1844-1877 (10-17%) Flashcards
What was the California Gold Rush?
Following the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War, thousands of miners rushed to the now American state, California, searching for gold. These migrants were known as the “fourty-niners”. It produced a serious labor shortage and created opportunities for people who needed work. This was critical to the growth of California. While many didn’t have any luck finding gold and some disappointed migrants returned home, many stayed and swelled both the agricultural and urban populations of the territory. The heterogeneous population (aka. Attracted Americans, Europeans, Chinese, South Americans, Mexicans, free blacks, and slaves who accompanied southern migrants) that had flocked to the state, stayed and diversified the region.
What was the Compromise of 1850?
The compromise was proposed on January 29, 1850, and it admitted California as a free state, formed territorial governments in the rest of the lands acquired from Mexico without restrictions on slavery, abolished slave trade, but not slavery itself, and established a more effective fugitive slave law in District of Columbia.
What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
In 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois presented a bill destined to be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in national history. The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty. It also produced a violent uprising known as “Bleeding Kansas,” as proslavery and antislavery activists flooded into the territories to sway the vote. Political turmoil followed, destroying the remnants of the Whig Party, and leading to the creation of the new Republican Party. Stephen Douglas had touted his bill as a peaceful settlement of national issues, but what it produced was a prelude to civil war.
What are some examples of sectional tension in the mid-1800s?
Bleeding Kansas - Bleeding Kansas describes the period of repeated outbreaks of violent guerrilla warfare between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces following the creation of the new territory of Kansas in 1854. In all, some 55 people were killed between 1855 and 1859.
The Caning of Charles Sumner - The attack was in retaliation for a speech given by Sumner two days earlier in which he fiercely criticized slaveholders, including a relative of Brooks, Andrew Butler. The beating nearly killed Sumner and contributed significantly to the country’s polarization over the issue of slavery.
The Dred Scott Decision - Stated that African Americans were not citizens of the United States and could not sue in Federal courts. Southern slave owners, as well as supporters of slavery, saw the Dred Scott case as a crucial precedent. It gave them a sense of legal standing to be able to say that the supreme law of the land had not only upheld the idea of slavery, but also dealt a crushing blow to the wildly unpopular Missouri Compromise.
The Compromise of 1850 - the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished. Furthermore, California entered the Union as a free state and a territorial government was created in Utah.
What were the Lincoln-Douglas Debates over?
The main focus of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates was slavery and its influence on American politics and society—specifically the slave power, popular sovereignty, race equality, emancipation, etc.
What were the key battles of the American Civil War?
First Battle of Bull Run - The first Battle of Bull Run (also called the first Battle of Manassas) was the first major land battle of the Civil War.
The Battle of Antietam - The battle ended in a draw, with 23,000 men killed, but halted Lee’s plans to invade the North for the time being. While Lincoln was furious that McClellan allowed Lee to escape, he used the occasion to announce the Emancipation Proclamation.
The Battle of Gettysburg - The battle was the turning point of the war because it gave the North a major morale boost and put a definitive end to Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s bold plan to invade the North.
The Vicksburg Campaign - In May, Union General Ulysses S. Grant led an army south on the west side of the Mississippi past Vicksburg, then crossed over and led his troops back north to lay siege to the city. By mid-June, the Confederates were running low on supplies. General Pemberton surrendered on the fourth of July. Gettysburg and Vicksburg marked the turning point of the Civil War. They also ensured that European powers did not recognize the Confederacy as a sovereign nation, withholding much-needed support.
Explain how the issue of slavery in the territories acquired from Mexico disrupted American politics from 1848 to 1850.
After acquiring land from Mexico, the U.S. was faced with the issue of whether or not to include slavery in the region. Government continued to sit on the issue, which was swept into the presidential election as well.
Indicate how the Whig party disintegrated and disappeared because of its divisions over slavery.
Anti-Slavery members were angered by the party’s indifference to the sectional issue, so they moved to the Free-Soil Party, leaving the Whig Party broken. It was completely destroyed when the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed.
Describe how the Pierce administration as well as private American adventurers pursued numerous overseas and expansionist ventures primarily designed to expand slavery.
Pierce had a pro-southern cabinet. The U.S. began to look to expand in Isthmian areas and Central American territories, especially in Nicaragua with a trade canal and Cuba with their slaves.
Describe Americans’ first ventures into China and Japan in the 1850s and their diplomatic, economic, cultural, and religious consequences.
Treaty of Wanghia (1844): Gained the right to trade in Chinese ports, as well as gaining additional legal rights inside China.
Treaty of Kanagawa (1854): Successfully secured the primary objective of the Perry expedition: opening Japan for trade with the US.
Explain how and why “bleeding Kansas” became a dress rehearsal for the Civil War.
Kansas was to be run on the basis of popular sovereignty, as stated in the Compromise of 1850. Southerners, however, supported the Kansas-Nebraska scheme of Stephen Douglas with the unspoken understanding that Kansas would become a slave state with Nebraska becoming free. The southerners felt that the “nebrascals” were out to “abolitionize” both Kansas and Nebraska. When the day came in 1855 to elect the members for the first territorial legislature, tension mounted as settlers feuded over conflicting land claims. The breaking point came when a gang of proslavery raiders, allegedly provocation, shot and burned part of the free-soil town of Lawrence.
Highlight the issues in the election of 1860, the sectional divisions it revealed, and why Lincoln won.
The North had many more people than the South and therefore control of the Electoral College. Lincoln dominated the Northern states but didn’t carry a single Southern state.
Describe the failure of the last compromise effort before the Civil War.
Crittenden proposed a compromise plan involving six constitutional amendments and four resolutions. The heart of the compromise was an amendment prohibiting slavery in all territory of the United States “now held, or hereafter acquired,” north of latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes. However, the compromise failed because it was too radical. It included a provision stating that the amendments could never be changed in the future.
Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the North and South as they went to war.
Despite the North’s greater population, the South had an army almost equal in size during the first year of the war. They also began the war with able generals and had the advantage of fighting a defensive war. On the other hand, the North had an enormous industrial advantage, and at the beginning of the war, the Confederacy had only one-ninth the industrial capacity of the Union.
Analyze the economic and social consequences of the Civil War for both sides.
The Civil War destroyed slavery and devastated the southern economy. In contrast, the Union’s industrial and economic capacity soared during the war as the North continued its rapid industrialization to suppress the rebellion. In the South, a smaller industrial base, fewer rail lines, and an agricultural economy based upon slave labor made mobilization of resources more difficult.
