APUSH Period 5 1844-1877

1845 - Manifest Destiny term coined by John O’Sullivan

• Belief God intended that Americans to expand across North America & spread democracy & “civilization”

• Caused war with Mexico & tensions with Native Americans threatened by the influx of white settlers

1845 - Frederick Douglass writes The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass

• Born into slavery in Maryland → Despite the laws prohibiting the education of slaves, Douglass secretly taught himself to read and write. He believed that literacy was the key to freedom and self-empowerment.

• Autobiography described physical & emotional realities that slaves endure 

• Argued slavery degraded slaves and slave owners

1845 - 1849 - Polk Presidency

• 4 point mission

  • Lower the tariff

  • Restore independent treasury – separation of the government's funds from private banks to prevent government's financial stability from being tied to the health of private banks.

  • Settle Oregon border issue (54’40 or fight!) – compromised to 49’

  • Annex California (acquired in Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo)

• Achieved all 4 goals & saw American victory in Mexican-American War

1847 - Spot Resolutions

• Abraham Lincoln (Whig) requested Polk to submit evidence to Congress with exact location where “American blood was shed upon American soil” to justify a declaration of war on Mexico

• Lincoln was against the war and called it immoral and pro slavery

• Thoreau also opposed war in “On Civil Disobedience” 

1846 - 1848 - Mexican - American War

• Polk offered to buy Texas but Mexico refused

• Zachary Taylor’s men marched from Nueces to Rio Grande River which provoked Mexican army

• Battle of Buena Vista - General Taylor defeated a larger Mexican force led by General Santa Anna.

• Siege of Veracruz - first major amphibious assault by US military forces, led by General Winfield Scott. After a lengthy siege, American forces captured Veracruz, opening up a path to Mexico City

• War produced several military leaders, including Zachary Taylor, Winfield Scott, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson

1848 - Free Soil Party est. 

• Focused on opposing expansion of slavery into western territories

• Wanted to restricted slavery in new areas

• short lived

1848 - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

• Gave America all territory from Texas to California north of Rio Grande

• US paid $15 million for 500,000 sq miles

• Wilmot Proviso was designed to eliminate slavery in the land acquired in Mexican-American war → Defeated in the Senate

• Compromise of 1850 to determine issue of slavery in new territory

• Exacerbated sectional tensions between the North and the South over issues such as slavery and the balance of power in Congress.

1848 - Seneca Falls Convention

• Led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Lucretia Mott

• First major women’s rights convention → women's suffrage movement

• attended by ~300 people, including prominent activists and reformers of the time, such as Frederick Douglass

• adopted the Declaration of Sentiments, which was modeled after the Declaration of Independence. It outlined the grievances of women and called for equal rights, including the right to vote.

1849 - “Know-Nothing” Party founded

• Nativist Party AKA “Order of the Star Spangled Banner”

• anti-Catholic, anti-immigration, and xenophobic movement

• Defense of traditional Protestant religious and political values

1850 - Compromise of 1850 & 7th of March Speech

• Compromise of 1850 proposed by Henry Clay

  • Admit California as a free state

  • Strengthen Fugitive Slave Law

  • Popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico

  • Abolition of slave trade in DC

• 7th of March speech by Daniel Webster (Massachusetts Senator) 

  • Hoped to unite everyone under Compromise of 1850

  • Advised North to let go of anti-slavery measures and comply with a stronger fugitive slave law

  • Warned South about disunion leading to war

1851 - Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe 

• Heightened northern support for abolition & escalated sectional conflict

• Uses emotional appeals

• Lincoln called her the “little lady who started this great war”

• Banned in South

1854- Kansas-Nebraska Act

• Introduced by Stephen Douglas to pave way for northern transcontinental railroad through home state of Illinois

• Proposed popular sovereignty which was advocated by Lewis Cass to determine slavery in Kansas and Nebraska (still in territorial stage since acquired in Louisiana Purchase) 

• Overrode Missouri Compromise

1854 - 1861 - Bleeding Kansas/Pottawatomie Massacre

• Charles Sumner spoke against pro-slavery senators and was beaten with a cane by Preston Brooks

