APUSH Flashcards

Manifest Destiny

The idea that the US had a divine mission to extend its power and civilization across North America.  

Texas Annexation and Independance

American migrants settled in Mexico, and when laws around Catholicism and Slavery were established in Texas they fought for their independance. After the election of Polk, Tyler persuaded both houses to pass a join resolution to annex and admit Texas.

Webster-Ashburn Treaty

After disputes between the Northern border of Maine/Canada erupted into the battle of the maps, this treaty settled the boundaries of Maine and Minnesota in 1842.  

Oregon Cession and "54 40 or Fight!" 

Many Americans settled the Oregon territory in the 1840s, and by the 1844 election many Americans believed that America had to take undisputed possession of all of Oregon. The slogan appealed to American westerners and Southerners who wanted expansion. Polk did back down from the slogan and compramised on just the southern half of it.  

Causes of the Mexican-American War

• While waiting for Mexico to respond to a first proposal, Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to move his army toward the Rio Grande across territoy claimed by Mexico. A mexican army crossed the Rio Grande and captured an American patrol, killing 11. Polk used the incident to justify sending his pre-prepared war message to congress.  

• Disputes over the Southern border of Texas, Mexico thought it was at the Nueces River and the US thought it was at the Rio Grande river. 

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 

A treaty signed in 1848 as terms for the end of the Mexican-American War. It said that Mexico would recognize the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas and that the US would take possession of the former Mexican provinces of California and New Mexico for $15 million.  

Wilmot Proviso

A bill proposed by David Wilmot in the first year of the war that would forbid slavery in any of the new territories acquired from Mexico. It passed the House but was defeated in the Senate. 

Ostend Manifesto

Polk offered to purchase Cuba from Spain for $100 million, but Spain refused. When Franklin Pierce was elected, he dispatched three diplomats to Belgium to secretly negotiate the purchase of Cuba. What the diplomats drew up was leaked and provoked an angry reaction from antislavery members of congress and Pierce was forced to drop the scheme.  

Gadsden Purchase

In 1853, Mexico agreed to sell the southern sections of present-day NM and AZ for $10 million dollars. Pierce wanted this land to build a railroad. 

Panic of 1857

The midcentury economic boom ended with a financial panic. Prices, especially for Midwestern farmers, dropped sharply and unemployment in Northern cities increased. The south was less affected because the price of cotton stayed high.  

Free-Soil Party

Northerners who opposed slavery in the territories organized this party. It's chief objective was to prevent the expansion of slavery and advocate for free homesteads and internal improvements. They wanted the West to be a land of opportunity for whites only so that white would not have to compete with the labor of slaves of free blacks. 

Popular Soverienty

The principle allowing settlers in a territory to determine its status regarding slavery through voting.

Compromise of 1850

California wanted admission to the Union as a free state. President Taylor supported this plan. This angered Southerners, and Henry Clay proposed a compromise that: 

• Admit California to the Union as a free state 

• Divide the remainder of the Mexican Cession into Utah and NM and allow settlers in these territories to vote on slavery 

• Ban the slave trade in DC 

• Adopt new Fugitive Slave Law and enforce it rigorously 

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

A novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe about slavery

Impending Crisis in the South

Hinton Helper's nonfiction book that attacked slavery by using statistics to demonstrate that slavery weakened the South's economy.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

A bill by Stephen A. Douglas which proposed the division of Nebraska into Kansas and Nebraska and allow settlers in each territory to decide whether to allow slavery or not.  

Bleeding Kansas

As both Northerns and Southerns sought to expand into Kansas, fighting (including some deaths/murders) broke out between the proslavery and antislavery groups in the area, giving it this name.  

Caning of Sumner

Mass. Senator Charles Sumner verbally attacked the Democratic administration in a speech. It included personal charges against SC Senator Ander Butler. Butler's nephew, also a Congressman, defended his uncle's honor by walking into the Senate and beating Sumner over the head with a cane. Sumner never recovered from the attack and Brooks was censured.  

