Unit 5: The Civil War Era (1846-1877)

Americans move to Mexico

many Americans immigrated to Texas to find new land to farm; brought enslaved people with plans to expand the cotton industry; conflict arose because they were not Catholic and slavery was illegal

Texas Revolution

when the Mexican government began to enforce its laws in Texas more strictly, Americans in Texas rebelled and fought to become an independent country

Battle of the Alamo

he pivotal battle that took place there in 1836 during the Texas Revolution; became a symbol of resistance when the United States won; “Remember the Alamo!”

Republic of Texas

an independent nation that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, after Texan settlers declared independence from Mexico

Texas Annexation

the Republic of Texas under Sam Houston asked the United States to annex Texas and make it part of the United States; they refuse request for eight years to not upset balance of slave and free states and Mexico; John Tyler eventually annexed

tensions between Mexico and the United States

United States asked to buy California and New Mexico, Mexico refuses; United States says Texas’ border should be on the Rio Grande River, Mexico says Nueces River; both armies move into disputed areas between rivers

Mexican-American War

the 1846-1848 conflict between the United States and Mexico, primarily over territorial disputes following the U.S. annexation of Texas

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

ended the Mexican-American War and resulted in the United States acquiring a vast amount of territory from Mexico for $15 million and recognized the Rio Grande River as the boundary between the United States and Mexico

Mexican Cession

the vast territory in the modern-day Western United States that Mexico ceded to the United States after the Mexican-American War in 1848, specifically through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; modern-day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico

Gadsden Purchase

a deal where the United States bought land from Mexico, specifically a strip of territory in southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, for $10 million in 1853

California Land Act

required all owners of land in California (most Mexican) to prove they owned their land, which required lawyers, court hearings, and translators; took average of seventeen years to resolve; Americans would move onto their land and disregard their property rights

Oregon Territory

the United States negotiation with Britain over this territory, both countries had claimed; United States will keep southern half

California Gold Rush

craze for gold in the west; population exploded and cities grew; miners from all the world

foreign miners taxes

a discriminatory tax levied on non-native-born miners, primarily targeting Mexican and Chinese miners; charged money for mining

Pacific Railway Act

funneled millions of government dollars into building the Transcontinental Railroad

Leland Stanford

one of the Big Four financial backers of the Central Pacific Railroad; ex-governor of California; founded university

Chinese immigration in the mid-1800s

fleeing Opium War and sought economic opportunities in the United States; mostly men; many worked on the Transcontinental Railroad or were gold miners; faced significant discrimination

Transcontinental Railroad

the first rail line to connect the eastern rail lines with the Pacific coast, specifically from Omaha, Nebraska, to San Francisco, California

The Homestead Act

United States government gave away 270 million acres of land to any citizen willing to settle on the land for at least five years, “improve” it through farming, and pay some fees; 1.5 million families benefit, mostly white because you had to be a citizen

Free-Soilers

mostly poor and middle class white farmers from the North who were moving to the West; did not really care about slavery in the South but did not want it to spread to the West because they did not want to compete with slave labor; formed a party

gradual abolitionists

believed that slavery should slowly be eliminated as to avoid “turmoil”, ruin the economy, harm slavery owners, and even enslaved people

immediate abolitionists

demanded immediate emancipation for all enslaved people

Compromise of 1850

California would be a free state; the rest of the Mexican cession will be divided into two territories that would use popular sovereignty to vote on being free or slave; bans slave trade in D.C.; passed a new fugitive slave law

fugitive slave laws

allowed Southern slaveholders to go into the north to hunt down and recapture enslaved people who ran away, and gave government officials the ability to issue warrants to arrest people who ran away; free black people captured had no right to trial by jury

popular sovereignty

the political principle that governments derive their authority from the consent of the people

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

the 1852 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, which powerfully depicted the horrors of slavery and significantly fueled the abolitionist movement

Kansas-Nebraska Act

the people of Kansas and Nebraska can use popular sovereignty to decide if those states will be slave or free when they join the union; contradicts the Missouri Compromise

Bleeding Kansas

pro and anti-slavery groups living in Kansas and Nebraska were so angry at each other that frequent violence broke out between groups; both groups rushed to get more people on their side to move so when the people voted, the territory would turn in their favor

Brooks-Sumner Affair

Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane in the Senate chamber when he began talking about his anti-slavery views; almost killed him

Gag Rule

banned any discussion of slavery in the House of Representatives

Know-Nothings Party

anti-immigration party

Democrat Party

often pro-slavery, often in the South

Republican Party

composed of a group of Free-Soilers, Whigs, and Antislavery Democrats, also firmly against the spread of slavery into the West; only had support in the North; abolitionist party

Dred Scott Decision

an enslaved person who had been taken to the North and then brought back to the South, went to court to sue for his freedom; Supreme Court said Scott must stay enslaved and that all territories must allow slavery

John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry

critic of slavery; he and eighteen men raided an arsenal at Harper’s Ferry to distribute weapons to enslaved people; plan failed and he and his men were killed

