APUSH Period 5A

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century belief that the expansion of the United States across the American continents was both justified and inevitable, often used to rationalize territorial acquisitions.

Sam Houston

An influential leader in the Texas Revolution, he served as the first president of the Republic of Texas and played a crucial role in its independence from Mexico.

The Alamo

A pivotal event and location during the Texas Revolution, where a small group of Texan defenders held out against Mexican forces in 1836, becoming a symbol of resistance.

The Election of 1844

A significant presidential election where James K. Polk defeated Henry Clay, promoting westward expansion and Manifest Destiny as central issues.

James K. Polk

The 11th president of the United States, he led the country during its territorial expansion, including the annexation of Texas and the Oregon Territory, and was a strong advocate for the Mexican-American War.

“Fifty-four Forty or Fight!”

A slogan used during the 1844 presidential campaign of James K Polk advocating for U.S. control of the entire Oregon Territory up to latitude 54°40'. It reflected the expansionist sentiment of the time.

General Zachary Taylor

A general in the U.S. Army and the 12th president, he gained fame for his victories in the Mexican-American War before serving one year in office before his death. 

John C. Frémont

A United States Army officer, explorer, and politician. He was a United States senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the U.S. in 1856 and the founder of the California Republican Party when he was nominated.

Mexican Cession/Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Signed on February 2, 1848. Ended the Mexican-American War and resulted in the Mexican Cession, where Mexico ceded approximately 525,000 square miles of territory to the United States.

Wilmot Provisio

An 1846 proposal to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico after the Mexican-American War. It was passed by the house but then shortly defeated by the senate.

Ostend Manifesto

A controversial 1854 document in which U.S. diplomats proposed that America purchase Cuba from Spain, and if Spain refused, the U.S. would be "justified in wresting" it from them. The manifesto, drafted by Pierre Soulé and other ministers, aimed to expand U.S. slave territory and was intended to distract from the growing sectional tensions over slavery, but the plan was rejected after the document became public and was widely condemned, especially by abolitionists in the North. 

Gadsden Purchase

A 29,640-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States acquired from Mexico by the Treaty of Mesilla, which took effect on June 8, 1854.

Free Soil Movement

A political party in the United States from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was focused on opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories of the United States

popular sovereignty

The principle that the authority of a government is created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political power.

Compromise of 1850

A series of five separate bills passed by the U.S. Congress in September 1850 that sought to resolve disputes over slavery in new territories acquired after the Mexican-American War and to avert a national crisis. The compromise was brokered by Senator Henry Clay and steered through Congress by Senator Stephen A. Douglas.

nativists/nativism

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

“Know-Nothing” Party

A 19th-century political party, officially called the American Party, that was prominent in the 1850s and known for its nativist, anti-immigrant, and anti-Catholic platform.

The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

A law passed as part of the Compromise of 1850 that required free states to return escaped slaves to their owners, even if they made it to a free state.

Underground Railroad

A network of secret routes and safe houses that helped enslaved African Americans escape to freedom in the northern United States and Canada.

Harriet Tubman

An American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, she made some 19 missions to rescue approximately 300 enslaved people, including her family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known collectively as the Underground Railroad.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

An American author and abolitionist. She came from a religious family and wrote the popular novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

An anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S., and is said to have "helped lay the groundwork for the American Civil War".

Impending Crisis of the South

An 1857 book by the American abolitionist and white supremacist Hinton Rowan Helper, who declared himself a proud Southerner. It was written mostly in Baltimore, but it would have been illegal to publish it there, as he pointed out.

“positive good” argument

An arguement that was a pro-slavery ideology, most notably championed by John C. Calhoun, that argued slavery was beneficial to both the enslaved and society

George Fitzhugh

An American social theorist who published racial and slavery-based social theories in the pre-Civil War era. He argued that the negro was "but a grown up child" needing the economic and social protections of slavery.