APUSH Period 5

1844 U.S. Election

• Candidates: James Polk (Democrat) vs. Henry Clay (Whig)

• "54°40´ or Fight"

• the United States ought to claim all the territory up to 54 degrees and 40 minutes north parallel or fight Great Britain for the land

Oregon Treaty

• signed with Great Britain in 1846

  • Acquired peaceful ownership of Oregon, Washington, and parts of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana

  • Established current northern border of the region

Gadsden Purchase

• Gadsden Purchase ($10 million): southern regions of modern Arizona and New Mexico for transcontinental railroad

The Compromise of 1850

• Admitted California as a free state and stronger fugitive slave law enacted

• Created the territories of Utah and New Mexico, left status of slavery up to each territory to decide

• Abolished slave trade, not slavery itself, in Washington, D.C.

Battle of Antietam

• First battle fought in the East where the Union wasn't completely defeated

• Union claimed victory and showed Britain and France that they weren't a lost cause

• Gave Lincoln platform to announce the Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation Proclamation

• The Emancipation Proclamation stated that the government would liberate all slaves in states "in rebellion" on January 1, 1863

Freedman's Bureau

• Established Freedman's Bureau for newly liberated Black people

• First federal, social welfare program in U.S. history

10% plan

• Lincoln's Ten-Percent Plan was a plan to allow southern states back into the Union after 10% of voters took an oath of allegiance and accepted the Thirteenth Amendment, but was seen as too lenient by Republicans

Wade-Davis Bill

• provided for military rule in former Confederate states and required 50% of the electorate to swear an oath of allegiance, but was pocket vetoed by Lincoln and later died

Rutherford B Hayes

• ended military reconstruction, federal troops pulled out of Southern states

• Military reconstruction ended, life for Black people became worse and took nearly 100 years for the federal government to fulfill the ideal of equality expressed in the Declaration of Independence.

The Amendments

• The 13th Amendment abolished slavery.

• The 14th Amendment granted African Americans citizenship and equal protection under the laws.

• The 15th Amendment granted African American men voting rights.