Ch. 13-15 Facts and Terms APUSH Richins

Manifest Destiny

This reflected both the burgeoning pride that characterized American Nationalism in the mid-19th century and the idealistic vision of perfection that was around at the time. It rested on the idea that America was destined by God to expand coast to coast; phrase first coined by John O-Sullivan; Significance: Major justification of Mexican-American War and indirectly helped bring about the Civil War.

Expansionism

Reflected the idea of American expanding is root to include all the space possible for its democracy to spread. It was a belief that meant Mexicans and Indians were inferior and should be pushed out of the way; Americans did not view this as imperial behavior.

Stephen Austin

Established 1st legal American settlement in Texas in 1820. Austin and his followers wanted more autonomy within Mexico, but with Santa Anna ruling Mexico, Austin and his followers decided to fight for independence; Significance: helped bring about independence for Texas.

Oregon Country

Included all of the territory from the present South boundary of Oregon to the present southern boundary of Alaska at 54'40*; Both Britain and US claimed it. "Joint Occupation" between British and US lasted for 20 years. The issue was finally resolved with Polk, and the territory was divided at the 49th parallel, with the US getting everything south of that parallel; Significance: set present day boundary between Canada and US and helped keep the US out of a war with Britain just before going to war with Mexico.

Joint Occupation

A treaty in 1818 that allowed the citizens of England and the US equal access to Oregon territory. This arrangement was known as the "(this)" and lasted for over 20 years.

James Polk

Most people considered the '44 election to have been a battle between Clay and Van Buren, instead (this guy) got the Democratic nomination as a "dark horse" candidate; He had a clear objective in expansion. He combined Oregon and Texas issues into one. He beat Clay who was trying to side-straddle the issues. He led America into the Mexican-American War, and solved the Oregon issue with Britain; Significance: expanded U.S. territory more than any other President besides Thomas Jefferson.

Rio Grande/Nueces River

Texas claimed that after it won its independence from Mexico, that their border stretched down to the Rio Grande. The Mexicans said that the border was at the Nueces River. Polk agreed with the Texans and sent Zach Taylor to cross the Nueces River and approach the Rio Grande. The Mexicans soon attacked and the war began; Significance: Started the Mexican-American War.

John Slidell

Sent by Polk to try to purchase California from Mexico. but the Mexicans wouldn't sell it to the Americans for any price.

Treaty of Guadeloupe-Hidalgo

The treaty (1848) that ended the Mexican-American War in 1848. America got all the disputed territory including all of the present day west. But America also took over the debts to Mexican citizens living in the territroy and paid Mexico $15 million; guaranteed rights of Mexicans as citizens of the U.S. but these rights were usually denied.

Wilmot Proviso

Was proposed by David Wilmot in 1846, and it would have barred slavery in territory acquired from Mexico. It passed in House but failed in the Senate, and would resurface for years afterwards; Significance: made the South feel that the North was intent on destroying slavery by gaining total dominance in the Senate, the House, and thus, the Electoral College and Supreme Court.

Popular Sovereignty

Was first known as "squatter sovereignty", which would allow for people of each state (through legislature) to decide the status of slavery in the territory; first proposed by Senator Cass from Michigan in 1848, but later became the key project of Stephen Douglas in the Kansas Nebrasks Act of 1854; Significance: Helped bring about the troubles in Kansas because the policy was vague as to who could vote and when the voting would take place.

Compromise of 1850

Clay spearheaded effrot to compromise on the slavery issue, but after the Triumvirate had spoken, a second phase in negotiation took over, in which the youngster took charge. Douglas broke Clay's proposal down into 8 parts, each of which passed seperately. It cooled sectional conflict for a time. Its provisions included:

1. CA be admitted as free state

2: In the rest of the lands acquired from Mexico, territorial governments by popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico

3: Texas yield in boundary dispute with New Mexico.

4: Slave trade, but not slavery itself, be abolished in DC.

5: Stringent fugitive slave law.

Significance: Helped stave off Civil War for 10 years which helped the North increase advantage over the South in population, manufacturing and other key areas; last great compromise fo preserve the Union; ultimately, it failed.

Stephen Douglas

Was the most important man in getting the passage of the Compromise of 1850, he was 37 years old at the time, and a Democratic Senator from Illinois. He was committed to sectional and personal gain. He broke down Clay's proposal and made it into 8 seperate bills which finally passed. Eventually, proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854; ran against Lincoln for Senate in 1858 and against Lincoln, Breckinridge and Bell for President in 1860; supported Lincoln during the Civil War until his death.

