APUSH Period 5

Manifest Destiny

the 19th-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

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

Manifest Destiny

the 19th-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

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

Santa Anna

Mexican general and dictator whose large army failed to defeat the Texans

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

Alamo

an abandoned mission near San Antonio that became an important battle site in the Texas Revolution

Oregon Trail

Trail from independence Missouri to Oregon used by many pioneers during the 1840s

James K Polk

president in March 1845. wanted to settle Oregon boundary dispute with Britain. wanted to acquire California. Wanted to incorporate Texas into union.

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

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.

Gold Rush

a period from 1848 to 1856 when thousands of people came to California in order to search for gold.

Matthew Perry

presented the Japanese with a letter from the President calling for Japan to grant trading rights to Americans, they signed a treaty opening Japan for trade in 1854

Nueces River vs. Rio Grande

While the United States claimed that Texas's border stretched to the Rio Grande, Mexico claimed it was the Nueces River. President Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor south to the Rio Grande, starting the Mexican War.

Zachary Taylor

Whig president who was a Southern slave holder, and war hero (Mexican-American War)

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 wrestle Texas and California from Mexico.

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

Treaty that ended the Mexican War, granting the U.S. control of modern day NM, UT, NV, AZ, and gained influence in Texas and California in exchange for $15 million

Mexican Cession

name for the region of the present day southwestern United States that was ceded to the U.S. by Mexico following the Mexican-American War (NV, UH, NM, AZ) significant because of the question of extending slavery into newly acquired territories

Ostend Manifesto

The recommendation that the U.S. offer Spain $20 million for Cuba. It was not carried through in part because the North feared Cuba would become another slave state.

Gadsden Purchase

Agreement w/ Mexico that gave the US parts of present-day New Mexico & Arizona in exchange for $10 million; all but completed the continental expansion envisioned by those who believed in Manifest Destiny.

Wilmot Proviso

Dispute over whether any Mexican territory that America won during the Mexican War should be free or a slave territory. Wilmot introduced an amendment stating that any territory acquired from Mexico would be free. This amendment passed the House twice, but failed to ever pass in Senate

Popular Sovereignty

the idea that territories could vote whether they wanted to be admitted as a slave state or free state before the Civil War

Fire-eaters

refers to a group of extremist pro-slavery politicians from the South who urged the separation of southern states into a new nation, which became known as the Confederate States of America.

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

Irish immigration

Caused largely by the potato famine in Ireland. Irish immigrants came and received much discrimination due to their Catholic faith as well as exploitation in factories due to their limited skills.

German immigration

Germans came to America and were seen as mostly skilled craftsmen and settled in tightly knit communities

Nativism

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

Know Nothing Party

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

Samuel Morse

patented the telegraph and developed the Morse code

Fugitive Slave Law

Enacted by Congress in 1793 and 1850, these laws provided for the return of escaped slaves to their owners. The North was lax about enforcing the 1793 law, with irritated the South no end. The 1850 law was tougher and was aimed at eliminating the underground railroad.

Underground Railroad

a system of secret routes used by escaping slaves to reach freedom in the North or in Canada

Personal liberty laws

Laws enacted in many northern states that guaranteed to all residents, including alleged fugitives, the right to a jury trial.

Harriet Tubman

United States abolitionist born a slave on a plantation in Maryland and became a famous conductor on the Underground Railroad leading other slaves to freedom in the North

Uncle Tom's Cabin

a novel published by Harriet Beecher Stowe which portrayed slavery as brutal and immoral and added to the abolitionist movement

Impending Crisis of the South

A book written by Hinton Helper who hated both slavery and blacks and used this book to try to prove that non-slave owning whites were the ones who economically suffered the most from slavery

Wage slaves

factory workers in the North who worked long hours, received low wages, and worked in undesirable conditions

Stephen Douglas

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

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.

New England Emigrant Aid Company

Antislavery organization in the North that sent out thousands of pioneers to the Kansas-Nebraska territory to thwart the Southerners and attempt to vote for Kansas to be a free state

Bleeding Kansas

a series of violent fights between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in Kansas who had moved to Kansas to try to influence the decision of whether or not Kansas would a slave state or a free state.

