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Unit 5 events and vocab
Manifest Destiny
1840s. Polk President. Belief that it was the US' right to expand from coast to coast. Built on white racial superiority and American cultural superiority, major debates of the time period.
Aroostook War
Disputed territorial boundry between Maine lumberjacks and British Canada. Militia were called in from both sides until the Webster-Ashburton Treaty was signed.
Annexation of Texas
9 After years after Texas Independence from Mexico, Texas joined the U.S. Upset Mexico, and was one of the causes of the Mexican War.
Acquisition of Oregon
Agreed to divide it at the 49° N latitude with Britain.
Mexican War
1846-1848 began after Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande into Texas. Was ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which gave the U.S. Texas, New Mexico, and California in exchange for $15 million to Mexico
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
Treaty that ended the Mexican War, granting the U.S. control of Texas, New Mexico, and California in exchange for $15 million
Wilmot Proviso
(1846) a proposal to outlaw slavery in the territory added to the United States by the Mexican Cession; passed in the House of Representatives but was defeated in the Senate
popular sovereignty
Notion that the people of a territory should determine if they want to be a slave state or a free state. Used in Comp of 1850 and Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854.
Gadsden Purchase
(1853) U.S. purchase of land from Mexico that included the southern parts of present-day Arizona and New Mexico for the purposes of building a Transcontinental RR.
Mexican Cession
Region of the present day southwestern United States that was ceded to the U.S. by Mexico in 1848 under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo following the Mexican-American War. Land grab was significant because the question of extending slavery into newly acquired territories had become the leading national political issue.
Free Soil Party
Formed in 1847 - 1848, dedicated to opposing slavery in newly acquired territories such as Oregon and ceded Mexican territory.
Fugitive Slave Law
Part of the Comp of 1850, law provided for the return of escaped slaves to their owners. The 1850 law was tougher (than the 1793 law) and was aimed at eliminating the underground railroad. Upset the North.
Underground Railroad
c.1830-1860, Harriet Tubman, a system that helped enslaved African Americans follow a network of escape routes out of the South to freedom in the North
Compromise of 1850
(1) California admitted as free state, (2) territorial status and popular sovereignty of Utah and New Mexico, (3) slave trade abolished in DC, and (4) new fugitive slave law; advocated by Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas
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. Biggest law that caused the Civil War.
Republican Party
1854 - anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats, Free Soilers from the North met and formed party in order to keep slavery out of the territories. 1st purely sectional party.
The Caning of Charles Sumner
1856 Senator from Mass. stands up in senate denouncing the acts in Lawrence, Kansas and insults a senator from SC who beats him with a cane (Preston Brooks). Shows deep divisions between North and South.
Dred Scott Decision
Sued for his freedom (end of being a slave) in Federal Court. The U.S. Supreme Court decided he couldn't sue because he was property, not a citizen. South happy. North outraged.
Uncle Tom's Cabin
1852, harriet beecher stowe, antislavery book, widely read- hated by southerners - made northerners more skeptical of slavery
Pottawatomie Creek Massacre
1 of 2 Bleeding Kansas site. In reaction to the sacking of Lawrence by pro-slavery forces, John Brown and a band of abolitionist settlers killed five pro-slavery settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek. Hence Bleeding Kansas.
American Party (Know Nothing Party)
1850s. Against mass immigration of people from Europe especially the Germans and Irish during this period. Favored native born. Anti-Catholic belief. Believe immigrants were taking away jobs
Bleeding Kansas
(1856) a series of violent fights between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in Kansas who had moved to Kansas to try to influence the decision of whether or not Kansas would a slave state or a free state.
Panic of 1857
Just before Civil War, Economic downturn caused by overspeculation of western lands, railroads, gold in California, grain. Mostly affected northerners, who called for higher tariffs and free homesteads. South not affected much.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
1858 Senate Debate, Lincoln forced Douglas to debate issue of slavery, Douglas supported pop-sovereignty, Lincoln asserted that slavery should not spread to territories, Lincoln emerged as strong Republican candidate
Harpers Ferry Raid
John Brown of Kansas attempted to create a major revolt among the slaves by breaking into a federal armory to arm slaves. Raid failed and Brown was captured. Effects: the South saw the act as one of treason and were encouraged to separate from the North, and Brown became a martyr to the northern abolitionist cause.
Election of 1860
Final event before Southern secession. Republican Lincoln wins the election. Lincoln is not on any ballot in the South. S. Carolina 1st to secede 1 month after the election.
Border States
Civil war. The states the slave states that stayed with the Union: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri.
