APUSH Unit 5

Wilmot Proviso

Amendment that said that slavery should be prohibited in all territories taken from Mexico. Never became law, but it provoked a passionate defense of slavery from Southerners.

Missouri Compromise

ME was admitted to the Union as a free state and MO as a slave state. Any part part of the LA territory north of 36 degrees, 30 inches (latitude) would be free territory.

Free Soil Party

Political party that opposed the spread of slavery into any of the recently acquired territories.

Compromise of 1850

California entered as free state, the Fugitive Slave Act was strengthened, and popular sovereignty was applied in NM and UT territories.

Fugitive Slave Act

Part of the Compromise of 1850, this set up commissions in the North to investigate people accused of being runaway slaves. Commissioners were given more money if the accused were determined to be runaways, ostensibly to offset paperwork costs. Some Northern states passed laws to circumvent this act.

Crittenden Plan

1860 compromise on slavery that would have allowed slavery to continue in South and denied Congress power to regulate interstate slave trade. Republicans in Congress defeated the plan on advice from Abraham Lincoln.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Compromise created by Stephen Douglas to gain Southern support for transcontinental railroad across northern plains. KS & NE were opened to popular sovereignty.Led to large scale migration to the territories and bloodshed between Northerners and Southerners.

Republican Party

Formed in 1854 and attracted former Whigs, Free-Soilers, and some disaffected Democrats.

Bleeding Kansas

Intense, small scale violence resulting from the KS-NE Act. Residents of KS would decide if the territory would allow slavery or not. Pro- and anti-slavery settlers flooded territory.

Dred Scott Case

1857 Supreme Court case involving slave who had lived in free states and then petitioned for his freedom. Court ruled blacks were property not citizens under Constitution. Therefore plaintiff could not sue in court. MO Compromise ruled unconstitutional b/c Congress cannot limit property rights.

Freeport Doctrine

Stephen Douglas introduced this position in Lincoln-Douglas debates. Douglas believed, despite Dred Scott decision, a territory could still prevent slavery by electing anti-slavery officials and enacting laws that would make slavery impossible to enforce.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

1852 novel written by Harriet Beecher Stow that depicted horrors of Southern slavery in great (and often dramatic) detail. Wildly popular, the novel went through several printings in 1850s and 1860s and helped fuel abolitionist movement in the North.

Fort Sumter

A federal fort located in Charleston, South Carolina that was fired on by Confederate artillery on April 12, 1861. First shots of the Civil War which caused a public outcry in the Northern states and the mobilization of a federal army began.

Draft

Conscription (forced recruiting) for military service. Led to series of riots in the North during the war because many poor whites objected to fighting to end slavery.

Greenbacks

Paper money issued by the American government during and immediately after the Civil War.

Martial Law

Occurs during a state of emergency when the rule of law may be suspended Government is controlled by military or police authorities. Imposed by Lincoln during war.

Copperheads

Democrats in Congress during Civil War who opposed Lincoln and the North's attack on the South. Claimed that the war would result in massive numbers of slaves entering the North and total disruption of Northern economy.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

Requires that a suspect must be brought to court and charged or else be released from jail.

Emancipation Proclamation

Edict by Abraham Lincoln that abolished slavery in Confederate territory as a "military necessity." Did not affect slaves in the four slave-holding border states that remained in the Union.

Confederate States of America

Eventually made up of 11 former state with Jefferson Davis as its first and only president.

First Battle of Bull Run

In this first major battle of the Civil War, Confederate forces defeated the Union army on July 21, 1861. Union troops fled in disarray back to Washington, D.C. Convinced Lincoln and others in the north that victory would not be easy.

Battle of Gettysburg

Most important battle of the Civil War, in early July 1863 Union forces prevented General Robert E. Lee from successfully invading the North. Along with the Confederate defeat at Vicksburg, MS, this battle turned the tide of the war against the Confederacy.

Battle of Vicksburg

A Confederate city along the Mississippi River taken after a long Union siege in July 1863. Gave Union virtually complete control of the Mississippi River and was a serious psychological blow to the Confederacy.

