APUSH Chapter 17 & 18

Hudson's Bay Company

A British fur trading company that monopolized the market in the Oregon County during the 1840s.

Texas Republic

A short lived republic that only lasted for eight years (1836-1844), this republic created alliances with several countries in Europe, before finally becoming a part of the United States after Britain began to move in on annexation of the territory.

The Caroline incident (1837)

A steamer that was attacked when carrying supplies from the Canadians to the Americans, and created all this bad blood between the two countries.

William Henry Harrison (1841)

In 1841, this president entered office, only to die a month later from pneumonia contracted during his extremely long presidential address. He was succeeded by his vice president, John Tyler.

Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842

In 1842 two men, one from America and one from London, met up in Washington after British-American fighting grew desperate, where they created this treaty, which split the disputed territory in Maine: gave American some land in western Canada by redefining the Canadian-American border, and patched up the Caroline affair.

Missouri Compromise

It said everything north of the Mason-Dixon line would be free, but obviously this was invalidated by the Kansas-Nebraska Act which opened those two territories up to possible being slave states.

Zachary Taylor

Known as a victor from the Mexican War, and one of the best generals whose main battle was fought in 1846, he became President in 1848 "by spontaneous combustion," as the representative of the Whig party.

Harriet Tubman

One of the most influential "conductors" on the Underground Railroad, she helped over three hundred people to safety, including her aging parents and dozens of children.

Daniel Webster

One of the real leaders of the Whigs, behind the figurehead of William Henry Harrison and later John Tyler, this man was the Secretary of State from 1841-44.

Lewis Cass

The Democratic nominee in 1848, since Polk only wanted to serve a single term. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, and had good experience for the role of president but ultimately lost out due to his unlikable nature. He was sometimes called the Father of Popular Sovereignty, the doctrine which stated the general population of a state should decide the status of slavery, which essentially supported slavery, hurting his campaign.

Zachary Taylor

The Whig nominee in 1848, he was also unlikable and supported slavery, but his status as a war hero helped him to win the vote and become President.

"54-40 degrees or fight!"

The battle cry of the Americans who supported the seizing of the entire Oregon Territory, and not making compromises with Britain; and believed that, if they should get all of Texas, they should get all of Oregon as well.

Texas border dispute

The dispute over territory to the west and northwest of Texas, which belonged mainly to the New Mexico territory, and which Texas claimed, but eventually was forced to give up.

Popular sovereignty

The doctrine which stated that the general opinion of the public should decide whether or not a state was going to be slave or free, to be voted on when the state decided to apply for statehood.

Death of the Whig Party, 1852

The loss of Scott in the 1852 signified the death of the Whig Party, because after the 1848 presidency, they would never have another President, and this was their last year as the second strong party. By the Civil War, the Whigs essentially died out.

California Gold Rush, 1848

The rush that was created upon the discovery of some gold in Texas, which sent Americans skipping over the entire New Mexico Territory and straight to California.

Oregon Trail (1840s)

The trail that settlers had to take to get into the Oregon Territory, upon which many died of disease or depression.

Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854

This act split the Nebraska Territory into two separate territories, Nebraska and Kansas, and opened them up to possibly becoming slave states through the implantation of popular sovereignty in them.

Battle of Buena Vista, 1847

This battle was led on the American side by Zachary Taylor, and on the Mexican side by Santa Anna, and led to the defeat of the Mexicans at the hands of the Americans.

Fugitive Slave Law

This law was part of the Compromise of 1850, created by the South because they wanted to fix the previous law of its kind from the creation of the Constitution, because it wasn't being obeyed. However, this law just served to drive a deeper wedge between Northern and Southern states, and helped to bring on the Civil War.

John C. Fremont

This man "happened" to be in California with several dozen troops when the Mexican War broke out, and so he was able to help detach California from Mexico.

Commodore Matthew Perry (Japan, 1854)

This man floated into Tokyo Harbor with his three steamships in 1853 and gave the Japanese an offer to become an open country to America and their trading partner. A year later, he returned and the Japanese accepted his offer. He was an imposing figure with his warships, and had a taste for pomp and outlandishness.

