period 5 and 6

Manifest Destiny – Belief that the U.S. was destined to expand westward.

• Texas Annexation (1845) – U.S. adds Texas, angering Mexico and leading to the Mexican-American War.

• Mexican-American War (1846–1848) – War over Texas and land; U.S. wins and gains the Mexican Cession.

• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) – Ends the Mexican-American War; U.S. gets California and the Southwest.

• Wilmot Proviso (1846) – Failed attempt to ban slavery in new territories from the war.

• Compromise of 1850 – Admits California as a free state, strengthens the Fugitive Slave Law, and allows popular sovereignty in new territories.

• Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) – Opens new territories to popular sovereignty, leads to Bleeding Kansas.

• Bleeding Kansas – Violent conflict over slavery in Kansas.

• Dred Scott Decision (1857) – Supreme Court rules slaves are property, and Congress cannot ban slavery.

• Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) – Debates over the spread of slavery; Lincoln opposes expansion.

• Election of 1860 – Lincoln wins, prompting Southern secession.

• Emancipation Proclamation (1863) – Declares slaves in Confederate states free; shifts the Civil War’s goal to ending slavery.

• Gettysburg & Vicksburg (1863) – Major Union victories that become turning points in the Civil War.

• 13th Amendment (1865) – Officially abolishes slavery in the U.S.

• Reconstruction – The era of rebuilding the South after the Civil War.

• Freedmen’s Bureau – Provides support (education, food, jobs) for freed slaves.

• 14th Amendment – Grants citizenship and equal protection under the law.

• 15th Amendment – Gives Black men the right to vote.

• Sharecropping – Economic system that trapped freedmen in poverty and debt.

• Compromise of 1877 – Ends Reconstruction by pulling federal troops out of the South, leading to the rise of Jim Crow laws.

• Gilded Age – Era of industrial growth, extreme wealth, political corruption, and inequality.

• Andrew Carnegie – Leader of the steel industry; believed in the Gospel of Wealth (rich should help society).

• John D. Rockefeller – Controlled the oil industry; known for creating monopolies.

• Social Darwinism – Belief that the strongest businesses and people survive.

• Gospel of Wealth – Idea that the rich have a duty to give back through charity.

• Knights of Labor – Early labor union open to all workers; declined after the Haymarket Riot.

• AFL (American Federation of Labor) – Labor union for skilled workers, focused on better wages and hours.

• Haymarket Riot (1886) – Labor protest that turned violent; hurt the labor movement’s image.

• New Immigrants – Came from Southern and Eastern Europe; settled in cities and faced discrimination.

• Boss Tweed – Corrupt political leader of Tammany Hall who stole millions from NYC.

• Homestead Act (1862) – Provided free land to settlers willing to farm it.

• Transcontinental Railroad (1869) – Connected the East and West coasts, helping trade and expansion.

• Battle of Little Bighorn (1876) – Major Native American victory against U.S. forces.

• Dawes Act (1887) – Attempt to assimilate Native Americans by giving them farmland and U.S. culture.

• Populist Party – Political party of farmers demanding reforms like free silver and direct election of senators.

• Interstate Commerce Act (1887) – First law to regulate railroads and prevent unfair rates.

• Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) – Law meant to break up monopolies; weak at first but important later.