APUSH Spring Vocab Test

Great American Desert

arid, treeless, and semi-arid Great Plains region of North America, specifically the area east of the Rocky Mountains and west of the 100th meridian, that was initially perceived as unsuitable for agriculture and settlement.

Silver Rush

The discovery of silver in Colorado, Nevada, the Black Hills of the Dakotas, and other western territories, created a mining boom.

Stephen Austin

known as the Father of Texas, led the second and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States.

Santa Anna

Mexican dictator who was in charge when war broke out between the Mexicans and Americans. He lost Texas to rebels, and was the leader of the armed forces during the war.

Sam Houston

Commander of the Texas army at the battle of San Jacinto; later elected president of the Republic of Texas

Alamo

A Spanish mission converted into a fort, it was besieged by Mexican troops in 1836. The Texas garrison held out for thirteen days, but in the final battle, all of the Texans were killed by the larger Mexican force.

Aroostook War

bloodless conflict over the disputed boundary between the U.S. state of Maine and the British Canadian province of New Brunswick.

Webster-Ashburton Treaty

treaty between the U.S. and Great Britain establishing the northeastern boundary of the U.S. and providing for Anglo-U.S. cooperation in the suppression of the slave trade. The treaty established the present boundary between Maine and New Brunswick, granted the U.S. navigation rights on the St. John River

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

(1848) treaty signed by the U.S. and Mexico that officially ended the Mexican-American War; Mexico had to give up much of its northern territory to the U.S (Mexican Cession); in exchange the U.S. gave Mexico $15 million and said that Mexicans living in the lands of the Mexican Cession would be protected

Commodore Matthew C Perry

commanded a fleet of warships sent to Japan. In a judicious display of force and tact, he persuaded the Japanese in 1854 to sign a treaty opening the door to trade, beginning an epochal relationship between Japan and the Western world.

John Tyler

Was the 10th president of the United States (1841-45), who took office upon the death of Pres. William Henry Harrison.

54 Forty or Fight

a popular slogan during the 1844 US presidential election, referring to the expansionist desire to claim the entire Oregon Territory up to the 54th parallel or fight Great Britain for it.

James K Polk

was the 11th president of the United States (1845-49). Under his leadership, the United States fought the Mexican War (1846-48) and acquired vast territories along the Pacific coast and in the Southwest.

Wilmot Proviso

1846 proposal that outlawed slavery in any territory gained from the War with Mexico

Franklin Pierce

was the 14th president of the United States (1853-57). He failed to deal effectively with the corroding sectional controversy over slavery in the decade preceding the American Civil War

Mexican American War

fought from 1846 to 1848 between the United States and Mexico. The war was caused by a dispute over Texas's annexation by the United States. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.

Zachary Taylor

(1849-1850), Whig president who was a Southern slave holder, and war hero (Mexican-American War). Won the 1848 election. Surprisingly did not address the issue of slavery at all on his platform. He died during his term and his Vice President was Millard Fillmore.

Bear Flag Republic

Declaring independence from Mexican control, this republic was declared in 1846 by American settlers living in California; this political act was part of a larger American political and military strategy to wrest Texas and California from Mexico.

Mexican Cession

1848. Awarded as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo after the Mexican American War. U.S. paid $15 million for 525,000 square miles.

Gadsden Purchase

the United States paid Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile area in present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, primarily to facilitate the construction of a southern transcontinental railroad.

Kanagawa Treaty

An 1854 agreement - the first between the United States and Japan - it opened two Japanese ports to American commerce, protected shipwrecked American sailors, and ended Japan's 200 years of isolation

Free Soil Movement

A political movement that opposed the expansion of slavery, which depicted slavery as a threat to republicanism and to the Jeffersonian ideal of a freeholder society, arguments that won broad support among aspiring white farmers.

