USH Regents Prep - Sectionalism & the Civil War

Homestead Act

1862 - Provided free land in the West to anyone willing to settle there and develop it. Encouraged westward migration.

Emancipation Proclamation

Issued by Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862 it declared that all slaves in the confederate states would be free

American Civil War

1861-1865: War between North (union states) and South (confederate states) over slavery.

Secession

Formal withdrawal of states or regions from a nation

Annexation of Texas

Texas decides to secede from Mexico and attempts to declare its independence which eventually leads to our adoption of the land as a state although it was feared that it would cause conflict with Mexico leading to war. Southern states in support of this as Texas brought slaves with it meaning it would increase agricultural profits

Compromise of 1850

(1) California admitted as free state, (2) territorial status and popular sovereignty of Utah and New Mexico, (3) resolution of Texas-New Mexico boundaries, (4) federal assumption of Texas debt, (5) slave trade abolished in DC, and (6) new fugitive slave law; advocated by Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas

John Brown's Raid

In 1859, the militant abolitionist John Brown seized the U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry. He planned to end slavery by massacring slave owners and freeing their slaves. He was captured and executed.

Manifest Destiny (1840s and 1850s)

Belief that the United States was destined by God to spread its "empire of liberty" across North America. Served as a justification for mid-nineteenth-century expansionism. Fueled a debate over slavery.

Abolition

Movement to end slavery

Frederick Douglass

(1817-1895) American abolitionist and writer, he escaped slavery and became a leading African American spokesman and writer. He published his biography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and founded the abolitionist newspaper, the North Star.

Expansion of Slavery

A major debate between the North and South. South wanted to expand slavery into the new land in the west. North does not want slavery to expand. Disagreement increases sectional tension and helps start the Civil War.

Sectionalism

Different parts of the country developing unique and separate cultures (as the North, South and West). This can lead to conflict.

Dred Scott Decision

A Missouri slave sued for his freedom, claiming that his four year stay in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territory made free land by the Missouri Compromise had made him a free man. The U.S, Supreme Court decided he couldn't sue in federal court because he was property, not a citizen.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)

A series of seven debates for US Senate in Illinois between Lincoln (R) and Senator Douglas (D). The debates previewed the issues that Lincoln would face in the aftermath of his victory in the 1860 presidential election. The main issue discussed in all seven debates was slavery as it related to popular sovereignty in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Lecompton Constitution and the Dred Scott decision. Douglas won election, but Lincoln's fine showing made him a national figure and helped him win Republican nomination in 1860

Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the United States saved the Union during the Civil War and emancipated the slaves; was assassinated by Booth (1809-1865)

Erie Canal

A canal between the New York cities of Albany and Buffalo, completed in 1825. The canal, considered a marvel of the modern world at the time, allowed western farmers to ship surplus crops to sell in the North and allowed northern manufacturers to ship finished goods to sell in the West.

Indian Removal Act

(1830) a congressional act that authorized the removal of Native Americans who lived east of the Mississippi River

Andrew Jackson and Native Americans

Indian Removal Act/Trail of Tears

Lewis and Clark

Sent on an expedition by Jefferson to gather information on the United States' new land and map a route to the Pacific. They kept very careful maps and records of this new land acquired from the Louisiana Purchase.

Louisiana Purchase

territory in western United States purchased from France in 1803 for $15 million

Impact of Louisiana Purchase

it doubles the size of the U.S. & gives complete access to the Mississippi River.

Bleeding Kansas (1856)

Disagreements over whether slavery should be allowed in Kansas led to violence among settlers.

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

US foreign policy regarding Latin American countries stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention.

Missouri Compromise of 1820

Allowed Missouri to enter the union as a slave state, Maine to enter the union as a free state, prohibited slavery north of latitude 36˚ 30' within the Louisiana Territory (1820)

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854 - Created Nebraska and Kansas as states and gave the people in those territories the right to chose to be a free or slave state through popular sovereignty.

Fugitive Slave Act

A law that made it a crime to help runaway slaves; allowed for the arrest of escaped slaves in areas where slavery was illegal and required their return to slaveholders

Mexican-American War

(1846-1848) The war between the United States and Mexico in which the United States acquired one half of the Mexican territory.

Election of 1860

Lincoln, the Republican candidate, won because the Democratic party was split over slavery. As a result, the South no longer felt like it has a voice in politics and a number of states seceded from the Union.

Gettysburg Address

A 3-minute address by Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War (November 19, 1963) at the dedication of a national cemetery on the site of the Battle of Gettysburg

Railroad Expansion

Government granted the union pacific railroad-east to west; Central pacific- west to east; 200-400 square miles to every mile of track laid; 45 million acres from the government; led to physical and economic growth of the u.s.

Pacific Railway Act

1862 legislation to encourage the construction of a transcontinental railroad, connecting the West to industries in the Northeast (Union Pacific and Central Pacific RR)

49ers/Gold Rush

California as a result of the Gold Rush. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service. The Gold Rush also resulted in attacks on Native Americans, who were removed from their lands.

Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)

-Republican

-Marbury vs Madison, 1803

-Louisiana Purchase, 1803

-Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-05

Election of 1860

Lincoln, the Republican candidate, won because the Democratic party was split over slavery. As a result, the South no longer felt like it has a voice in politics and a number of states seceded from the Union.

Slavery and the Constitution

The South's slave trade was guaranteed for at least 20 years after the ratification of the Constitution. Slaves were considered 3/5 of a person when determining the state population for purposes of congressional representation.