Lecompton Constitution

A proslavery state constitution submitted for Kansas by the Southern legislature at Lecompton. President Buchanan knew it did not have the support of the majority of settlers, yet, he asked congress to accept the documents and admit Kansas as a slave state. The document was rejected. 

Rise of the republican party

Founded in Wisconsin in 1854 as a reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It was coalition of antislavery Whigs and Democrats, with the main purpose to oppose the spread of slavery (although not necessarily ed it). As violence in Kansas increased, it grew and eventually became the second largest party.  

Dred Scott vs. Sandford

Scott had been a slave in Missouri and then taken to the free territory of Wisconsin for two years before going back to Missouri. He argued that his residence on free soil made him a free citizen and sued for his freedom in 1846. The Supreme Court rules that he was not because: 

• He did not have the right to sue in federal court because the framers of the constitution if not intend for African Americans to be US citizens 

• Congress did not have the power to deprive someone of property w/o due process of the law and slaves were property so Congress couldn't exclude slavery from federal territory. 

• Missouri compromise was unconstitutional because it excluded slavery from Wisconsin and other Northern territories 

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Debates between Douglas and Lincoln over an Illinois senate seat. In the debates, Lincoln argued that they cannot live in a divided house with people being half slave and half free. At one point, Douglas said that slavery could not exist in a community if the local citizens did not pass laws maintaining it. This angered Southern democrats because they thought he didn't go far enough in supporting the implications of the Dred Scott decision. 

John Brown’s raid at harper’s ferry

John Borwn led a small band of folowers on an attack at the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. His plan had been to use the guns to arms Virgnia slaves. Federal topps under the command of Robert E. Lee captured Brown and his followers.

Election of 1860 policitcal parties

Democratic Party: 

• They could not decide on a candidate 

• The Southern democrates held their own convention and picked VP John C. Breckinridge 

• The Northern democrats picked Douglas 

Republican Pary: 

• They took advantage of the divisions amongst the Democrats and picked Lincoln. Their platform appealed to the economic self-intrest of Northerners and Westerners. Wanted exculsion of slavery from territories, tariff, free homestead land, internal improvments, and a railroad to the Pacific. 

Fourth Policial Party: 

• A group of former Whigs, Know-Nothins, and Moderate Democrats formed a new party: the Constitutional Union party. They wanted to preserve the Union above all. 

Effects of the election of 1860

• Lincoln won with 59% of electoral votes but just 39.8% of the popular vote.  

• The two democrats received more elevtoral votes than Lincol but the division meant they lost the election. 

• The election of Lincoln almost immediately led to a convention in SC where SC votedto secede, and many other slave states followed

Crittenden Compromise 

Despite Buchannan doing nothing to prevent the secession of the seven state, Congress tried to keep the Union togeht. They proposed a constitutional amendment that would guarentee the right to hold slaves in all terrirories south of the Missouri Compromise line. Lincoln said he couldnot accept this compromise and it feel apart. 

Fort Sumter

A fort in Charleston that was cut off from vital supplies and reinforcments by Southern conrol of the harbour. Lincoln announded that he was sending food to the small federal garrison and that SC could either permit the fort to hold out or open fire. Crolina fired on the fort, and on April 12, 1861, the war began. 

Lincoln’s expansion of federal power

Without the authorization of Congress he: 

• Called for 75,000 voluntees to put down the insurrection in the Confederacy. 