Conscience Whigs

Northern Whigs who opposed slavery on moral grounds. They sought to prevent the annexation of Texas as a slave state, fearing that the new slave territory would only serve to buttress the Southern "slave power."

Hunker Democrats

supported annexation of Texas and were pro-slavery

barnburners

Antislavery Democrats, whose defection threatened to destroy the the Democratic party.

Bleeding Kansas

A sequence of violent events involving abolitionists and pro-Slavery elements that took place in Kansas-Nebraska Territory. The dispute further strained the relations of the North and South, making civil war imminent.

Lecompton Constitution

supported the existence of slavery in the proposed state and protected rights of slaveholders. It was rejected by Kansas, making Kansas an eventual free state.

Lewis Cass and popular sovereignty

a war veteran, diplomat, and US senator

ran as the Democratic candidate in the 1848 election, losing to Zachary Taylor

best known as the father of "popular sovereignty"

the notion that the sovereign people of a territory should themselves decide the issue of slavery

Compromise of 1850

a package of five laws passed to address the issue of slavery in newly acquired territories from the Mexican-American War, including California's admission as a free state, the Fugitive Slave Act, and the establishment of territorial governments in Utah and New Mexico

Stephen A Douglas

A moderate, who introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 and popularized the idea of popular sovereignty.

Millard Fillmore

was the 13th president of the United States (1850-53), whose insistence on federal enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 alienated the North and led to the destruction of the Whig Party.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

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.

Crittenden Compromise

A last-ditch effort to resolve the secession crisis by compromise. It proposed to bar the government from intervening in the states' decision of slavery, to restore the Missouri Compromise, and to guarantee protection of slavery below the line. Lincoln rejected the proposal

Know-Nothing Party

Group of prejudice people who formed a political party during the time when the KKK grew. Anti-Catholics and anti-foreign. They were also known as the American Party. Opposed immigration

James Buchanan

The 15th President of the United States (1857-1861). He tried to maintain a balance between proslavery and antislavery factions, but his moderate views angered radicals in both North and South, and he was unable to forestall the secession of South Carolina on December 20, 1860.

Fugitive Slave Law

this law required that northern states forcibly returned escaped slaves to their owners.

Dred Scott v. Sanford

Supreme Court case that decided US Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in federal territories and slaves, as private property, could not be taken away without due process - basically slaves would remain slaves in non-slave states and slaves could not sue because they were not citizens

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas over the issue of slavery

Sumner-Brooks Incident

Sumner was an MA senator and unyielding foe of slavery. He was physically attacked by Senator Brooks of SC in retaliation for a two-day speech made denouncing the proslavery Missourians who had crossed into Kansas and Brook's pro-slavery uncle who supported the Missourians- showed the split of the government

John Brown and Harpers Ferry

He wanted to start a slave rebellion that swept through the South. In 1859 he, 13 whites and 5 blacks took over the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. he was caught and hanged. The North thought of him as Jesus-like. The South thought of him as the devil. This further separated the North and the South.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

a novel published by harriet beecher stowe in 1852 which portrayed slavery as brutal and immoral

Sociology of the South

Written by George Fitzhugh (1854); writings on the benefits of a slave society, and the disadvantages of a "free society" He argued that Slavery protected the disadvantaged, and promoted community and morality.

Border States

States bordering the North: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri. They were slave states, but did not secede.

Confederate States of America

Eventually made up of 11 former states that seceded; Jefferson Davis was the 1st & only president; unable to defeat the North b/c of lack of railroad lines, lack of industry, & inability to get European nations to support their cause.

Jefferson Davis

An American statesman and politician who served as President of the Confederate States of America for its entire history from 1861 to 1865

Second American Revolution

Civil War transformed American into a complex modern industrial society of capital, technology, national organizations, and large corporations; Republicans able to stimulate the industrial and commercial growth of US

Morrill Land Grant Act

passed by Congress in 1862, this law distributed millions of acres of western lands to state governments in order to fund state agricultural colleges.

