 1866 and Freedmen’s Bill veto is also overrode

Radical (Congressional Reconstruction)

• 1867-1877

• Reconstruction Act of 1867: split the South into five military districts; required ex-Confederate states to ratify 14th Amendment

Key Constitutional Amendments

• 13th Amendment (1865): abolished slavery

• 14th Amendment (1868): citizenship and equal protection

• 15th Amendment (1870): voting rights for black men

Mid-term Election of 1866

• Johnson (Democrat) made an attacked Republicans all over the nation

• “Waving the bloody shirt”: a Republican campaign used to remind citizens of the civil war and how Democrats wanted to secede

• Republicans eventually win both houses

Johnson’s Impeachment

• Tenure of Office Act (1867): Limited presidential power to remove officials without Senate approval

• Johnson removed Secretary of War Stanton in 1868 which caused his impeachment

• The House eventually impeached Johnson; Senate fell short of 2/3rds vote

Republican Rule in the South

• Scalawags: Southern Republicans

• Carpetbaggers: Northern newcomers to South seeking to help Reconstruction

• Educated, property-owning African Americans held office; usually had a moderate view on issues

Ulysses S. Grant

• A Republican; known as a Civil War hero

• 18th president; 1869-1877

Grant’s Administration Scandal / Corruption

• Credit Mobilier Scandal: a fake railroad company that overcharged on the construction of the Union Railroad; involved members of Grant’s administration

• Whiskey Ring: Stealing whiskey tax money; involved members of Grant’s administration

• “Boss” Tweed & Tammany Hall: a political machine that gave jobs and housing to immigrants in exchange for their votes

Panic of 1873

• Debtors seek inflationary; easy money solution by circulating more Greenbacks (soft currency)

• Grant supports hard currency (gold & silver)

• Specie Redemption Act of 1875: people can turn in soft currency for hard currency; U.S goes back to gold standard

Redemption Reconstruction / Amnesty Act

• “Redemption” Reconstruction Period (1873-1877): Southern Democrats (“Redeemers”) overthrow Republican rule in the South

• Amnesty Act - ex-Confederates are allowed to run for government positions

Civil Rights Act of 1875

• Guaranteed equal accommodations in public places

• Prohibited courts from excluding African Americans in juries

• Resisted by the South

Southern Resistance

• Ku Klux Klan (1867); led by Nathan Bedford Forrest, an ex-Confederate general

• They wanted to prevent African Americans from entering office positions or basically enjoying life through violence

Force Act of 1870

• Authorized federal prosecutions and military forces to suppress conspiracies or secret societies (like the KKK)

Election of 1876

• Rutherford Hayes (Republican) vs Samuel Tilden (Democrat)

• Tilden won by popular vote, but the South apparently mixed their ballots / had fraudulent votes

• People were divided on whether the votes should go to Tilden or Hayes

Compromise of 1877

• Hayes becomes president in exchange for the military being removed from the South

• This ended Reconstruction; allowed Democrats and white supremacists to rebuild the South instead of the North