AMSCO APUSH Period 5

Manifest Destiny

1800s belief that Americans had the right to spread across the continent.

Great American Desert

The vast arid territory that included the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Western Plateau. Known as this before 1860, they were the lands between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Coast.

John Tyler

elected Vice President and became the 10th President of the United States when Harrison died 1841-1845, President responsible for annexation of Mexico after receiving mandate from Polk, opposed many parts of the Whig program for economic recovery

Oregon Territory

territory of Oregon, Washington, and portions of what became British Columbia, Canada; land claimed by both U.S. and Britain and held jointly under the Convention of 1818

"Fifty-Four Forty or Fight"

Political slogan of the Democrats in the election of 1844, which claimed fifty-four degrees, forty minutes as the boundary of the Oregon territory claimed by the United States

James K. Polk

11th president in March 1845. wanted to settle the Oregon boundary dispute with britain. wanted to acquire California. wanted to incorporate Texas into the union.

Stephen Austin

Original settler of Texas, granted land from Mexico on condition of no slaves, convert to Roman Catholic, and learn Spanish

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

Mexican president/general who tried to crush the Texas revolt and who lost battles to Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor in the Mexican War (1795-1876)

Sam Houston

United States politician and military leader who fought to gain independence for Texas from Mexico and to make it a part of the United States. Elected as first president of the Republic of Texas. (1793-1863)

The Alamo (1836)

A fortress in Texas where 400 American volunteers were slain by Santa Anna. It is considered the most important battle in Texas' fight for independence. It is a symbol of American freedom and bravery under fire.

Webster-Ashburton Treaty

1842 - Established Maine's northern border and the boundaries of the Great Lake states.

Matthew C. Perry (1794-1858)

American Naval officer sent by to negotiate a trade deal with Japan. Backed by an impressive naval fleet of warships, Perry showered Japanese negotiators with lavish gifts. He negotiated a treaty, ending Japan's two centuries of isolation.

Mexican-American War

(1846-1848) The war between the United States and Mexico in which the United States acquired one half of the Mexican territory.

Rio Grande

River claimed by United States as southern boundary of Texas.

Zachary Taylor

(1849-1850), Whig president who was a Southern slaveholder, 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.

John C. Fremont

American military officer, explorer, the 1st candidate of the Republican Party for the office of President of the US & 1st presidential candidate of a major party to run on a platform in opposition to slavery; founded & explored CA in preceding decades; "Pathfinder"- mapped Oregon Trail; 1845 report on explorations encouraged westward movement

Winfield Scott

Military hero of the Mexican War who became the Whigs' last presidential candidate in 1852

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

Mexican Cession

Lands sold by Mexico to the US following the Mexican War

Wilmot Proviso (1846)

Bill that would ban slavery in the territories acquired after the War with Mexico

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty

1850 - Treaty between U.S. and Great Britain agreeing that neither country would try to obtain exclusive rights to a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. Abrogated by the U.S. in 1881.

Gadsden Purchase (1853)

Acquired additional land from Mexico for $10 million to facilitate the construction of a southern transcontinental railroad.

Free Soil Movement

Sought to keep slavery from expanding into newly acquired territories.

Free Soil Party

a political party formed in 1848 to oppose the extension of slavery into U.S. territories

Popular Sovereignty

A belief that ultimate power resides in the people to make their own decisions for government ruling.

Henry Clay

Distinguished senator from Kentucky, "The Great Compromiser." Outlined the Compromise of 1850 with five main points. Died before it was passed however.

Compromise of 1850

(1) California admitted as free state, (2) territorial status and popular sovereignty of Utah and New Mexico, (3) resolution of Texas-New Mexico boundaries, (4) federal assumption of Texas debt, (5) slave trade abolished in DC, and (6) new fugitive slave law; advocated by Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas

Panic of 1857

Financial panic caused a sharp decrease in prices for Midwestern agricultural products and a sharp increase in unemployment in Northern cities.

Nativism

A policy of favoring native-born individuals over foreign-born ones

Irish

European people pushed to the U.S. due to a potato famine in the 1840s.

Germans

In the 1840s and 1850s, because of economic hardship and the failure of democratic revolutions, one million of these people came to the United States. They often established homesteads in the Old Northwest and generally prospered.

