APUSH Unit 5 MCQs

Manifest Destiny

The belief that the US had a “mission” to expand westward across North America. Example: Texas; Mexico gains independence from Spain in 1821 and attracts Americans to move there to boost economy

Texas Revolution

1835-1836; Texas becomes independent from Mexico but denied statehood due to slavery

Oregon Territory

Claimed by different powers, led to disagreements

Election of 1844

James K. Polk (Dem); Campaigns on aggressive expansion and manifest destiny, “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight” where Texas is annexed and Polk signs treaty to divide Oregon territory at the 49th parallel

Mexican American War

1846-1848; Border dispute with Texas and US desire for westward expansion lead to war.

John C. Fremont

Overthrew Mexican rule in California, leading them to be briefly independent

Zachary Taylor

Took Texas during Mexican American War

Winfield Scott

Captured Mexico City during Mexican American War

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

1848; US takes possession of New Mexico and California, leading to Mexican Cession. The Texas Border is moved to Rio Grande.

Wilmot Proviso

Proposal to ban slavery in new territory from Mexico but fails in Senate

Election of 1848

Zachary Taylor (Whig)

Expansion of Slavery Debate in 1848

3 positions on slavery in new territories:

-Outlaw (Wilmot Proviso) Party developed: Free Soil Party

-Allow

-Popular Sovereignty

Compromise of 1850

Proposed by Henry Clay amid divide over slavery in newe territories; Admitted California as a free state, divided the remainder of new territory into 2 (Utah and New Mexico) and give them popular sovereignty, end slave trade in DC (but not ownership) and adopt Fugitive Slave Act

Fugitive Slave Act

1850; If slaves escaped, even to a free state, they had to be returned to their owners because they were considered “property”

Gadsden Purchase

1853; Small piece of present-day Arizona and New Mexico purchased from Mexico

Ostend Manifesto

Outlined reasons for purchasing Cuba from Spain

Kanagawa Treaty

1854; Matthew Perry arrives in Japan and signs to open ports in Japan to trade with US

Second Wave of US Immigration

Irish (fleeing famine) challenged Protestantism in the US, Germans

Nativism

New opposition to immigration begins to form

Antislavery

Economic Argument against slavery: Impending Crisis of the South

Moral Opposition

Stop expansion and gradually abolish

Abolitionism

Mostly African Americans who wanted slavery to be gone, assisted escaped slaves through Underground Railroad

Literature focused on moral argument: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Pro-Slavery

Mainly slaveholders/Southern Whites

Arguments:

slavery=positive social good

slavery=part of states’ rights

George Fitzhugh-Sociology for the South (argument that freed slaves could not compete with white people in job market)

Election of 1852

Franklin Pierce

Kansas And Nebraska Act

1854; Made Nebraska free and disagreement in Kansas led to fight called “Bleeding Kansas”

Bleeding Kansas

1854; first large scale physical fight over slavery

Know-Nothing Party

Campaigned against immigration rather than slavery

Republican Party

Founded on antislavery, later merges with Whig party

Election of 1856

James Buchanan

Lecompton Constitution

1859; document drafted by proslavery advocates in an effort to enter Kansas as a slave state. Buchanan supported but was rejected by congress.

Dred Scott vs. Sandford

1857; goes to supreme court (chief justice= Roger Tobey). Dred Scott denied because as a slave he didn’t have the right to sue and it goes against Missouri Compromise (keeping people from property). Leads to a lot of domestic tension and anger surrounding slavery.

Abraham Lincoln’s Senate Race

1858-1859; Lincoln runs as senator for Illinois, opposed by Democrat Stephen Douglas

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Lincoln challenges the Democrat party’s approach to slavery and points out the contradiction between popular sovereignty and the Dred Scott case. Divides the party and leads to Freeport Doctrine.

Freeport Doctrine

Stated that the official Democrat position on slavery was popular sovereignty, dividing the party.

Raid at Harpers Ferry

1859; Raid at Harpers Ferry Virginia by John Brown to steal weapons and give them to slaves and encourage rebellion. Unsuccessful

Election of 1860

With the Democratic Party now divided, two Democrat nominees run for office: Stephen Douglas (popular sovereignty) and John C. Breckinridge (proslavery). Lincoln is nominated for GOP candidate and wins

Constitutional

Constitutional Union Party

Ignored slavery debate

Confederate States of America

1861; The South secedes after the election of Lincoln and forms their own territory

Crittenden Compromise

Final attempt at conserving the Union, stated that a Constitutional amendment would be made guaranteeing right for Southerners to hold slaves. Opposed and denied by Lincoln and Republicans.

Fort Sumter

1861; Southerners surround Fort Sumter in South Carolina and fire on Union troops, beginning the Civil War.