Unit 5 Review Notes (1844-1877)

Unit 5 Review (1844-1877)

Overall Themes

  • Causes and effects of the Civil War.
  • Westward expansion.

Manifest Destiny

  • Deeply rooted belief among Americans that they had a God-given right to possess the nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
  • Belief that expansion would:
    • Grant more natural/mineral resources.
    • Afford more economic opportunities for settlers.
    • Provide religious refuge for those seeking such freedoms.

Texas

  • By 1830, Americans in Texas outnumbered Mexicans 3 to 1.
  • The majority of Americans were Protestant and brought the institution of slavery with them.
  • 1829: Mexican government declared:
    • Conversion to Roman Catholicism required.
    • Slavery outlawed.
  • Americans denied these demands, and Mexico shut down the border, but Americans kept coming in anyway.
  • 1835: Tension led to the Texas Revolt.
  • Texans captured the leader of Mexico and forced him to sign a treaty of independence.
  • Texas applied for statehood but was initially rejected.

Oregon Territory

  • Both British and US shared the territory.
  • British primarily engaged in fur trade, but few lived there; mainly American settlers.

Election of 1844

  • James K. Polk campaigned on the promise of Manifest Destiny.
  • Campaign promises included the annexation of Texas, Oregon, and California.
  • Outgoing President John Tyler annexed Texas.
  • Polk split Oregon along the 49th parallel.

Effect of Annexation of Texas

  • Mexican-American War (American claim: Rio Grande as the border, Mexican claim: Nueces River).
  • Polk sent Taylor to advance troops to the Rio Grande.
  • April 25, 1846: War began. US captured Mexico City in 1847.
  • Ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848):
    • Rio Grande recognized as the border.
    • Granted the Mexican Cession (California, New Mexico).

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

  • Territories soon eligible to apply for statehood.
  • Divided Nebraska Territory into two sections: Kansas and Nebraska.
  • The slavery question would be decided by popular sovereignty.

Fighting

  • The North was angered as it overturned the Missouri Compromise (which stated there was to be no slavery above a certain border).
  • Fighting occurred between anti-slavery and pro-slavery factions.
  • "Bleeding Kansas": Missourians flooded into Kansas to vote.
  • Fueled sectional divisions.

Effect of Kansas-Nebraska Act

  • Birth of the Republican Party.
  • Both Free Soil Whigs and Democrats wanted to stop the spread of slavery.

Events That Fueled Sectional Divisions

Supreme Court
  • Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): Scott sued for his freedom but the court ruled against him.
    • Argued that slaves are technically not citizens.
    • Slaves are property.
  • Overall: Slavery could exist anywhere in the US.
John Brown
  • 1859: Led a raid at Harpers Ferry.
  • Goal was to seize weapons/ammunition and arm the slaves.
  • Effect: Southerners thought they could finally discern the true intentions of the North with rebellions.

Election of 1860

  • Northern Democrats: Douglas, Republicans: Lincoln
  • Lincoln did not oppose existing slavery but opposed its expansion.
  • Lincoln won without the South's vote.

Secession

  • Effect: Southern secession.
  • First to secede: South Carolina (1860), then others followed.
  • Became Confederate States of America.
  • Wrote a Constitution limiting federal power and protecting slavery.
  • Civil War began at Fort Sumter.
  • Few other states joined the Confederacy.

Overall: Not Every State that Seceded Had Slavery

Strategies of the Civil War

  • Lincoln's explicit goal: save the Union.
Southern Advantages
  • Fighting a defensive war.
  • Better generals (Robert E. Lee/Stonewall Jackson).
Northern Advantages
  • Larger population.
  • Robust navy.
  • Economic strength (home to banks/railroads).
  • Well-established central government vs. South, which relied on states.
Union Strategy
  • Used US Navy to form a blockade of Southern seaports.
  • Eventually gained control of the Mississippi River (cut Confederacy in half).
  • Known as the Anaconda Plan.
Confederate Strategy
  • Relied on foreign countries (Britain/France).
  • Believed "King Cotton" would convince them to help.

Emancipation Proclamation

  • September 22, 1862: Emancipation Proclamation.
  • Proclaimed that all enslaved people in the rebelling territories would be free on January 1 of the next year.
  • However, slavery remained in border states.
Effect of Proclamation
  • Made the war about abolishing slavery.
  • Convinced Britain not to send aid to the South because they recently abolished slavery themselves.
  • Empowered enslaved blacks to flee their plantations and join the Union Army.

Rising Victory for the Union

  • Battle of Vicksburg granted the North control over the Mississippi River and cut the Confederacy in half.
  • Battle of Gettysburg: Lincoln tried to unite the country and portray the struggle with slavery as a fulfillment of American ideals.

Ulysses S. Grant

  • Became commanding general of the Union Army.
  • Pressured the Confederacy hard.
  • Sent William Tecumseh Sherman to invade Georgia, captured Atlanta, and led a march to the Georgia coast, burning and devastating the land.

Result

  • General Lee surrendered to General Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse in 1865 (war over!).

Reconstruction

  • Question: Should the South be treated with leniency or as a conquered foe?
Lincoln's Plan (Lenient)
  • Believed the South never legally left (secession was illegal).
  • At least 10% of the state's population must swear an oath of allegiance to the Union/Constitution.
  • Must ratify the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.
  • Lincoln was assassinated.
Andrew Johnson's Plan
  • Challenged by radical Republicans who pushed hard for civil rights for black people.
  • Johnson vetoed legislation from both presidential and congressional (Republican-led) efforts.
Civil Rights Act 1866
  • Proclaimed all black people were officially citizens of the US.
  • Vetoed by Johnson, but Congress overrode the veto.
14th Amendment
  • All citizens born or naturalized in the US are citizens.
Reconstruction Acts
  • Divided the South into 5 zones with military occupation.
  • Increased efforts to allow states to re-join the Union.
  • Provided universal male suffrage.
Impeachment of Johnson
  • Trial/process to remove someone from office.
  • Tenure of Office Act (1867): The president could not remove a member of his cabinet without congressional approval.
  • Johnson fired his Secretary of War, a radical Republican.
  • Impeached but was one vote short of being removed from office.
Passage of 15th Amendment
  • Protect voting rights of freed slaves.

Society in the South

  • Freed blacks came to terms with their realities.
  • Established Black Schools/Learning (e.g., Morehouse, Howard Colleges).
  • The South still needed laborers.
Sharecropping
  • Landlord provided land, tracts, and farm supplies.
  • Blacks worked the land in return for a share of the harvest, similar to debt peonage.
White Supremacy
  • Continued to dominate.
KKK
  • Secret organization formed in 1867 to terrorize black people.
  • Burned, lynched, and hated Catholics/immigrants/Jews.
Black Codes
  • Southern legislatures adapted black codes.
  • Prevented blacks from borrowing money or acquiring land.

End of Reconstruction

  • 1877: End of Reconstruction.
  • Tilden v. Hayes election.
  • Democrats threatened to dispute the election results.
Compromise of 1877
  • Democrats allowed Hayes to assume the presidency in return for the removal of federal troops from the South.