Unit 4 - Chapters 13 - 15 - Misc. MCQs Flashcards
1
Q
Manifest Destiny
A
- Manifest Destiny was a widely held cultural belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America. This belief was rooted in the conviction that American expansion, spreading democratic institutions and ideals, was not only good but also inevitable and ordained by God.
- The goals of Manifest Destiny were the expansion of U.S. territory to the Pacific coast, spreading American democratic and economic ideals, and assimilating or displacing Native American tribes and Mexican landholders in the West.
2
Q
Texas Declaration of Independence (March 2, 1836)
A
Reasons for Independence
- The Texas Declaration cited several grievances against the Mexican government, under the leadership of President Santa Anna, who had centralized the previously federalist Mexican government.
- Grievances included the Mexican government’s failure to establish any public system of education, refusal to allow for trial by jury, and denial of the right to bear arms.
- The declaration also accused the Mexican government of causing the social, political, and economic conditions in Texas to deteriorate, and of denying the Texans their rights under the Mexican Constitution of 1824.
3
Q
Oregon Treaty of 1846
A
Terms and Primary Reason
- The Oregon Treaty, signed between the U.S. and Great Britain, established the 49th parallel (with some exceptions) as the boundary between British North America (Canada) and the U.S. from Minnesota to the Pacific Ocean.
- The primary reason for the treaty was to settle competing British and American claims to the Oregon Country, which comprised the Pacific Northwest of North America.
4
Q
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848)
A
Terms
- The treaty ended the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States.
- Mexico recognized the U.S. annexation of Texas and ceded a large tract of land (including the present-day states of California, Nevada, and Utah, and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming) to the U.S.
- The U.S. agreed to pay Mexico $15 million and assumed the claims of American citizens against Mexico, up to $3.25 million.
5
Q
Results of the Mexican War (1846-1848)
A
- The war resulted in a decisive U.S. victory, and Mexico ceded about 55% of its pre-war territory to the U.S. in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
- The U.S. extended its territory to the Pacific coast, acquired present-day California, Nevada, Utah, and significant parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.
- The war reignited the slavery issue in the U.S. The territories gained from the war led to intense political debates over the expansion of slavery into these territories, which contributed to the causes of the American Civil War.
- For Mexico, the war was a national tragedy that marked the beginning of a long period of foreign intervention and internal strife in the country.
6
Q
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
A
Provisions and Resulting Violence
- The Kansas-Nebraska Act, proposed by Senator Stephen A. Douglas, allowed the settlers in the newly organized territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide on the legality of slavery within their borders (a concept known as “popular sovereignty”).
- This effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30′.
- The act led to a rush of both pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers into Kansas, resulting in violent confrontations known as “Bleeding Kansas”. This period of conflict was a prelude to the American Civil War.
7
Q
American (Know Nothing) Party and the Republican Party
A
Proposals and Positions
- The American Party, also known as the Know Nothing Party, emerged in the 1850s, fueled by nativist sentiments. They sought to limit the influence of immigrants and Catholics, advocating for restrictive immigration policies and a longer naturalization process.
- The Republican Party, also emerging in the 1850s, was founded on anti-slavery sentiment following the Kansas-Nebraska Act. They sought to prevent the expansion of slavery into the western territories. Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president.
8
Q
Dred Scott Decision (1857)
A
Ruling and Impact
- In the Dred Scott v. Sandford case, the Supreme Court ruled that African Americans, whether free or enslaved, could not be American citizens and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court.
- The court also ruled that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired from Mexico. Therefore, the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which restricted slavery in certain territories, was deemed unconstitutional.
- The ruling further inflamed the national debate over slavery and deepened the sectional conflict that would culminate in the Civil War.
9
Q
Election of 1860
A
Candidates, Positions, and Final Result
- The election featured four candidates: Abraham Lincoln (Republican), John Breckinridge (Southern Democrat), Stephen Douglas (Northern Democrat), and John Bell (Constitutional Union).
