apush exam review

unknown/missed terms

reconquista/Spanish Inquisition

reconquista/Spanish Inquisition

By ending the reconquista (a centuries-long Spanish campaign started by Spanish Catholics to drive Muslims off the European mainland) with the capture of Granada in 1492 and beginning the Spanish Inquisition (in which thousands of Muslims/Jews were forcibly converted), Ferdinand and Isabella proved their fierce commitment to the spread of Christianity inside and outside of the European mainland, which proved to be a major justification for American exploration.

caravels

The Portuguese caravel, modeled after Arab ships, was one of the greatest vessels of its time. It combined various beneficial elements of then-modern maritime technology (such as triangular sails (lateens) and heavy cannons attached to sides) to cross treacherous waters (such as Cape Bojador) in the Portuguese attempt to compete with Arab traders, who were able to cross the Sahara to bring valuable African goods to Europe.

astrolabe

The astrolabe, a latitude-measuring device invented by the Arabs, assisted Portuguese captains in creating highly detailed maps of the African coast. This helped them find the resource they were searching for initially as well as a better overall route to Asia, which also assisted in trade.

joint-stock companies

Joint-stock companies were made up of a group of shareholders, each of whom invested in the company to receive a share of its profits. They could only lose what they had invested. This promoted investment in American exploration as it was a lower-risk opportunity for investors to sponsor voyages overseas.

Acoma Massacre

(1598-1599) The Acoma people of the American Southwest had heard of the Spanish envoys coming their way and fought back in an attempt to maintain their freedom from slavery and taxes. This shows how increased European demand for land and labor led to Native American military resistance. Defeating the Spanish and killing 13 in December 1598 (including the nephew of envoy leader Juan de Onate), the Spanish were provoked and came back with a vengeance in January 1599. Onate ordered all males 25+ to have one foot cut off.

House of Burgesses

The House of Burgesses was one example of an unusually democratic government that ran the Virginia Company even following increased British attention and control after the Indian War of 1622. First convening in 1619, they made laws and levied taxes under the careful watch of an English governor and company council. This way of ruling, including English law-based land ownership, self-government, and a judicial system, attracted some 4,500 newcomers.

New England town meetings

Town meetings in New England were an early example of a representative, exceptionally democratic form of government that gave power to everyone, not just the elite, wealthy monarchs. Most local men were allowed to vote (despite socioeconomic status), and the meetings levied taxes, enacted ordinance, and chose men to lead town affairs. They also elected representatives on the General Court, which eventually overtook the governor.

Indian War of 1622

The Indian War of 1622 was a key example of initial mutual accommodation between Native communities and European colonists which led to conflict after those interactions could not lead to agreement as the 2 groups’ interests somewhat conflicted. There were 1,200 colonists in Jamestown by 1611, and although they wanted to dominate the local Native population, they couldn’t because of Powhatan’s 30 tribal chiefdoms. Both sides wanted the other to pay tribute to them, and when Powhatan was succeeded by Opechancanough, hundreds of settlers were killed. This war lasted a decade as both sides refused to concede.

Currency Act of 1751

The Currency Act was an example of a response by British political leaders to a trade-related issue that angered said leaders as colonists found other ways to work around British-inspired issues. After 10 colonial assemblies established public land banks due to a money shortage, some colonial legislatures forced merchants to accept paper money as legal tender. The Currency Act prevented this.

Metacom’s (King Philip’s) War

(1675-76) Metacom’s War was an example of a military confrontation between the Natives and the British after disagreements over trade prices and land boundaries (among other things). It devastated both sides and fairly settled nothing - only destroying the existence of independent Native peoples. The Wampanoag leader Metacom (aka King Philip), seeing that future coexistence was unlikely, forged an alliance with the Narragansetts and Nipmucks and attacked white settlements in New England. It only ended when the Natives ran out of gunpowder and Mohegan/Mohawk warriors hired by the Massachusetts Bay government killed Metacom.