• 1857 - Kansas had enough people to apply for statehood 

  • Pro-slavery created Lecompton Constitution to keep abolitionists from creating a free state by “protecting property” already brought to Kansas regardless of vote

• Pottawatomie Massacre - abolitionist John Brown traveled to Kansas to fight pro-slavery forces 

  • Federal troops sent to put down fighting

1857 - Dred Scott vs. Sandford

• Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom based on his residence on free soil

• Ruling said Black people were not citizens and therefore could not sue in federal courts

  • Private property could be taken to any territory and legally be held there → Congress had no power to prohibit slavery anywhere

  • 5th amendment forbade congress to deprive people of their private property

• Caused abolitionist uproar 

858 Lincoln-Douglas Debates (Freeport Doctrine) 

• Lincoln said “A house divided against itself cannot stand” and that “this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free”

• Douglass attacked Lincoln as a radical and introduced the Freeport Doctrine → popular sovereignty will determine legality of slavery  

  • Southern "fire-eaters" saw him as a traitor as he was willing to compromise on slavery’s legality & Democratic Party split

1859 - Harpers’ Ferry Raid by John Brown

• Brown attempted to start an armed slave revolt and destroy slavery

• Slaves failed to rise and Brown was captured by Robert E Lee

• Brown was convicted by the state of Virginia of treason and murder

  • Executed and became a martyr for anti slavery cause

Election of 1860 & South Carolina Secedes

• Republican platform appealed to many

  • For free soilers - stop extension of slavery (not abolitionist though)

  • For northern manufacturers - protective tariff

  • For immigrants - protected rights

  • For northwest - building of the pacific railroad

  • For the west - internal improvements at the expense of federal government

  • For the farmers - free homesteads (plots of lands) from public domain

• South Carolina voted to secede when Lincoln was elected

  • Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed

  • Jefferson Davis elected as president of Confederacy

1861 - Battle of Fort Sumter

• Lincoln sent provisions not reinforcements but South saw it as an act of aggression & fired upon the fort → After 34 hour siege, Major Anderson surrendered the fort

• Confederates occupied it and created a valuable hole in union blockade of Atlantic seaboard until it was reclaimed by forces under Sherman’s command in April 1865

• First battle of Civil War

1861 - Outbreak of War- Strengths & Weaknesses of each side

• Union had a higher population & more soldiers

• Union had more railroad mileage & telegraph network (better infrastructure)

• Union had more manufactured items, including firearms

• Confederacy had the best generals while North struggled with appointing good generals

• Confederacy had a morale advantage - felt they were protecting their way of life & were fighting a defensive war in their own territory

• Lincoln could wield greater power than Davis as the Confederacy was focused on “states’ rights” 

  • suspended habeas corpus, which allows people to challenge their detention & protects due process. → could  arrest and detain individuals suspected of aiding the Confederacy without trial.

  • expanded the powers of the executive branch, including the use of executive orders and proclamations to manage the war effort and respond to emergencies.

1861 - First Battle of Bull Run

• Union was forced to retreat which shocked Northerners and prompted them to prepare

• Morale boost for South but Confederacy became overconfident, believing that it could achieve independence through military victories alone

This belief would ultimately lead to strategic miscalculations and underestimation of Union resources and resolve.

1863 - Gettysburg Address

• Lincoln delivered the speech at the dedication of soldiers National Cemetery in Pennsylvania

• Invoked principles of human equality contained in Declaration of Independence

• Sacrifices of war → new birth of freedom and preservation of the union and its ideal self government

• Purpose was to bring together the nation, reiterate purpose of US, and provide direction for the future

1863 - Emancipation Proclamation

• After battle of Antietam which stopped Confederate advance 

• Declared that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are and henceforward shall be free

• Only applied to states that seceded → Did not apply to border states 

• Changed purpose of war → took on a moral character → prevented Britain from aiding the Confederacy (they had abolished slavery in 1833)

• Announced the acceptance of Black men into the Union army and navy

  • Massachusetts 54th & others would fight bravely for the Union

1864 - Sherman’s March to the Sea

• Sherman and his army marched while destroying Confederate supplies

• They evacuated and burned Atlanta

• Purpose was to frighten Georgia’s civilian population into abandoning Confederate cause once they felt the “Hard Hand of War”

• Led to Lincoln’s re-election vs. Copperheads (Peace Democrats) led by McClellan. 