Border ruffians

pro-slavery Missourians who traveled in armed groups to vote in Kansas' election during the mid-1850's, in order to make it a pro-slavery government

Pottawatomie Creek

abolitionist John Brown and his sons attacked this pro slavery farm settlement and killed five settlers, part of Bleeding Kansas

Caning of Charles Sumner

An incident in which Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner was assaulted in the Senate by South Carolina congressman Preston S. Brooks over Sumner's anti slavery speech. Sumner seen as a hero in the north, Brooks seen as a hero in the south

Republican Party

Political party that believed in the non-expansion of slavery & consisted of Whigs, N. Democrats, & Free-Soilers, formed in defiance of the Democratic party after the Kansas Nebraska Act

Free-Soilers

Northern antislavery politicians, like Abraham Lincoln, who rejected radical abolitionism but sought to prohibit the expansion of slavery in the western territories

James Buchanan

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 stop the secession of South Carolina

Lecompton Constitution

Pro-slave constitution that got voted in for Kansas after anti-slavery people boycotted the election

Dred Scott v. Sanford

Supreme Court decision that stated that slaves were not citizens; that living in a free state or territory, even for many years, did not free slaves; and declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional

Chief Justice Roger Taney

wrote the important decision in the Dred Scott case, upholding police power of states and asserting the principle of social responsibility of private property. He was Southern and upheld the fugitive slave laws.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Debate for Illinois senate seat, Lincoln forced Douglas to debate issue of slavery, Douglas supported pop-sovereignty, Lincoln asserted that slavery should not spread to territories, Lincoln emerged as strong Republican candidate even though he lost the election

House-divided speech

The speech given by Abraham Lincoln when accepting the Republican nomination for the Illinois senate seat. He said, "This government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free"

Freeport Doctrine

Doctrine developed by Stephen Douglas that said the exclusion of slavery in a territory could be determined by the refusal of the voters to enact any laws that would protect slave property. It was unpopular with Southerners, and split the Democratic Party

Harper's Ferry

John Brown's failed scheme to invade the South w/ armed slaves, backed by sponsoring, N. abolitionists; seized the fed. arsenal; Brown & remnants were caught by Robert E. Lee and the US Marines; Brown was hanged; South feared danger if it stayed in Union

Election of 1860

Lincoln, the Republican candidate, won because the Democratic party was split over slavery. As a result, the South no longer felt like it has a voice in politics as Lincoln was elected with 0 electoral votes from the south, and a number of states seceded from the Union.

Constitutional Union Party

Formed by moderate Whigs and Know-Nothings in an effort to elect a compromise candidate and avert a sectional crisis that would split the Union

Confederate States of America

made up of 11 former states that seceded around 1860; 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

President of the Confederate States of America

Crittenden Compromise

last attempt to prevent Civil War- offered a Constitutional amendment recognizing slavery in the territories south of the 36º30' line, noninterference by Congress with existing slavery, and compensation to the owners of fugitive slaves - defeated by Republicans

Anaconda Plan

Northern Civil War strategy to starve the South by blockading seaports on the Atlantic and controlling the Mississippi River

Bull Run

1st real battle, Confederate victory, Washingtonian spectators gathered to watch battle; realization that war is not going to be quick and easy for either side

Robert E. Lee

Confederate general who had opposed secession but did not believe the Union should be held together by force

Antietam

bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with almost 23,000 casualties. After this "win" for the North, Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation

Ironclad

a warship equipped with iron plating for protection first used during the Civil War

Ulysses S. Grant

an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States; leading Union general in the American Civil War.

Trent Affair

the Confederacy sent diplomats 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. The south hoped that would cause Britain to send them aid

Total War

A war that involves the complete mobilization of resources and people, affecting the lives of all citizens in the warring countries, even those remote from the battlefields.

William Tecumseh Sherman

Union general that led the March to the Sea and the burning of Atlanta at the end of the Civil War, devastating the South

Sherman's March to the Sea

during the civil war, a devastating total war military campaign, led by union general William Tecumseh Sherman, that involved marching 60,000 union troops through Georgia from Atlanta to Savannah and destroying everything along the way.

