Unit 2 US History Study

What was the purpose and impact of the Declaration of Independence?

Declared independence from Britain and explained that government should protect people's rights.

What is natural rights philosophy?

The belief that people are born with rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

What is social contract theory?

The idea that people agree to form a government to protect their rights.

What is popular sovereignty?

The principle that government gets its power from the people.

What was Manifest Destiny?

The belief that the United States was destined to expand across North America.

What caused the Mexican-American War?

Disputes over Texas, its annexation by the United States, and the Texas-Mexico border.

What was the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?

The 1848 treaty that ended the Mexican-American War and transferred Mexican territory to the United States.

What was the Mexican Cession?

The large territory Mexico gave the United States after the Mexican-American War.

What was the Missouri Compromise (1820)?

Admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state and restricted slavery in much of the remaining Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36°30′.

What was the Compromise of 1850?

A series of laws that admitted California as a free state and strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act, among other measures.

What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854?

Allowed settlers in Kansas and Nebraska to vote on slavery, increasing conflict over slavery.

How did enslaved people resist slavery?

Through escape, work slowdowns, preserving their culture, learning, and rebellions.

What was John Brown's Raid (1859)?

An attempt to seize a federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry and spark an uprising against slavery.

What was the Southern "Positive Good" defense of slavery?

The claim by some white Southerners that slavery was beneficial and should continue.

What was the ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)?

The Supreme Court ruled that Black people of African descent were not U.S. citizens under its decision and that Congress could not ban slavery in federal territories.

What was the ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)?

The Supreme Court upheld racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine.

What was the Emancipation Proclamation (1863)?

Lincoln's order declaring enslaved people free in areas still rebelling against the Union.

What was the purpose of the Gettysburg Address (1863)?

To honor fallen soldiers and reaffirm equality, democracy, and the preservation of the Union.

What did the 13th Amendment do?

Abolished slavery in the United States, except as punishment for a crime after conviction.

What did the 14th Amendment do?

Established birthright citizenship and required equal protection under the law.

What did the 15th Amendment do?

Prohibited denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous enslavement.

What were Black Codes?

Laws that restricted the rights and freedoms of African Americans after the Civil War.

What were Jim Crow laws?

Laws that enforced racial segregation, especially in the South.

What is disenfranchisement?

The denial or restriction of a person's right to vote.

What was the "Lost Cause" narrative?

A misleading interpretation of the Civil War that glorified the Confederacy and minimized slavery's role.

What does jus soli mean?

"Right of the soil": citizenship based on where someone is born.

What does jus sanguinis mean?

"Right of blood": citizenship based on a parent's citizenship or nationality.