1865 - End of Civil War & Assassination of Lincoln

• Union ultimately outsupplied Confederacy

• Desertions were mounting, General Robert E Lee surrendered to Ulysses S Grant at Appomattox Courthouse

• Lincoln was assassinated 5 days after surrender by John Wilkes Booth

  • Actually hurt the south

    • Lincoln’s plan for reconstruction was more generous for south - only 10 % loyalty

1865 - Est. of Freedman’s Bureau

• Purpose was to support former slaves

• Education was biggest success → By 1870, it had founded over 4,000 schools and several colleges, including Fisk University

• Provided shelter, medical aid, schools for education, and legal assistance

• Never gave the plots of land promised to free Blacks

• Was not able to enact lasting changes; chronically underfunded

1865 - KKK Established & Black Codes created

• Response to 13th Amendment (abolition of lavery)

• Terrorized and intimidated African Americans and their white Republican allies → used tactics such as arson, lynching, and intimidation to achieve its goals of white supremacy and the restoration of white political power in the South.

• Black codes placed severe limits on Blacks → penalties for “idleness,” limits on jury service and voting

1868 & 1870 - 14th & 15th Amendments

• 14th amendment grants citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" which included former slaves

• 15th amendment granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude" 

1868 - Impeachment of Andrew Johnson 

• Clashed with Radical Republicans as he was a racist himself who had no intention of supporting rights of Freedmen

  • favored a quick restoration of the Southern states to the Union and believed that wealthy planters and former Confederate officials should be granted amnesty after he granted pardons

  • Johnson vetoed several pieces of Reconstruction legislation, including Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Freedmen's Bureau Bill.

• Impeached for violating Tenure of Office Act which prohibited the president from dismissing any cabinet member or other federal office holder whose appointment had required the consent of the Senate unless the Senate agreed to the dismissal

  • He dismissed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton → impeached by House but not removed by Senate (by a single vote)

  • First president to be impeached

1870s - Corruption in Grant’s cabinet

• While Grant himself was not directly involved in many of these scandals, they highlighted the widespread corruption and cronyism that characterized politics during his presidency.

• Credit Mobilier scandal involved the Union Pacific Railroad and its construction company which was involved in a scheme to overcharge the government for the construction of the transcontinental railroad. 

• Whiskey Ring involved a group of whiskey distillers who conspired to defraud the government of taxes on whiskey. Grant's private secretary, Orville E. Babcock, was implicated in the scandal

• Group of speculators led by Jay Gould and James Fisk attempted to influence the government and manipulate the gold market

  • Failed plot resulted in financial panic

1871 - Boss Tweed’s corruption exposed

• Boss Tweed led Tammany Hall – Political Machine led by the Democratic Party in New York City → wielded immense influence over city and state politics, controlling nominations, patronage, and government contracts.

  • Provided services for immigrants in exchange for their votes

• Tweed made over $200 million by securing bribes and manipulating the gov through fake leases and padded bills

• Revealed by cartoonist Thomas Nast

1877 - Strengths & shortcomings of Reconstruction 

• Successes in the short-term were reversed after the Compromise of 1877

• Compromise of 1877- two candidates (Republican Hayes & Democrat Tilden) were at stalemate and only way to break it was with a deal

  • North got Hayes as president

  • The South gets military to leave (end of Bayonet Rule) which meant abandonment of former slaves → rise of Redeemers & Jim Crow Laws

• Radical Republicans could no longer protect Blacks

• Sharecropping & Black Codes developed which replicated slavery

• Scalawags were southerners who supported reconstruction

• Carpetbaggers were northerners who moved to South for financial gains

• Strengths of Reconstruction-

  • Prior to 1877, African Americans experienced rights and freedoms while protected by the federal government → Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce -  first African Americans to serve in the U.S. Senate 

  • Reconstruction governments in the South established public school systems for the first time, providing educational opportunities for African Americans and poor whites.

  • The Freedmen's Bureau was created to assist freed slaves in their transition to freedom, providing food, housing, education, and medical care, which significantly improved the living conditions for many.