APUSH Unit 5 part 1

Manifest Destiny

the 19th-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

Oregon Territory

territory of Oregon, Washington, and portions of what became British Columbia, Canada; land claimed by both U.S. and Britain and held jointly under the Convention of 1818

Steven Austin

A young immigrant from Missouri who established the first legal American settlement in Texas in 1822. He was successful in recruiting immigrants to Texas. (Austin, Texas is named for him)

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

Mexican general who tried to crush the Texas revolt and who lost battles to Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor in the Mexican War (1795-1876)

Sam Houston

United States politician and military leader who fought to gain independence for Texas from Mexico and to make it a part of the United States (1793-1863)

Alamo

a mission and fort in San Antonio, Texas, where Mexican forces massacred rebellious Texans in 1836

John Tyler

elected Vice President and became the 10th President of the United States when Harrison died 1841-1845, President responsible for annexation of Mexico after receiving mandate from Polk, opposed many parts of the Whig program for economic recovery

Webster-Ashburton Treaty

1842 between the US and the Brits, settled boundry disputes in the North West, fixed most borders between US and Canada, talked about slavery and excredition

James K. Polk

president in March 1845. wanted to settle oregon boundary dispute with britain. wanted to aquire California. wanted to incorperate Texas into union.

"Fifty-Four Forty or Fight"

Political slogan of the Democrats in the election of 1844, which claimed fifty-four degrees, forty minutes as the boundary of the Oregon territory claimed by the United States

Great American Desert

The vast arid territory that included the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Western Plateau. Known as this before 1860, they were the lands between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Coast.

Far West

Pacific states that were the focus of Manifest Destiny: California, Oregon, Texas, etc.

Matthew C. Perry

He was the military leader who convinced the Japanese to sign the Kanagawa treaty in 1853 with the U.S. The treaty allowed for a commercial foot in Japan which was helpful with furthering a relationship with Japan.

Nueces River

River that Mexico claimed as the Texas-Mexico boundary, crossed by Taylor's troops in 1846

Rio Grande

Claimed by United States as southern boundary of Texas.

Zachary Taylor

(1849-1850), Whig president who was a Southern slave holder, and war hero (Mexican-American War). Won the 1848 election. Surprisingly did not address the issue of slavery at all on his platform. He died during his term and his Vice President was Millard Fillmore.

Steven Kearney

Who commanded American forces that freed New Mexico from Mexican control

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

(1848) treaty signed by the U.S. and Mexico that officially ended the Mexican-American War; Mexico had to give up much of its northern territory to the U.S (Mexican Cession); in exchange the U.S. gave Mexico $15 million and said that Mexicans living in the lands of the Mexican Cession would be protected

Mexican Cession

historical name for the 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. this massive land grab was significant because the question of extending slavery into newly acquired territories had become the leading national political issue.

Ostend Manifesto

The recommendation that the U.S. offer Spain $20 million for Cuba. It was not carried through in part because the North feared Cuba would become another slave state.

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty

between U.S. and Great Britain agreeing that neither country would try to obtain exclusive rights to canal across Isthmus of Panama; Abrogated by U.S. in 1881

Gadsden Purchase

Agreement w/ Mexico that gave the US parts of present-day New Mexico & Arizona in exchange for $10 million; all but completed the continental expansion envisioned by those who believed in Manifest Destiny.

Free Soil Party

a political party formed in 1848 to oppose the extension of slavery into U.S. territories

Popular Sovereignty

A government in which the people rule by their own consent.

"barnburners"

Antislavery Democrats, whose defection threatened to destroy the the Democratic party.

Compromise of 1850

Includes California admitted as a free state, the Fugitive Slave Act, Made popular sovereignty in most other states from Mexican- American War

Irish Immigrants

Came to the U.S. because of the Irish Potato Famine. Many worked in factories in harsh conditions for little pay

Roman Catholic

Relating to the Christian church of the west that is under the authority of the pope

Tammany Hall

most notorious political machine; NY city; Marcy Tweed also know as Boss Tweed became head in 1863

Germans

In the 1840s and 1850s, because of economic hardship and the failure of democratic revolutions, one million of these people came to the United States. They often established homesteads in the Old Northwest and generally prospered.

nativism

the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants.

railroads

Were essential to westward expansion because they made it easier to travel to and live in the west

Fugitive Slave Law

Passed as part of the Compromise of 1850, it set high penalties for anyone who aided escaped slaves and compelled all law enforcement officers to participate in retrieving runaways. Strengthened the antislavery cause in the North.

Underground Railroad

A system that helped enslaved African Americans follow a network of escape routes out of the South to freedom in the North

Uncle Tom's Cabin

written by harriet beecher stowe in 1853 that highly influenced england's view on the American Deep South and slavery. a novel promoting abolition. intensified sectional conflict.

The Impending Crisis of the South

Antislavery tract, written by white Southerner Hinton R. Helper, arguing that nonslaveholding whites actually suffered most in a slave economy.

Sociology of the South

Written by George Fitzhugh (1854); writings on the benefits of a slave society, and the disadvantages of a "free society" He argued that Slavery protected the disadvantaged, and promoted community and morality.

Stephen Douglas

Senator from Illinois who ran for president against Abraham Lincoln. Wrote the Kansas-Nebreaska Act and the Freeport Doctrine

Kansas-Nebraska Act

a law in 1854 that allowed voters in Kansas and Nebraska to choose whether to allow slavery

New England Emigrant and Company

Organization created to facilitate the migration of free laborers to Kansas in order to prevent the establishment of slavery in the territory.

bleeding Kansas

A sequence of violent events involving abolitionists and pro-Slavery elements that took place in Kansas-Nebraska Territory. The dispute further strained the relations of the North and South, making civil war imminent.

Potawatomie Creek

John Brown and his followers kill 5 pro-slavery individuals as revenge for Lawrence and the caning of Sumner Brown and his followers leave Kansas to avoid a trial

Summer-Brooks Incident

• In 1856 Senator Charles Sumner made an abolitionist speech insulting SC Senator Andrew Butler

• Preston Brooks, Butler's nephew and Congressman from SC, heard Sumner's speech and on the Senate floor beat him into a coma with his cane

• The beating helped to escalate tensions between north and south

Know-Nothing Party

Group of prejudice people who formed a political party during the time when the KKK grew. Anti-Catholics and anti-foreign. They were also known as the American Party.

Republican Party

Political party that believed in the non-expansion of slavery & consisted of Whigs, N. Democrats, & Free-Soilers in defiance to the Slave Powers

Lecompton Constitution

The pro-slavery constitution suggested for Kansas' admission to the union. It was rejected.

House Divided Speech

made by Abraham Lincoln before he was elected stating that the United States will either be all slave or all free because it can't be half and half and still succeed.

Freeport Doctrine

Doctrine developed by Stephen Douglas that said the exclusion of slavery in a territory could be determined by the refusal of the voters to enact any laws that would protect slave property. It was unpopular with Southerners, and thus cost him the election.