- Abraham Lincoln opposed the expansion of slavery into new territories but pledged not to interfere with it where it already existed. His victory led several southern states to secede from the Union, initiating the Civil War.
- John Breckinridge represented the Southern Democrats and supported the protection of slavery and its extension into the territories.
- Stephen Douglas represented the Northern Democrats. He advocated for popular sovereignty, where settlers in each territory would decide on the issue of slavery.
- John Bell of the Constitutional Union Party sought to avoid secession by compromising on the issue of slavery.
- Abraham Lincoln won the election, but he was not even on the ballot in most Southern states. His election was viewed by many in the South as a threat to slavery and state rights, leading to the secession of several Southern states and the start of the Civil War.
10
Q
Battle between the Monitor and the Virginia (March 8-9, 1862)
A
Significance and Effects
- The battle, often referred to as the Battle of Hampton Roads, marked the first meeting in combat of ironclad warships, the USS Monitor of the Union and the CSS Virginia of the Confederacy.
- The battle was essentially a draw, as neither ship was able to inflict significant damage on the other, but it was significant in naval history as it marked the end of the era of wooden warships.
- From then on, nations worldwide began to build armored, steam-powered warships, recognizing that wooden naval vessels were no match for ironclads.
11
Q
Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863)
A
Goals and Effectiveness
- The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln, declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.”
- The primary goal of the Proclamation was to disrupt the Confederacy, which was heavily reliant on slave labor, by encouraging slaves to flee, thereby reducing the Confederacy’s resources.
- The Proclamation also aimed to prevent the involvement of foreign nations in the Civil War by aligning the Union’s cause with the abolition of slavery, a cause popular in Europe.
- As for effectiveness, while it did not immediately free all slaves, it changed the fundamental character of the Civil War from a war for Union to a war for freedom. It also set the stage for the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which would abolish slavery permanently throughout the entire country.
11
Q
I
A
I
12
Q
John Wilkes Booth’s Assassination Plot in 1865
A
Plans and Results
- John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer, planned and carried out the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. on April 14, 1865.
- Booth’s original plan was to kidnap Lincoln and use him as a bargaining chip to secure the release of Confederate prisoners. But with the Confederacy’s imminent defeat, Booth changed his plan to assassination.
- The assassination took place just days after the Union had effectively won the Civil War. Lincoln’s death plunged the nation into mourning and elevated him to the status of a martyr.
- Booth was hunted down and killed by Union troops, while his co-conspirators were arrested and executed.
13
Q
Sand Creek Massacre (November 29, 1864)
A
Results and Explanation
- The Sand Creek Massacre was a brutal attack on a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people in southeastern Colorado Territory by a force of about 700 U.S. Volunteer Cavalry under Colonel John Chivington.
- Despite the fact that the village was under the protection of a U.S. flag and a white flag, Chivington’s troops killed and mutilated an estimated 150-200 Native Americans, about two-thirds of whom were women, children, and elderly.
- News of the gruesome massacre led to public outrage and congressional inquiries. However, Chivington was never held accountable due to his military discharge.
- The massacre increased tension and violence between Native Americans and white settlers in the West, and it remains a controversial and tragic event in American history.
14
Q
Slaughterhouse Cases (1873) and US v. Cruikshank (1876)
A
Effect on Post-Civil War America
- In the Slaughterhouse Cases, the Supreme Court interpreted the 14th Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities Clause very narrowly, ruling that it protected only rights of national citizenship (like protection on the high seas) from the actions of the state government.
- In US v. Cruikshank, the Court ruled that the federal government could not file charges against white men who had killed over a hundred black people during the Colfax Massacre because it was the state’s job to protect citizens’ constitutional rights, not the federal government’s.
- These decisions significantly limited the power of the 14th Amendment and the federal government to protect the rights of African Americans and other minorities against state infringement, thus contributing to the rise of Jim Crow segregation and undermining civil rights enforcement for nearly a century.
