mid-year assessment

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Agreement to admit Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, maintaining the balance of power in Congress.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that the U.S. was destined to expand across the continent.

Compromise of 1850

Series of laws admitting California as a free state and allowing popular sovereignty in some territories.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a book that influenced anti-slavery sentiment (speak against the Fugitive Slave Law).

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Allowed territories to decide on slavery through popular sovereignty, leading to violence in "Bleeding Kansas."

Dred Scott Decision (1857)

Supreme Court ruled African Americans were not citizens and Congress couldn't ban slavery in territories.

John Brown

Abolitionist who led the raid on Harpers Ferry to incite a slave uprising.

Tenth Amendment

Grants powers not delegated to the federal government to the states or people.

Anaconda Plan

Union strategy to blockade Southern ports and control the Mississippi River.

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

Lincoln’s order freeing slaves in Confederate states.

Gettysburg Address (1863)

Lincoln’s speech redefining the purpose of the war as preserving the Union and promoting equality.

Battle of Gettysburg (1863)

Turning point of the Civil War; Union victory that halted Confederate advance into the North.

Civil War End (1865)

Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

A Century of Dishonor

Helen Hunt Jackson’s book criticizing U.S. treatment of Native Americans.

Reconstruction (1865-1877)

Period of rebuilding the South and integrating freed slaves into society.

Southern Republicans

Coalition of freedmen, carpetbaggers, and scalawags supporting Reconstruction.

Scalawags

Southern whites who supported Reconstruction policies.

Carpetbaggers

Northerners who moved to the South during Reconstruction for economic opportunities.

Debt Peonage

System where workers are tied to their jobs until debts are paid, often trapping African Americans and immigrants.

Reconstruction Economy

Efforts to rebuild Southern infrastructure and integrate freedmen into the economy.

Hiram Revels

First African American U.S. Senator.

End of Reconstruction (1877)

Withdrawal of federal troops as part of the Compromise of 1877.

Compromise of 1877

 Agreement that made Rutherford B. Hayes president in exchange for ending Reconstruction.

Florida Connection

Played a critical role in the disputed 1876 election.

Aftermath of Reconstruction

Rise of segregation and disenfranchisement of African Americans.

Segregated South

Social and legal separation of races after Reconstruction

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws enforcing racial segregation.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court decision upholding "separate but equal" segregation.

Homestead Act (1862)

 Gave settlers land in exchange for farming it for five years.

Grange -> Farmers' Alliance -> Populist Party

Movements advocating for farmers' rights and monetary reform.

Populism

Political movement supporting common people and opposing elite control.

Wabash v. Illinois

Limited states' control over interstate commerce, leading to federal regulation.

Dawes Act (1887)

Divided Native American land into individual allotments to assimilate tribes.

Dawes Plan (1924)

Economic plan to help Germany repay WWI reparations.

Custer’s Last Stand (1876)

Battle of Little Bighorn where Native Americans defeated U.S. troops.

Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)

Massacre of Lakota Sioux, marking the end of Native American resistance

Transcontinental Railroad

Connected the East and West, facilitating trade and expansion.

Election of 1896

Campaign between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan, highlighting the gold vs. silver debate.

Buffalo Soldiers

African American regiments that served in the U.S. Army during Western expansion.

Pullman Strike (1894)

Nationwide railroad strike protesting wage cuts.

Gentlemen’s Agreement (1907)

U.S.-Japan agreement to limit Japanese immigration.

Morrill Land Grant Act (1862)

Funded agricultural and technical colleges using land sales.

Free Enterprise

Economic system with minimal government interference in business.

Gospel of Wealth

Andrew Carnegie’s philosophy encouraging philanthropy by the wealthy.

Captains of Industry

Business leaders whose wealth contributed to national progress.

Captains of Industry (people)

Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D Rockefeller, and JP Morgan.

Lewis Latimer

 African American inventor who improved the light bulb.

Labor Union

Organized groups of workers advocating for rights and better conditions.

Time Zones

Created to standardize train schedules and commerce.

Vertical Integration

Controlling all steps of production for a product.

Horizontal Integration

Controlling one level of production or market to monopolize an industry.

Robber Barons

Wealthy industrialists accused of exploiting workers and resources.

Bessemer Process

Efficient method of steel production.

Railroad Strike of 1877

Major strike against wage cuts and poor conditions.

Homestead Strike (1892)

Violent labor dispute at Carnegie Steel.

Antebellum

existing before a war; especially : existing before the American Civil War

Fugitive Slave Laws

Said that people who lived in the free states had to capture and return any runaway slaves to their owners.

The Missouri Problem (Civil War Era)

In 1819, there were 11 slave states and 11 free states. Missouri wanted to become a new state in the Union. Admitting a new state would upset the balance in the Senate and begin a struggle for political power. Northerners opposed extending slavery into the west (morally wrong). Southerners feared the growing number of free states would eventually outlaw slavery completely.

