APUSH Unit 5 (1844–1877)

Manifest Destiny

Belief that U.S. was destined to expand westward.

Texas Annexation (1845)

U.S. annexed Texas, angering Mexico.

Oregon Trail / Oregon Territory

Migration and boundary dispute with Britain (settled 1846).

Mexican-American War (1846–1848)

Triggered by border disputes.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

Ended the war; U.S. gained Mexican Cession.

Wilmot Proviso (1846)

Proposed ban on slavery in territory from Mexico (failed).

California Gold Rush (1848–1849)

Led to rapid population growth.

Compromise of 1850

California free state, Fugitive Slave Act strengthened.

Fugitive Slave Act (1850)

Required return of runaway slaves; enraged North.

Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel.

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Popular sovereignty in territories; repealed Missouri Compromise.

Bleeding Kansas (1856)

Violent clashes over slavery in Kansas.

Caning of Charles Sumner (1856)

Violent act on Senate floor.

Republican Party formed (1854)

Anti-slavery, pro-modernization.

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

Supreme Court ruled enslaved people were not citizens.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)

Debates over slavery expansion.

John Brown’s Raid (1859)

Attempted slave revolt at Harpers Ferry.

Election of 1860

Lincoln elected; leads to Southern secession.

Secession of South Carolina (1860)

First state to leave Union.

Confederate States of America (1861)

Southern states form their own nation.

Fort Sumter (1861)

First shots of the Civil War.

Border States

Slave states that stayed in the Union (e.g., Kentucky, Maryland).

Anaconda Plan

Union strategy to blockade and divide the South.

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

Freed slaves in Confederate territory.

Battle of Gettysburg (1863)

Turning point in the war.

Gettysburg Address (1863)

Lincoln redefined war aims around equality and union.

Sherman’s March to the Sea (1864)

Total war strategy.

Appomattox Court House (1865)

Lee surrenders to Grant; war ends.

13th Amendment (1865)

Abolished slavery.

Lincoln’s 10% Plan

Lenient approach to readmitting Southern states.

Wade-Davis Bill

Radical Republican alternative (vetoed by Lincoln).

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865)

Aid to freed people and poor whites in the South.

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

Lenient toward former Confederates.

Black Codes

Laws to restrict African Americans’ rights post-emancipation.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

Granted citizenship to African Americans.

14th Amendment (1868)

Guaranteed citizenship and equal protection.

Reconstruction Acts (1867)

Divided South into military districts.

15th Amendment (1870)

Voting rights regardless of race.

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson (1868)

Conflict with Radical Republicans.

Carpetbaggers / Scalawags

Northern Republicans in the South / Southern white Republicans.

Ku Klux Klan (1866)

White supremacist group resisting Reconstruction.

Compromise of 1877

Ended Reconstruction; Hayes becomes president.