Period 5 Flashcards
Manifest Destiny
a saying created by John O’Sullivan, expressed the popular belief that the United States had a divine mission to extend its power and civilization across the breadth of North American during the 1840s. It was driven by nationalism, population increase, rapid economic development, technological advances, and reform ideals
Oregon Fever
due to success in farming in fertile Willamette Valley in the 1840’s, 5000 Americans “caught” this, which caused them to travel 2000 miles over the Oregon Trail to settle in the area south of the Columbia River
54º 40’ or Fight!
Democratic political slogan that was used by James K. Polk during his presidential election, basically saying to either take the territory in Oregon or fight the British for it (even though they really didn’t mean to fight the British)
James K. Polk
president who used the slogan “54º 40’ or Fight” to get people to vote for him since the American people believed that Oregon and Texas belonged to the U.S. at the time. He was also very pro-manifest destiny and was president during the time of the Mexican American War
Mexican American War
technically began in 1846 over disputes over the Texas border (Rio Grande vs. Nueces River), but it can be argued that the annexation of Texas was the beginning of diplomatic trouble with Mexico. This finally boiled over when the Mexican Army crossed the Rio Grande and captured the American army patrol on what the Americans thought was their land (ironically, the Mexicans thought that was their land). Also, it erupted because the U.S. wanted to buy California, but Mexico refused to give it to them. In the end, Mexico lost and U.S. gained the Mexican Cession, California, and established the border separating the two countries at the Rio Grande River. James K. Polk was president during this
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
ended the Mexican American War with the following terms: Mexico recognized the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas, the United States would take possession of former Mexican provinces of California and New Mexico (the Mexican Cession), and for these territories, the U.S. paid $15 million and assumed responsibility for any claims of American citizens against Mexico
Wilmot Proviso
an appropriations bill that forbade slavery in any of the new territories acquired from Mexico from the Mexican American War. It passed the House of Representatives twice but it was defeated in the Senate, ultimately failing
49ers
group of people who migrated to California in 1849 in hopes of getting gold/striking it rich during the gold rush there
Free Soil Party
“free soil, free labor, free men,” party that was for preventing the extension of slavery in the west and advocated free homesteads (public land grants to small farmers) and internal improvement
Popular Sovereignty
where the people who settle a territory decide if it will be a slave state or a free state
Compromise of 1850
created by Henry Clay to solve the dispute over California applying to be a free state that failed as a whole but each of the five parts was able to get passed as individual laws by Stephen Douglas. The five parts are: admit California to the Union as a free state, divide the remainder of the Mexican Cession into 2 territories (Utah and New Mexico) and allow settlers in these territories to decide the slavery issue by popular sovereignty, give the land in dispute over Texas and New Mexico territory to the new territories in return for the federal government assuming Texas’s public debt of $10 million, ban the state TRADE in the District of Columbia but permit whites to hold slaves as before, and adopt a new Fugitive Slave Law and enforce it rigorously
Stephen Douglas
a young senator from Illinois who got the Compromise of 1850 passed as five separate laws
Fugitive Slave Law
a law that was passed to persuade Southerners to accept the loss of California to the abolitionists and free soilers and had the chief purpose of tracking down runaway/fugitive slaves who had escaped to a Northern state, capturing them, and then returning them to their owners
Harriet Tubman
escaped slave woman who who at least 19 trips into the South to help some 300 slaves escape
underground railroad
a loose network of Northern free blacks and courageous ex-slaves, with the help of some white abolitionists, who helped escaped slaves reach freedom in the North or Canada
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
most influential book of its day, a novel about the conflict between an enslaved man named Tom and the brutal white slave owner Simon Legree. Its publication in 1852 moved a generation of Northerners as well as many Europeans to regard all slave owners as monstrously cruel and inhuman
Paternalism
the idea that a slave owner treats his slaves like children and his slaves in return treat the owner like a father
Kansas Nebraska Act
act that was proposed by Stephen Douglas in order to win Southern approval for his plan to build a transcontinental railroad through the central Untied States. The provisions where to divide the Nebraska Territory into 2 parts, the Kansas Territory and the Nebraska Territory, and allow settlers in each territory to decide whether to allow slavery or not
Bleeding Kansas
when settlers in the Kansas-Nebraska territory, especially in Kansas, started fighting with each other over the dispute of if the territories would be free or slave states
Know Nothing Party
a party that was created because of native hostility to immigrant Germans and Irish Catholics by Protestant Americans. Members commonly responded “I know nothing” to political question, which gained them their name
Republican Party
a sectional (because it remained strictly a Northern party) political party whose main goal was to oppose slavery in the territories but not to end slavery itself
Lecompton Constitution
a proslavery state constitution for Kansas that President Buchanan told Congress to accept even though it didn’t support the majority of the settlers in Kansas
Dred Scott v. Sanford
where a slave argued that his residence on free soil made him a free citizen and sued for his freedom. However, the Supreme Court decided the case against the slave because he had not right to sue in a federal court because the Constitution did not intend African Americans to be U.S. citizens, Congress did not have the power to deprive any person of property without due process of law (slaves were property), and the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because it excluded slavery from Wisconsin and other Northern territories
Abraham Lincoln
a successful trial lawyer and former member of the Illinois legislature as well as Republican candidate against Stephen Douglas. He was not as abolitionist, but spoke of slavery as a moral issue.
