APUSH PERIOD 5 Flashcards
Manifest Compromise
popular belief that the United States had a divine right to extend its power and civilization across the North American continent
Samuel F.B. Morse
Samuel F.B. Morse
invented the electric telegraph in 1844; sped up communication and transportation across the country
Panic of 1857
prices for Midwestern farmers dropped drastically, and unemployment in the North increased; led the less affected South to believe their agricultural economy was superior, and that union with the North was unnecessary
Gold Rush; Silver Rush
1848; discovery of gold in California led to major population boost and migration into the mineral-rich West mountains; short-lived mining towns and camps sprung up, attracted foreign miners (Chinese)
federal land grants
1850; federal government granted land to build the Illinois Central Railroad in first land grant hoping to increase cheap & rapid transportation; united commercial interests of Northeast and Midwest, would give North strategic advantage in Civil War
Mountain Men
fur traders in the West; held annual rendezvous in the Rockies to trade animal skins with Native Americans, provided much of the early information about trails and frontier conditions in the West
“fifty-four forty or fight!”
Democratic slogan that appealed to expansionists who advocated for all of Oregon Territory, referred to latitude line that marked Northern border between Oregon Territory & Russian Alaska
James K. Polk
Democratic dark horse candidate of the Election of 1844; committed to expansion and manifest destiny, favored annexation of Texas, reoccupation of Oregon, and acquisition of California
Ostend Manifesto
1854; leaked dispatch from American diplomats meeting in Belgium to secretly negotiate buying Cuba from Spain; angered antislavery members of Congress, who marked it a plot to extend slavery
Texas; Stephen Austin
brought 300 families into Texas on his father’s large land grant, starting a steady migration of Americans into frontier territory; Texas became independent from Mexico and applied to the U.S. for annexation, at first denied in 1844
The Alamo
American fort in Texas; was attacked by Santa Anna in 1836, all American defenders were killed
Aroostook War
rival groups of lumbermen fought over a boundary dispute on the Maine-Canadian border; resolved by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty
Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842)
split the disputed territory of the Aroostook War between Maine and Canada; also settled border of the Minnesota Territory
Mexican-American War
considered one of the causes of the Civil War; war over the southern border of Texas (the Rio Grande for the U.S., and the Nueces River for Mexico); resulted in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Wilmot Proviso
California (Bear Flag Republic); John C. Fremont
John C. Fremont overthrew Mexican rule in California and declared it an independent republic in 1846
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
1848; resolved the Mexican-American War, declared the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas & gave the U.S. the Mexican Cession for $15 million
Gadsden Purchase
strips of land purchased from Mexico for $10 million to build a railroad in the American Southwest; forms southern sections of New Mexico and Arizona
Kanagawa Treaty
1854; allowed U.S. vessels to enter two Japanese ports for coal; led to commercial agreement on trade
Free-Soil Party
formed in 1848 by Northerners who opposed allowing slavery in the territories; advocated free homesteads and internal improvements; adopted the slogan “free soil, free labor, and free men”
popular sovereignty
practice of allowing the issue of slavery to be determined by a vote of the people who settled the territory; also known as squatter sovereignty
Compromise of 1850
another of Henry Clay’s compromises; suggested that 1) California be admitted as a free state, 2) the Mexican Cession would be divided into Utah and New Mexico and slavery would be determined by popular sovereignty, 3) disputed land between Texas and New Mexico would be given to the new territories, 4) the slave trade in Washington, D.C. be banned, and 5) a strict Fugitive Slave Law would be enforced
fugitive Slave Law
purpose was to allow people to track down fugitive slaves, capture them, and return them to their Southern owners; fugitive slaves were under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government; citizens who attempted to shelter a fugitive slave were subject to heavy penalties
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
a piece of anti-slavery literature written by Harriet Beecher Stowe; led Northerners and Europeans to see Southern slave owners as inhuman, Southerners became increasingly angry
George Fitzhugh; Sociology of the South
1854 piece of pro-slavery literature; questioned principle of equal rights for “unequal men” and attacked the capitalist wage system as worse than slavery
Hinton Helper; Impending Crisis of the South
1857 piece of anti-slavery nonfiction; used statistics to demonstrate to Southerners that slavery weakened the South’s economy
Kansas-Nebraska Act; Stephen Douglas
1854, devised by Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas; divided the Nebraska Territory into Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory and allowed settlers in each territory to determine whether to allow slavery or not; violated the Missouri Compromise of 1820 & led to an outbreak of violence
“Bleeding Kansas”
fighting between pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups in Kansas led to this nickname for the Kansas Territory
Sumner-Brooks incident
1856; on the Senate floor, Brooks beat Sumner over the head with a cane due to personal charges against his uncle; outraged Northerners, delighted Southerners; sign of growing divide between North & South
Know-Nothing Party
formed by hostile Nativists; drew support away from the Whigs but quickly died out
Republican Party
1854, founded in Wisconsin by anti-slavery Whigs, Democrats, and Free-Soilers; opposed the spread of slavery in the territories, but not the end of slavery entirely; was a Northern party that quickly became the second largest party
Dred Scott v. Sanford
pro-slavery decision that Dred Scott was property and therefore 1) could not sue on a federal court and 2) must be returned to his previous owner; declared Missouri Compromise unconstitutional; decision infuriated Northerners and delighted Southerners
Abraham Lincoln
relatively unknown compared to opponent Stephen Douglas for the Senate seat in 1858; not an abolitionist, but viewed slavery as a moral issue; would become the 16th President of the United States, handle the Civil War, and pass the Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Lincoln challenged Douglas to explain how popular sovereignty worked with the Dred Scott decision; Freeport Doctrine came of these debates
Freeport Doctrine
Douglas’ concept that slavery could not exist in an area without local slave codes to maintain it; idea angered Southern Democrats
John Brown; Harpers Ferry
attempted slave uprising in 1859 led by John Brown; attacked the federal arsenal Harpers Ferry with sons, but locked self into arsenal and was captured by Robert E. Lee; convicted and hanged for treason
Election of 1860
the Democrats divided, though both halves supported the expansion of slavery; the Republicans elected Lincoln with an easy win, supported the exclusion of slavery from the territories and built their platform around economic interests; Lincoln’s election led the Southern states to secede
