Key Events and Concepts in American History (1840s-1870s)

These flashcards cover significant events and concepts in American history from the 1840s to the 1870s, ranging from territorial expansion to the Civil War and Reconstruction.

What was the doctrine that justified American territorial expansion in the 19th century?

Manifest Destiny

What conflict occurred in 1836 for Texas' independence from Mexico?

Texas Revolution

What treaty, signed in 1846, resolved boundary disputes between the U.S. and Britain over Oregon territory?

Oregon Treaty

Which war took place between 1846 and 1848 that resulted in significant land gains for the United States?

Mexican-American War

What treaty ended the Mexican-American War in 1848?

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

What political party opposed the expansion of slavery and existed from 1848 to 1854?

Free Soil Party

What legislative package, passed in 1850, attempted to address the status of territories acquired from Mexico?

Compromise of 1850

What law mandated the return of runaway slaves to their owners in 1850?

Fugitive Slave Law

What was the secret network that helped enslaved people escape to freedom from the 1790s to the 1860s?

Underground Railroad

What act, passed in 1854, allowed settlers in Kansas and Nebraska to determine if they would allow slavery?

Kansas-Nebraska Act

What political party was founded in 1854 to oppose the expansion of slavery?

Republican Party

What term refers to the violence between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in Kansas from 1854 to 1859?

Bleeding Kansas

What Supreme Court case in 1857 ruled that African Americans could not be American citizens?

Dred Scott v. Sandford

What raid did John Brown lead in 1859, aiming to incite a slave uprising?

Harpers Ferry

What event marked the start of the Civil War in 1861?

Fort Sumter

What presidential proclamation in 1863 declared the freedom of slaves in Confederate states?

Emancipation Proclamation

What amendment, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery in the United States?

Thirteenth Amendment

What military campaign led by General Sherman took place during the Civil War in 1864?

Sherman’s March

What agency was established in 1865 to aid freed slaves after the Civil War?

Freedmen’s Bureau

What restrictive laws were passed in the South during 1865-1866 to control the newly freed African Americans?

Black codes

What amendment, passed in 1869, granted citizenship and equal protection under the law?

Fourteenth Amendment

What legislation, enacted in 1867, laid out the process for Reconstruction in the South?

Reconstruction Acts of 1867

What amendment, ratified in 1870, granted African American men the right to vote?

Fifteenth Amendment

What agricultural system emerged in the post-Civil War South, where landowners rented land to farmers?

Sharecropping

What terrorist organization, active from 1865 to 1872, aimed to oppose Reconstruction efforts?

Ku Klux Klan

What compromise in 1877 resolved the contested 1876 presidential election and ended Reconstruction?

Compromise of 1877

What proposal aimed to ban slavery in territories acquired from Mexico in 1846?

Wilmot Proviso

What land acquisition in 1854 facilitated the construction of a southern transcontinental railroad?

Gadsden Purchase

What famous speech by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 emphasized the principles of human equality?

Gettysburg Address