APUSH Unit 5

Slavery and the lead up to the Civil War

1840 presidency

William Henry Harrison president, dies after 31 days. J. Tyler becomes pres

1844 presidency

james polk is president, democrat.

focused on getting mexico’s territory and pushing westward

Manifest Destiny

• moving westward

• both obvious + certain that the US will expand from sea to sea

• John O’Sullivan

oregan trail

The Oregon Trail was a historic route used by pioneers during the 19th century to travel from the eastern United States to the western frontier. It stretched over 2,000 miles from Missouri to Oregon, passing through various terrains and landmarks. The trail played a significant role in the westward expansion of the United States and is known for its challenges, including harsh weather, disease, and difficult river crossings.

Overland trails

other trails that go to western US

Oregan land

• The land was free, if ppl settled —> their land and gov would give them $$$

journey to oregon land

• encounter natives on the way

• must leave around april/may to not catch the winter storms

• conestoga wagon

  • would take flour, bacon, cornmeal, cofee, salt, sugar, tea, rice, beans

  • weapons to fight natives

death on way to oregon

• natives

• drowning

• starvation

• disease (cholera + disentery)

• clothes caught on wagon —> trampled

Donna Reed Party

1846-47: 87-90 ppl, their trail added 150 miles to the journey, caught in snow storm, 50 died

resorted to cannibalism

Willamette Valley

The Willamette Valley in Oregon was open to settlement and offered free land until the passage of the Donation Land Claim Act in 1850. This act allowed settlers to claim up to 320 acres of land for a small fee. After 1850, the land was no longer free.

Texas Territory

This territory belonged to Mexico, but US farmers wanted to grow cotton and bring their slaves there. Mexico had made slavery illegal, but Americans didn’t care. People settling in “Texas” wanted it to be their own country. These Americans moving into this territory were called empresarios. The tejanos were Spanish texans.

Mexican land —> texas

The mexican gov said that they would give them land in Texas, but the ppl must get mexican citizenship, must convert to catholism, and must obey mexican laws = no slaves

The Tejas Revolution

The tejanos and empressarios wanted to govern their own land and not be under the gov of Mexico or US.

The Siege of the alamo

13 day siege

american soldiers vs tejanos + empresarios

t + e led by general santa anna

Republic of Texas

in 1836, the republic of texas was formed. It was its own entity, not a state, so they had pop sov and their own economy + laws. According to Houston, they gained all the land. According to mexico, they only gained a little

Mexican American War

From 1836-45, there was disputed territory in texas. Houston thought it was all theirs, while Mexico thought they only had a little. James Polk annexed Texas in 1845 to start the Mex Am war. Texas became a slave state and gen santa anna refused to recognize the boundary.

Mexican American War effects

• Us expanded to Pasific Ocean

• Transcontinental Railroad

• exacerbated secional issues over territory

• gained all the mexican territory (cali, arizona, utah, new mexico, and more)

• Treaty of Guadalupe

Treaty of Guadalupe

1848, gave mexico 15 mill dollars and us would take mexico debt

Gadsden Purchase

US wanted a bit more land from Mexico so that they could build a railroad around the mountains. In 1853: US paid $10 mill for the Gadsden purchase which was a tiny strip of land

Wilmont Proviso

Created by David Wilmont, he thought that all former Mexico territory should be free

Popular Sovereignty

the idea that the people will choose

• the people were allowed to choose whether a state would be free or slave

Stephen Douglas

proposed pop sov

Slavery in the South

grew cotton, more intense. 31% had slaves and 3% of that had plantations.

Slavery in the Upper/Middle

Less demanding, grains/veggies, allowed to marry/read/church

slave life

a 16 year old male sold for 40K. Slaves would sell at auctions and then the treatment of them would be decided by their owner. They would work all day and sing songs to keep them going. Slave families were not kept together. this was supposed to break their spirits and so that they can’t have loyalty to eachother

Slave papers

when a slave was free, they had papers to prove this. Escaping slaves had fake papers. However, even with real papers, some slaves were captured again. Some were branded which made it hard for them to live life

Gangs

organized slave labor

Overseer

whiteman, keeps slaves in line

Driver

most obedient slave, makes sure slaves in his gang are doing what they are supposed to. it is not an honor, considered a traitor

cotton is king

a cartoon that was made, cotton was a necessity for the US, cotton picking became widespread in the south

Slave Music

slaves would use music to motivate them and keep them sane. it gave them hope

Black Christianity

Christianity and African practices/ rituals combined.