Gettysburg Address

Speech made by Abraham Lincoln at dedication ceremony for cemetery for Union soldiers. Lincoln urged the nation to continue the war effort and remember that the fallen soldiers had died so that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Anaconda Plan

Called for the blockade of critical Southern ports and eventual control of the Mississippi River, which would create major economic and strategic difficulties for the Confederacy.

Appomattox Courthouse

Virginia village where Ulysses S. Grant's Union army caught Robert E. Lee's retreating Confederate force in April 1865. In the private home of Wilmer McLean, Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederacy's largest remaining army, the Army of Virginia, on April 9.

Carpetbaggers

Term used by Southerners to mock Northerners who came to the South to gain either financially or politically during Reconstruction. Referred to the luggage the Northerners supposedly carried.

Scalawags

Term used by Southerners in the Reconstruction era for fellow Southerns who either supported Republican Reconstruction policies or gained economically as a result of these policies.

Ku Klux Klan

Organization founded during the Reconstruction by Southerners who wanted to maintain white supremacy. Used terror tactics, including murder, to suppress blacks and their supporters.

Fifteenth Amendment

Ratified by the states in 1870 and stated that a person could not be denied the right to vote because of the color of his or her skin or whether or not the person had been a slave.

Compromise of 1877

Political deal that ended the contested presidential election of 1876. Representatives of the Southern states agreed to recognize Republican Rutherford B. Hayes as president. In return, the Union army was removed from the South, ending Reconstruction.

Reconstruction Era

Time period following the Civil War where Radical Republicans initiated changes in the South that gave freed slaves new economic, social, and political rights. Resented by many Southerners, leading to the creation of the Ku Klux Klan. Ended with Compromise of 1877.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

Struck down Black Codes and defined the rights of all citizens. Stated that the federal government could act when civil rights were violated at the state level. Passed by Congress over the veto of President Andrew Johnson.

Thirteenth Amendment

Abolished slavery in the United States and all of its territories. Final approval of this amendment depended on ratification by newly constructed legislatures in 8 states that were former members of the Confederacy.

Sharecropping

Farmers worked for a landlord, receiving seed and farming implements, and in return for their labor received the profits for a share of the crop. Many poor blacks and whites became permanently indebted to their landlords under this system.

Ten Percent Plan

Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction. Offered pardons to most Southerners who would take an oath of allegiance to the Union and accepted 13th Amendment. Once ten percent of citizens of a state took the oath, the state could apply to rejoin the Union.

Wade-Davis Act

Congress passed this bill in 1864 in response to Lincoln's "10 Percent Plan." Set out much more difficult conditions for Southern reentry to the Union, including requiring half the white male citizens of a state to take a loyalty oath to the Union and the 13th Amendment.

Fourteenth Amendment

Stated that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" were citizens. All former Confederate supporters were prohibited from holding office in the United States.

Freedman's Bureau

Helped freed slaves obtain employment, education, and general assistance as they adjusted to their new lives. Under programs run by this office, some ex-slaves received "40 acres and a mule."

Radical Republicans

Group of elected officials after the Civil War who favored harsh treatment of the defeated South and a dramatic restructuring of the economic and social systems in the South. Favored a decisive elevation of the political, economic, and social positions of former slaves.

Reconstruction Act

Radical Republicans' plan to control the south, approved in March 1867. Former Confederacy was divided into five military districts (TN was exempt). Conventions were to be called to create new state governments, with former Confederate officials ineligible to hold office.

Tenure of Office Act

1867 congressional act designed to limit appointment powers of President Johnson. Stated that Congress had to approve the removal of officials made by the president.

Tenant famers

In the Reconstruction South, farmers who rented land from a landowner but usually did not suffer under the extremes of sharecropping conditions.

Freedmen and Freedwomen

Term for free black in the South after the Civil War. They enjoyed gains in education, ability to hold public office, and economic well-being during Reconstruction era.

Black Codes

Laws adopted by Southern states in the Reconstruction era that greatly limited the freedom of Southern blacks. In several states, blacks could not move, own land, serve on juries or testify against whites, or do anything but farm.

