APUSH Period 5 key concepts

What were reasons for the increased enthusiasm for westward migration?

Access to natural & mineral resources: California GOLD RUSH (1840s), Comstock Lode (location of silver ore, settlements built around resources to MINE)

Economic oppurtunities: "SAFETY-VALVE" theory, the idea that one could always pack up & move out west to make $

Religous Refuge:

MORMONS (led by Brigham Young, moved west to Utah)

What were reasons for manifest destiny?

Spread US institutions & beliefs (which Americans believed were SUPERIOR)

Economic (access to land)

How did the US gain land (the large territories in the West)?

Victory in the Mexican-American War (1846-48): gained the Mexican Cession

Negotiations: GADSDEN Purchase (bought to build continental railroad)

OREGON Territory

What did the new acquisition of western lands lead to DEBATES over?

SLAVERY:

• WILMOT PROVISO: sought to ban SLAVERY in Mexican Cession land

• Free Soil Party (didn't want slavery to extend, 1840s-1850s)

Status of Native Americans & Mexicans:

• Mexican given a choice to either become US Citizens or move to other parts of Mexico

How did the US Govt ENCOURAGE westward expansion?

Boosted DURING & AFTER the civil war through the passage of new legislation:

• Homestead Act (1862), provided 160 acres of land w/ the promise to live on & improve the land for 5 years

• Govt provided subsidies ($) to railroads

How did the US seek initiatives with Asia (to expand trade & create more ties)?

• Matthew Perry and the "opening" of Japan (1850s) (led his 4 ships into Tokyo Bay's harbor looking to re-establish trade w/ Japan)

• Clipper ships (allowed for faster trade, tea)

• Missionaries went to China to spread Christianity

Immigration from EUROPE (1840s-1850s)

Irish: Settled in CITIES in the Northeast, mostly CATHOLIC

Germans: Settled on "FRONTIER" / Midwest as FARMERS (Wisconsin).

Many immigrant children attended parochial (related to the church) schools (ex. Catholic schools)

Immigration from ASIA (1840s-1850s)

Chinese immigrants settled on the West Coast (1850s). They worked in GOLD MINES(California gold rush), factories, and farming

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) later FORBID Chinese immigration.

What was a shared characteristic of immigrants in the 1840s/50s?

Settled in ethnic communities and preserved elements of their own cultures (through languages and customs).

The emergence of Nativism

Strong, anti-Catholic (Irish were Catholic) NATIVIST movement (also called Xenophobia-- predjudice against people from other countries)

Wanted to LIMIT immigrants' political power:

Know-Nothing Party: Anti-immigrant & anti-Catholic. Wanted to limit the power & influence of immigrants.

What were CONFLICTS w/ Mexican Americans & Natives that increased in the newly acquired regions taken from Natives & Mexico?

Sand Creek Massacre (1864): Colorado militia attacked Cheyenne Indians & killed over 100 mostly women and children.

Little Big Horn (Custer's Last Stand): Natives attacked Custer & his men.

US wanted to ASSIMILATE many Natives so they'd adopt white ways (DAWES SEVERALTY ACT 1887)

What did the North vs. South rely on for labor?

NORTH: manufacturing, relied on free labor

SOUTH: agriculture, relied on slavery

Free Soil Movement: sought to keep slavery from EXPANDING (esp in the MEXICAN CESSION), bc they believed slavery was incompatible w/ free labor (took away jobs & economic opportunities from whites)

What arguments did defenders of slavery use?

RACIAL doctrines: African-Americans were seen as "savages" (connection to Native-Americans before)

Slavery --> "positive good"

Believed the CONSTITUTION protected states' rights & slavery (slaves were deemed as property in Dred Scott)

How did the Mexican Cession lead to the secession of Southern states?

Led to heated CONTROVERSIES over whether or not to allow slavery in the newly acquired territories (#1 CAUSE OF CIVIL WAR)

Wilmot Proviso: Sought to ban slavery in the Mexican Cession (passed in House but not Senate)

What were the ATTEMPTS made by courts & national leaders to resolve the issue of slavery in the new territories?

COURTS: Dredd Scott v. Sanford (1857)

NATIONAL LEADERS: Compromise of 1850 (Stephen Douglas & Henry Clay), Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854 (Stephen Douglas)

Dredd Scott v. Sanford (1857)

• Both free & enslaved African-Americans were deemed not citizens, & therefore COULDN'T sue in court.

• Slaves were considered PROPERTY, & therefore couldn't be taken away (5th Amend)

• Congress could NOT regulate slavery in the territories

Compromise of 1850

Stephen Douglas & Henry Clay

• CA added as a free state (tips balance in FAVOR of free states)

• Slave TRADE abolished in Washington DC

• Popular Sovereignty in Mexican Cession to decide slavery

• More strict FUGITIVE slave law

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Proposed by Stephen Douglas

• Allowed for popular sovereignty in Kansas & Nebraska (but expectation was KS would be slave, NB free)

• Overturned the MO Compromise

• Helped lead to the creation of the REPUBLICAN Party (1854)

What led to the END of the 2nd Party System (Democrats vs. Whigs)?

• Issues over SLAVERY & ANTI-immigrant NATIVISM weakened loyalties to the two major parties, led to the emergence of sectional parties (election of 1860!)

• REPUBLICAN PARTY emerged in the NORTH (made up of Free-Soilers & former Whigs). Lincoln's 1860 Election platform was the NONEXTENSION of slavery

Election of 1860

Lincoln wins on his free-soil platform (not ENDING slavery but keeping it from spreading), even w/o a SINGLE Southern electoral vote.

This was the immediate cause of the Civil War. South Carolina secedes first (Dec. 20, 1860), 6 states follow shortly after.

What were some of the factors that led to a Union Victory over the Confederacy in the Civil War?

• North's greater manpower

• North's industrial resources

• Leadership of Lincoln & others

• Decision to emancipate slaves

In what ways did both the Union & Confederacy mobilize/dedicate their economies & societies into fighting the war?

• Conscription (DRAFT) in BOTH regions

Opposition persisted in BOTH regions:

North-- Maryland newspapers shut down by Lincoln, NY CITY DRAFT RIOTS ("Rich man's war, but a poor man's fight")

South-- Many farmers REFUSED to fight & wouldn't let slaves fight

How did Lincoln's issuing of the EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION reframe the PURPOSE of the war?

INITIALLY, the war was fought to PRESERVE the UNION.

Emancipation Proclamation (Sept. 1862):

• Changed the PURPOSE of the war

• Kept European powers from SIDING w/ the SOUTH

• Many African-Americans enlisted in the Union Army

How did Lincoln seek to REUNIFY the country as the war raged on?

SPEECHES:

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS - referenced a "new birth of freedom", portrayed the struggle against slavery as fulfillment of America's FOUNDING DEMOCRATIC IDEALS.