Period 5 Vocab

John Tyler

10th U.S. President; supported territorial expansion, including Texas annexation.

Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842)

A treaty resolving several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies, particularly a dispute over the location of the Maine-New Brunswick border.

Manifest Destiny

The popular belief that the United States had a divine mission to extend its power and civilizations across the breadth of North America

Lewis Cass

Democratic politician who proposed popular sovereignty as a solution for deciding slavery in new territories.

Sam Houston

Leader in the Texas Revolution; became the first president of the Republic of Texas.

Mexican-American War

Conflict (1846–1848) over U.S. annexation of Texas and border disputes.

Oregon Fever

A widespread enthusiasm among Americans to migrate to the Oregon Territory, driven by the idea of Manifest Destiny, the desire for free land, and the prospect of a new life in the West, often leading to large-scale migration along the Oregon Trail.

49th Parallel

U.S.-Canada border established in the Oregon Treaty.

Franciscan Missions

Catholic missions established in California to convert Native Americans and integrate them into colonial society.

Annexation of Texas

Texas joining the U.S. in 1845, a key step in westward expansion and escalated tensions with Mexico, setting the stage for war.

Annexation of California - Bear Flag Republic

California’s brief independence during the Mexican-American War.

John C. Fremont

Explorer and key figure in California’s acquisition during westward expansion.

James K. Polk

11th president of the United States of America (1845-1849), promoted Manifest Destiny, and oversaw the largest territorial expansion in American history acquired through a treaty with England and war with Mexico.

Winfield Scott

Selected by President Polk to invade central Mexico and succeeded by capturing Mexico City in September 1847.

Zachary Taylor

Whig slave holder, general that was a military leader in Mexican-American war, and 12th president of the United States.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Ended the Mexican-American War; Mexico ceded large territories.

Wilmot Proviso

Proposal to ban slavery in territories acquired from Mexico, but southern senators, led by John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, defeated the measure in 1846 and 1847.

Mexican Cession

Land gained by the U.S. following the Mexican-American War, including California, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Matthew C Perry

Was the military leader who convinced the Japanese to sign a treaty in 1854 with the U.S. the treaty allowed for a commercial foot in Japan which was helpful with furthering a relationship with Japan.

Gadsden Purchase

Land purchased from Mexico in 1854 for a southern railroad route.

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty

U.S.-British agreement to not control Central American canal routes.

Popular Sovereignty

The idea that territories could vote on whether to allow slavery.

Secession

Withdrawal of Southern states from the Union, leading to the Civil War. The action of withdrawing from membership of a federation or political entity.

Free-Soil Party

Political party opposing the expansion of slavery into western territories.

California Gold Rush

Mass migration to California in 1849 after gold was discovered.

Compromise of 1850

When slavery became outlawed in Washington D.C., California is admitted as a free state, and Utah and New Mexico will determine whether slavery is allowed through popular sovereignty. Also, the Fugitive Slave Law is passed. Series of laws addressing slavery and territorial issues.

The Great Debate

Congressional debates on the Compromise of 1850.

Stephen A. Douglas

Senator who supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act and popular sovereignty.

Nativism

Anti-immigrant sentiment favoring native-born citizens.

Fugitive Slave Law

Required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state

Underground Railroad

Network aiding enslaved people in escaping to free states or Canada.

Harriet Tubman

Key leader in the Underground Railroad, and lead over 300 slaves to freedom.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Influential anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Anti-slavery author who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, which galvanized abolitionist sentiment.

Franklin Pierce

Was the 14th president of the United States (1853 - 1857) and supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Law allowing popular sovereignty to decide slavery in new territories.

“Bleeding Kansas”

A series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859.

Sumner-Brooks Incident

Violent attack in the Senate reflecting sectional tensions. A pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina, used a walking cane to attack Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist Republican from Massachusetts.

Know-Nothing Party

A former political party active in the 1850s which opposed immigration and Catholic influence. They answered questions from outsiders about the party by saying "I know nothing"

Republican Party

Formed to oppose slavery’s expansion.

John Brown’s Raid on Harper Ferry

Attempt to incite a slave rebellion; increased sectional tensions.