Pueblo Revolt

(August 1860) The Pueblo Revolt was the most successful Native revolt in the US and led to Pueblo freedom for 12 years, as well as some remaining freedoms granted them by the Spanish after a new governor took charge. Initiated by Pope, a Pueblo leader, all Pueblo people participated; killing 21 priests, running Spaniards off the land, and burning churches.

Pequot War

(1636-1638) The Pequot War was an example of Native tribes fighting Europeans and their Native allies. In this case, the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes allied with the British against the Pequot tribe, who were allied with the Dutch. The war was all over the struggle over the fur and wampum trade.

Salem Witch Trials

(1692) The Salem witch trials were a turning point in the Massachusetts Bay Colony that caused more and more people to turn away from solely religion-based way of thinking to those of science reason like the European Enlightenment. The Puritans, scared of supernatural forces, labeled 175 people as witches (only 19 were executed, 18 of whom were women). It may have also been caused by rivalries, sexism, or political instability.

First Great Awakening

(1730s-70s) The First Great Awakening allowed for the increased spread of new religious ideas and combined several religions in the same places. This revival of Protestant beliefs transformed the colonial religious climate and sparked a number of reform movements, such as nationalism, individual rights, and establishment of several now-Ivy schools.

Navigation Acts

(1651, 1660, 1663, 1673) The Navigation Acts were an example of a British attempt to take control of the economies of its colonies. Additionally, colonists rebelled against these acts and they were not always enforced. The British wanted to reap the economic benefits of their colonies. The Acts banned foreign traders in the colonies and required that goods be carried on English ships with at least 3/4 of the crew being English.

colonial assemblies

Colonial assemblies, part of the groundwork for the American independence movement, were modeled after the radical British Whigs, who fought for the liberties of the people and against the dictatorship of the monarchy. The limited power of the British monarchy after the Glorious Revolution led to increased colonial autonomy, angering imperial bureaucrats.

Licensing Act lapse

By allowing the lapse of the Licensing Act in 1695, the British relinquished a control over publication, leading to a widespread trans-Atlantic print revolution that allowed for a faster spread of ideas, news, and information. As Enlightenment ideas and Pietism spread to the colonies, 37 different papers popped up in the colonies by 1776.

Chesapeake gentry

The Chesapeake gentry bribed the peasants into giving political power to the planter elite, who used slave trade profits to build a stable ruling class. They kept slavery because they themselves benefitted majorly from it. Taxes for poor/middle class whites were gradually lowered, and some were given the right to vote.

Stono Rebellion

(1739) The Stono Rebellion was one of the largest slave revolts in America and showed that slaves still had a remaining desire for freedom and to maintain their cultural identity as a whole. After Spanish Florida promised freedom to fugitive slaves, at least 75 slaves revolted and killed several whites near the Stono River, then marching towards Florida. They were met by the South Carolina militia, who took care of it, but it still heightened fear in the hearts of plantation owners.

Pontiac’s War

(1760s) Pontiac’s War was an example of resistance to colonial expansion by Native American groups that eventually resulted in further trade/alliance between the Natives and British, as well as colonial opposition to new British policy. It was also extremely expensive. Led by Ottawa chief Pontiac, tribes captured many British forts in the Great Lakes region and raided settlements in the middle colonies.

Lord Dunmore’s War

(1772) Lord Dunmore’s War was an example of a fight between Natives, who were trying to protect their tribal lands, and colonists, who were disregarding the Proclamation Line in pursuing their desire to move westward. They had relied on Fort Pitt for protection, but it was taken down because of the British revenue crisis. Although both Pennsylvania and Virginia claimed the area, the Pennsylvanians were mostly pacifist Quakers and wouldn’t fight, so Virginian Lord Dunmore led VA militias against the Ohio Shawnees at Point Pleasant.

First/Second Continental Congress

The First Continental Congress met in 1774 to protest the Intolerable (Coercive) Acts, which had been passed by the British following the Boston Tea Party. The Southern colonies favored an economic boycott; the middle colonies advocated for compromise; New England colonies demanded political union and increased military preparations. The Second Continental Congress met in 1775 - after the Revolutionary War had already begun.