• spiritual equality in after life

• ring shout: dance and sing in circle

• if found doing ritual on the plantation—> beaten

Underground RR

• Series of pathways from the South to mexico, canada, or the north

• most took the mississippi river, river would mask stench

• ran the risk of being caputred and slave again

• safeway house (way station) willing to harbour slaves

• slave known as cargo

Harriet Tubman

Helped on the underground rr

She escaped slavery and helped 100+ slaves escape

Fugitive SLave Act

• illegal to help slaves to freedom

  • 6 months in prison + 1k fine

• compromise of 1850

Gabriel Prosser Rebellion

• 1800, VA

• wanted to create an independent Black state outside virginia

• would gather weapons and march to arsinol in Richmond and kill all the Whites

• rainstorm washed away roads and he couldn’t get to arisonal

• word got out of his plan and he was killed

New Orleans Rebellion

1810

• group of slaves decided to just walk away, they got hunted down and got their heads cut off

• their heads were put on poles for the public to see

Denmark Vessey Rebellion

• SC, 1822

• wanted to bring him and slaves to Hati

• he was rated out and hanged along with 60 other slaves

Nat Turner Rebellion

VA, 1831

• Figured out how to make gun powder

• he was very religious and thought God would send a sign when it was the right time to rebell

• sky turned green (sign) so he went out with fellow slaves and killed a dozen white people before getting caught

• he was killed

Thomas Rice

Blackface, poor clothes, would put on a show called “Jumping Jim Crow”

California Statehood

• ppl in Cali wanted to keep the size of it (no 36’30’)

• many reps were unhappy with cali being a free state

• with the compromise of 1850, cali became a free state

compromise of 1850

1. Cali would be free state

2. Size of texas would be smaller

3. Create New mexico and arizona which would have pop sov

4. abolished internal slave trade in DC

5. fugitive slave act

pres election of 1848

Z. Taylor (Whig) wins, dies—> Fillmore takes over (Whig)

Uncle Toms Cabin

Written by Harrient Beacher Stowe, she interviewed former slaves

• It was a story of how Christian love can overcome harshness of slavery

• North was horrified of how slaves were treated

• South denied the treatness

• created stereotypes

Uncle Tom

Always did what the white man told him, obidient

The Mammy

happy, bigger women, cook

ex: aunt jemima

Pickaninny (Topsy)

Wild crazy unclean Black children

ex: pickaninny freeze

1852 presidential election

Franklin Pierce (Dem)

He reinforces the fugitive slave act (More police and fed gov aids)

Signed the KA-NE Act

Kansas Nebraska Act

Allowed for pop sov in Kansas

no more 36’30’ line

Bleeding Kansas

• ppl in Texas, AR, and MO flood kansas (slavery)

• John Brown + abolitionists flood Kansas (anti-slavery)

• 1855-58

• it was supposed to be pop sov but the gov wouldn’t accept their constitution until it was a free state

John Brown

Decapitated slave owners

Brooks vs Summer

May 1856

• Brooks (SC) beats Summer with a cane (MA)

• Summer makes fun of south—> Brooks mad

• brooks was representing all the south

• summer was representing all anti-slavery ppl, fight using words (law + Legislature)

Free Soil Party

Created to ensure that the new western territory would be free, no slavery

Whig Party

• split into cotton whigs and conscience whigs

• cotton: pro expansion slavery (south)

• conscience: anti expansion slavery (north)