Homestead Act

Passed in 1862, it gave 160 acres of public land to any settler who would farm the land for five years. The settler would only have to pay a registration fee of $25. Encouraged western migration

Fort Sumter

Federal fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina; the confederate attack on the fort marked the start of the Civil War

Bull Run/Manassas

first major battle of the civil war that happened outside of Washington; people went with picnic baskets to watch the South come out victorious against the North; frenzied retreat proved the war would be longer than everyone thought

Winfield Scott's Anaconda Plan

naval blockade of the South's coastline; taking control of the Mississippi River; capturing Richmond, Virginia

Robert E Lee

Commander of the Confederate Army

Antietam

the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with almost 23,000 casualties. After this "win" for the North, Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation

Ulysses S. Grant

an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States (1869-1877). He achieved international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil War.

Gettysburg

1863 (meade and lee), July 1-3, 1863, turning point in war, Union victory, most deadly battle

Appomattox Court House

Famous as the site of the surrender of the Confederate Army under Robert E. Lee to Union commander Ulysses S. Grant

Emancipation Proclamation

Issued by abraham lincoln on september 22, 1862 it declared that all slaves in the confederate states would be free

Reconstruction Acts

1867 - Pushed through congress over Johnson's veto, it gave radical Republicans complete military control over the South and divided the South into five military zones, each headed by a general with absolute power over his district.

54th Massachusetts Regiment

First African American Regimen, successfully defended Fort Wagner

Copperheads

A group of northern Democrats who opposed abolition and sympathized with the South during the Civil War

Laird Rams

(1863) Two well-armed ironclad warships constructed for the Confederacy by a British firm. Seeking to avoid war with the United States, the British government purchased the two ships for its Royal Navy instead.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

law that banned discrimination in public facilities and transportation

Civil Rights Cases of 1883

Name attached to five cases brought under the Civil Rights Act of 1875. In 1883, the Supreme Court decided that discrimination in a variety of public accommodations, including theaters, hotels, and railroads, could not be prohibited by the act because such discrimination was private discrimination and not state discrimination.

Jay Gould and Credit Mobilier

was an American railroad executive, financier, and speculator. He was an important railroad developer who was one of the most unscrupulous "robber barons" of 19th-century American capitalism.

Jay Gould vs. Cornelius Vanderbilt

prominent figures in the Gilded Age known for their involvement in the railroad industry, and their rivalry, particularly over control of the Erie Railroad

Boss Tweed

head of Tammany Hall, NYC's powerful democratic political machine in 1868. Between 1868 and 1869 he led the Tweed Reign, a group of corrupt politicians in defrauding the city.

Thomas Nast

A famous caricaturist and editorial cartoonist in the 19th century and is considered to be the father of American political cartooning. His artwork was primarily based on political corruption. He helped people realize the corruption of some politicians

Panic of 1873

a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America, began in 1873 and lasted until 1877 or 1879. It was triggered by railroad overexpansion and financial speculation, leading to widespread bank failures and a prolonged economic downturn

Rutherford B. Hayes

19th president of the united states, was famous for the most corrupt election in US history. brought post-Civil War Reconstruction to an end in the South

Compromise of 1877

Deal that settled the 1876 presidential election contest between Rutherford Hayes (Rep) & Samuel Tilden (Dem.); Hayes was awarded presidency in exchange for the permanent removal of fed. troops from the South--> ended Reconstruction

Lincoln's 10% Plan

states could return to the union after 10% had signed allegiance to the U.S. following the state to select a state government and write a new constitution (must include end to slavery)

Radical Republicans

After the Civil War, a group that believed the South should be harshly punished and thought that Lincoln was sometimes too compassionate towards the South.

Wade-Davis Bill

stricter alternative to President Lincoln's "Ten Percent Plan" that required a majority of voters in former Confederate states to take an oath of allegiance to the Union before being readmitted, a requirement Lincoln ultimately rejected through a pocket veto.

