APUSH Period 5 (5.2-5.4)

James K Polk

President who ran his campaign on westward expansion and Manifest Destiny. During his presidency, the US annexed Texas, settled the Oregon border, acquired California and the Southwest. He was sometimes called "Young Hickory" and seen as a second Andrew Jackson because his ideas about the American System, bank, and tariffs were similar.

Zachary Taylor

Whig president who was a Southern slave holder, and war hero (Mexican-American War). Won the 1848 election without addressing the issue of slavery. He opposed the Compromise of 1850 and threatened to use military force to stop secession if it became a problem.

Millard Fillmore

Became president when Zachary Taylor died. Best known for signing the Compromise of 1850. Last Whig president, he was criticized for passing the Fugitive Slave Act despite opposing slavery.

John O'Sullivan

Wrote an editorial that first mentioned the term "Manifest Destiny"

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both divinely justified and inevitable.

California Gold Rush

Beginning in 1848, gold seekers traveled to California by boat or wagon. Rapid population growth led to California becoming a state in 1850.

Preemption Acts

Legislation passed in the 1830s and 1840s that gave "squatters" the right to settle public land and then purchase it at the minimum price once the government put it up for sale.

Homestead Act

1862 law that gave 160 acres of land to citizens willing to live on and cultivate it for five years. Explicitly prohibited members of the Confederacy from gaining land.

Fifty-Four Forty or Fight

Political slogan of the Democrats in the election of 1844 representing Polk's goal of westward expansion and desire to claim the Oregon Territory for the United States.

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

Treaty that ended the Mexican War, granting the U.S. control of Texas, New Mexico, and California in exchange for $15 million.

Gadsden Purchase

1853 purchase by the United States of southwestern lands from Mexico to facilitate building the transcontinental railroad.

Indian Appropriations Act of 1851

Established the Indian reservation system and U.S. federal authority over it.

Ostend Manifesto

In response to a southern plot to take Cuba by force (as a slave state) if Spain would not sell it to the US. It was discovered, and President Buchanan was forced to negate the plan. Increased sectional tensions over slavery.

Mexican-American War

(1846-1848) The war between the United States and Mexico in which the United States acquired one half of the Mexican territory.

Republic of Texas

Independent nation of Texas, which lasted from 1836 until 1845, when Texas was annexed to the United States.

Annexation of Texas

Republic of Texas requested to be annexed into the United States. Initially the US did not due to the slavery debate and concern over war with Mexico. Admitted as a state in 1845 by President Polk.

Mexican Cession

Historical name for the region in the southwestern United States that was ceded to the U.S. by Mexico under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo following the Mexican-American War.

Compromise of 1850

(1) California admitted as free state, (2) territorial status and popular sovereignty of Utah and New Mexico, (3) resolution of Texas-New Mexico boundaries, (4) federal assumption of Texas debt, (5) slave trade abolished in DC, and (6) new fugitive slave law. Advocates were Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas

Henry Clay

Kentucky senator who outlined the Compromise of 1850, but died before it was passed.

Popular Sovereignty

Generally allowed people to decide for themselves. In the Compromise of 1850 it referred to Utah and New Mexico being able to decide for themselves if slavery would be permitted.

Wilmot Proviso

Bill that would ban slavery in the territories acquired after the War with Mexico.

Free Soil Party

A political party formed in 1848 to oppose the extension of slavery into U.S. territories. The party's slogan was "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, Free Men," and the party played a key role in bringing together anti-slavery factions that formed the Republican Party in 1854.

Fugitive Slave Act

A law that made it a crime to help runaway slaves; allowed for the arrest of escaped slaves in areas where slavery was illegal and required their return to slaveholders. Increased sectional tensions.

Great Triumvirate

Statesmen who represented the three regions and shaped national policy from 1815-1850. All ran for president, none won. Clay (West), Calhoun (South), Webster (North) - had different perspectives but were critical in the Compromise of 1850 and delaying the Civil War.