Republican Party

not end of slavery, but stop it from expanding

anti KA-NE Act

Lincoln

Grand Old Party 1854

constitutional party

observe constitution only as law

know nothing party

anti-immigrant, anti-catholic, middle ground / slavery

Democratic Party

North: pop sov, anti expansion slavery

south: pro-slavery

Kansas Constitutions

Topeka: 1855, no slave, no free blacks REJECTED

Lecompton: 1857, proslavery REJECTED

Leavenworth: 1858, progressive, suffrage+property rights, Black man suffrage REJECTED

Wyandotte: approved

Wyandotte Constitution

1859: Kansas freenstaate, limited rights to women + Black people APPROVED

1856 election

Buchanan: pro-slavery

he was a north dem but he didn’t fit the mold

Lead up Dred Scott case

The emerson family owned Scott and they travelled a lot with their slaves. The fam lived in some free states for a few years. When the emerson husband died, his property went to his wife, including his slaves. Dred Scott sues the wife for freedom cause he had lived in a few free states.

Dred Scott Case

1. Black men aren’t citizens so they can’t sue

2. Supreme Court doesn’t have the right to determine whose property is whose (someones prop can’t be taken no matter where they live)

3. Missuri Compromise Line was unconstitutional (no slave state, no free state)

   • slave owner can move with slaves to any state and nothing will change

Power stripped from state gov + Black people

Panic of 1857

• over extension of credit

• paper railroads: rr company created on paper, but not building anything

• banks lose money

• 1857: rlly big bank closes doors (nothing for foreclosed on), companies collapsing

• recover through civil war

Lincoln Douglas Debates

1858: Lincoln and Douglas debate for senate for the state of illinois.

• go around 7 cities in illinois

• debate slavery vs pop sov

• people gathered to watch, including newspaper reporters

• 60 min start, 90 min second, 30 min third

• first reported debates (short-hand), newspaper next day

• douglas gets senate and lincoln gets pres

John Brown 1859

in 1859, john brown decided to camp out in Harpers Ferry Virginia

• very religous, God had given him power

• wanted to attack arsinol, thought slaves would help him

• Robert E Lee: captures him in arsonol

• tried for treason + hanged

election of 1860

Election torn secionally

lincoln not on ballot in the south

candidates: Bredanridge (southern Dem), doulgas (popsov), Bell (constitutionalist) and lincon (rep)

civil war start

Dec 1st 1860, south carolina secedes from the union

• didn’t want lincoln as pres

becomes confederate states of the union

by feb 1861, 6 other US states seceded

4 more states seceded after ft sumter

it started as a war to keep the union together

“war of northern agression”

the south was playing defence

they had homefield advantage

on paper, the north should have won easily

• more factories, bigger pop, railroads, more resources

South has strong popular support and superior military leadership

slavery pov

South: maintain slavery

North: slaves not making $$$, bad for economy, will never grow

cofederate gov

Pres: Jefferson Davis

VP: alexander Stephens

made their own constitution: maintain slavery, maintain their state rights

Battle of Fort Sumpter

Confed bombarding fort sumpter: TREASON

• south manages to get control of the fort

• lincoln did not intend of sending military to the south

• technically illegal on souths part becasue all Forts were US territory

Writ of Habeas Corpus

Lincoln suspends the writ of HC

• setting precedent of what executive branch can do during war

• ppl were tryign to block the RR from DC—> Philly, preventing union soldiers

• gave military authories the necessary power to silence disenters+ rebells

• these people were just thrown in jail

• it was technically not allowed, but congress was not in session

Anaconda Plan

Created by general winfield scott

1. constrict anything going in and out of south

   • protect DC, get richmond

2. cut off all of south so thye can’t get in and out

   • can’t manufacture, no food, no weapons, no shoes, economy down

3. cut off access to mississippi river

1st Battle of Bull Run

Confederate Victory

• July 1861, first real battle, North Blow

Stonewall Jackson: Con general, stood like a stonewall to protect the south

Worked with General Lee

it has been argued that jacksons death cause the confederacy to lose

Battle of Shiloh

April 1862

union win, manage to get inside confederacy

2nd battle of bull run

august 1862, con win, con on defensive

Ulysses S. Grant: union general, successful at shiloh

Battle of Antietam

Sep 1862, union win

bloddiest battle in US history

led to emancipation proclomation

Emancipation Proclomation

after battle of antietam, lincoln realized that this is bigger than keeping the country together