James Buchanan

15th President of the United States (just before the Civil War), criticized for inaction on secession.

Dred Scott vs. Sanford (1857)

Supreme Court decision denying African Americans citizenship.

Lecompton Constitution

Pro-slavery constitution proposed in Kansas.

Panic of 1857

Economic crisis that intensified sectional divides, caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy.

Abraham Lincoln

16th President; led the U.S. during the Civil War and abolished slavery.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

A series of seven debates between the Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois senatorial campaign, largely concerning the issue of slavery extension into the territories. Debates focusing on slavery and its expansion.

Freeport Doctrine

Stephen Douglas’s position on territorial slavery despite the Dred Scott decision. Basically a territory could determine whether to allow or not allow slavery based on Popular Sovereignty, where the authority of the government is based on the consent of the people.

Fort Sumter

A sea fort in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina that was the site of the first battle of the Civil War.

Border States

Slave states that bordered free states during the United States Civil War; these were slave-holding states who did not support President Abraham Lincoln. However, they also believed in a strong federal union and remained a part of the Union during the Civil War.

Jefferson Davis

The first and only president of the Confederate States.

Civil War

The war fought between the Union (Northern states) and the Confederacy (Southern states) from 1861 to 1865, primarily over the issue of slavery, where several Southern states seceded from the Union and formed their own nation, leading to a conflict within the United States itself.

Ulysses S. Grant

Union general who led the United States to victory over the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War, 18th U.S. President.

Battle of Bull Run

First major Civil War battle, revealing the war’s scale. Took place in Prince William County, Virginia, along the banks of Bull Run.

“Anaconda Strategy”

Put forward by Lieutenant General Winfield Scott in early 1861, it was a strategy to strangle the seceding states by denying them trade through blockading saltwater ports and controlling the Mississippi River.

Robert E. Lee

Confederate general, key leader in Civil War battles. Commanded the Army of Northern Virginia, the most successful of the Southern armies during the American Civil War, and ultimately commanded all the Confederate armies. Lee became a symbol of the American South.

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson

Confederate general and military leader during the American Civil War. He was a key figure in many battles and is considered one of the most gifted tactical commanders in U.S. history.

Emancipation Proclamation

A military order issued by President Abraham Lincoln that declared all enslaved people in the United States to be free.

Gettysburg Address

A speech from Abraham Lincoln redefining the purpose of the war.

Vicksburg

A city in Mississippi that was the site of a major American Civil War campaign and is considered a turning point in the war. Ended in a Union victory, split the Confederacy in two and gave the North undisputed control of the Mississippi River.

March to the Sea

When Union Major General William Tecumseh Sherman led troops through the Confederate state of Georgia, pillaging the countryside and destroying both military outposts and civilian properties.

Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse

End of the Civil War; Confederate surrender.

Homestead Act

Provided free land to settlers in the West, encouraging migration.

Pacific Railway Act

Supported construction of the transcontinental railroad.

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States.

14th Amendment

Granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all Americans.

15th Amendment

Guarantees the right to vote for all men, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Radical Republicans

Advocated for strong Reconstruction policies.

Freedmen’s Bureau

Assisted freed slaves and poor whites post-Civil War.

Reconstruction

Era of rebuilding the South and integrating freed slaves.

John Wilkes Booth

Assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.

Andrew Johnson

Was the 17th president of the United States (1865 - 1869), he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, as he was vice president at that time. However, he later faced impeachment during Reconstruction.

Black Codes

Laws in the South restricting African Americans’ freedoms after the Civil War.

Sharecropping

System where freed slaves worked landowners’ fields for a share of the crops, often perpetuating poverty.

Thaddeus Stevens

Leader of the Radical Republicans advocating for civil rights and land redistribution.

Carpetbaggers

Northerners who moved South during Reconstruction for economic or political opportunities.

Scalawags

Southern whites who supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party.

Horace Greenley

Journalist and Liberal Republican candidate opposing Ulysses S. Grant.

Klu Klux Klan

White supremacist group formed to oppose Reconstruction and civil rights.

Compromise of 1877

Ended Reconstruction, withdrawing federal troops from the South in exchange for resolving the 1876 election.