• Authorized spending for a war 

• Suspended the privledge of the writ of habeas corpus 

Wartime Advantages of the North

• 4 times the population 

• Had African Americans in the south on their side 

• Loyal US navy so they had command of the rivers and territorial waters 

• Dominated the economy, controled the banking and capital of the country 

• Skills of Northern clerks and bookeepers 

• Had a strong central government with strong public support 

Wartime Advantages of the South

• Only had to fight a defensive war to win, while the North had to conquer a large area 

• Had to move troops shorter distances that the Union 

• Long, indented coastline was hard to blockade 

• Experienced military leaders and high troop morale 

• European demand for cotton could bring recognition and financial aid 

Union Strategy

• US Navy blockade Southern ports 

• Take control of the Mississippi River 

• Raise and train an army 500,000 strong to conquer Richmond 

Confederate Strategy

Wait it out, hope that the Northerners would turn against Lincoln and that the war would be too costly 

Cotton Diplomacy

The Confederacy hoped that because Cotton was so important to France and Britain that they would support them in the Civil War. 

Confiscation Acts

They said that enslaved people found/captured by the Union did not have to be returned to their Confederate owners because they were "contraband of war" 

Reasons for the Emancipation Proclomation

• Slaves in rebellious states only are free 

• Enslaved people should be protected by the Union army and put to work – this encourages Black people to volunteer for the army 

• Keeping foreign countries from supporting the slavery because of their anti-slavery positions and making the war directly against slavery. 

Violation of civil liberties/habeas corpus

• The suspension of habeas corpus meant that people in states with strong pro-confederate sentiment could be arrested without being informed of the charges against them. 13,000 people were arrested during the war. 

• People were drafted/forced to fight against their will 

Homestead Act

Passed in 1862, Promoted settlement of the Great plains by offering parcels of 160 acres of public land free to any person/family that farmed that land for at least 5 years. 

Pacific Railway Act

Authorized the building of a transcontinental railroad over a northern route in order to link the economies of California and the western territories with the Eastern states.  

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan - Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

It provided for the following: 

• Full presidential pardons for most confederates who took an oath of allegiance to the Union and accepted the emancipation of slaves 

• A state government that could be restabilshed and accepted as legitimate as soon as 10 percent of voters in the state took the loyalty oath. 

Wade-Davis Bill

A bill that proposed far more demanding and stringent terms for Reconstruction.  

• Required 50% of the state to take a loyalty oath 

• Only non-Confederated could vote for the new states constitution 

Lincoln refused to sign the bill.  

Freedman’s Bureau

Established in 1865 and acted as an early welfare agency, providing food, shelter, and medical aid for both freed slaves and homeless white people. It's greatest success was in educating people, it establsihed 3,000 schools for freed blacks. 

Johnson’s Plan for Reconstruction

A plan for reconstruction that had all the same terms as Lincoln's plan plus: 

• All former leaders and officeholders of the Conferedracy could not vote or hold office 

• Confederates with more than 20,000 in taxable property couldn't vote or hold office 

• The president could pardon anyone though, and so this was used for many wealthy planters.  

Civil Rights Act of 1866

This act pronounced all African Americans to be US Citizens and attempted to provide a legal shield against Black Codes.  

13th Amedndment

Passed in 1865, this amendment abolished slavery.  

14th Amendment

Said that all citizens in the US had the same rights, it is the basis of most civil rights movements. 

15th Amendment

 All US citizens the right to vote, regardless of race. 

Reconstruction Acts of 1867

Over Johnson's vetoes, Congress passed 3 reconstruction acts. They took the drastic step of placing the South under military occupation. They increased the requirements for gaining readmission to the Union. They had to ratify the 14th Amendment and place guarentees in its constitution for granting the franchise to all adult males.  

Panic of 1873

An economic disaster that rendered thousands of Northern laborers jobless and homeless. Overspeculation ad overbuilding by industry led to buisness failures and depression.  

Force Acts

Bills passed by Congress in 1870 and 1871 to protect the civil rights of citizens in the South from the KKK.  

Amnesty Act of 1872

An act that removed the last of the restrictions on ex-Confederates, except for the top leaders.  

