A Union in Crisis: Expansion, Sectional Conflict, and the Path to the Civil War

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key people, policies, battles, compromises, and sectional crises that divided the United States from Manifest Destiny through the Election of 1860.

Manifest Destiny

The nineteenth-century belief that Americans were destined to expand across the North American continent all the way to the Pacific Ocean, and potentially dominate the entire continent.

Stephen Austin

The American leader granted a large amount of land in modern-day Texas by the Mexican government to establish an American colony following Mexico's independence from Spain.

1829 Mexican Decrees on Texas Settlement

Mexican policies intended for settlers in Texas to ban slavery, convert to Catholicism, and obey Mexican laws, followed by Mexico closing Texas to further American immigration.

Battle of the Alamo

A $13$-day siege in 1836 where General Santa Anna led Mexican troops into Texas and killed approximately $200$ American defenders following Texas's declaration of independence.

Battle of San Jacinto

The decisive 1836 battle won by Sam Houston in which Mexican General Santa Anna was captured and compelled to sign a treaty recognizing Texas' independence.

"54-40 or fight!"

The expansionist campaign slogan used by James K. Polk during the Election of 1844, asserting American claims to the entire disputed Oregon territory.

Oregon Treaty of 1846

A treaty negotiated by President James K. Polk that compromised with Great Britain to settle the boundary of the Oregon territory without going to war.

Disputed Territory (Texas-Mexico Border)

The disputed land between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River into which President Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor's troops, leading to an attack on U.S. forces in April 1846 and the start of the Mexican-American War.

Slidell Mission

A diplomatic initiative ordered by President Polk to purchase California and New Mexico from Mexico for $\$30\text{ million}$, which the Mexican government refused.

Bear Flag Revolt

An 1846 insurrection in California led by John C. Frémont where American settlers proclaimed California an independent republic from Mexico.

"Spot Resolution"

Resolutions introduced in Congress by Abraham Lincoln challenging President Polk to identify the exact spot on American soil where American blood had been shed to justify declaring war against Mexico.

Wilmot Proviso

A proposed amendment asserting that slavery should not be extended into any territory acquired from Mexico; its core principles became central to the Free-Soil Party and later the Republican Party.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The peace treaty ending the Mexican-American War in which Mexico surrendered its claims to Texas, accepted the Rio Grande border, ceded California, New Mexico, and the rest of the Southwest, increasing U.S. territory by $\frac{1}{3}$ while Mexico lost about half its territory.

Free Soil Party

A political party organized under the motto "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, Free Men!" that opposed the expansion of slavery into new territories and favored free homesteads.

Popular Sovereignty

A political principle promoted by Lewis Cass in the Election of 1848 proposing that residents of a territory should vote to determine whether or not to permit slavery.

"Forty-Niners"

The tens of thousands of migrants who rushed to California beginning in 1849 following the discovery of gold.

California Constitution of 1849

A state constitution drafted and ratified by California prohibiting slavery within its borders, which threatened to upset the sectional balance between free and slave states in Congress.

Compromise of 1850

Henry Clay's five-part legislative agreement that admitted California as a free state, organized New Mexico and Utah without federal restrictions on slavery, banned the slave trade in Washington, D.C., instituted a stricter Fugitive Slave Law, and granted Texas \n\$10\text{ million} to give up its claims in New Mexico.

Ostend Manifesto

A secret document describing a plan for the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain to turn it into a slave state, sparking northern fear of an aggressive expansion of slavery.

Gadsden Purchase

An 1853 land agreement in which the United States bought a strip of land from Mexico in the Southwest to facilitate the construction of a southern Transcontinental Railroad route.

Fugitive Slave Act

A stringent component of the Compromise of 1850 requiring authorities to track down runaway enslaved people who escaped to the North and return them to the South, while denying captured African Americans the right to a jury trial.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

An 1852 anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe that evoked deep sympathy for enslaved individuals and widespread moral outrage against slavery across the North.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

An 1854 bill drafted by Stephen A. Douglas that divided the northern Louisiana Territory into Kansas and Nebraska, applied popular sovereignty to both, effectively voided the Missouri Compromise, and triggered the formation of the Republican Party.

Border "Ruffians"

Pro-slavery Missourians who crossed the border into Kansas to vote illegally in territorial elections and force the expansion of slavery into the territory.

Pottawatomie Creek

The site of an 1856 violent raid where abolitionist John Brown and his followers attacked pro-slavery settlers in Kansas as part of the violent conflict known as "Bleeding Kansas".

Lecompton Constitution

A contentious pro-slavery constitution framed in 1857 by Southern sympathizers in Kansas during the territorial civil conflict.

Caning of Charles Sumner

The brutal 1856 assault on the floor of the U.S. Senate in which South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks beat Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner with a cane following an anti-slavery speech, depicted in the cartoon "Southern Chivalry — Argument versus Club's".

Dred Scott v. Sanford

An 1857 landmark Supreme Court decision ruling that African Americans were not citizens and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional, opening all western territories to slavery.

Freeport Doctrine

The principle articulated by Stephen A. Douglas during the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates stating that settlers in a territory could exclude slavery despite the Dred Scott ruling by refusing to pass local laws that protected slave property.

Harper's Ferry Raid

An 1859 raid led by John Brown attempting to seize the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry to initiate a slave insurrection; Brown was captured, convicted of treason, and hanged, becoming a martyr to abolitionists while outraging the South.

Election of 1860

The pivotal presidential election in which Republican Abraham Lincoln won the presidency with $180$ electoral votes against a divided opposition, including Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge ($72$ electoral votes), which immediately prompted Southern states to secede.

Crittenden Plan

A proposed compromise rejected by the Senate consisting of a constitutional amendment to permanently safeguard slavery where it existed and the extension of the Missouri Compromise line west to the California border.