AP US History Notes: Period 5 (1844-1877)

Flashcards of key vocabulary and definitions.

Manifest Destiny

Belief that it was God’s will for the United States to expand westward to the Pacific Ocean.

Oregon Trail

A dangerous route settlers traversed throughout the 1840s.

Martin Van Buren

Eighth President of the United States; his presidency was marred by an economic depression.

Panic of 1837

A financial crisis that lasted from 1837 until the mid 1840s, caused in part by Andrew Jackson's policies.

Whig Party

A political party born out of opposition to Jacksonian Democrats.

William Henry Harrison

Ninth President of the United States; died after 31 days in office.

John Tyler

Tenth President of the United States; the first vice president to ascend to the presidency upon the death of the incumbent.

Daniel Webster

U.S. senator from Massachusetts and Secretary of State under Harrison, Tyler, and Fillmore.

Webster-Ashburton Treaty

An 1842 treaty that divided a contested territory in northern Maine between the United States and Britain.

James K. Polk

Eleventh President of the United States; advocated for Manifest Destiny.

Mexican-American War

A conflict between the United States and Mexico from April 1846 to February 1848.

Sam Houston

As President of Texas, he advocated annexation by the United States.

Alamo

The site of a famous battle in San Antonio, Texas, where a small force of Texans was defeated by Mexican forces.

Republic of Texas (Lone Star Republic)

A republic declared in 1836 that was later annexed under the Polk administration.

John Slidell

A special envoy sent by President Polk to negotiate with Mexico over the Texas border and purchase of California.

Zachary Taylor

Twelfth President of the United States; a Mexican-American War general.

Abraham Lincoln

Sixteenth President of the United States; led the Union through the Civil War.

Wilmot Proviso

A proposal to forbid slavery in any new lands acquired by the war with Mexico.

Bear Flag Republic

An unrecognized independent California from June 14 to July 9, 1846.

John C. Fremont

Temporary leader of the Bear Flag Republic and later governor of California.

Advocates for ending slavery.

Abolitionists

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Signed in February 1848, it ended the Mexican-American War.

Gadsden Purchase

An 1853 treaty between the U.S. and Mexico that resolved a border issue.

George Fitzhugh

A notable proslavery intellectual who argued that slaves were better off than Northern wage slaves.

Free Soil Party

Inspired by the Wilmot Proviso, antislavery advocates founded this to oppose the expansion of slavery into the new Western territories.

Lewis Cass

The Democratic nominee in the 1848 election who advocated popular sovereignty.

Gold Rush

Refers to the period between 1848 and roughly 1855 when prospectors sought riches mining gold.

Forty-Niners

Nickname for an influx of immigrants to California in 1849 seeking riches in the gold rush.

Henry Clay

A statesman and orator from Kentucky, known as “The Great Compromiser”.

Compromise of 1850

A package of several bills that alleviated some of the tension between the North and South, delaying the Civil War for another decade.

Fugitive Slave Act

A controversial law that required escaped slaves to be returned to their masters.

Great Triumvirate

Collective label for Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster.

William H. Seward

A radical abolitionist New York senator who served as Secretary of State.

Millard Fillmore

Thirteenth President of the United States; took office after the death of Zachary Taylor.

Stephen A. Douglas

A senator from Illinois nicknamed the “Little Giant”.

Underground Railroad

An attempt by abolitionists to circumvent the Fugitive Slave Act, which assisted slaves escaping to the North.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

American abolitionist and author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), an influential work of abolitionism.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, this novel expressed Northern abolitionist frustrations with the Fugitive Slave Act.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Proposed by Stephen A. Douglas in 1854, it functionally repealed the Missouri Compromise.

Republican Party

Also known as the GOP, it emerged from the renewed sectional tension of the 1850s.

James Buchanan

Fifteenth President, Served 1857–1861. Supporting the Dred Scott ruling, and the entry of Kansas into the Union as a slave state. Often ranked as the worst president.

Henry Ward Beecher

An abolitionist and clergyman funneling them rifles. During the Civil War, Lincoln sent him on a European speaking tour

Bleeding Kansas

The nickname for a period of bloody conflict in what became Kansas, lasting from 1855–1859.

Lecompton Constitution

A proposed proslavery constitution for Kansas that encountered intense debate in Congress.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

A landmark 1857 Supreme Court case that was a major contributing factor to the outbreak of the Civil War.

Roger Taney

Fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, infamous for his majority opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford.

John Brown

An abolitionist who believed that arming slaves was the only way to get rid of slavery.

Harper’s Ferry

A federal arsenal in Virginia that John Brown raided in an attempt to arm slaves.

Freeport Doctrine

During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, this stated that territories would have to pass and enforce laws to protect slavery..

John C. Breckenridge

Vice President under James Buchanan, he was the Democratic party’s nominee for president in the 1860 election.

Constitutional Union Party

A political party formed by conservative and moderate Whigs concerned that Lincoln’s victory would lead to the end the Union.

