Unit 2: Manifest Destiny and the Expansion of Slavery

Louisiana Purchase

1803 land deal where the U.S. bought territory from France, doubling the nation’s size and expanding westward.

Lewis and Clark Journey

1804–1806 expedition sent by Jefferson to explore the Louisiana Territory, map routes, and establish relations with Native tribes.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that Americans were destined by God to expand westward across the continent.

Mexican-American War

1846–1848 conflict between the U.S. and Mexico; ended with U.S. gaining the Southwest through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Missouri Compromise

1820 agreement admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, banning slavery north of 36°30′.

Compromise of 1850

Series of laws admitting California as free, enforcing a stronger Fugitive Slave Act, and allowing popular sovereignty in new territories

Popular sovereignty

The idea that people in a territory should vote to decide whether to allow slavery.

Bleeding Kansas

Violent conflict (1854–1856) between pro- and anti-slavery settlers after Kansas used popular sovereignty to decide on slavery.

Union

The northern states that remained loyal to the U.S. government during the Civil War.

Confederacy

The southern states that seceded from the Union (1861–1865) to preserve slavery and states’ rights.

Fort Sumter

Federal fort in South Carolina where the first shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861.

Emancipation Proclomation

1863 order by Lincoln freeing slaves in Confederate-held areas and redefining the war’s purpose as ending slavery.

Habeas corpus

The legal right protecting people from being held without trial; suspended by Lincoln during the Civil War to control dissent.

Sherman’s March to the Sea

1864 Union campaign led by General Sherman destroying Confederate infrastructure from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia.

Gettysburg Adress

1863 speech by Lincoln honoring fallen soldiers and redefining the Civil War as a struggle for equality and democracy.

Anaconda Plan

Union strategy to blockade southern ports and control the Mississippi River to squeeze and divide the Confederacy.

13th Amendment

1865 amendment that abolished slavery in the United States.

14th Amendment

1868 amendment granting citizenship and equal protection under the law to all people born or naturalized in the U.S.

15th Amendment

1870 amendment guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race, color, or previous servitude.

Radical Republicans

Members of Congress who wanted harsh punishment for the South and strong protections for freed African Americans.

Black Codes

Southern laws passed after the Civil War restricting the freedom and rights of formerly enslaved people.

Ku Klux Klan

White supremacist group founded after the Civil War that used violence and intimidation to suppress Black rights.

Scalawag

Southern white who supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party after the Civil War.

Carpetbagger

Northerner who moved South during Reconstruction, often seeking political or economic opportunities.

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

Offered amnesty to most Southerners and readmission to the Union when 10% swore loyalty; aimed for quick reunification.

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

Similar to Lincoln’s but lenient on the South; allowed ex-Confederates to regain power quickly.

Radical Republican Reconstruction Plan

Imposed military rule on the South and required states to ratify the 14th Amendment before rejoining the Union.

Freedman’s Bureau

Federal agency established in 1865 to aid freed slaves with education, food, jobs, and legal assistance.

Sharecropping

Farming system where freedmen worked land owned by others in exchange for a share of the crop, often leading to debt and poverty.