Period 5 (1844-1877)

Expansionist Foreign Policy

A policy pursued by the United States to acquire new territories and establish a presence in other regions, particularly in the Western Hemisphere.

Aroostook War

A conflict between rival groups of lumbermen on the Maine-Canadian border that was resolved by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

An 1848 treaty in which Mexico recognized the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas and ceded California and New Mexico to the United States.

Fugitive Slave Laws

Laws allowing Southern slave owners to capture and return escaped slaves from the North without trial by jury.

Bleeding Kansas

A series of violent political confrontations in the Kansas territory between proslavery and anti-slavery settlers.

Dred Scott Decision

A Supreme Court ruling that declared African Americans were not citizens and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in federal territories.

Emancipation Proclamation

An executive order by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 that freed slaves in Confederate-held territory.

Reconstruction Acts of 1867

Legislation that divided the South into military districts and outlined the requirements for Southern states to rejoin the Union.

Black Codes

Laws passed in Southern states to restrict the rights and freedoms of former slaves.

15th Amendment

An amendment to the U.S. Constitution that granted African American men the right to vote.