Boston Tea Party (DATE ONLY)

December 16, 1773

Tea Act of May 1773

The Tea Act was intended to grant the British East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonies by placing a tax on foreign tea that made the British tea cheaper by comparison. In reality, it only led to the Boston Tea Party.

Battle of Saratoga

(1777) The defeat of the British at Saratoga was a key example of action by colonial militias that led to colonial victory as well as a new military alliance with France that later helped them win the war. The British plan was to isolate New England, with John Burgoyne coming south from Quebec, the Iroquois from the west, and Howe from NYC; Howe chose to attack Philadelphia instead (targeting the Continental Congress) , which led to a Patriot victory in the turning point of the war.

Common Sense

(January 1776) Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was an expression of the desire for American freedom from British rule in the attempt to preserve colonists’ natural rights of life, liberty, and prosperity. America was meant to be a place of civil and religious liberty, but it continued to be persecuted by England, the dependence on whom was leading the colonies into wars.

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker was an individual whose abilities in many fields gained him important connections that allowed him to more easily petition/advocate for abolition. He published Benjamin Banneker’s Almanac in 1792 and warned Jefferson about the evils of slavery.

republican motherhood

Republican motherhood (as both a concept and a practice) enhanced the societal role of women in the Revolutionary era and provided them with new opportunities. The idea was that patriotic women should be vicariously politically involved through the raising of their children with patriotic ideals.

French and Haitian Revolutions

The French and Haitian Revolutions (both successful) were inspired by the American Revolution and its ideals of political and social liberty from oppression.

Shays’ Rebellion

(1786-1787) Shays’ Rebellion was an example of internal unrest due to issues/disagreements over finances and interstate commerce following the end of the Revolutionary War. Resembling Patriot resistance to the Stamp Act, Daniel Shays led former Continental Army soldiers and other poor western farmers against the eastern merchants and elite, who they believed had effectively replaced the British oppressors. It also exposed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation as the federal government could not technically call in troops to rectify the situation under their authority.

Articles of Confederation

Created a weak central government and unicameral (one-house) legislature that allowed the states to retain a great deal of their power. Coming off of the Revolutionary War (Articles drafted in 1777), the Americans wanted to avoid a repeat of the tyrannical oppression they had experienced under the British monarchy, which was a primary motivating factor in their choice to severely limit the federal government. Additionally, many drafters were fiercely loyal to their states. However, domestic issues like Shays’ Rebellion (1786-87) led delegates to the Annapolis (1786) and Philadelphia (1787) conventions to call for an entirely new founding document that provided further federal powers, such as the ability to directly tax the people.

Virginia and New Jersey Plans

James Madison proposed the Virginia Plan in the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and it outlined plans for a strong, national government with 3 branches, one of which was a bicameral legislature with proportional representation. Smaller states, who feared this would drown their voices out, rallied behind William Paterson’s New Jersey Plan, which called for a unicameral legislature similar to the existing one under the Articles of Confederation. However, both replaced the Articles of Confederation and established 3 separate branches of government that gave Congress the much-needed ability to regulate trade and collect taxes.

the Great Compromise

The agreed-upon plan at the 1787 Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, which created the basic structure of Congress as we know it today (as an alternative to the Virginia and New Jersey Plans). It called for a House of Representatives (in which representation would be determined by state population) and a Senate (where each state would get 2 members).

Federalist Papers

Series of articles written by Alexander Hamilton (51), James Madison (29), and John Jay (5) in support of the new US Constitution. It was highly influential, outlining the failures of the Articles of Confederation as well as the benefits of a powerful federal government with checks and balances. For instance, Madison’s Federalist no. 10 expressed support for a large, complex government in order to maintain liberty and a balance of power. This challenged the traditional republican idea that small government is necessary for democracy.

XYZ Affair

In 1797, in retaliation for Jay’s Treaty, France rescinded the 1778 alliance with the US, allowing French privateers to seize American ships. President Adams sent a negotiating delegation to Paris, but they were not initially allowed to discuss the matter with French foreign minister Charles Talleyrand. 3 agents approached the delegation, telling them they could begin negotiations if they paid $250,000 and promised France a $12 million loan. These agents were only called X, Y, and Z in American newspapers. Adams was angered by this, sending warships to the Caribbean to fight France in the undeclared Quasi-War.