Daniel Webster, 7th of March Speech, 1850

This man fought against concessions in the Compromise of 1850, fighting for the South. This speech was his best known speech of all time, and eventually created a demand for written versions of the speech. He actually had to have someone else read this speech for him, because at the time he was so sick with pneumonia that he was unable to read it himself. This man died before the conclusion of the Compromise of 1850, going to his deathbed hoping for victory for the Southerners.

Stephen Kearny

This man led a detachment of 1700 troops over the Santa Fe Trail to Santa Fe, where he easily captured their fort as one of the first battles of the Mexican War.

General Winfield Scott

This man led the attack on Mexico City. Though he was incredibly hampered by inadequate troops, expiring enlistments, numerous enemies, bad terrain, and disease, he still managed to win the battle, distinguishing him as one of the best, if not the best, general of his generation.

William Seward

This man represented a minority of young, northern radicals in the Compromise of 1850, an antislaveryite who believed in non-concession, and said people should obey a higher power than the Constitution.

Millard Fillmore, 1850

This man took over the presidency when Taylor died unexpectedly from a stomach disease. His vice presidency was a huge turning point in American history, because he allowed the Compromise of 1850 to pass, which Taylor surely would not have allowed, which delayed the Civil War for ten years and might have been what allowed the North to beat the South.

Senator Stephen A. Douglas

This man was responsible for the Kansas-Nebraska Act and probably for the Civil War, splitting the fragile peace after the Compromise of 1850 and invalidating the Missouri Compromise, and in a sense the Compromise of 1850 as well.

Nicholas Trist

This man was sent to Mexico by President Polk, initially to create a treaty with the Mexicans, but he was recalled several months later. Despite this, he remained in Mexico, where he was able to create the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.

Franklin Pierce

This man was the Democratic dark-horse candidate in 1852, and won by a landslide in the election against Scott. He wasn't particularly likable.

Winfield Scott

This man was the Whig nominee in 1852, and lost by a lot against Pierce in the election. He wasn't particularly likable either.

General Santa Anna

This man was the leader of the Mexican forces against Zachary Taylor, and later the six-time dictator of Mexico, who was a strong opponent to Taylor, but he ultimately lost to the superior American forces.

Henry Clay and the Compromise of 1850

This man, the "Great Compromiser", came forward one last time for this Compromise before his death 1852. He said that both sides of the debate should make concessions, and eventually his ideas won out.

Free Soil Party

This party was created when there was a large group of people who didn't support either Taylor or Cass, and was one of the first major third-party movements. They were explicit abolitionists who also advocated for federal aid for internal improvements, and were made of a hodge-podge of people, including those who didn't actually support abolition but merely hated blacks and wanted to keep the West free from what they saw as "dirty" African Americans.

Wilmont Proviso, 1846

This proviso never became law but was endorsed by the state legislature of free states, and said slavery was prohibited in every state acquired in the Mexican War.

Gadsden Purchase, 1853

This purchase treaty bought a small strip of desert from Mexico for an extravagant cost, which angered Northerners, as it was mainly beneficial for the South and would actually serve to validate their claims for a railroad, but also was intended as a sign of good will after the horrendous Mexican War and all the land that the US took for such a small price.

Ostend Manifesto, 1854

This secret manifesto was created in 1854 by the French, British, and Spanish American diplomats, and advised the President on what to do about acquiring Cuba. However, when word about it leaked to the northerners, there was an outcry, and any plans outlined in the manifesto were dropped.

Underground Railroad

This so-called "railroad" was actually a series of safe houses which helped slaves to escape from the South and find freedom in the North.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848

This treaty was created against the wishes of President Polk, but actually had great terms for the Americans. This treaty confirmed America's right to Texas and yielded a huge area stretching westward to Oregon and the Pacific Ocean, which included California.

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 1850

This treaty, created in 1850, said that neither American nor Britain would look for control over any future isthmian waterway, a statement which would later be rescinded, but for the time being helped dodge complete confrontation between the two countries.

Henry Clay

This was another one of the behind-the-scenes Whig leaders, who was the ablest Whig in the Senate, and the best known of the Whigs.

Pacific railroad route

This was the route from eastern America to the Pacific coast.

John Tyler (1841)

William Henry Harrison's vice president, he took over as President only a month after Harrison was elected when he died from pneumonia. He was the first vice president to become president, and established that a vice president who became president when something happened to the president had all the powers of the real president, and wasn't just a stand-in.