Unit 5 APUSH Vocab

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Expansionism

The policy or practice of a nation expanding its territory of influence, often through aggressive actions and belief in its superiority

Migration/Immigration

Early-to-mid 19th century America saw an influx of this, and large increases in its German and Irish populations, resulting in increased nativist sentiment

Manifest Destiny

The belief that the U.S. has the god-given right to expand westward to the Pacific Ocean

Mexican-American War

A military conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846-48, triggered by a dispute over the Nueces Strip and the lack of recognition of the Republic of Texas, which later joined the United States

Ethnic Communities

Groups of people who share a common cultural identity, including language, religion, traditions, or ancestry, which creates a sense of belonging and distinctiveness

Nativism

The policy of prioritizing native-born Americans over immigrants due to anti-immigrant sentiment and xenophobia

Civil War

The military conflict from 1861-65 between the United States and the Confederate States of America (Southern states that seceded from the Union) due to disputes over slavery

Sectionalism

The loyalty to a region or section of a country, rather than to the country as a whole

Free Labor

The Northern ideology that individuals should be free and work for wages or own their own property, as opposed to being in enslavement

Manufacturing

This sector of the economy grew exponentially during the 19th century during and after the Industrial Revolution, particularly in the Northern states

Abolitionists

Individuals who sought to end slavery, with the most prominent movement being between the 1830s and the Civil War

States’ Rights

The political theory that states have powers and rights that the federal government cannot infringe upon, such as the right to allow slavery

Secession

The move by many Southern states in the lead-up to the Civil War of leaving the United States to form an independent country: the Confederate States of America

Election of 1860

A pivotal presidential election that resulted in the victory of Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln over Stephen A. Douglas (Democrat) and third party candidates, directly leading to the secession of Southern states and the outbreak of the Civil War

Compromise of 1850

A set of five laws passed by the U.S. Congress that temporarily eased tensions over slavery by admitting California as a free state, creating territorial governments in Utah and New Mexico with popular sovereignty to decide on slavery, and abolishing the slave trade in Washington D.C.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Repealed the Missouri Compromise and applied the principle of popular sovereignty to the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, allowing settlers to vote on whether to allow slavery

Dred Scott Decision

A significant 1857 ruling by SCOTUS that stated African Americans weren’t citizens and lacked the right to sue in federal court; the decision also invalidated the Missouri Compromise, intensifying the national conflict over slavery that contributed to the Civil War

Republican Party

Founded in the 1850s specifically to oppose the expansion of slavery and counter the influence of the Democratic Party

Abraham Lincoln

The 16th President of the United States known for his leadership through the Civil War, the preservation of the Union, and his instrumental role in abolishing slavery through the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment

Mexican Cession

The territory that Mexico ceded (California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Wyoming) to the U.S. in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War

Radical Republicans

A progressive faction of the Republican Party during Reconstruction that supported a harsh approach to the South and the protection of civil rights of freeded slaves

Gettysburg Address

A famous speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; defined as a redefinition of the Civil War's purpose beyond just preserving the Union and ending slavery, framing it as a struggle for the principles of human liberty and democracy outlined in the Declaration of Independence

Free Soil Platform

Opposed the expansion of slavery into western territories, primarily a coalition of anti-slavery Democrats, Whigs, and Liberty Party

Reconstruction

The period following the Civil War during which the U.S. grappled with the challenges of reintegrating the South into the Union and defining the legal status and rights of newly freed African Americans

Confederacy

A non-recognized country formed by Southern states that seceded from the Union, led by Jefferson Davis (the president)

Emancipation Proclamation

A order issued by Lincoln during the Civil War that declared states in Confederate-held territory (but not border states) to be free

13th Amendment

Formally abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States

Sharecropping System

An agricultural system where a landowner rents small plots of land to a farmer in exchange for a portion of the crop, often viewed as slavery but through debt and involving freed people

Moderate Republicans

A dominant faction of the Republican Party that supported President Abraham Lincoln’s war effort and was initially supportive of gradual emancipation over immediate abolition of slavery

14th & 15th Amendments

Granted citizenship and “equal protection of the laws” to all people born in the U.S. and the 15th Amendment prohibited denying the right to vote based on “race, color, or previous conditions of servitude”

Women’s Movement

A series of efforts to achieve gender equality and women’s rights, including the women’s suffrage movement after the Seneca Falls Convention