John Bell

A Tennessee Whig nominated by the Constitutional Union Party in 1860.

Confederate States of America

An illegal, unrecognized state that existed from 1861 to 1865 to preserve the institution of slavery.

Jefferson Davis

The sole President of the Confederate States.

John Crittenden

A senator from Kentucky who proposed an amendment to extend the Missouri Compromise line.

John C. Calhoun

A South Carolina politician and member of the Great Triumvirate and an ardent supporter of states’ rights.

Fort Sumter

A sea fort near Charleston, South Carolina, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.

New York Draft Riots

Rioting that erupted in New York City from July 13 to July 16, 1863, primarily by Irish immigrants.

Civil War

Also called "American Civil War" fought from 1861-1865 between the United States and the Confederate States of America.

Copperheads

Northern Democrats who demanded a peace settlement with the Confederacy.

“Battle of Bull Run/Battle of Manassas”

It was an early Confederate victory in the Civil War, showing the North that this would be a long and bloody war.

“Stonewall” Jackson

A Confederate general who worked under Lee.

Winfield Scott

A U.S. Army general who commanded troops in the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War.

Anaconda Plan

Winfield Scott’s four phase plan to defeat the Confederacy.

George McClellan

A veteran of the Mexican-American War, most famous for his short tenure as general-in-chief of the Union Army during the Civil War.

Robert E. Lee

Lee served as an aide to Winfield Scott during the Mexican- American War.

Second Battle of Bull Run

A Confederate victory in August 1862.

John Pope

John Pope’s defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run.

Antietam

A Civil War battle that took place on September 17, 1862, the bloodiest single-day battle in U.S. history.

Ambrose Burnside

Following Antietam, Lincoln selected him to replace General McClellan as general-in-chief of the Union Army.

Battle of Fredericksburg

A Civil War battle fought December 11–15, 1862. A lopsided Confederate victory.

Ironclads

A steam-powered warship that is armored (or “clad”) in iron plates

Ulysses S. Grant

18th President, previously a Mexican-American War General, eventually placed in command of the whole US Army in 1864,.

Battle of Gettysburg

Arguably the most significant battle of the Civil War.

Gettysburg Address

A brief, poignant address by Abraham Lincoln commemorating the Battle of Gettysburg.

William Tecumseh Sherman

A Union general who captured and destroyed Atlanta, inflicting misery on Southerners to compel them to surrender.

Appomattox Court House

The site of the formal surrender of General Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to Union forces.

Confiscation Acts

Laws passed early in the Civil War that allowed Union troops to seize enemy property that could be used in an act of war. .

Emancipation Proclamation

Issued on January 1, 1863, it was an executive order that freed any slave in areas in open rebellion against the United States government.

Thirteenth Amendment

It banned slavery and involuntary servitude, and functionally repealed the Three-Fifths Clause.

John Wilkes Booth

Is best remembered for orchestrating the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865 at Ford’s Theater.

Writ of habeas corpus

During the Civil War, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus, which meant that the federal government could hold an individual in jail with no charges levied.

Homestead Act of 1862

A law that provided a settler with 160 acres of land if he promised to live on it and work it for at least five years.

Morrill Land Grant Act

Passed in 1862, this act gave federal lands to states for the purpose of building schools that would teach agriculture, engineering, and technical trades.

Pacific Railway Act

This 1862 act approved building a transcontinental railroad that would transform the west.

Reconstruction

A period (1865–1877) of rebuilding and reforming the South following the Civil War.

Andrew Johnson

Seventeenth President; took office after Lincoln’s assassination and was later impeached.

“Ten Percent Plan”

Also known as the “Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction,” proposed by Lincoln to bring Southern states back under the wing of the federal government.

Wade-Davis Bill

Passed in response to Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan, requiring that 50 percent of Southern state voters take the loyalty oath.

Freedman’s Bureau

A government program created in 1865 to help manage and assist newly emancipated slaves.

Black Codes

Laws passed by Southern legislatures to restrict the actions, movements, and freedoms of African Americans.

Sharecropping

Sharecroppers would lease land and borrow supplies to till their plots, giving a portion of harvest to the landowner as payment.

Civil Rights Bill of 1866

Designed to end the Black Codes by giving African Americans full citizenship.

Fourteenth Amendment

It protected the rights of all U.S. citizens, granted all African Americans full citizenship and civil rights.

Military Reconstruction Act

Passed in 1867, it placed the South under martial law and tightened the readmission requirements of former Confederate states.

Tenure of Office Act

An 1867 law that disallowed the president from discharging a federal appointee without the Senate’s consent.

Edwin Stanton

Secretary of State (1862–1868) under the Lincoln and Johnson administrations; his firing led to Johnson’s impeachment.

Thaddaeus Stephens

A Radical Republican member of the House and proponent of civil rights for African Americans.

Charles Sumner

U.S. Senator known for caning on the floor of the Senate by Preston Brooks.

Fifteenth Amendment

Ratified in 1870, it barred any state from denying a citizen’s right to vote on the basis of race.