Judiciary Act of 1789

Although the 1788 Constitution called for a federal judiciary, it left it up to Congress to decide how to do so. The Judiciary Act created 13 federal judicial district, each having a district court and a circuit court to hear appeals. The Supreme Court’s job was to take appeals from the circuit courts, occasionally state courts (if federal law was involved), and civil actions between states and/or the federal government. It also had the last word on Constitutional interpretation.

Naturalization/Alien/Sedition Acts

These acts were passed by a Federalist-dominated Congress in 1798. The Naturalization Act made it more difficult for foreigners to obtain American citizenship. The Sedition Act made it illegal to speak out against the president or Congress. The Alien Friends/Enemies Acts made it possible for the president to imprison and deport noncitizens. These were passed in the wake of the 1797 XYZ Affair.

Constitutional protections of slavery

Although many were uneasy when discussing protections for slavery, it was such a large part of many state economies (especially in the South) that some delegates required some level of protection to ratify. The actual word “slavery” is never used, although protections like the Three-Fifths Compromise (allowed states to count 3/5 of their slave population in the census for representation) ensured that slavery would continue nevertheless. It also protected the international slave trade for 20 years (spoiler alert: when this expired in 1808, Congress ended the slave trade immediately) and provided for the return of fugitive slaves (furthered by Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850).

Hamilton v. Jefferson: visions for US

Hamilton and Jefferson had very differing views. When Hamilton proposed the national bank (20% public, 80% private), Jefferson argued that the Constitution did not explicitly permit Congress to create a national bank, and Hamilton countered that it was covered under the elastic (necessary and proper) clause - Washington agreed and signed the bank into law in 1791. Hamilton also proposed assumption of state debts and the funding of national debts as well as the encouragement of manufacturing through protective tariffs and subsidization of American industry. Conversely, Jefferson had an agrarian vision for the US as a society of yeoman farming families.

Mercy Otis Warren

Writer, political activist, Anti-Federalist agitator, author of 3-volume History of the Revolution (1805) - intended to instill nationalist spirit in Americans after victory over Britain (us > them).

Phillis Wheatley

14D

Handsome Lake + Native resistance

15A

Whiskey Rebellion

As a part of his plan to raise federal revenue, Hamilton proposed taxes. One of these was a tax on whiskey. This was particularly devastating for grain farmers in former middle colonies like Pennsylvania. In 1794, they revolted, with 7,000 men marching to Pittsburgh. However, unlike the inability of the government to deal with uprisings under the Articles of Confederation (Shays’ Rebellion), Washington reacted quickly, sending in federal troops to get rid of the threat to law and order.

Yazoo land fraud

16B

Ordinances of 1784/1785

The Land Ordinance of 1784 divided the Northwest Territory (between the Appalachian Mountains and Mississippi River) into 10 potential new states, each with the guarantee of self-government. The Land Ordinance of 1785 reduced the number of states from 10 to 5 and called for the creation of townships, which were further subdivided into lots. While some of these lots were set aside for educational or public uses, the others were to be sold to private owners.

Northwest Ordinance

(1787) Set up a process by which areas could become territories, then states. States could apply for admission to the Union once their population reached 60,000. It also banned slavery in the territory north of the Ohio River. This promoted the steady flow of white settlers to the West but proved disastrous for Natives.

Treaty of Fort Stanwix

(1784) The government attempted to solve the issue of native land claims north of the Ohio River by working out this treaty with the Iroquois Confederacy. 2 of the 6 Iroquois nations had previously sided with the British, and the US aimed to seek peace. The Iroquois ceded control of some land in the aforementioned area, although they did not technically have solid claims to it after the Beaver Wars. Tribes actually living there (Shawnee, Delaware, Miami) were not part of negotiations and protested that their land had been ceded without their consent.

