Lead Up to Civil War

James K. Polk

James K. Polk

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

Texan Independence

When Mexico became under dictation of General Antonio de Santa Ana he was determined to enforce laws of his nation. In response the settlers declared their independence... the most famous Texan defeat occurred in 1836 at the Alamo but Texas army surrendered to Santa Ana later getting revenge in the Battle of San Jacinto.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago

Formally ended the war with Mexico. Mexico recognized the Rio Grande boundary and ceded upper California and New Mexico. The US was to pay $15 million plus US claims against Mexico. The conclusion of the war ignited the issue of extending slavery into the territories and set the nation on the road to civil war.

Mexican War

after disputes over Texas lands that were settled by Mexicans the United States declared war on Mexico in 1846 and by treaty in 1848 took Texas and California and Arizona and New Mexico and Nevada and Utah and part of Colorado and paid Mexico $15,000,000

Wilmont Proviso

Bill that would ban slavery in the territories acquired after the War with Mexico

Free Soil Party

Formed in 1847 - 1848, dedicated to opposing slavery in newly acquired territories such as Oregon and ceded Mexican territory.

Fugitive Slave Act

A law that made it a crime to help runaway slaves; allowed for the arrest of escaped slaves in areas where slavery was illegal and required their return to slaveholders

Compromise of 1850

(1) California admitted as free state, (2) territorial status and popular sovereignty of Utah and New Mexico, (3) resolution of Texas-New Mexico boundaries, (4) federal assumption of Texas debt, (5) slave trade abolished in DC, and (6) 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.

James Buchannan

-15th U,S. president, Considered one of the worst Presidents ever. Succeeded by Lincoln, he let the southern states secede without a fight and showed no force against them at all. (They seceded when Lincoln became President Elect)

Dred Scott Decision

A Missouri slave sued for his freedom, claiming that his four year stay in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territory made free land by the Missouri Compromise had made him a free man. The U.S, Supreme Court decided he couldn't sue in federal court because he was property, not a citizen.

Harper's Ferry

John Brown's scheme to invade the South with armed slaves, backed by sponsoring, northern abolitionists; seized the federal arsenal; Brown and remnants were caught by Robert E. Lee and the US Marines; Brown was hanged

Utopian Communities

The Shakers and Oneida Community

Temperance Movement

A social movement against the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Seneca Falls Convention

(1848) the first national women's rights convention at which the Declaration of Sentiments was written

Dorr War

Rhode Island was the only state the had not gotten rid of property requirements to vote; Thomas Dorr elected as RI governor led to him being imprisoned for treason; war demonstrated passions aroused by the continuing exclusion of any group of white men from voting.

American System

Economic program advanced by Henry Clay that included support for a national bank, high tariffs, and internal improvements; emphasized strong role for federal government in the economy.

Tarrifs

Taxes on imported goods

Panic of 1819

Economic panic caused by extensive speculation and a decline of Europena demand for American goods along with mismanagement within the Second Bank of the United States. Often cited as the end of the Era of Good Feelings.

Era of Good Feelings

A name for President Monroe's two terms, a period of strong nationalism, economic growth, and territorial expansion. Since the Federalist party dissolved after the War of 1812, there was only one political party and no partisan conflicts.

Missiouri Compromise

Defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted

Spoils system

A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.

Bank War

Jackson believed the Bank of US had too much power and was too rich. Vetoed the 2nd Bank charter and withdrew gov't money from the US Banks and put it into "pet banks"

Nullification Crisis

A sectional crisis during the presidency of Andrew Jackson created by the Ordinance of Nullification, an attempt by the state of South Carolina to nullify a federal law - the tariff of 1828 - passed by the United States Congress.

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia

(1831) The Cherokees argued that they were a seperate nation and therefore not under Georgia's jurisdiction. Marshall said they were not, but rather had "special status"

McCulloch v. Maryland

Maryland was trying to tax the national bank and Supreme Court ruled that federal law was stronger than the state law

Henry Clay

A northern American politician. He developed the American System as well as negotiated numerous compromises.

Andrew Jackson

The seventh President of the United States (1829-1837), who as a general in the War of 1812 defeated the British at New Orleans (1815). As president he opposed the Bank of America, objected to the right of individual states to nullify disagreeable federal laws, and increased the presidential powers.

underground railroad

a trail slaves secretly followed to escape their masters