Election of 1876 and Compromise of 1877

Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrats chose Samuel J. Tilden. Tilden needed only one more electoral vote from three southern states with contested results. They gave all the votes to Hayes, which angered the Democrats. This led to a compromise where: 

• Hayes would be president 

• He would end deferral support for the Republicans in the South 

• Support the building of a Southern transcontinental railroad 

Louisiana Purchase

Jefferson wanted to protect American Interest in the Port of New Orleans so he sent ministers to France to negotiate the sale of the Port of New Orleans and some other land. Wanting to fund his war with Europe, Napolean offered them the whole Louisiana territory for $15 Million. While there was the question of constitutionality (the constitution never said the President could acquire new land), Jefferson put aside his limited interpretation and Federalist senators' objections to ratify the purchase.  

Lewis and Clark Expedition Benefits

Greater geographic and scientific knowledge of the region, Stronger US claims to the Oregon territory, Better relationships with Native Americans, More accurate maps and land routes for fur trappers and future settlers.

Marbury vs. Madison

One of the Federalist judges appointed by Adams, Marbury, was denied his commission by Jefferson. He sued the court for his commission and Marshall (the chief justice, a Federalist) ruled that Marbury had a right to his commission by the Judiciary Act of 1789. However, the Court ruled that the Judiciary Act of 1789 had given the Court greater power than the Constitution allowed and was unconstitutional so Marbury was not appointed. By ruling that a law passed by Congress was unconstitutional, Marshall established the doctrine of judicial review. From this point on, the Supreme Court would exercise the power to decide whether an act of Congress or of the president was allowed by the Constitution.  

Embargo Act of 1807

Following a British warship firing on a US warship, Jefferson, trying to avoid war, passed this. The act prohibited any merchant ships from sailing to any foreign port. It backfired however and brought greater economic hardship to the US than to Britain. It had little effect on Britain who just replaced American goods with South American goods, but it was incredible difficult on New England shipbuilders. Releasing it had failed, Jefferson called for its repeal in 1809, but even after its repeal, US ships couldn't legally trade with Britain or France.  

Causes of the War of 1812

Free Seas and trade: the US felt that Britain and France had violated the US's neutral rights of trade. They were more angry with Britain about it though because Britain's violations were worse due to the impression of American sailors; Frontier Pressures: Americans on the frontier wanted the lands of British Canada and Spanish Florida; War Hawks: Following the congressional election of 1810, a group of new, young D-Rs came to congress who were very eager for war with Britain. 

Effects of the War of 1812

Westward expansion, decline of the federalist party, nationalism, domestic manufacturing, native americans lost their land, canandian/american borders were respected

Treaty of Ghent

By 1814, the British were weary of war having fought Napolean for more than a decade. Americans realized that they would be unable to win a decisive victory. Ratified in 1815, it halted fighting, returned all conquered territory to the prewar claimant, and recognized the prewar boundary between Canada and the US. It said nothing about the grievances that led to the war.  

Hartford Convention

Just before the war ended, the New England States threatened to secede from the Union. They opposed the Union, the DR government in Washington, and radical federalists believed the Constitution had to be amended. A special convention was held in Hartford in 1814 to consider this. They rejected the call for secession but called for a 2/3 vote from both houses to declare war from now on. However, shortly after the convention, news came of Jackson's victory at New Orleans and the Treaty of Ghent. This ended the criticism of the war.  

Monroe Doctrine

The United States foreign policy position that warns European powers to not interfere in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere.  

Era of Good Feelings

These years were marked by a spirit of nationalism, optimism, and goodwill in many ways. However, this term can be oversimplified because the era still had heated debates over tariffs, the national bank, internal improvements, and public land sales. It may have actually only lasted from the election of 1816 to the Panic of 1819 

American System

A three part system suggested by Henry Clay of Kentucky.  

1. Protective tariffs, that would benefit America's industries, especially in the East 

2. A national bank, which would ais the economy of all sections of the US 

3. Internal improvements, which would promote growth in the West and the South 

The protective tariffs and the national bank portions of the plan happened, but the internal improvements were left up to the states due to debates over the constitutionality.  