Treaty of Greenville

(1795) Following the Natives’ defeat at the 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers, they ceded most of their land claims in Ohio, which brought about a temporary peace.

Spanish mission system

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan order established a series of missions in California, aiming to spread their faith among the local Native American groups. Priest Junipero Serra was crucial to these being established, and eventually there were a total of 21 founded. They served as both religious missions and military outposts, as Spain was attempting to maintain their presence in North America. The Spanish also extracted forced labor from the Native peoples. These Natives were ravaged by disease (like in the 1806 measles epidemic) and brutal treatment by the Spanish (rape, beating, slavery-like working conditions).

Pinckney’s Treaty

The 1783 Treaty of Paris had been very vague about the borders between Spanish and US territory. Pinckney’s Treaty, ratified in 1796, saw Spain agree to allow for American shipping on the Mississippi River and drew the border between American and Spanish territory in western Florida.

Jay’s Treaty

Controversial treaty negotiated by John Jay in 1795. Leading up its ratification, Britain was upset by the US’s continuation of trade with France and began intercepting American ships. Southerners demanded reimbursements from Britain for slaves who had run away during the Revolutionary War, and Britain maintained their military presence in the West as well as their alliance with Native grous to preserve the fur trade. Jay’s Treaty saw Britain withdraw from the West after 18 months, not compensate planters for slaves or shippers for cargo, demand repayment of loans from the colonial era, and give the US limited trading rights in the West Indies. Hamiltonians saw it as the best possible at that time, while Jeffersonians said that US interests had been sold out to the mercantile interests of New England.

Embargo Act of 1807

Jefferson’s response to British and French interference with neutral US merchant ships during the Napoleonic Wars - closed all US ports to all exports + restricted imports from Britain (failed as it severely overestimated Britain’s and France’s reliance on the US)

McCulloch v. Maryland

(1819) SCOTUS decision that upheld the superiority of federal power to state power (said that Maryland could not tax federal bank notes)

the Bank War

Henry Clay’s American System promoted the creation of a national bank after the War of 1812 had exposed US weaknesses in finance, but Jackson believed the bank helped the rich at the expense of the poor and vetoed renewal of its charter in 1828.

Second Great Awakening

Period of religious revival in the US, in part due to the spread of both Romanticism and individualism following the War of 1812. Emphasized societal morality (as opposed to personal salvation from the First Great Awakening), which led to reform movements such as temperance, abolition, and women’s rights.

transcendentalism

Philosophical reform movement in the mid-1800s that was highly influenced by Romanticism, emphasizing a belief in human perfectibility and emotion as opposed to the earlier rational, science-based ideas of the Enlightenment. Authors included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, and some formed utopian communities (Oneida, Shakers, Brook Farm, etc.) in which people lived communally, sharing resources and working together in supposed peace and harmony.

American Antislavery Society

Organization founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan in 1833 to promote the cause of immediate abolition in America. The cause was supported by great speakers like Frederick Douglass, as well as the influence of abolition in European countries like Britain.

the Benevolent Empire

Network of Protestant moral reform societies (1815-1861) that aimed to spread Christianity and promote moral reform, especially in regards to temperance. Prominent preachers like Lyman Beecher spread the temperance movement throughout the middle class, despite opposition from immigrants and some members of the working class.

African Methodist Episcopal Church

Denomination of Christianity founded by Richard Allen in 1816. Many songs there had an underlying abolitionist message, and some slaves saw emancipation predetermined by God through visions.

Female Moral Reform Society

Established in 1834 by Lydia Finney (wife of famous preacher Charles Grandison Finney), aimed to prevent prostitution in New York City, provide aid for the poor, reform prisons (think Dorothea Dix), and promote the spread of Christianity.

Dorothea Dix

Female reformer who advocated for reforms in mental hospitals, which (at the time) were more like prisons. She created the first generation of American mental asylums through the lobbying of both state and federal legislatures.

labor theory of value

An economic theory stipulating that the value of a good or service is dependent on the labor used in its production (laborers must earn profits from goods).