Freedman's Bureau

A federal agency set up to help former slaves after the Civil War

Black Codes

Southern laws designed to restrict the rights of the newly freed black slaves

Tenure of Office Act

Required the president to seek approval from the Senate before removing appointees.

Carpetbaggers

A northerner who went to the South immediately after the Civil War; especially one who tried to gain political advantage or other advantages from the disorganized situation in southern states

Scalawags

A derogatory term for white Southerners who supported Reconstruction following the Civil War.

Hiram Revels

The first African American to serve in the U.S. Congress.

Sharecropping

A system used on southern farms after the Civil War in which farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a small portion of the crops.

Force Acts

the government banned the use of terror, force or bribery to prevent someone from voting because of their race. Other laws banned the KKK entirely and brought forth military help to enforce these laws. intended to enforce the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and protect the rights of African Americans, particularly their right to vote.

Amnesty Act of 1872

gave forgiveness to former Confederates and Whites in the South and allowed them to vote again

Cornelius Vanderbilt

United States financier who accumulated great wealth from railroad and shipping businesses (1794-1877)

Transcontinental Railroad

Railroad connecting the west and east coasts of the continental US

Jay Gould and Watering Stock

Entered railroad business for quick profits. He would sell off assets inflate the value of a corporation's assets and profits before selling its stock to the public. (p. 321)

Rebates

Developed in the 1880s, a practice by which railroads would give money back to its favored customers, rather than charging them lower prices, so that it could appear to be charging a flat rate for everyone.

Pools

secret agreements, often between companies, to fix rates and share profits, particularly in the railroad industry during the Gilded Age

Andrew Carnegie

A Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892. By 1901, his company dominated the American steel industry.

Vertical Integration

Practice where a single entity controls the entire process of a product, from the raw materials to distribution

J.D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil

organized the Standard Oil Company of Ohio in 1870, attempting to eliminate the middlemen and knock out his competitors; By 1877, he controlled 95% of all the oil refineries in the nation; Rockefeller grew to such a great power by eliminating his competitors

Horizontal Integration

Type of monopoly where a company buys out all of its competition. Ex. Rockefeller

interlocking directorates

The practice of having executives or directors from one company serve on the Board of Directors of another company. J. P. Morgan introduced this practice to eliminate banking competition in the 1890s.

JP Morgan and the Panic of 1893

Serious economic depression beginning in 1893. Began due to rail road companies over-extending themselves, causing bank failures. Was the worst economic collapse in the history of the country until that point, and, some say, as bad as the Great Depression of the 1930s. J.P. Morgan & Co. led a bond offering that helped rescue the United States from a severe two-year economic depression

Sherman Silver Purchase Act

required the US government to purchase a specific amount of silver bullion each month, aiming to increase the money supply and address concerns from farmers and miners, but ultimately contributed to the Panic of 1893 and was repealed in 1893.

Bessemer Process

A way to manufacture steel quickly and cheaply by blasting hot air through melted iron to quickly remove impurities.

Alexander Graham Bell

Invented the telephone

Thomas Alva Edison and Menlo Park

built his famous laboratory in Menlo Park, where he invented the phonograph and electric light

Interstate Commerce Act

Established the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) - monitors the business operation of carriers transporting goods and people between states - created to regulate railroad prices

Interstate Commerce Commission

Former independent agency of the U.S. government, established in 1887; it was charged with regulating the economics and services of specified carriers engaged in transportation between states. Surface transportation under the it's jurisdiction included railroads, trucking companies, bus lines, freight forwarders, water carriers, oil pipelines, transportation brokers, and express agencies. After his election in 1904, Theodore Roosevelt demonstrated support of progressive reforms by strengthening this.

Sherman Antitrust Act

an 1890 law that banned the formation of trusts and monopolies in the United States. prohibits activities that restrict interstate commerce and competition in the marketplace