Free Soil Party

Anti-Slavery Northerners who were gaining popular support in the 1840's Divisions in the Whig party allowed for them to gain in numbers as well. They repudiated Comrpomise of 1850. They were against slavery in the new territories because they wanted nothing to do with blacks, and wanted America to be reserved only for whites to be independent farmers and free labor workers; Significance: Forerunner of the Republican Party; helped Northern Whigs to attack the expansion of slavery.

Fugitive Slave Act

Was part of the compromise of 1850. Blacks accused of being runaways had no right to a trial or a jury, or even to plead their case. Judges would turn slaves over on simple affidavits, and were paid more for returning an alleged slave, than they were in declaring them free. Northern hostility to such increased dramatically. In Wisconsin, it was declared void; Significance: Helped bring support to Northern abolitionists and helped start the Civil War.

Ostend Manifesto

Pierce had been secretly trying to buy Cuba from Spain for quite some time. Then a letter came from one of his commissioners in Ostend, Beligium, which proposed to take Cuba by force. It leaked out to the public, and became a huge controversy. No Antislavery defenders accused the South and Pierce of conspiring to bring in another slave state; made Northerners more convinced there was a slave conspiracy to control the US government.

Bleeding Kansas

After 1,000 of Missouri people crossed the border to vote in Kansas to ensure it would become a slave state, anti and pro-slavery people were at eachothers throats. Both claimed governments in Kansas. Antislavery leader established a capital at Lawrence, and the proslaveryites destoyed it; many believed the violence in Kansas helped to bring on the Civil War.

John Brown

Was a fiercely committed abolitionist. He gathered 6 followers and murdered 5 pro slaveryites in Kansas. He then gathered more people and took Harper's Ferry, but was forced out by federal troops. He was hung by US officials and became an overnight martyr. His raid convinced the South that they could no longer live peacefully within the Union and convinced many Northerners that only violence could eliminate the evils of slavery.

Charles Sumner

Was a Massachusetts Senator, who rose and gave a great speech in front of Congress in which he insulted a South Carolina senator, Andrew Butler. Butler's cousin, Brooks, then beat Sumner with a cane. Sumner was out for years from office, and Brooks was removed from office. Sumner became a hero to the North and Brooks to the South; helped convince both sections, that the other section was barbarous and could not be trusted.

Slave Power Conspiracy

Northern free laborites maintained that the S. was involved in a conspiracy to spread slavery further. Something they believed threatened the future of every white laborer & property owner in the N.; Northerners felt that powerful slave owners were trying to gain control of all aspects of the national government-House, Senate, Presidency, & Sup. Court

Republican Party

Formed in 1854, from remnants of the Whig, Liberty, and Know-Nothing parties; the ideology of perserving free labor was at the heart of this party. They considered slavery a threat to white labor and to individual opportunity. Continued growth and progress was central to the free labor vision; they also wanted higher tariffs, cheap land made available to settlers in the West and a transcontinental railroad; To republicans, prospect of dismemberment of the union was unthinkable.

Freeport Doctrine

In the congressional debates between Lincoln and Douglas in 1858, Lincoln asked Douglas whether a territory could exclude slavery prior to the formation of a constitution. Douglas said that if the people didn't draft any laws legalizing slavery in that territory, then slavery could not exist. His response became known as the Freeport Doctrine, or the Freeport Heresy in the South. While it won him the election to the senate in Illinois, it destroyed his Presidential ambitions by alienating the South

Gag Rule

Southern US Representatives managed for a time to impose a gag rule (adopted in 136 and repudiated in 1844) in which Congress would table all anti-slavery petitions without being read; Significance: showed the extremes South would attempt to stop debate on slavery; John Quincy Adams helped fight the battle to get rid of the gag rule.

Buchanan

Was a democratic president in 1856; He supported the pro-slaveryites in Kansas by favoring statehood based on the Lecomption Constitution; did not believe Southern states had right to secede, but also, believed that the had the Constitutional power to stop them from seceding.

Dred Scott v. Sanford

Dred Scott was the property of an army surgeon in Missouri. He traveled with his master to Illinois, where slavery was illegal, and soon his owner died. He sued for his freedom at the municipal level and got it. But his owner's brother appealed to the state supreme court and won. The issue became key Supreme Court decision in 1857 when Chief Justice Taney ruled in Dred Scott case.

1. That not African American had rights to sue in federal courst, 2. slaves were property and could be taken to any territory. 3. Neither Congress nor territorial legislatures had right to prohibit slavery since this infringed on 5th Amendment rights. 4. Invalidated the Missouri Compromise, Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the North-Western Ordinance of 1787; Significance: It was a major blow to the anti-slavery movement. It basically nullified the Missouri Compromise by stating that people can take their "property" with them wherever they want. Helped convince Northerners of a slave consipracy to control federal government.

