APUSH Unit 5 Review (1844-1877)

Manifest Destiny (1844-1877)

  • Definition: The belief that Americans had a God-given right to possess the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
  • Extended into the Pacific and Caribbean in later periods.
  • Reasons for embracing Manifest Destiny:
    • Access to natural and mineral resources.
    • More economic opportunities for settlers.
    • Religious refuge.

Texas

  • Americans settled in Texas (Mexican territory) in the 1820s.
  • By 1830, Americans outnumbered Mexicans 3 to 1.
  • American settlers were primarily Southern, Protestant, and brought slavery with them.
  • In 1829, the Mexican government mandated Roman Catholicism and outlawed slavery, leading to tensions.
  • The Mexican government shut down the border to American immigration.
  • In 1835, Texans revolted and captured the leader of the Mexican troops, forcing him to sign a treaty recognizing Texan independence (not recognized by the Mexican government).
  • Texas applied to become a state but was initially rejected to avoid war with Mexico.

Oregon Territory

  • Both British and Americans claimed rights to the territory.
  • British presence due to fur trade, but fewer settlers.
  • American settlers (missionaries and farmers) were more numerous.
  • American claim based on presence and Manifest Destiny.

Election of 1844

  • James K. Polk, a believer in Manifest Destiny, won the election.
  • Polk made campaign promises to acquire Texas, Oregon, and California.
  • Outgoing President John Tyler annexed Texas.
  • Polk split the Oregon Territory with the British at the 49th Parallel.

Mexican-American War

  • Triggered by the annexation of Texas.
  • Dispute over the southern border of Texas: Americans claimed the Rio Grande, while Mexicans claimed the Nueces River.
  • President Polk sent General Zachary Taylor to advance troops toward the Rio Grande.
  • Mexican troops killed 11 Americans on 04/25/1846, starting the war.
  • American troops captured Mexico City in 1847.
  • The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 established the Rio Grande as the southern border and granted the Mexican Cession (including California and New Mexico) to the United States.

Wilmot Proviso

  • Proposed during the first year of the Mexican-American War as an amendment to an appropriations bill.
  • Stipulated that any land gained from the war would be ineligible for the spread of slavery.
  • Symbolized the growing tension over westward expansion and slavery.

California Gold Rush

  • Gold discovered in California in 1848.
  • Led to a rapid influx of settlers.
  • California's population grew from approximately 14,000 in 1848 to nearly 400,000 by 1860.

Slavery Argument

  • The expansion of slavery became a heated issue with westward migration.
  • Southern Position:
    • Slavery was a constitutional right.
    • The Missouri Compromise line should extend to the Pacific.
    • Opposition to curtailing slavery.
  • Free Soil Position:
    • Northern Democrats and Whigs wanted all land in the West to be free territory for white opportunity and prosperity.
    • Many did not want free blacks in the West either.
    • Abolitionists wanted to ban slavery everywhere.
  • Popular Sovereignty:
    • The people living in the territories should decide whether their state would be free or slave.

Compromise of 1850

  • Proposed by Henry Clay to address the question of admitting California and New Mexico.
  • Key Provisions:
    • The Mexican Cession was divided into the Utah and New Mexico territories, which would decide on slavery by popular sovereignty.
    • California was admitted as a free state.
    • The slave trade was outlawed in Washington, D.C.
    • Congress passed a stricter Fugitive Slave Act.

Fugitive Slave Act

  • Part of the Compromise of 1850.
  • Required Northerners to report runaway slaves and facilitate their return.

Underground Railroad

  • A network of trails and safe houses used by Southern slaves to escape to the North.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

  • A novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, published in 1852.
  • Exposed the brutal and paternalistic nature of Southern slavery.
  • Helped stoke abolitionist sentiments in the North.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

  • Passed in 1854.
  • Divided the Nebraska Territory into Kansas and Nebraska.
  • Decided that when these territories applied for statehood, the slavery question would be decided by popular sovereignty.
  • Effectively overturned the Missouri Compromise, which prohibited slavery in territories north of Missouri's southern border.
  • Led to fighting between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in Kansas, known as "Bleeding Kansas."
  • Missourians set up a pro-slavery legislature in Lecompton, while anti-slavery advocates established their own legislature in Topeka.

Republican Party

  • Formed as a coalition of free soilers, anti-slavery Whigs, and Democrats.
  • Their main goal was to stop the spread of slavery.

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

  • Dred Scott, a slave, sued for his freedom after living in the free state of Wisconsin.
  • Chief Justice Roger Taney ruled against Scott:
    • Slaves were not citizens and could not sue in federal court.
    • Slaves were property, and the Constitution protects property rights.
    • Slavery could exist anywhere in the United States.