Panic of 1819

The first major financial panic since the Constitution. The economic disaster was largely the fault of the Second Bank of the US, which had tightened credit in an effort to control inflation. Many banks closed and unemployment, bankruptcies, and debt increased sharply. The Bank of the US foreclosed on large amounts of western farmland.  

Effects of the Panic of 1819

Nationalistic beliefs were shaken and in the West, the crisis changed many voters political outlook. Westerners began to call for land reform and had strong opposition to the national bank and debtors' prisons.  

McCulloch v. Maryland

In 1819, Maryland attempted to tax the Second Bank of the US located in Maryland. Marshall rules that a state could not tax a federal institution because "the power to tax is the power to destroy", and federal laws are supreme over state laws. He also declared that having a national bank was constitutional.  

Tallmadge Amendment

A proposal that ignited the debate about Missouri. It called for the prohibition of the introduction of further states into Missouri and the requirement that children of slaves would have to be emancipated at the age of 25.  

Causes of the Market Revolution

increased transportation, necessity of domestic manufacturing, increased efficency of production/new inventions

Effects of the Market Revolution

regional economies; slavery essential to south; women could work but there were debates around women’s place in society; immigration; industrial northern cities; class divisions; less freedom

Erie Canal

Built in 1825, it runs in Upstate New York between Lake Erie and the Hudson River. It was the first navigable waterway connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. 

Cotton Gin

In 1793, Eli Whitney invented this which revolutionized the production of cotton by speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. 

Nativism

anti-immigrant sentiment in the 1840s following the influx of immigrants

Politics of the common man

Between 1824-1840, political participation shifted from being something only for rich white men to being something for middle and lower class men too. Due to the Panic of 1819, frontiersmen and the common man demanded franchise (the right to vote). Before, they couldn't vote because they didn't own property.  

corrupt bargain

the agreement between henry clay and john quincy adams that led to john quincy adams being elected, despite jackson having won the most votes.

Indian removal Act of 1830

An act by Georgia that forced the "voluntary" resettlement of thousands of Cherokee Native Americans. While the supreme court ruled that they did not have the power to make laws concerning the Cherokee, Jackson did not enforce it so Georgia forced them off their land.

Worchester v. Georgia

A supreme court case where John Marshall ruled that Geogria had no authority over the Cherokee, only the federal government did. 

Nullification Crisis

The idea that if a state deemed a federal law unconstitutional they could just nullify it and make it non-binding. This was proposed by Calhoun, Jackson's Vice President in response to the Tariff of 1828 which raised duties on imports and exports by around 40% and negatively impacted the South. Jackson did not like this idea so in 1833, Jackson persuaded Congress to pass the Force Bill which said he could respond to this sort of insolence with force.  

Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia

A supreme court case where they ruled that the Cherokee nation was a distinct society and therefore only subject to laws of the federal government.

Bank Veto

Jackson did not support the national bank so he vetoed the re-establishment of its charter.

Second party system

In response to Jackson’s presidency and the divisions that had been forming in the D-R presidency, the Whig party was formed by Henry Clay.

Second Great Awakening

Religious revivals swept through the US during the early decades of the 19th century, They were a reaction against the rationalism that had been the fashion in the Enlightenment and the American Revolution. In the revivals of the early 1800s, successful preachers were audience-centered and easily understood by the uneducated; they spoke about opportunity for salvation to all.  

Transcendatalism

Writers such as Ralpho Emerson and Henry David Thoreau who questioned the doctrines of established churches and the business practices of the merchant class. They argued for a mystical and intuitive way of thinking as a means of discovering one's inner self and looking for the essence of God in nature.  

Temperance

the high rate of alcohol consumption prompted reformers to target alcohol as the cause of social ills. The temperance movement began by using moral extortion.

American colonization society

Their idea was to establish a colony of free slaves in Africa, which appealed to moderate antislavery reformers and politicians, in part because whites with racist attitudes hoped to remove free blacks from US society. They established an African-American settlement in Monrovia, Liberia.  