King Cotton

An expression to shows the importance of cotton in the South. They produced 95% of the country's supply and cotton represented over half of the country's exports in 1860.

Domestic Slave Trade

A shift in slavery in the border South to states in the deep South because of the explosion of Cotton production.

Republic of Texas

A country for roughly 9 years following their separation from Mexico. Eventually joined the US following the election of 1844 and the rise in Manifest Destiny.

Battle of the Alamo

A famous battle during the war for Texas independence that served as a rally cry and encouraged Americans to join the fight.

Antebellum

A time period in the South of radical change prior to the Civil War. Agriculture became commercialized, slavery became wide spread and the sectionalism became increasingly more hostile.

Benevolent masters

A belief system held by slave owners that they were kind and generous to the slaves. They also felt it was their responsibility to provide slaves with a moral and religious upbringing.

Manifest Destiny

Expression created by John L. O'Sullivan to express the belief that US was superior and ultimately was selected by God to settle the western lands.

Ostend Manifesto

A plan designed by southern politicians to acquire Cuba from the Spanish because they had slaves and would expand slave holding areas.

Popular Sovereignty

The idea that voters should decide key issues. The concept was part of the Kansas-Nebraska Act that gave residents the right to decide their status as a free or slave state.

Mexican-American War

A conflict sparked by the US in order to gain control over vast amounts of land in the west and southwest.

Treaty of Guadeloupe-Hidalgo

The agreement between Mexico and America in which the US acquired 1/3 of Mexico-including TX, NM, AZ, CA, UT, CO & NV

Pottawatomie Creek Massacre

An evening of attacks led by John Brown on pro-slavery families in KS. A symbol of the growing violence in KS and made Brown a hero among abolitionists.

The Liberator

An abolitionist newspaper run by William L. Garrison.

Harper's Ferry Raid

A violent attack on a weapons depot in WV by John Brown. He wanted to collect weapons to distribute to slaves in the South and lead a uprising.

Sectionalism

A term used to describe the growing tension between the different regions of the US. The issues revolved around the power of the Federal government, economic challenges and the institution of slavery.

Election of 1860

The election of Lincoln that led to the Civil War because he won with less than 50% and never campaigned in Southern states.

Gadsden Purchase

Land acquisition along the southern tips of AZ and NM that would have allowed for the easiest route to build a transcontinental railroad.

Scorched-Earth Campaign

A military campaign designed to break the will of the South. Led to the destruction of Atlanta, Savannah and Columbia. Included the destruction of railroads, crops, cattle and factories.

Total War

A new method of conducting war that meant fighting and destruction would not be limited to the battlefield. It also means that war would be the efforts of everyone in society to achieve victory.

Cotton Diplomacy

The strategy used by the South to gain European support during the Civil War because they believed the textile industries of Europe were dependent upon them.

National Bank Act

Legislation designed to create a national banking system and help fund the Civil War. Banks functioned in a similar fashion as state banks, but the charter was issued by the Federal government and was regulated on the national level.

Morrill Act

Land provided to states to create universities and colleges. It was designed to improve the lives of the poor, but in many southern states the schools were for whites only.

New York Draft Riots

A violent outbreak in New York that led to mobs of people attacking blacks and the wealthy because of conscription.

Southern Homestead Act

Legislation that attempted to end the never ending cycle of debt created by Sharecropping and tenant farming. It offered land to poor farmers at a cheap price, but was still too expensive for most.

Force Acts

Nicknamed the KKK acts, they were designed to prevent voter intimidation of free blacks or denying them their Civil Rights

Amnesty Act/Civil Rights Act of 1875

Legislation designed to protect recently freed blacks and provide them with equal access to public institutions(inns, transportation, theaters, etc) or pay heavy fines.

Panic of 1873

An economic meltdown that resulted in the public turning on Grant the Republican party. It lead to the destruction of the credit market, the closing of many factories and numerous railroads.

New York Tribune

The country's most popular newspaper during the 1850's & 60's. It's wide circulation helped shape the nation's views on slavery, expansion and the Reconstruction.