John Brown's Raid

  • In 1859, John Brown led a raid on the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry to arm the Southern slave population and incite an uprising.
  • The raid was squashed, and John Brown was hanged.
  • Southerners believed this revealed the true intentions of the North: to dismantle the South with slave rebellions.

Election of 1860

  • Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas.
  • Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln.
  • Lincoln did not oppose slavery in the South but wanted to prevent its spread.
  • Lincoln won the presidency without a single electoral vote from the South.

Secession

  • Southern states seceded from the Union.
  • South Carolina was the first to secede in December 1860.
  • Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana followed.
  • Secessionist states formed the Confederate States of America, with a constitution that limited federal power and enshrined slavery as a perpetual institution.

Civil War

  • Started after the shooting at Fort Sumter.
  • Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas joined the Confederacy. Delaware, Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland remained in the Union.
  • Lincoln's goal was to save the Union; initially, the war was not entirely about slavery.

Advantages

  • South:
    • Fighting a defensive war.
    • Better generals (Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson).
  • North:
    • Larger population (four times the South).
    • A robust navy.
    • Economic advantage (banks, manufacturing, railroads).
    • A well-established central government and a vigorous executive.

Strategies

  • Union: Anaconda Plan (naval blockade of Southern seaports and control of the Mississippi River).
  • Confederate: Rely on help from Britain and France due to their reliance on southern cotton (King Cotton).

Emancipation Proclamation

  • Issued by Lincoln on 09/22/1862; went into effect on 01/01/1863.
  • Declared that all enslaved people in rebellious territories would be forever free.
  • Did not free slaves in the border states that remained in the Union.
  • Enlarged the purpose of the war to include abolishing slavery.
  • Convinced Britain not to send aid to the South.
  • Empowered enslaved blacks to flee their plantations and join the Union army.

Union Victory

  • The Union victory in the Battle of Vicksburg granted the North control over the Mississippi River.
  • After the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln emphasized that all men are created equal.
  • Ulysses S. Grant became the commanding general of the Union army.
  • General William Tecumseh Sherman invaded Georgia and led a march to the Georgia coast, burning and devastating the land.
  • General Lee surrendered to General Grant at the Appomattox Court House on 04/09/1865.

Reconstruction

  • Debate over whether the South should be treated with leniency or as conquered foes.
  • Lincoln's Plan:
    • Leniency towards the South.
    • Believed the South never actually left the Union.
    • Required 10% of the population to swear an oath of allegiance to the Union.
    • States were required to ratify the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.
  • Andrew Johnson became president and attempted to carry out Lincoln's plan.

Radical Republicans

  • Fought with Johnson over Reconstruction.
  • Pushed for civil rights for blacks and wanted to punish the South.
  • Shifted the process of Reconstruction from a presidential to a congressional one.

Legislative Victories

  • Civil Rights Act of 1866: Proclaimed that all blacks were officially citizens of the United States. (Johnson vetoed, Congress overrode.)
  • Fourteenth Amendment: All persons born or naturalized in the United States were citizens, and no state could deny any citizen equal protection of the
    laws.
  • Reconstruction Act: Divided the South into five zones subject to military occupation. (Johnson vetoed, Congress overrode).

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

  • Impeachment is the trial and process to remove someone from office.
  • Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act in 1867, preventing the president from removing a cabinet member without congressional approval.
  • Johnson violated the act, and Congress drew up articles of impeachment.
  • Congress was one vote short of removing him from office.

Fifteenth Amendment

  • Ratified in 1870.
  • Protected the voting rights of former slaves.

Constitutional Amendments

  • 13th Amendment: Abolished slavery.
  • 14th Amendment: Made all persons born or naturalized in the United States citizens and guaranteed them equal protection of the laws.
  • 15th Amendment: Protected the voting rights of former slaves.

Society in the South During Reconstruction

  • Free blacks established schools and institutions of higher learning.
  • Some blacks were elected to political office.
  • Black independence from white control proved elusive.
  • Contracts bound blacks to plantations, resembling slavery.
  • Sharecropping: Landlords provided seed and farm supplies in exchange for a share of the harvest.
  • Sharecroppers remained indebted to landowners, creating a new form of servitude.

White Supremacy

  • Continued to dominate in the South.
  • Secret societies like the Ku Klux Klan were formed to terrorize blacks into submission.
  • Southern legislatures adopted black codes, preventing blacks from borrowing money to buy land, owning land, testifying against whites in court, and establishing racial segregation.

End of Reconstruction in 1877

  • Most federal troops had been withdrawn from the South by 1867.
  • Disputed presidential election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden.
  • The Compromise of 1877: Democrats allowed Hayes to have the presidency in return for the removal of all federal troops from the South.