Unit 5: Period 5: 1844–1877

Manifest Destiny

The belief (often framed as divinely intended) that the United States was destined to expand across North America, linking nationalism and territorial growth to politics, economics, and race.

Election of 1844

A close presidential election in which expansion became a mainstream political issue; James K. Polk’s victory signaled broad popular support for territorial growth tied to the slavery question.

James K. Polk

Democratic president elected in 1844 who championed expansion (Texas annexation, Oregon claims) and pursued policies such as reducing tariffs and shifting federal funds back to the Treasury.

Annexation of Texas

The U.S. decision to add Texas as a state in 1845, intensifying sectional conflict over slavery and helping trigger war with Mexico.

Rio Grande boundary claim

The U.S. claim that the Rio Grande River was Texas’s southern border; Mexico disputed this, making the boundary dispute a trigger for the Mexican–American War.

Mexican–American War

War declared in 1846 after clashes in the disputed Texas border region; the U.S. victory led to massive territorial gains and intensified conflict over slavery’s expansion.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

Treaty that ended the Mexican–American War; Mexico ceded vast territory to the U.S. (Mexican Cession) and the U.S. paid Mexico (commonly noted as $15 million).

Mexican Cession

Territory transferred from Mexico to the United States in 1848, including present-day California and much of the Southwest, creating a major crisis over whether slavery would expand.

Wilmot Proviso

An 1846 proposal by David Wilmot to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico; it failed to become law but sharply polarized politics along sectional lines.

Free Soil ideology

The belief that western lands should be reserved for free white labor, often to limit slaveholders’ power and prevent competition with enslaved labor rather than to promote racial equality.

Free-Soil Party

A largely single-issue party formed to oppose the expansion of slavery into the territories, drawing energy from debates like the Wilmot Proviso.

Slave Power

A Northern phrase describing the perceived undue political influence of slaveholders over the federal government, reinforced by controversies such as proslavery war aims and limits on antislavery petitions.

Oregon Treaty (1846)

Agreement with Britain that peacefully settled the Oregon boundary, setting it at the 49th parallel (with exceptions) and avoiding war over Oregon.

“54°40′ or Fight”

Expansionist slogan demanding U.S. control of Oregon territory up to latitude 54°40′; Polk ultimately compromised to avoid a second territorial war.

Gadsden Purchase

A later U.S. acquisition (for $10 million) of southern parts of modern Arizona and New Mexico, closely tied to plans for a southern transcontinental railroad.

Popular sovereignty

The idea that residents of a U.S. territory should vote to decide whether to allow slavery; promoted as compromise but often fueled conflict and competition for control.

Compromise of 1850

A package of laws meant to reduce sectional tensions: California admitted free, popular sovereignty in Utah/New Mexico, a stronger Fugitive Slave Act, the slave trade ended in D.C., and Texas boundary/compensation settled.

Fugitive Slave Act (1850)

Law strengthening federal enforcement to capture alleged runaway enslaved people; denied jury trials to the accused, penalized aid to fugitives, and generated intense Northern backlash.

Personal liberty laws

State laws in parts of the North designed to resist or limit enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act, contributing to sectional anger and claims of federal noncompliance.

Underground Railroad

A network of people and routes that helped enslaved people escape to freedom; activity and support increased as resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act grew.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel that shaped Northern public opinion by depicting slavery’s brutality; widely sold and adapted, intensifying the cultural and political conflict over slavery.

Kansas–Nebraska Act (1854)

Stephen Douglas’s law creating Kansas and Nebraska territories under popular sovereignty, effectively reopening the slavery question in areas previously restricted and accelerating sectional polarization.

Missouri Compromise line

The earlier boundary used to limit slavery’s expansion in the Louisiana Territory; the Kansas–Nebraska Act effectively repealed its restriction, outraging many Northerners.

Bleeding Kansas

Violence and political chaos in Kansas as proslavery and antislavery settlers competed to control elections and territorial government under popular sovereignty.

Pottawatomie Creek massacre

A violent 1856 incident during Bleeding Kansas associated with John Brown, symbolizing the escalation of political conflict into organized violence.