Lecomption Constitution

Was a proslavery constitution drawn up in Kansas, but it was then rejected by the Kansas people. The constitution was resubmitted but failed again, so Kansas wans't allowed in as a state until 1861.

Lincoln

Introduced spot resolutions against the Mexican War in 1846 and 1847, a member of the Whig Party and eventually joined the Republican Party; emerged after famous debates with Douglas in the national limelight. He believed that slavery was morally wrong, but was not an abolitionist. When he won the presidential election in 1860, South Carolina immediately seceded; led the North against the South to preserve the Union and in 1863 issued Emancipation Proclamation; assassinated in 1865 shortly after 2nd Inaguaral Address and after Lee's surrender.

Fort Sumter

A federal fort off of the South Carolina coastline in Charleston Harbor; when South Carolina left union, Confederates didn't have enough power to take that fort. Lincoln sent a relief mission to the island, but South Carolina fired on the ship and fort, and took the island. The first shots of the Civil War.

Crittenden Compromise

1860 compromise forces gathered behind John Critteneden from Kentucky. His compromise included and amendment to the constitution guaranteeing slavery in slave states, and a reestablishment of the Missouri Compromise and extending it to the Pacific Ocean. The remaining Southerners in the senate were willing to accept it, but the Republicans were not because they felt it would invalidate election of 1860; Significance: last major attempt at compromise to prevent Civil War.

Homestead Act

Homestead Act of 1862 permitted any citizen or prospective citizen to claim 160 acres of public land purchases it after 5 years of a small price. (was passed by Republicans while south was out of Congress).

Greenbacks

Printing of paper currency rose during the Civil War, and they were known as greenbacks. Values of the paper currency fluctuated according to union victories.

Andrew Johnson

Johnson joined Lincoln in his reeletion. He was a war democrat who had oppowed his state's secession (Tenessee) only Southern Senator to stay in the Senate after secession; he became president after Lincoln was shot; alienated moderate as well as Radical Republicans in "swing around the circle" in 1866 to influence Congressional elections; was impeached by the Hosue of Representatvies but not convicted by the Senate; was not renominated in 1868.

Battle of Antietam

Union army defeated Confederate army at this battle in Maryland in bloodies battle of the Civil War, gave Lincoln key victory so he could announce his intention of using wartime powers to free all slaves in Confederacy. On January 1, 1863 he formally signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

54th Massachusetts Infantry

This was the most renown of all black units that fought for the union. They had a white commander, Robert Shaw. Shaw and half of the infantry died in battle outside Charleston in 1863.

Sherman's March to the Sea

during the last stage of war, Sherman decided to advance eastwards towards Atlanta. He then burned the city as well as a 60-mile gap through Georgia until he reached Savannah. This was done in order to damage Confederate morale.

U.S. Sanitary Commission (Dorthea Dix)

(This gal) and a group of volunteers established this commission. They mobilized numbers of women to serve as nurses. By the end of the war, women were the dominant force in nursing. The sanitary commission helped bring about changes in health standards in hospitals; in doing so, the amount of death from disease began to decline.

Clara Barton

Founder of the American Red Cross, active in the accumulation and distribution of medical supplies. Became important force in world of nursing.

Jefferson Davis

At a constitutional convention in Montgomery, Alabama, the CSA named Davis as their president. He was chosen without opposition for a 6 year term. Davis was an unsuccessful president. He served as his own secratary of war. He rarely provided genuine natural leadership.

Ulysses S. Grant

Failure in business and private life; became officer in Civil War and won key battles in the West - especially Shiloh and Vicksburg; in March 1864, Lincoln's war effort was improved by choosing Grant as his commander of the entire Union army. Grant shared Lincoln's belief in making the enemy armies and resources, not territory, the target of military efforts; popularity because of his war efforts mad him influential and in 1868 he was elected Presidnet and served until 1877; his presidency was marred by corruption and conflict over Reconstruction.

Monitor and Merrimack

This was a union ship that was refitted in 1862 and changed in name to the Virginia. The Virginia than attacked northern ships, and came into conflict with (another ship), which was another ironclad ship, and was stopped.

Jayhawkers

Union sympathizers in Kansas that organized themselves into bands known as these, and were marginally less savage than the CSA in Kansas and Missouri.

