period 5

manifest destiny

the 19th-century belief that the United States was divinely ordained to expand its territory from the Atlantic to the Pacific

free-soil movement

mid-19th-century political effort (leading to the Free-Soil Party) opposing the expansion of slavery into U.S. territories, advocating for "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, Free Men," and ultimately influencing the formation of the Republican Party by bringing together anti-slavery Democrats, Whigs, and abolitionists, though they weren't strictly abolitionists but focused on preventing slavery's spread to protect free white labor and opportunity.

slavery as a positive social good

the Southern pro-slavery ideology, popularized by figures like John C. Calhoun, that argued slavery was morally beneficial, not just a "necessary evil," for both whites (providing cheap labor, social stability) and enslaved people (offering civilization, Christianity, and care)

compromise of 1850

a package of five separate bills passed by the U.S. Congress to defuse a political confrontation between slave and free states over territories won from Mexico, admitting California as a free state, creating Utah and New Mexico territories with popular sovereignty, resolving the Texas-New Mexico boundary, ending the slave trade (but not slavery) in D.C., and enacting a stricter Fugitive Slave Act

second american party system

Democratic and Whig parties. This system emerged after the "Era of Good Feelings," which saw the collapse of the First Party System, and was defined by intense competition, widespread popular participation in politics, and differing ideologies on federal power, economic issues like tariffs, and national expansion

confederacy

the political entity formed by 11 Southern states that seceded from the United States between 1860 and 1861 to preserve slavery and states' rights, leading to the American Civil War

13th amendment

formally abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the U.S., except as punishment for a crime

civil war

the violent conflict between the North (Union) and South (Confederacy) over slavery, states' rights, and sectionalism

reconstruction

the period from 1865 to 1877 following the Civil War, during which the U.S. government attempted to rebuild the South, readmit Southern states, and define the rights of newly freed slaves

15th amendment

a Reconstruction Amendment that prohibits federal/state governments from denying citizens the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude," granting suffrage to African American men

mexican-american war

a pivotal conflict driven by Manifest Destiny, U.S. annexation of Texas, and border disputes

abolitionists

individuals and groups in the 19th century who advocated for the immediate and complete end of slavery in the United States

secession

formal withdrawal of states from the Union, most notably the 11 Southern states between 1860-1861, driven by conflicts over slavery, states' rights, and economic differences, leading directly to the Civil War after Abraham Lincoln's election

dred scott case

a 1857 Supreme Court decision ruling that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, were not citizens and therefore had no right to sue in federal court

republican party

political party founded in the 1850s with the primary goal of opposing the expansion of slavery into new territories.

union

the Northern states and the federal government that fought to preserve the United States as one nation during the Civil War

sharecropping system

a post-Civil War system where landowners let freedmen and poor whites farm plots of land in exchange for a large share (often half) of the crop, plus tools, seed, and housing, creating a cycle of debt and poverty through the crop-lien system, limiting Black economic progress and maintaining white economic control despite emancipation.

gettysburg address

Lincoln's 1863 speech redefining the Civil War as a fight for equality and a "new birth of freedom," not just union preservation, linking sacrifices to Declaration ideals of self-government ("of the people, by the people, for the people"), and asserting the nation's dedication to liberty and democracy for all.

14th amendment

granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. (including formerly enslaved people), overturned the Dred Scott decision, and established the Due Process Clause (states can't deny life, liberty, property without legal process) and the Equal Protection Clause (states must provide equal treatment under the law) for all citizens, forming the basis for modern civil rights by extending federal protections against state infringement. 

irish & german immigrants

the massive influx from these nations in the mid-19th century, fleeing famine (Irish) and political/economic strife (German), settling in cities (Irish) or the Midwest (German), often facing nativism, but contributing significantly to American labor, culture (kindergarten, beer), and eventual assimilation

anti-catholic nativist movement

a mid-19th-century wave of hostility and discrimination against immigrants, especially Irish and German Catholics, fueled by fears they'd undermine Protestant culture and American political power, leading to anti-immigrant societies like the Know-Nothing Party, which sought to restrict immigrant influence and enforce "Americanization" through policies like limiting office-holding.

mexican cession

territory Mexico ceded to the U.S. via the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo after the Mexican-American War, including modern-day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming

kansas-nebraska act

a pivotal law that created the Kansas and Nebraska territories, applied popular sovereignty (allowing settlers to vote on slavery), and effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise, leading to violent clashes like "Bleeding Kansas" and fracturing the Whig Party, ultimately fueling sectionalism and paving the way for the Civil War. 

abraham lincoln free-soil

preventing the expansion of slavery into new territories, not abolishing it where it existed, believing free land built free labor

emancipation proclamation

President Lincoln's executive order freeing slaves in rebelling Confederate states, transforming the Civil War into a moral fight for freedom, allowing Black men into the Union Army, and paving the way for the 13th Amendment

radical republicans

a powerful congressional faction during Reconstruction (post-Civil War) who pushed for harsh penalties on the South, full civil rights and suffrage for freed slaves, and federal intervention to transform Southern society

moderate republicans

a faction of the Republican Party during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras who favored a less aggressive, more lenient approach to Reconstruction and a quicker reconciliation with the South. 

segregation

the enforced separation of racial groups, legally established by Jim Crow laws after Reconstruction, mandating separate facilities (schools, transport, housing) under the "separate but equal" doctrine from Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), creating systemic discrimination and inequality, and fueling the Civil Rights Movement to dismantle these discriminatory systems.