John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry

An 1859 raid on a federal arsenal intended to spark an enslaved uprising; it failed, Brown was executed, and the event intensified Southern fears of abolitionist violence.

Republican Party (1850s)

A major party that emerged opposing the expansion of slavery; it sought broad appeal on multiple issues but became the primary antislavery-expansion political force in the North.

Know-Nothing Party (American Party)

A nativist party focused on anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic politics; it ultimately collapsed in part due to internal divisions over slavery.

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

Supreme Court decision holding that people of African descent were not citizens who could sue in federal court and that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories, undermining federal limits and weakening popular sovereignty.

Panic of 1857

An economic downturn that struck parts of the North especially hard at first; some Southerners interpreted it as evidence of the strength of the cotton economy and the South’s ability to survive separately.

House Divided speech

Abraham Lincoln’s 1858 speech arguing the nation could not endure permanently half slave and half free, highlighting the growing incompatibility of sectional systems.

Freeport Doctrine

Stephen Douglas’s claim that territories could effectively exclude slavery by not passing laws needed to support it, despite Dred Scott; it helped him in Illinois but alienated Southern Democrats.

Election of 1860

Presidential election in which Republican Abraham Lincoln won without carrying Southern electoral votes, convincing many white Southerners they faced permanent minority status and accelerating secession.

Democratic Party split (1860)

Division of Democrats into Northern supporters of Stephen Douglas and Southern supporters of John C. Breckinridge, weakening the party and shaping Lincoln’s victory and the secession crisis.

Confederate States of America

A government formed by seceding Southern states after Lincoln’s election, asserting independence from the United States and building a war effort deeply tied to slavery.

Fort Sumter

The site of the April 1861 attack that marked the start of open fighting in the Civil War.

Border States

Slave states that remained in the Union (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware), influencing Union strategy and limiting how quickly federal policy moved toward full emancipation.

Anaconda Plan

Union strategy to blockade Southern ports and control the Mississippi River in order to split the Confederacy and strangle its economy.

Antietam

A 1862 battle that halted Lee’s invasion of the North; it gave Lincoln the opportunity to announce the Emancipation Proclamation and affected foreign perceptions of Union viability.

Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln’s wartime order (effective Jan. 1, 1863) declaring enslaved people free in areas “in rebellion”; it made emancipation a Union war aim, aided Black enlistment, and discouraged foreign recognition of the Confederacy, but did not free slaves in loyal border states.

United States Colored Troops (USCT)

Units of Black soldiers authorized to serve in the Union Army; their service strengthened the Union war effort and became a major argument for citizenship and rights.

Thirteenth Amendment

The 1865 constitutional amendment that abolished slavery nationwide, making emancipation permanent rather than a temporary wartime measure.

Black Codes

Postwar Southern laws designed to restrict African Americans’ freedom and control labor, persuading many Northerners that strong federal intervention was necessary during Reconstruction.

Freedmen’s Bureau

Federal agency (Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands) that provided aid, supported education, and attempted to regulate labor relations; often described as an early major federal social welfare effort.

Fourteenth Amendment

The 1868 amendment establishing birthright citizenship and guaranteeing due process and equal protection, expanding federal responsibility for protecting individual rights against state actions.

Reconstruction Acts (1867)

Laws dividing the South into military districts and requiring new state constitutions and ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment (including Black male suffrage) for readmission to Congress.

Fifteenth Amendment

The 1870 amendment prohibiting denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude, though later practices and court rulings weakened its enforcement.

Sharecropping

A post-slavery labor system in which families worked land owned by someone else in exchange for a share of the crop; often limited freedpeople’s economic independence and could trap families in debt.

Crop-lien system

A credit system in which farmers bought supplies on credit secured by the future crop; high interest and manipulated accounting often produced long-term debt dependency for sharecroppers and tenants.

Compromise of 1877

A political settlement after the contested election of 1876 that resulted in Rutherford B. Hayes becoming president and the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction’s military enforcement.