Tammany Hall

a political organization within the Democratic Party in New York city. 1850s-1880s

Fugitive Slave Law

Passed as part of the Compromise of 1850, it set high penalties for anyone who aided escaped slaves and compelled all law enforcement officers to participate in retrieving runaways to their Southern owners. Strengthened the antislavery cause in the North.

Underground Railroad

A system that helped enslaved African Americans follow a network of escape routes out of the South to freedom in the North

Harriet Tubman

United States abolitionist born a slave on a plantation in Maryland and became the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad leading other slaves to freedom in the North (1820-1913)

Uncle Tom's Cabin

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

Harriet Beecher Stowe

(1811-1896) American author and daughter of Lyman Beecher, she was an abolitionist and author of the famous antislavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

The Impending Crisis of the South

Hinton R. Helper's nonfiction book attacking slavery from another angle, using statistics to demonstrate to fellow Southerners that slavery weakened the South's economy.

George Fitzhugh

Best known proslavery author. Questioned the principle of equal rights for "unequal men" and attacked the capitalist wage system as worse than slavery. Wrote Sociology for the South and Cannibals All

Sociology for the South (1854)

Written by George Fitzhugh; book supported slavery

Stephen A Douglas

Senator from Illinois who ran for president against Abraham Lincoln. Wrote the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Freeport Doctrine. Supporter of popular sovereignty.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854 - 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.

New England Emigrant Aid Company

Organization created to facilitate the migration of free laborers to Kansas in order to prevent the establishment of slavery in the territory.

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.

Pottawatomie Creek Massacre

In reaction to the sacking of Lawrence by pro-slavery forces, John Brown and a band of abolitionist settlers killed five pro-slavery settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas

Sumner-Brooks Incident

1856 - Charles Sumner gave a two day speech on the Senate floor. He denounced the South for crimes against Kansas and singled out Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina for extra abuse. Preston Brooks beat Sumner over the head with his cane, severely crippling him.

Know-Nothing Party

Political party of the 1850s that was anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant

Republican Party

1854 - anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats, Free Soilers and reformers from the Northwest met and formed party in order to keep slavery out of the territories

Millard Fillmore

13th President

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.

Lecompton Constitution (1857)

Proposed Kansas constitution, whose ratification was unfairly rigged so as to guarantee slavery in the territory. Initially ratified by proslavery forces, it was later voted down when Congress required that the entire constitution be put up for a vote.

Dredd Scott v. Sanford

A 1857 Supreme Court decision that inflamed hostilities between the north and the south regarding slavery. The Court stated that an African American, was not a citizen and did not have the right to sue for his freedom

Roger Taney

He was Chief Justice for the Dred Scott case. A decision was made on March 6, 1857. Roger Taney ruled against Dred Scott. Scott was suing for freedom because of his long residence in free territory. He was denied freedom because he was property and his owner could take him into any territory and legally hold him as a slave. This court ruling was major cause in starting the Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the United States saved the Union during the Civil War and emancipated the slaves; was assassinated by Booth (1809-1865)

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

1858 Senate election, series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas over the issue of slavery

House Divided Speech

Speech made by Abraham Lincoln before he was elected stating that the United States will either be all slave or all free because it can't be half and half and still succeed.

John Brown

Abolitionist who was hanged after leading an unsuccessful raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (1800-1858)

Harper's Ferry

Location of federal arsenal that John Brown raided to get guns to arm slaves

John C. Breckinridge

The South's pro-slavery Democratic candidate in the election of 1860. Completed the split of the Democratic Party by being nominated.

Constitutional Union Party

Party formed by a group of former Whigs, Know-Nothings- and moderate democrats out of the fear of a Republican victory in 1860.

Border States

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

Secession

the formal withdrawal of a state from the Union

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, causing the gateway to bloodshed to be open.

Fort Sumter

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

Second American Revolution

The transformation of American government and society brought about by the Civil War.

Confederate States of America

A republic formed in February of 1861 and composed of the eleven Southern states that seceded from the United States

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

Alexander H. Stephens

He served as vice president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. He acted in defense of states' rights, and even urged the secession of Georgia in response to the "despotic" actions of the Confederate government.