Cincinnati system

Modern factory system - teams of unskilled workers performed basic tasks all under one roof; consolidated the manufacturing process to reduce both the costs of labor and the actual goods (reflects labor theory of value); helped by invention of interchangeable parts; why many cities (like Cincinnati) grew so fast (many, especially immigrants, came to cities seeking jobs)

Erie Canal + railroads

The Erie Canal was a state-financed waterway in New York (completed in 1825) that allowed for the transport of goods via steamboats (invented by Robert Fulton); first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes; reduced transport costs

Waltham-Lowell system

Bringing all stages of textile production under one roof with employees living in company housing (by the early 1830s, over 40,000 women worked in such textile mills)

outwork system

Efficient division of labor that lowered the price of goods but took away workers’ control over the pace/conditions of work (alternative to factory) - small parts of the production process were carried out in individual homes by individual workers

Panics of 1819 + 1837

The Panic of 1819 occurred with a dramatic decline in cotton prices, contradiction of credit by the Bank of the US (designed to curb inflation), and closing of some factories due to foreign competition (ended trade boom that followed War of 1812) and led to white men demanding the franchise (right to vote) with which they could hold politicians accountable. The Panic of 1837 was primarily caused by Jackson’s veto of the national bank, which led to erratic banking policy.

Adams-Onis Treaty

1819 treaty between US and Spain (negotiated by John Adams) in which Spain ceded Florida to the US and the US defined their border with Texas/Mexico.

manumission acts

Acts such as the one passed by Virginia in 1782 that allowed the emancipation of slaves by an owner. Slave owners feared total emancipation and petitioned to repeal them, which was granted in 1792.

American Colonization Society

“Antislavery” organization that advocated for the removal of African-Americans (sending them back to Africa, usually Liberia) rather than their integration into American society (still racist, just antislavery). One key member was President James Monroe. This explains why Liberia’s flag is similar to ours and their capital is Monrovia.

gag rule

The ban on discussion of slavery-related legislation in the federal legislature between 1835-1844. Some, like John Quincy Adams, said that it violated 1st Amendment protections of free speech, but it was not repealed until Adams mustered enough votes to repeal it. Southerners promoted it as an attempt to quell the debate over slavery.

Seminole Wars

3 separate wars (1817-18, 1835-42, 1855-58) between the US and the Seminoles in Florida:

• the First began due to US attempts to capture fugitive slaves living on Seminole land (Andrew Jackson led forces and wreaked havoc)

• the Second followed the Seminoles’ refusal to abandon their reservation near Lake Okeechobee following the Indian Removal Act (the Seminoles hid their families in the Everglades and used guerilla tactics, with this war costing the US $40-60 million and around 2,000 soldiers)

• the Third came after attempts to track down remaining Seminoles in Florida (the US ended up paying some to move West)

Oregon

Both Britain and the US laid claim to the Oregon Territory. They agreed on a joint occupation in 1818, but Americans began migrating more and more to the Willamette Valley in the 1830s and 40s, leading politicians to push for sole US ownership of the Oregon Territory in 1844. President Polk was elected with the slogan “Fifty-four forty or fight”, as the northern boundary of Oregon was the 54’40 latitude line. Eventually, in 1846, Polk’s administration reached a compromise with Britain that established the border at the 49th parallel, which is the current US-Canada border.

annexation of Texas

American settlers in Texas were growing upset with the Mexican government (whose jurisdiction they were technically under) as their new 1835 Constitution prohibited slavery. Many American settlers there were white farmers who relied on slave labor for cash crop farming - in fact, they had gone to Texas to seek new soil to continue farming on. “War” and “peace” parties developed, with some reforms being won (such as an exemption from the slavery ban). However, when Santa Anna was elected and attempted to impose national authority in Texas, the war party (led by Sam Houston) started a rebellion, proclaiming independence and drawing up a new Constitution in 1836. Winning full independence in the Battle of San Jacinto (April 1836), after which Mexico would neither recognize the sovereignty of nor attempt to conquer Texas, which was now also called the “Lone Star Republic”. Although several presidents refused annexation for fear of war with Mexico, Tyler and Polk eventually annexed it in 1845.