Became famous for his House Divided Speech
John Brown
in October 1859, led a small band of followers, including his 4 sons and some former slaves, in an attack on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in hopes of arming Virginia’s slaves, who he expected to rise up in revolt
Election of 1860
during this election, the South ended up with two candidates because even though they already had Stephen Douglas as their Democratic candidate, they nominated another candidate because they didn’t like him. Abraham Lincoln also ran in this election and won
Crittenden Compromise
a last ditch effort to appease the South that was proposed by Kentucky’s Senator John Crittenden. It was a constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to hold slaves in all territories south of the 36 30’. This wasn’t accepted by Lincoln because it violated the Republican position on slavery, which was against the extension of slavery
Fort Sumter
Federal fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina; the confederate attack on the fort marked the start of the Civil War
Anaconda Plan
Union strategy that was made up of three main parts: use the U.S. Navy to blockade Southern ports, cutting off essential supplies from reaching the Confederacy, take control of the Mississippi River, dividing the Confederacy in two, and raise and train an army 500,000 strong to conquer Richmond, Virginia, which was the capital of the Confederacy
Panic of 1857
Economic downturn caused by overspeculation of western lands, railroads, gold in California, grain. Mostly affected northerners, who called for higher tariffs and free homesteads
Tariff of 1857
Lowered duties on imports in response to a high Treasury surplus and pressure from Southern farmers.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
1858 Senate Debate, Lincoln forced Douglas to debate issue of slavery, Douglas supported pop-sovereignty, Lincoln asserted that slavery should not spread to territories, Lincoln emerged as strong Republican candidate
Freeport Doctrine
Idea authored by Stephen Douglas that claimed slavery could only exist when popular sovereignty said so
Harper’s Ferry
Harpers Ferry contained a US Armament. John Brown, a radical abolitionist attacked the barracks only to fail in getting guns for enslaved southerners. Later hung on Dec 2
South saw Brown as a maniac, showing their worst fears that the North wanted to destroy slavery
North saw Brown as a martyr
Constitutional Union Party
Party mostly popular in the border states, calling for unity in the Union
Nominated John Bell in 1860, won the border states.
Sumner Caning
Charles Sumner Radical Republican against the slave power who insults Andrew Butler and subsequently gets caned by Preston Brooks
Represents conflict between North and South becoming violent
John C. Breckinridge
The South’s pro-slavery Democratic candidate in the election of 1860. Completed the split of the Democratic Party by being nominated.
Democratic party split between North and South in 1860, Lincoln was not even on Southern ballots
Trent Affair
Union warship stopped a British ship on way to England and arrested 2 Confederate diplomats-James Mason and John Slidell
Britain prepared for war against US-sent troops to Canada
Lincoln decided to release Confederates because he did not want to fight a two front war
He said Captain of Union Ship acted without orders
Writ of Habeas Corpus
a writ ordering a prisoner to be brought before a judge also the right to know what one is being arrested for
Morrill Tariff Act
superseding the low tariff of 1857 duties increased some 5-10% raise revenue and produce protection for manufacturing
Greenbacks
Name for Union paper money not backed by gold or silver. Value would fluctuate depending on status of the war (plural)
National Banking Act
CONFEDERATE STATES
Authorized by Congress in 1863 to establish a standard bank currency. Banks that joined the system could buy bonds and issue paper money.
Homestead Act
Passed in 1862, it gave 160 acres of public land to any settler who would farm the land for five years. The settler would only have to pay a registration fee of $25.