American Antislavery society

An abolition group founded by William Loyd Garrison in 1833. They condemned and burned the Constitution as a pro-slavery document. He argued for no Union with slaveholders until they repented for their sins by freeing their slaves.  

The Liberator

An abolitionist newspaper run by William Lloyd Garrison started in 1831.  

Lowell Mills

Mills in Lowell, Massachusetts which employed many young women to work in them. There were horrible working conditions, but many women saw it as a huge opportunity.  

Cult of Domesticity

The idea that a woman's place was in the home, as a wife and mother, less political version of Republican Motherhood 

French and Indian War

A war between the French/Native Americans and the English/colonists over land in the Ohio River Valley. A part of the larger imperial conflict between France and Britian and it lasted from 1754 to 1763

Albany Plan of Union

Colonial leaders called for representatives from several colonies to meet at a congress in Albany in 1754. The delegates adopted this to provide for an intercolonial government and a system for recruiting troops and collecting taxes from the colonies for their common defense. However, colonies were too jealous of their own taxation powers so the plan never took effect, but it set precedent for more revolutionary congresses later in the 1770s. 

Pontiac’s Rebellion

In 1763, Chief Pontiac led a major attack against colonial settlements on the western frontier. Native Americans were angered by the growing westward movement of European settlers onto their land and British refusal to offer gifts as the French had done;. Pontiac's alliance of Native Americans in the Ohio Valley destroyed forts and settlements from NY to VA. British sent British troops to put down the uprising. 

Proclomation Line of 1763

In an effort to prevent more agression form Native Americans, the british declared that colonists could not settle past the Appalachian mountains.

Sugar Act

Established in 1764, it put taxes on imported sugar and other luxury items. It helped raise money for the crown, and a companion law of it led to stricter enforcement of the navigation acts. Those accused of smuggling would be tried by crown appointed judges w/o juries.

Quartering Act

An act established in 1765 that said the colonists had to provide food and living quarters for British soliders in the colonies

Stamp Act

Established in 1765, required that revenue stamps be put on most printed paper in the colonies, the first direct tax, led to widespread protests and boycotts.

Declaratory Act

In 1766, after the Stamp act was repealed, the British government used this act to say that Britain could tax the colonies whatever they wanted.

Townshend Acts

Established in 1767, said that new taxes would be collected on colonial imports of tea, glass, and paper. It required that the revenues be used to pay crown officials in the colonies, making them independent of the colonial assemblies that had previously paid their salaries. Also said private homes could be searched for smuggled goods with only a writ of assistance (a general license to search anywhere instead of a warrant from a judge). Also suspended NY's assembly for that colony's defiance of the Quartering Act.

Boston Massacre

In March 1770, crowds of protesters were outside the British guard house in Boston. There was an altercation between the British soldiers and the colonists that ended with 5 dead colonists, caused widespread rage from colonists

Intolerable Acts

Punitive Acts following the Boston Tea Party in 1774:
- Port Act closed the port of Boston until the tea was paid for

-Mass. Government Act reduced the power of the mass. assembly

-Administration of Justice said royal officers accused of crimes could be tried in GB

-Extended the Quartering Act to enable British soldiers to live in private homes

-Extended Quebec to the Ohio River Valley which led colonists to fear their lands there would be taken and said Catholicism was official religion of Quebec

First Continental Congress

In 1774, all colonies except Georgia sent a representative to Philly. They wanted to figure out how to respond to Britain’s threats to their liberties.

Outcomes of first continental congress

1. Endorsed the Suffolk Reserves which was an a statement by Mass. to ask for the repelling of the intolerable acts and for colonists to resist them with boycotts

2. Passed the Declaration and Reserves which petitioned the King to regress colonial grievances and restore colonial rights, but recognized Parliament’s authority to regulate congress

3. Created the Continental Association which was a network of economic committees that enforced the Suffolk Reserves

4. Declared that if their demands weren’t met they would meet again in May 1775.

The King angrily dismissed their petitions and sent more troops to Massachusetts.