Winfield Scott

General-in-Chief of the Union army at the beginning of the civil war

Anaconda Plan

Union war plan by Winfield Scott, called for blockade of southern coast, capture of Richmond, capture Mississippi R, and to take an army through heart of south

Bull Run

1st real battle, Confederate victory, Washingtonian spectators gather to watch battle, Gen. Jackson stands as Stonewall and turns tide of battle in favor of Confederates, realization that war is not going to be quick and easy for either side

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

Fought in the 1st Battle of Bull Run; got his nickname because he encouraged his men to stand firm like a stonewall.

George B. McClellan

The new commander of the Union army in the East, insisted that his troops be given a long period of training before going in battle.

Robert E. Lee

Commander of the Confederate Army's Eastern forces, stopped McClellan's forces from invading Virginia in 1862.

Antietam

Battle where Union army intercepted the Confederates at Antietam creek in Sharpsburg Maryland, bloodiest single day of combat in the war where over 22,000 soldiers were killed or wounded.

Fredericksburg

General Ambrose Burnside replaced McClellan and he attacked Lee in Virginia (1862) here while suffering immense loses compared to the Confederates.

Monitor and Merrimac (1862)

The Merrimac was a Confederate ship that destroyed several Union ships before it was taken out of action by the Monitor, a Union ship. This was the first battle between ironclad ships and marked the beginning of a new era in naval battles.

Ulysses S. Grant

West Point graduate, Union general on the Western front, leading the Union army to multiple victories in the West. 18th US president.

Shiloh

Confederate army under Albert Johnston surprised Grant here in Tennessee, but the Union army held its ground and forced the Confederates to retreat after terrible losses on both sides (more than 23,000 dead and wounded).

Trent Affair

In 1861 the Confederacy sent emissaries James Mason to Britain and John Slidell to France to lobby for recognition. A Union ship captured both men and took them to Boston as prisoners. The British were angry and Lincoln ordered their release to avoid a British war. Neither Britain nor France got involved in the war.

The Alabama

A Confederate war ship purchased from Britain. It captured more than 60 Union merchant ships before being sunk off the coast of France.

Vicksburg

Grant besieged the city from May 18 to July 4, 1863, until it surrendered, yielding command of the Mississippi River to the Union.

Gettysburg

A large battle in the American Civil War, took place in southern Pennsylvania from July 1 to July 3, 1863. Most famous battle because of its large size, high cost in lives, location in a northern state, and for President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

William Tecumseh Sherman

Union General who destroyed South during "march to the sea" from Atlanta to Savannah, example of total war

Sherman's March to the Sea

Devastating total war military campaign, led by union general William Tecumseh Sherman, that involved marching 100,000 union troops through Georgia from Atlanta to Savannah and destroying everything along their way.

Appotomax Court House

Site where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia, April 1865.

Habeas Corpus

An order to produce an arrested person before a judge.

Confiscation Acts

Series of laws passed by fed gov. designed to liberate slaves in seceded states; authorized Union seizure of rebel property, and stated that all slaves who fought with Confederate military services were freed of further obligations to their masters; virtually emancipation act of all slaves in Confederacy

Emancipation Proclamation

Issued by Abraham Lincoln on september 22, 1862, it declared that all slaves in the confederate states would be free.

Massachusetts 54th Regiment

An all black regiment in the Civil War.

Copperheads

Northern Democrats who favored peace with the South

Gettysburg Address

(1863) A speech given by Abraham Lincoln after the Battle of Gettysburg, in which he praised the bravery of Union soldiers and renewed his commitment to winning the Civil War; supported the ideals of self-government and human rights

Greenbacks

Name for Union paper money not backed by gold or silver. Value would fluctuate depending on status of the war.

Homestead Act of 1862

Promoted settlement of the Great Plains by offering parcels of 160 acres of public land free to any person or family that could farm that land for at least 5 years

Federal Land Grants

The federal government granted land to be used for agricultural and technological purposes.

Pacific Railway Act (1862)

This act approved the building of a transcontinental railroad that would utterly transform the West by linking California and Western territories with the Eastern states.

Andrew Johnson

17th President of the United States

Reconstruction

the period after the Civil War in the United States when the southern states were reorganized and reintegrated into the Union

Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

(Dec. 1863) issued by Lincoln: offered full pardon to Southerners who would take oath of allegiance to the Union and acknowledge emancipation

Wade-Davis Bill (1864)

Radical Republican plan for Reconstruction that required 50% of a state's 1860 voters to take an "iron clad" oath of allegiance and a state constitutional convention before the election of state officials; pocket-vetoed by Lincoln.