Period 5

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century doctrine that the expansion of the United States throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

Mexican-American War

The war between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848, stemming from the U.S. annexation of Texas.

Gadsden Purchase

An 1853 agreement in which the U.S. purchased a strip of land from Mexico for $10 million to facilitate a southern transcontinental railroad.

Popular Sovereignty

The principle that the authority of a state and its government is created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives.

Missouri Compromise

An 1820 agreement allowing Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state; established the 36°30′ latitude line.

Compromise of 1850

A series of laws passed in 1850 aimed at settling the conflict between slave and free states.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

The 1854 act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, allowing settlers to determine if they would allow slavery.

Wilmot Proviso

A proposed amendment aiming to prevent the expansion of slavery into territories acquired from Mexico.

Dred Scott Decision

The 1857 Supreme Court ruling declaring that African Americans were not U.S. citizens and thus could not sue in federal court.

Anaconda Plan

The Union's strategic plan during the Civil War to blockade and control the Mississippi River to suffocate the Confederacy.

Emancipation Proclamation

An executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, freeing slaves in the Confederate states.

Reconstruction

The period after the Civil War during which the Southern states were reorganized and reintegrated into the Union.

Black Codes

Laws passed in the South after the Civil War aimed at restricting African Americans' freedom and forcing them into labor.

Sharecropping

A system where farmers, mostly African Americans, would work land owned by another in return for a share of the crops.

Nativism

The policy of promoting the interests of native inhabitants against those of immigrants.

Know Nothing Party

A political party active in the 1850s that was anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic.

Fort Sumter

The location in South Carolina where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.

Gag Rule

A rule that prohibited debate or discussion on a particular issue, especially in Congress regarding anti-slavery petitions.

Secession

The action of withdrawing formally from membership of a federation or body, especially a political state.

Gettysburg Address

A speech by Abraham Lincoln delivering remarks at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg.

13th Amendment

An amendment to the U.S. Constitution that abolished slavery in the United States.

14th Amendment

An amendment granting citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S., including former slaves.

15th Amendment

An amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting the denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Southern Schools Rewrite Textbooks

The practice of altering educational materials to promote Southern viewpoints during and after the Civil War.

Lincoln's Assassination

The murder of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865.

Southern Disadvantages in the Civil War

Factors like lack of industrial resources, financial difficulties, and a blockade that hindered the Southern war effort.

Northern Advantages in the Civil War

Strengths such as a larger population, greater industrial output, and more extensive railroad networks.

Carpetbaggers

Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War, often perceived as exploiting the local population.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States.

Social Darwinism

The belief that the same laws of natural selection that apply to biological evolution also apply to societies and economies.

Brooks and Sumner Incident

A violent confrontation in Congress in 1856 where Congressman Preston Brooks attacked Senator Charles Sumner with a cane.