Clara Barton
Nurse during the Civil War; started the American Red Cross
Battle of Bull Run
battle of the Civil War that ended the illusion of a short war and also promoted the myth that the Rebels were invincible in battle and proved that the South could put up a fight with the North
Battle of Antietam
a battle that was a draw but was a blow to the Confederacy because they failed to get what they really needed – open recognition and aid from a foreign power
King Cotton Diplomacy
Southern idea that their cotton was enough to influence foreign policies and that their cotton would be able to get foreign powers to help them during the war. This ideal ultimately fails because no foreign powers decide to help them
Emancipation Proclamation
issued in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln as promised to free all enslaved peoples in REBELLING states (Confederate states). It enlarged the purpose of the war because now the Union was fighting against slavery and succession. It also added the support of previous slaves to fight for the Union
13th Amendment
ratified in December 1865, abolished slavery and freed all enslaved people, particularly the remaining ones in the border states
Siege of Vicksburg
a significant turning point in the Civil War where Union ships finally controlled the full length of the Mississippi and cut off Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas from the rest of the Confederacy
Battle of Gettysburg
the most significant and largest turning point in the Civil war because after this battle, the Confederacy/South is never able to regain the offensive
Gettysburg Address
presented by Abraham Lincoln at a cemetery dedicated to soldiers who died at Gettysburg and in just a few minutes, honored the Union dead and reminded everyone that they could not stop fighting the war because the Union soldiers who had died would have died in vain
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
(10% Plan)
passed by Lincoln, the terms where: full presidential pardons would be granted to most Confederates who took an oath of allegiance to the union and the U.S. Constitution and accepted the emancipation of slaves, a state government could be reestablished and accepted as legitimate by the U.S. president as soon as at least 10% of the voters in that state took the loyalty oath, and each state will rewrite its constitution and eliminate the existence of slavery
Freedmen’s Bureau
acted as an early welfare agency, providing food, shelter, and medical aid for those made destitute by the war, particularly blacks who were former slaves. They were able to established 3000 schools for blacks and taught 200,000 how to read
Black Codes
restricted the rights and movements of former slaves. It prohibited blacks from either renting land or borrowing money to buy land, placed freedmen into a form of semi-bondage by forcing them to sign work contracts, and prohibited blacks from testifying against whites in court
Radical Republicans
group of people whose goals where to extend equal rights for all Americans, endorse liberal causes like women’s rights, labor unions, etc. This group formed because they where afraid of a reunified Democrat party dominating
14th Amendment
stated that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were citizens and obligated the states to respect the rights of U.S. citizens and provide them with “equal protection of the laws” and “due process of law”
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
they divided the former Confederate states into 5 military districts, each under control of the Union army. It also increased the requirements for gaining readmission to the union (an ex-Confederate state had to ratify the 14th amendment and guarantee that in its constitution, it grants suffrage to all freemen, regardless of race)
15th Amendment
prohibited any state from denying or abridging a citizen’s right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” It was ratified in 1870
Scalawags
what Democratic opponents called the Southern Republicans
Carpetbaggers
what Democratic opponents called the Northern newcomers/Republicans
Sharecropping
where the landlord loaned a piece of land to someone and provided the seed and other needed farm supplies in return for a share (usually 1/2) of the harvest, making that someone become dependent on them or in debt to them perpetually
Ulysses S. Grant
an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States (1869-1877). He achieved international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil War.
president who is known for his tainted presidency and is known to be the worst president we have ever had because of the people he trusted (who were corrupt)
Ku Klux Klan
founded in 1867 by ex-Confederate general Nathaniel Bedford Forest, an “invisible empire” that burned down black-owned buildings and flogged and murdered freedmen to keep them from exercising their voting rights
Compromise of 1877
where both political parties (Democrats and Republicans), to solve the issue of who was going to be president after an issue with Florida, worked out a deal where the Democrats would allow Hayes, the Republican presidential candidate, to become president and in return, he would immediately end federal support for the Republicans in the South, remove the army from the South, and support the building of a Southern transcontinental railroad
Sherman’s March
General Sherman lead a force from Chattanooga, Tennessee to South Carolina destroying everything the Confederates could use to survive. He set fire to South Carolina’s capital, Columbia.
“Stonewall” Jackson
general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War whose troops at the first Battle of Bull Run stood like a stone wall (1824-1863)
George McClellan
union general, 1st commander, overly cautious, fired by Lincoln
Robert E. Lee
Confederate general who had opposed secession but did not believe the Union should be held together by force
Joseph Hooker
United States general in the Union Army who was defeated at Chancellorsville by Robert E. Lee (1814-1879)
Wade Davis Bill
an 1864 plan for Reconstruction that denied the right to vote or hold office for anyone who had fought for the Confederacy…Lincoln refused to sign this bill thinking it was too harsh.
Civil Rights Bill
A bill passed by Congress in March 1866 as a measure against the Black Codes to reinforce black rights to citizenship. It was vetoed by Johnson and was later passed as the 14th Amendment.
Force Acts
the government banned the use of terror, force or bribery to prevent someone from voting because of their race. Other laws banned the KKK entirely and brought forth military help to enforce these laws.
Tenure of Office Act
1866 - enacted by radical congress - forbade president from removing civil officers without senatorial consent - was to prevent Johnson from removing a radical republican from his cabinet
Seward’s Folly
U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward signs a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska for $7 million. Despite the bargain price of roughly two cents an acre, the Alaskan purchase was ridiculed in Congress and in the press as “Seward’s folly,” “Seward’s icebox,” and President Andrew Johnson’s “polar bear garden.”