James Polk

James Polk was a notable advocate of westward expansion and annexation who advanced the US’s push of Manifest Destiny into the West. Elected with the campaign slogan “Fifty-four forty or fight” (referring to the Oregon Territory) in 1844, Polk was often compared to Andrew Jackson, determined to gain land for the US.

transcontinental railroad

With construction beginning in 1862 and finishing in 1869, the Pacific Railway Act provided federal funding for a new transcontinental railroad, intended to link the Western and Eastern US. The Union and Central Pacific Companies headed up construction, with Union Pacific starting in Omaha and working west and Central Pacific starting in Sacramento and working east. The railroad made it much easier and cheaper to travel across the country and provided access to new markets, which spurred economic growth, especially in the North.

Treaty of Wanghia

The 1844 Treaty of Wanghia established economic and diplomatic ties between the US and China by opening ports, protecting traveling citizens, and so on.

Chinese “Gold Mountain Men”

The Chinese Gold Mountain Men came to the US (often the West Coast) in search of natural resources during the Gold Rush. Forced off their lands back home by the Opium Wars, many lived in groups and worked on abandoned American claims. Americans were often confused by the Chinese and would visit their camps for entertainment. It was this kind of thinking that led to the CA Foreign Miners Tax in 1852 and the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882.

Know-Nothing Party

The Know-Nothing Party was a notable political party with roots in the nativist movements of the 1840s. Becoming an official political party in 1851, the Know-Nothings thought that Catholics were part of a foreign conspiracy to undermine the largely Protestant US and promoted both immigration restrictions and discrimination against Irish and German immigrants who had already come overseas. In regards to slavery, they were basically split across regional lines.

Free Soil Party

The 1848 Free Soil Party ran on a platform that was against the expansion of slavery into new territories (to protect the interests of white laborers) but not necessarily in favor of abolition of slavery where it already existed. Some Free Soilers believed that Southerners were part of a “Slave Power” conspiracy to dominate American life and claimed that slavery was an institution for “aristocratic” men.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a bestselling book that started a debatably unprecedented discussion about slavery and race. It was fictional but described the brutal conditions of slavery very accurately. This meant that it also led to increased opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act. Wisconsin even tried to declare the FSA unconstitutional, but SCOTUS upheld it, exercising their superior power as a federal branch.

John Brown

John Brown was famous for his violent approaches to abolition. Starting with the violence resulting from the Kansas-Nebraska Act (Bleeding Kansas) in 1854, Brown moved all over the North, believing God had sent him on a vengeance mission. He was most famous for the Harpers Ferry raid of a federal armory in 1859, where he was forced to surrender to Robert E. Lee and was subsequently tried and hanged for murder, slave insurrection, and treason.

Southern antebellum proslavery arguments

Many Southerners attempted to morally justify the institution of slavery, upon which their economy depended. For instance, Thomas R. Dew said in 1852 that slavery was immoral but that its downfall would cause the destruction of the American economy, and that black people (who he claimed were naturally inferior) were happy to serve as slaves. John C. Calhoun said in 1837 that slavery was a “positive social good” and that the North would see the error of their ways when they were economically surpassed by the South.

Crittenden Compromise

Proposed by Senator John J. Crittenden, the Crittenden Compromise attempted to stop Southern secession by the addition of a Constitutional amendment protecting slavery from federal interference (where it existed at the time), calling for westward extension of the Missouri Compromise line, and the abolition of slavery north of said line. Any new territories acquired below the line would be allowed to enter as slave states. Lincoln told Congressional Republican to reject this plan for fear of another wave of expansion that may bring slavery along with it.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

(1854) Voided the Missouri Compromise, instilled popular sovereignty in CA/UT/NM, and drew new boundary lines for the Kansas and Nebraska territories. It was highly divisive, even causing the Whig Party to splinter into factions, and caused violence (Bleeding Kansas) in new territories when Americans on both sides of the slavery debate flooded in to sway the votes deciding legislatures there.

end of Second Party System

The Second Party System ended when the Whig Party disintegrated due to arguments over slavery and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Whig Party was so unable to agree on the slavery issue that Franklin Pierce was basically handed the election of 1852.

secession crisis

The secession crisis occurred when Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860 and Southerners were afraid that he would push abolition as president, despite his reassurance that he would not do so. Lincoln had won without a single Southern electoral vote, and the South saw that even all of their political power combined could no longer withstand the growing North. South Carolina was the first to secede (December 20th, 1860), and North Carolina was the last (May 20th, 1861).