Senator Henry Clay

Government leader from the state of Kentucky, “The Great Compromiser”

Senator John C Calhoun

Government leader from the state of South Carolina. Believed in the states’ rights, Missouri should decide whether to be slave or free. He wanted Missouri to be a slave state.

Cause of Mexican-American War

Manifest Destiny, or the idea that God has bestowed the entire continent to Americans. Texas then belonged to Mexico. Americans were encouraged to settle in Texas (then part of Mexico). Texas then became part of the U.S. Mexico “also” owned California. The U.S. incited a war with Mexico (hoping Mexico would fire the first shot, which would help the U.S. win support for a war, and they did).

Significance of Mexican-American War

The U.S. gained Texas (as a slave state). The U.S. gained California (as a free state) but… The Compromise of 1850 resulted. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Result of Fugitive Slave Law

Some Northerners followed the Fugitive Slave Law, but many abolitionists, people who did not like slavery, continued to help slaves escape to freedom (Underground Railroad).

Abolitionist

Someone against slavery

Bleeding Kansas

Instead of solving the slavery problem, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 made people race to these states and fight over voting.

Underground Railroad

As time went on, African Americans and white abolitionists developed a secret network of people who would hide fugitive slaves.

Harriet Tubman

One of the most famous conductors of the Underground Railroad. She escaped slavery and vowed to help others do the same. She made 19 trips back to the South and freed over 300 slaves (including her parents). Slave owners offered a bounty of $40,000 for her capture.

Sojourner Truth

• Born Isabella Baumfree

• Former slave

• Escaped New York plantation in 1820s

• 1840’s became a powerful speaker against slavery.

• Her first-hand accounts brought tears to audiences with tales of horror.

Sectionalism

the greater loyalty that many Americans felt towards their “section” or region—North, South, or West—rather than to the country as a whole.

Free Soilers

Another party emerged in the 19^th century. Abraham Lincoln’s original party! They were northerners who opposed slavery from spreading to Northern territories. They didn’t look to ban slavery where it already existed. Their objections to slavery were based on economics, not moral objection to slavery

Wilmot Proviso

Banned slavery in the west.

States Rights

The rights of the individual states are protected by the Constitution from interference by the federal government.

First Battle of Bull Run

First major battle of the Civil War. Fought at Manassas Junction, Virginia. Confederate Victory (union was forced to retreat).

Battle of Antietam

Bloodiest single day of the Civil War.

Thirteenth Amednment

Freed slaves

Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan

Called for a pardon of all Confederates who would swear allegiance to the Union and accept the Emancipation Proclamation. When 10% of the voting population of a state took the oath, a state would be readmitted into the Union

Civil Rights Act 1866

Prohibited discrimination based on race. Made all persons born in the U.S. citizens, including “freedmen. Guaranteed the same rights as white citizens. Forbade states from passing laws discriminating against former slaves (aka Black Codes)

Freedmen’s Bureau

provided much-needed aid for African Americans (education, hospitals, social services, churches)

Fourteenth Amendment

Everyone norn in the US is a citizen

Reconstruction Act 1867

This was to ensure that states grant black men the right to vote and to ratify the 14^th Amendment.

Fifteenth Amendment

No one should be kept from voting before of race, color, or previous servitude.

Sharecroppers

landowners provided a cabin, mule, tools & a plot of land; in turn the sharecropper gave a large share of his crop to the land owner.

Tenant Farmers

they rented land from the landowner but provided their own tools & provisions.

Sioux Wars

Red Clouds War

Indian Peace Commission

Tried to end conflicts by creating new lands for Natives only.

Radical Republicans

A faction of the Republican Party that sought to implement harsher Reconstruction policies and ensure civil rights for freedmen.

Reconstruction Acts (1867)

Laws that divided the South into military districts and required states to ratify the 14th Amendment and grant voting rights to African American men to rejoin the Union.

13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments

Known as the Reconstruction Amendments, these laws abolished slavery, granted citizenship and equal protection, and protected voting rights for African American men.

Transcontinental Railroad

Completed in 1869, it connected the East and West coasts, facilitating trade and migration.

The Grange Movement

An organization of farmers advocating for cooperative buying and selling to counter railroad monopolies.

Buffalo Soldiers

African American soldiers who served on the western frontier, often protecting settlers and combating Native American resistance.

Barbed Wire

Revolutionized farming by providing inexpensive fencing, ending the era of the open range.

John D. Rockefeller

Founder of Standard Oil Company, known for his monopoly and use of horizontal integration.

Thomas Edison

Inventor of the light bulb and numerous other technologies that revolutionized communication and industry.

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

Federal law aimed at preventing monopolies and promoting fair competition in business.

Andrew Carnegie

Leader in the steel industry and proponent of the "Gospel of Wealth."

Industrial Working Conditions

Characterized by low wages, long hours, and unsafe environments in factories.

Knights of Labor

Early labor union open to all workers, advocating for an eight-hour workday and labor reforms.

Haymarket Affair (1886)

Violent labor protest in Chicago that led to a backlash against labor unions.