Chapter 13 Note Cards Flashcards
Manifest Destiny
Who - Americans, John L. O’Sullivan
What - Idea that America was destined to take over North America (by God); justified westward expansion
When - 1840s
Where - US
Why - Based on nationalism & supposed white superiority
General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
Who - Santa Anna
What - Mexican leader who led an army into Texas (where there was little defense); gave Texas freedom in a treaty after being trapped at San Jacinto; present at the Alamo
Where - the Alamo; Mexico; Texas
When - mid-1830s
Why - Rising tensions between America and Mexico; sporadic fighting between the two
Tejanos
Who - Mexican residents of Texas
What - Fought with the Americans in the Texas Revolution, but were drawn out after independence because Americans didn’t trust them
Where - Texas
When - 1840s
Why - N/A
Texas Annexation
Who - Sam Houston
What - Would add Texas as a territory to the US; opposed by Northerners because they didn’t want a large slave state; became an issue in the election of 1844
Where - Texas
When - 1845
Why - Texas had recently grown free of Mexico
Mexican War
Who - President Polk
What - Polk dispatched John Slidell to try to buy California off of the Mexicans; when that was rejected, Polk sent an army to move across the Nueces River;Mexicans refused to fight for months, but eventually moved across and attacked a unit of soldiers; faced lots of opposition; ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Where - Western US
When - May 13, 1846 (war was declared)
Why - President Polk wanted the California territory
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Who - President Polk, Nicholas Trist
What - Mexico agreed to cede California and New Mexico to the US, while the USassumed any financial claims news citizens had against Mexico & to give it $15 million
Where - Western US
When - February 2, 1848
Why - Polk was eager to end the war quickly, so sent Trist to negotiate; they had seized the Mexican capital
Gold Rush
Who - Discovered by John Marshall; forty-niners
What - Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to California searching for wealth in gold; people abandoned their jobs, homes, and families to get a taste of the gold; created a labor shortage in California & an overexploitation of Native Americans (slavery); crucial to the growth of California
Where - First found traces of gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada
When - 1848 to 1852
Why - People wanted to be rich
Popular Sovereignty
Who - Stephen A. Douglas
What - Would allow people of each territory to decide whether or not it should be a slave state
Where - US
When - 1840s
Why - Part of the sectional debate; an attempt at finding the solution to the divide on slavery
Compromise of 1850
Who - Henry Clay
What - Would admit California as a free state, would form territorial government in the rest of the recently-acquired land, would abolish the use of the slave trade in DC, and a more effective Fugitive Slave Law
Where - US
When - Presented to Senate on January 29, 1850
Why - An attempt to settle lots of issues regarding slavery
John C. Calhoun
Who - John C. Calhoun
What - Insisted that the North grant the South equal rights in the new Mexican territories, agree to observe fugitive slave laws, stop attacking slavery, and amend the Constitution to allow for two presidents (one for the North, one for the South); ALSO 3rd member of the Great Triumvirate; was disqualified from the national leadership position because he never identified himself within the nullification controversy; supported national bank; hated Andrew Jackson; very strong in the South & an advocate for states’ rights
Where - US
When - early to mid 1800s
Why - Believed his propositions would save the Union
Fugitive Slave Act
Who - Attacked fugitive slaves
What - Forced people in the North to report & return slaves to the South; North opposed by forming some mobs, passing their own laws barring the deportation of fugitives; greatly upset the South because their victory in the 1850 compromise turned out to be useless
Where - US
When - mid 1800s
Why - Bettered the South
Transcontinental Railroad
Who - Americans
What - Provided transportation across the country; it was difficult to decide where to put the eastern terminal, which led to another debate between the North and South
Where - US
When - 1863 to 1869
Why - Communication between older states and those west of the Mississippi was becoming more of an issue
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Who - Stephen A. Douglas
What - Determined that the Nebraska territory could change its anti-slavery status with popular sovereignty; repealed the Missouri Compromise; also divided the territory into Kansas and Nebraska; led to the destruction of the Whigs and the formation of the Republican Party
Where - Nebraska territory
When - May 1854
Why - Looked to organize the Nebraska territory
Henry Clay
Who - Henry Clay
What - Opposed the idea of Manifest Destiny; responsible for the Compromise of 1850; ALSO warhawk, secured the declaration of war for the War of 1812; known as “The Great Compromiser”; was Speaker of the House; suggested the solution for the Missouri Compromise; negotiated the Treaty of Ghent
Where - US
When - early to mid 1800s
Why - N/A
Free Soil Ideology
Who - Northerners
What - What Northerners based their assumptions about societal structure on; basically said that slavery was dangerous not because of its effects on African Americans, but rather due to its effects on white people; believed that all citizens should be allowed to own property and control their own labor
Where - Northern US
When - 1840s to 1850s
Why - Opposed expansion of slavery