Union drafts (Militia Act of 1862 + Enrollment Act of 1863)

Union conscription efforts were met with considerable opposition, especially from poor whites (who could not afford to pay fees to get out of military service) and recent Irish/German immigrants (who claimed that it was not their war to fight in). Lincoln also suspended habeus corpus (Constitutional right protecting individual freedom from arbitrary executive power) and imprisoned 15,000 Southern sympathizers without trial.

Confiscation Act

(August 1861) The Confiscation Act was one of several pieces of legislature that the Union used to destroy the system of slavery during the Civil War. It allowed emancipation to refugee or captured slaves following General Butler’s label of escaped slaves as “contraband of war” (refused to give back Southern slaves).

Emancipation Proclamation (DATE ONLY)

January 1st, 1863

Ulysses S. Grant

General Grant’s decisive military leadership gave the Union several significant victories as well as damaging infrastructure and morale in the South while bolstering Union support, helping Lincoln be re-elected. Grant was placed in charge of all Union armies in March 1864.

13th/14th/15th Amendments

Passed after Reconstruction - Southern states were forced to ratify many of them to be readmitted to the Union. In order, they abolished slavery, allowed citizenship for everyone born or naturalized in the US, and allowed the right to vote regardless of race (although it did not include women).

Minor v. Happersett

(1875) Supreme Court decision that denied the constitutional basis for women’s suffrage under the 14th Amendment.

Civil Rights Act of 1866 + Freedmen’s Bureau

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was the first US law that defined citizenship and grant equal protection under the law to all citizens. The Freedmen’s Bureau was established in 1865 to help regulate the working conditions of free black laborers, provide relief for poor people in war-torn Southern areas, administer justice in cases of black freedmen, and provide education.

Reconstruction Act of 1867

This act divided the South into 5 military zones, each to be monitored by a Union general. This was in the wake of increasing racial violence by Southern white supremacist terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of the White Camelia. It also forced new Southern governments to ratify the 15th Amendment. It was later repealed under the Compromise of 1877.

Black Codes

Restrictive laws designed to limit African-American freedoms in order to ensure their continued availability as a source of cheap labor after the abolition of slavery. Many African-Americans who refused to sign mandatory annual labor contracts risked being fined, arrested, and forced into unpaid labor. Widespread outrage over these laws and the government’s inefficacy regulating them led to decreased support for Andrew Johnson and the Republicans.

KKK/Redemption

“Redemption” was the name given to the period of Southern resistance to Reconstruction policies and their attempt to “redeem” the South and bring it back to its antebellum “glory days”. White supremacist groups like the KKK attempted to undermine the newly established freedoms of black Southerners by terrorizing them at voting places and even in their homes via lynching.

Standard Oil (John D. Rockefeller)

Controlled almost 90% of the oil industry, working to eliminate competition through horizontal integration. Also pioneered the concept of trusts, which became both a dominant economic force and a highly contested political matter in the following years under Roosevelt and Taft.

annexation of Hawai’i

Congress passed a joint resolution to annex Hawai’i in 1898. This annexation effectively extended US influence into the Pacific and fulfilled numerous economic and strategic interests (planting and naval bases like Pearl Harbor), although it was highly protested by native Hawaiians, who wanted to maintain their sovereignty under the monarchy of Queen Lili’oukalani.

William Seward

The Secretary of State between 1861-1869 who negotiated various land purchases, notably the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7 million in 1867. He was also a prominent Republican and abolitionist.