Election of 1860

Republican Abraham Lincoln considered by Southerners to be an anti-slavery radical wins, which angers Southerners

secession of the South

the formal withdrawal of Southern states from the United States before the Civil War, motivated by concerns about states' rights, the institution of slavery, and disagreements over tariffs

firing on Fort Sumter

the Confederate attack on the Union fort in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861, which marked the start of the Civil War

mobilization of economies

both the Northern and Souther economies go into overdrive to prepare for war: factories start producing war-related supplies, men are drafted into armies, women join as nurses; North has an advantage because they have more factories and people, along with better transportation

The Confederacy

he Confederate States of America, a government formed by eleven southern states that seceded from the Union (the United States of America) in 1860-1861 due to disagreements over slavery and states' rights

Battle of Antietam

a major battle of the American Civil War; single bloodiest day in American military history; crucial turning point with bloody tie

Battle of Gettysburg

a pivotal military engagement during the American Civil War, marking a turning point in the conflict; Union stops the Southern army from advancing further into the North

Gettysburg Address

a short but powerful speech delivered by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, following the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War

“Preserving the Union”

at the start of the war, Lincoln claimed the war was no against slavery; wanted to ally with border states; claimed they were going to war because it was unconstitutional for the South to leave the United States and form a new country

border states

the slave states fighting with the Union

“States’ Rights”

how the South falsely claimed that it was not fighting to preserve slavery; claimed it was about states’ rights because they wanted to create their own laws; so states could keep slavery laws

Emancipation Proclamation

an executive order issued by Lincoln that freed all enslaved people in states rebelling against the United States; did not apply to border states; allowed for black troops to fight in the Union Army

Battle of Vicksburg

Union victory; 200,000 enslaved people escaped plantations and joined the Union army, which helped

Sherman’s March to the Sea

the 285-mile march of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's troops through Georgia; hurt the Confederate war effort by destroying infrastructure, supplies, and morale

Appomattox Court House

the location in Virginia where Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant; ended the Civil War

Lincoln’s assassination

President Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre; part of a larger conspiracy in an effort to rally the remaining Confederate troops after the war ended

Civil War consequences

financial: war cost $15 billion, North had borrow $2.6 billion to help pay for the war; billions of dollars worth of property destroyed, especially in the South; 620,000 deaths (2% of population)

acceleration of the industrial revolution in the North

need for war-related good pushed factories to produce more and more; government tariffs protected American manufactureres

women’s rights advancements post-war

nursing profession was now open to women for the first time; women took factory and farm jobs when men went to war; women’s rights movement re-emerged

13th Amendment

banned slavery besides as a punishment for crime

Radical Republicans

a faction within the Republican Party during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, known for their strong opposition to slavery and their commitment to ensuring civil rights for African Americans

Reconstruction

an era in which Northern troops occupied the South to rebuild the region and ensure that the rights of the formerly enslaved are protected; Radical Republican leaders in Congress pass laws to protect them

14th Amendment

establishes that all people born in the United States are citizens and have the “equal protection of the laws”

15th Amendment

established the right to vote for men of color

election of Black Representatives

when black men were given the right to vote, many black representatives were voted in

Hiram Revels

the first black person elected to Congress

Freedmen’s Bureau

created to help formerly enslaved people and Southern black and white refugees with food, housing, education, jobs, and basic medical care as the South rebuilt after the war; starved of funding but built public schools and colleges for black students; shut down by Andrew Johnson

“40 Acres and a Mule"

General Sherman promised a group of black leaders in Savannah that freed slaves would be given this

sharecropping

newly free black people had little to no money and nowhere to go and former slave owners wanted someone to work for them; they would farm a piece of the plantation owners’ land in exchange for the landowner’s receiving percentage of the crops grown

debt peonage

sharecroppers needed money for seeds, tools, etc.; had to take out loans from the plantation owner and go into debt; difficult to pay plantation owners back and could not leave

Black Codes

discriminatory state laws enacted in the Southern states after the Civil War, aiming to limit the freedom and economic opportunities of formerly enslaved people

convict lease systems

slavery was legal in prison; Black southerners often targeted by racist police forces, and prisons began renting out prisoners to work as slaves for American companies

Andrew Johnson

Lincoln’s vice president; Southern Democrat and white supremacist; pardoned many former Confederate leaders, vetoed a bill to expand Freedman’s Bureau, and stopped efforts to outlaw Black Codes

Ku Klux Klan

a white supremacist hate group founded in the aftermath of the Civil War that has a history of promoting racism

Credit Mobilier Scandal

a construction company that helped build the Transcontinental Railroad gave shares of stock to members of Congress in exchange for their promise not to investigate fraud

Whiskey Ring Scandal

federal tax collectors collaborate with liquor producers to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes

Election of 1876

results in dispute; special election commission voted to give Rutherford B. Hayes the victory; Democrats called it rigged and threatened to contest the results unless Republicans agree to end Reconstruction

Compromise of 1877

Democrats agree to allow Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency; Republicans end Reconstruction once Hayes takes office and the South enters the Jim Crow Era

Jim Crow Era

the state and local laws in the Southern United States enacted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation and disenfranchisement of African Americans