Appomattox Courthouse

General Grant and Lee meeting that ended Civil War surrender terms were generous; confederates could keep weapons and horses and would not be charged for treason

Suspension of habeas corpus

Lincoln suspended this writ, which states that a person cannot be arrested without probable cause and must be informed of the charges against him and be given an opportunity to challenge them

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

Emancipation Proclamation

Proclamation issued by Lincoln, freeing all slaves in areas still at war with the Union (in the Confederacy not the border states)

Copperheads

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

Conscription Act

an act first passed in the Civil War to set up a draft (compulsory enlistment for military service)

NYC Draft Riots

were a series of violent disturbances in New York City that were the culmination of discontent with new laws passed by Congress to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War

Gettysburg Address

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

Provided free land in the West to anyone willing to settle there and develop it. Encouraged westward migration.

Pacific Railway Act

legislation to encourage the construction of a transcontinental railroad, connecting the West to industries in the Northeast (Union Pacific and Central Pacific RR)

John Wilkes Booth

was an American stage actor who, as part of a conspiracy plot, assassinated Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865.

Andrew Johnson

17th President of the United States, A Southerner from Tennessee, as V.P. when Lincoln was killed, opposed radical Republicans who passed Reconstruction Acts over his veto. Impeached, but not removed

Reconstruction

the period after the Civil War in the United States when the southern states were reorganized and reintegrated into the Union, carried out in three phases of plans: Lincoln, Johnson, and Radical/Military.

Proclamation of Amnesty

issued by Lincoln: offered full pardon to Southerners who would take oath of allegiance to the Union and acknowledge emancipation. Required 10% of white men to pledge an oath for Southern states to be readmitted to the union.

Wade-Davis Bill

Proposed far more demanding and stringent terms for reconstruction; required 50% of the voters of a state to take the loyalty oath and permitted only non-confederates to vote for a new state constitution; Lincoln refused to sign the bill, pocket vetoing it after Congress adjourned.

Freedman's Bureau

Agency set up to aid former slaves in adjusting themselves to freedom. It furnished food and clothing to needy blacks and helped them get jobs

Johnson's Reconstruction Plan

Recognized several of Lincoln's 10 percent governments. Disenfranchised leading Confederate officials and rich white land owners, required states ratify the 13th Amendment, but did not provide much protection for freedmen

Congressional Reconstruction (Military)

The return of 11 ex-Confederates to high offices and the passage of the Black Codes by southern legislatures angered the Republicans in Congress so that they adopted a plan that was harsher on southern whites and more protective of freed blacks. Split the South into 5 military districts to be governed by the Union army

Thaddeus Stevens

A Radical Republican who believed in harsh punishments for the South. Leader of the Radical Republicans in Congress.

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.

13th amendment

Abolition of slavery

14th amendment

Declares that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens and are guaranteed equal protection of the laws

Equal protection of the law

Part of the Fourteenth Amendment emphasizing that the laws must provide equivalent "protection" to all people.

Waving the bloody shirt

An expression used as a vote getting strategy by the Republicans during the election of 1876 to offset charges of corruption by blaming the Civil War on the Democrats. Brings up the horrors of war to pull on people's heartstrings

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

when the Radical Republicans tried Andrew Johnson for impeachment because he wanted to fire Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War. The Radical Republicans passed a law called the Tenure of Office Act saying that a President cannot fire a worker "just because". President Johnson was not removed from office by a margin of one vote

15th Amendment

Citizens cannot be denied the right to vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Prohibited discrimination against blacks in public place, such as inns, amusement parks, and on public transportation. Declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Carpetbaggers

A derogatory term applied to Northerners who migrated south during the Reconstruction to take advantage of opportunities to advance their own fortunes by buying up land from desperate Southerners and by manipulating new black voters to support Republican governments

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.Mississippi senator elected to the seat that had been occupied by Jefferson Davis when the South seceded

Jay Gould and Jim Fisk

devised a plot to drastically raise the price of the gold market in 1869. The two bought a large amount of gold, planning to sell it for a profit. In order to lower the high price of gold, the Treasury was forced to sell gold from its reserves.

Credit Mobilier

This was a fraudulent construction company created to take the profits of the Union Pacific Railroad. Using government funds for the railroad, the Union Pacific directors gave padded construction contracts to Congress members

Whiskey Ring

During the Grant administration, a group of officials were importing whiskey and using their offices to avoid paying the taxes on it, cheating the treasury out of millions of dollars.