Sep 1862: (actually started jan 1 1863, took a few months for word to travel)

ALL SLAVES IN REBELLING STATES ARE FREE

• once slave escaped and stepped foot on northern soil, they would be free

proclaiming: means nothing, can’t enforce south to abide by it

reinforces south in their thinking of lincoln

contraband

escaped slave to north and sometimes joins the union army

Women in civil war

• camp followers, but not as many as am rev

• self-trained nurses, set up tents as “hospitals”

• Clara Barton + Dorthea Dix

• lots of amputations without anesthesia, didn’t know much about sanitation

copperheads

group of democrats in north

• seen as venemous to the union cause

• wanted a quick end to the civil war

• seen as problematic, snake, traterous

Southern $$$

South starts printing their own money

it is not actually worth something

needed a physical and economic reconstruction

Battle of Gettysburg

• con went North to try to get shoes + other supplies

• most southern part of philly, after confed continue to retreat south

• many killed

Gettysburg Address

Lincolnd Eulegy

• eulegizes death at gettysburg + rest of civil war + past and future wars including the american rev

Scortched Earth

Union General William Tecumeseh Sherman

• march to the sea (atlanta ot savannah)

• Nov-Dec 1864

• burned everything as he goes

• farms + plantation cant be used again

• destroys southern morale, north shoing south their strength

40 acres and a mule (Special Orders No.15)

Gen Tecumeseh argued that every slave should get 40 acres + mule after war

• every free Black fam gets Confed state land( ppl that commut treason the US gov), so they have smth to start wth

  NOT APPROVED

• andrew johnson denies this when president

Civil War Ended

April 1865

south surrenders

Lee surrenders to Grant at courthouse

Reconstruction meaning

to reconstruct the south; railroads, factories, south forced to be a part of the labor economy

• how do you rebuild a country that has not freed half the population

Lost Cause Reasons

“Lost war, it wasn’t really our fault”- gaslit the north

1. slavery not a cause of war

2. secession was constitutional

3. north had overwhelming advantage, south never had a chance

4. southern nobility+ charity, petsonitated by Robert E Lee

5. south a christian society, North a materialistic society

6. north started the war

7. slavery was a benign institution

10% Plan

1863, Lincoln

• 10% of the # of voters in 1860 sign loyalty oaths, the state could form a new gov

• sign a doc for 10% by state to never secede again

• Lincoln made percent low bc they knew more ppl wouldn’t sign it

• members of congress didn’t support

• radical reps insisted that 10% is too low

• NOT APPROVED

Wade-Davis Bill

July 1864

• Congress wanted a majority of the state (51%) to sign oath of loyalty

• every state has to rewrite a constitution banning slavery

• only men who didn’t fought for CFA

• Lincoln pocket vetoed the bill

13th amendment

abolish slavery december 1865

14 amendment

grants citizenship rights to anyone who was born here, beside native americans

15th admendment

blacks can vote

1870

Freedmans Bureau

1860

• union settle for former slaves to get an education, healthcare, job

• union got schools in the South (now attended by Black kids)

• S states form their slave codes into Black code (Jim Crow Laws)

• schools argued in S specifically for Blacks

• literacy rates went up

• FB didn;t stand true to the other parts(job+healthcare)

Slave cropping

post war former slaves started working for former owners

• white give portion of land to former slave, former slave has no $ to pay so he works

• Blacks “pay in crops”, portion of what grows on land, goes to white

• didn’t have tools, so portion of crops goes to guy who gives the tools

crop lien law

Lein- you cant leave land until you pay the chaft or pay debt

• arrested, put in prison, forced to build railroads

Black codes

• cant have alcohol

• cant own knife or firearm

• segregation in public facilities

• prohibited owning property

LINCOLN PRESIDENCY

61-65

chose andrew johnson as VP for his second term

• to show that dems and reps can unite

• johnson was a democrat

• lincoln dies in in 65 and AJ becomes pres