Union
A general term for the United States during the Civil War which also was used to refer to the Northern army.
Confederacy
Another name for the Confederate States of America, made up of the 11 states that seceded from the Union
Conscription Act
Enacted during the Civil War, it subjected all white males between the ages of 18 and 35 to military service. Led to NYC Draft Riots and Division between rich + poor. (Buying Substitutes).
NY City Draft Riots
July 1863. In reaction to the Conscription Act, mostly Irish Americans attacked the wealthy (for buying substitutes) and African Americans.
Copperheads
A group of northern Democrats who opposed abolition and sympathized with the South during the Civil War
Union Party
A coalition party of pro-war Democrats and Republicans formed during the 1864 election to defeat anti-war Northern Democrats
Emancipation Proclamation
(1862) an order issued by President Lincoln freeing the slaves in areas rebelling against the Union; took effect January 1, 1863
13th Amendment
Abolished slavery. First of three "Reconstruction Amendments" passed after Civil War (1865-70)
Battle of Antietam
Sept 1862. Civil War Battle. Results: Draw. Prompted Britain and France to abandon plans to grant recognition to the Confederacy; Provided Lincoln with the victory he needed to announce the Emancipation Proclamation.
Battle of Gettysburg
Turning point of the War in the East that made it clear the North would win. After this, The South lost its chance to invade the North.
Battle of Vicksburg
1863, Turning point in the West. Union gains control of Mississippi, confederacy split in two.
Sherman's March to the Sea
After the burning of Atlanta, a devastating total war military campaign by the North. Marched 300 miles to Savannah destroying property and railroads.
Appomattox Courthouse
April 1865., the Virginia town where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in 1865, ending the Civil War
Radical Republicans
After the Civil War, a group that believed the South should be harshly punished and thought that Lincoln was sometimes too compassionate towards the South. Led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner.
Redeemers
By 1877, white Southerners who were the bitterest opponents of the Republican program in the South. Staged a major counterrevolution to "redeem" the South. Governments waged and aggressive assault on African Americans.
10 percent plan
A plan by Abraham Lincoln that would help restore the South by allowing a southern state to rejoin the union if at least 10% of it's voters swore loyalty to the union and if slavery were abolished. The plan also gave amnesty to some southerners.
sharecropping
Reconstruction Era + beyond. Persisted in the South (especially for African Americans.) They had to give a share of their crops to plantation owners. Way for southerners to get around the 13th amendment.
scalawags
Reconstruction. A derogatory term for Southerners who were working with the North to buy up land from desperate Southerners
carpetbaggers
Reconstruction. A northerner who went to the South immediately after the Civil War; especially one who tried to gain political advantage or other advantages from the disorganized situation in southern states
Freedom's Bureau
Was established in 1865 by Congress to help former black slaves and poor whites in the South in the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War (1861-65). Ended by 1872 as Northerners did not want to pay for the program anymore.
Black Codes
1865-1866. Laws denying most legal rights to newly freed slaves; passed by southern states following the Civil War
14th Amendment
Reconstruction Amendment. 1868. Granted citizenship to all born in the US (aimed at African Americans, overturned Dred Scott), provided equal protection of the laws
15th Amendment
Final Reconstruction Amendment. 1870. Provided suffrage for all adult MALES; divided the Women's Rights Movement
Military Reconstruction Act
1867; divided the South into five districts and placed them under military rule; required Southern States to ratify the 14th amendment; guaranteed freedmen the right to vote in convention to write new state constitutions. Ended with Compromise of 1877.
Ku Klux Klan
A secret society created by white southerners in the 1860s/1870s that terrorized/assaulted/murdered the Freedman in the South during Reconstruction. President Grant sent Federal troops to the South in the 1870s and eliminated the Klan.
Seward's Folly
many criticized William Seward's purchase of Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million dollars, calling it his folly.
Compromise of 1877
Deal that settled the 1876 presidential election contest between Rutherford Hayes (Rep) & Samuel Tilden (Dem.); Hayes was awarded presidency in exchange for the permanent removal of fed. troops from the South--> ended Reconstruction.
New South
1877-1960s. Name used by some Southerners to describe the South after Reconstruction. Saw rise of Jim Crow Laws, lynchings, voter discrimination, and Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
Bayonet Rule
Negative term created by White Southerners during Reconstruction to describe the use of federal troops in the South to protect the Freedman in the 1860s + 1870s. White Southerners hated Bayonet Rule.
Home Rule
1870s - term used by White Southerners during Reconstruction to describe their goal of removing the federal troops so they (White Southerners) can "redeem" their power, essentially removing the power held by the Freedman.
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