Freedman's Bureau, March 1865

Congress established the FB, and agency under control of the army and under direction of General Oliver Howard. It was established as a means to distribute work to former slaves, establish schools, and modest efforts to redistrubte the land. It had authority of operation for only one year. Extension of the Freedman's Bureau was vetoed by President Johnson.

Thaddeus Stevens

Radical Republican from Pennsylvania, along with Sumner, who urged that the political and military leaders of the former CSA be punished by means of disenfranchisement, and confiscation of goods and land to be distrubted to former slaves; helped lead the effort to impeach Andrew Johnson.

Black Codes

Throughout 1865 and early 1866, the state legislatures in the South were enacting sets of laws known as Black Codes; modeled after pre-war laws, these laws were established to reassert the supremacy of the Planter aristocracy and designed to control freed slaves; were extremely discriminatory against African-Americans.

13th Amendment

Passed by congress in April, 1865. It abolished slavery in all states and territories. States were required to ratify this amendment before they would be readmitted to the Union.

14th Amendment

In April 1866, radicals in congress, through the joint committee on the Reconstruction submitted a proposed 14th Amendment. The amendment offered first constitutional definition of American citizenship. The amendment also imposed penalties on states that denied any male inhabitant of his right of citizenship; it also, protected corporations and people against being regulated without due process; it made no reference to women.

15th Amendment

Forbade states of government the right to deny suffrage to any citizen on account of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Was adopted only with the support of Southern States who had to ratify it in order to be readmitted to the union. It had little affect on black suffrage, however, for many years.

Tenure of Office Act

To stop the president from interfering with their designs, the radicals in Congress passed 2 remarkable acts. First was this act which forbade the presidnet from removing civil officials. That particular act was meant to ensure the job of Secratary of War, Edmund Stanton. Johnson dismissed Stanton anyway, and was impeached by Congress as a result. The other act passed was the Commander of Army Act, which prohibited the president form issuing military orders except through that of the Commander of Army.

Civil Service Reform

Many civil service projects were enacted in the South during the reconstruction. SUch as public education, public works programs, relief for the poor, and other costly commitments; civil service reform was designed to make sure only qualified people got federal jobs, not just supporters of the winning candidate; finally, passed inot law in 1883 by the Pendleton Act.

Credit Mobilier

a French-owned construction company that had helped build the Union Pacific Railroad. It hoarded millions of dollars from the railroad and the government. They then transferred large amounts of stock to key congressment, and even the Vice President of Grant's administration. Was the biggest of many scandals that rocked the Grant administration.

Compromise of 1877

Grant wanted to run for a third term, but Republicans resisted, for they were afraid of further scandals. They settled on Hayes. Democrats chose Tilden. Electoral college saw Tilden with 184, one short of victory. There were 20 disputed votes, just enough to get Hayes the presidency. There was a compromise to give Hayes the votes, but he had to remove the remaining federal troops from the South, thus ending reconstruction.

Sharecroppers

Tenantry took several forms after the Civil War. Farmers who owned tools, usually paid a cash rent annually for their land. But many farmers had no money or tools at all. Landlords would supply them with land, some tools, and maybe a shack, in return they would promise the owners a large share of the crop. They seldom had anything left to sell to themselves; their lives were in many ways as bad as their lives had been under slavery, if not worse.

Booker T. Washington

Many of the blacks who had climbed the ranks and became rich, stressed the importance of education as the primary reason. Chief Spokesman to this commitment for blacks for blacks was this guy. He started Tuskegee Institute for blacks. He urged industrial skills over classical (art) education. He felt that blacks should forgo agitating for social and political rights, and should concentrate on self-improvement and preperation for equality.

Atlanta Compromise

In a famous speech in Georgia, Washington outlined a philosophy of race relations that became widely known as the Atlanta Compromsie. He outlined the fact that blacks should engage in activities to improve their economic lot, then they will be given political equality.

Jim Crow

After reconstruction, laws restricting franchise (especially for blacks and segregating schools were only part of a network of state statutes known as "Jim Crow" laws - that by the first years of the 20th century had reached every area of southern life; system of laws was named for a character that put on racially offensive plays in antebellum period.

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 - in this case, involving a Louisiana law that required seperate seating arrangements for races on railroads, the court ruled that seperate accomodations did not deprive blacks of equal rights if accomodations were equal. A decision that lasted for years as the legal basis for segregating schools and all other aspects of Southern society; overturned in 1954 by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.

Literacy Tests

Two devices emerged before 1900 to disenfranchise blacks in the south. One was the Poll Tax. The other was this test which required voters to demonstrate ability to read and interpret the constitution. Grandfather clauses were also, used to deprive blacks of the right to vote.