APUSH 1844-1877

James Buchanan

15th President of the United States (1857-1861), he tried to maintain a balance between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions, but his moderate views angered radicals in both the North and South, and he was unable to stall the secession of South Carolina on December 20, 1860

Underground Railroad

A network of abolitionists that secretly helped slaves escape to freedom by setting up hiding places and routes to the North. Harriet Tubman is a key person to its success.

Mexican Cession

Acquired in 1848 from Mexico. Went to war with Mexico over border issues. US won, paid $15 million for Canada and New Mexico. Rio Grande established as border

John Brown

An abolitionist who attempted to lead a slave revolt by capturing Armories in southern territory and giving weapons to slaves, was hung in Harpers Ferry after capturing an Armory

Panic of 1857

An economic crash that arose due to the inflation caused by inpouring California gold. The demands of the Crimean War over-stimulated grain growth and land speculation, and when the collapse came over five thousand businesses failed. Northern farmers were hard-hit by the panic, while the South basically went untouched. Also the panic created a clamor of higher tariff rates.

Conscience Whigs

Anti-slavery Whigs who opposed both the Texas annexation and the Mexican War on moral grounds.

Wilmot Proviso

Bill proposed after the Mexican War that stated that neither slavery no involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any territory gained from Mexico. It was never passed through both houses but it transformed the debate of slavery.

Franklin Pierce

Democratic candidate for President in 1852 and the fourteenth president of the US. He made the Gadsden Purchase, which opened the Northwest for settlement, and passed the unpopular Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Henry Clay

Distinguished senator from Kentucky, who ran for president five times until his death in 1852. He was a strong supporter of the American System, a war hawk for the War of 1812, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and known as "The Great Compromiser." (responsible for the Missouri Compromise). Outlined the Compromise of 1850 with five main points. Died before it was passed however

"King Cotton"

Expression used by Southern authors and orators before the Civil War to indicate the economic dominance of the Southern cotton industry, and that the North needed the South's cotton. In a speech to the Senate in 1858, James Hammond declared, "You daren't make war against cotton! ...Cotton is king!".

barnburners

Free-Soilers who's defection threatened to destroy the Democratic party., conscience Whigs and anti-slavery Democrats were known as this`

Zachary Taylor

General that was a military leader in Mexican-American War and 12th president of the United States. Was a Whig. Sent by president Polk to lead the American Army against Mexico at Rio Grande, but defeated. Died in 1850

Roger Taney

He was Chief Justice for the Dred Scott case. A decision was made on March 6, 1857. Roger Taney ruled against Dred Scott. Scott was suing for freedom because of his long residence in free territory. He was denied freedom because he was property and his owner could take him into any territory and legally hold him as a slave. This court ruling was major cause in starting the Civil War.

Sumner-Brooks Incident

In 1856 Senator Charles Sumner made an abolitionist speech insulting SC Senator Andrew Butler • Preston Brooks, Butler's nephew and Congressman from SC, heard Sumner's speech and on the Senate floor beat him into a coma with his cane • The beating helped to escalate tensions between north and south

house-divided speech

In his acceptance speech for his nomination to the Senate in June, 1858, Lincoln paraphrased from the Bible: "A house divided against itself cannot stand." He continued, "I do not believe this government can continue half slave and half free, I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do believe it will cease to be divided."

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Lincoln challenged Stephen Douglas to a series of 7 debates. Though Douglas won the senate seat, these debates gave Lincoln fame and helped him to later on win the presidency. These debates were a foreshadowing of the Civil War

Irish immigrants

Many fled to America after the famines of the late 1840s in Ireland, which resulted from an inedible potato crop. Most of the immigrants form Ireland were young, female, poor, from rural communities, and Roman Catholic. They built Catholic churches and schools, and established networks of charitable and social organizations.

Lewis Cass

Named father of "popular sovereignty." Ran for president in 1848 but Gen. Taylor won. The north was against Cass because popular sovereignty made it possible for slavery to spread.

Stephen Douglas

Senator from Illinois who ran for president against Abraham Lincoln. Wrote the Kansas-Nebreaska Act and the Freeport Doctrine

Nat Turner

Slave from VA that led group of slaves to kill their slaves holders abd familes. Turner caught and executed on Nov.11, 1831. Slave states stricker control on slave population.

Popular Sovereignty

The concept that political power rests with the people who can create, alter, and abolish government. People express themselves through voting and free participation in government

Lecompton Constitution

The pro-slavery constitution suggested for Kansas' admission to the union. It was rejected.

"Know-nothing" Party

aka the American Party; major political force from 1854-1855; objective: to extend period of naturalization, undercut immigrant voting strengths, and keep aliens in their place

John C. Fremont

an explorer, soldier, and politician known as "the Great Pathfinder." In 1846, he assisted in the annexation of California by capturing insurgents, seizing the city of Sonoma, and declaring the independence of the "Bear Flag Republic." In 1856, ______ became the first presidential candidate for the Republican party.

Howell Cobb

as an American political figure. A Southern Democrat, Cobb was a five-term member of the United States House of Representatives and Speaker of the House from 1849 to 1851. He also served as a Secretary of Treasury under President James Buchanan (1857-1860) and Governor of Georgia (1851-1853). He is, however, probably best known as one of the founders of the Confederate States of America, having served as the Speaker of the Provisional Confederate Congress, when delegates of the secessionist states issued creation of the Confederacy.

Secession

formal separation from an alliance or federation

Montgomery Convention

marked the formal beginning of the Confederate States of America. Convened in ________, Alabama, and opening on February 4, 1861, the Convention organized a provisional government for the Confederacy and created the Constitution of the Confederate States of America. On January 7, 1861 the committee submitted a secession ordinance accompanied by a report in favor of immediate secession.

Nativism

movement based on hostility to immigrants; motivated by ethnic tensions and religious bias; considered immigrants as despots overthrowing the American republic; feared anti-Catholic riots and competition from low-paid immigrant workers

Abraham Lincoln

nicknamed "Old Abe" and "Honest Abe"; born in Kentucky to impoverished parents and mainly self-educated; a Springfield lawyer. Republicans chose him to run against Senator Douglas (a Democrat) in the senatorial elections of 1858. Although he loss victory to senatorship that year, Lincoln came to be one of the most prominent northern politicians and emerged as a Republican nominee for president. Although he won the presidential elections of 1860, he was a minority and sectional president (he was not allowed on the ballot in ten southern states).

German immigrants

stereotyped as hard working, self-reliant, and intelligent, making them much more favored than Irish immigrants. They emigrated because of potato blight, small landholdings, being displaced by the industrial revolution, and being political refugees. tended to stick together, preserving their culture, and spread throughout the United States

gag rule

strict rule passed by pro-southern Congressmen in 1836 to prohibit all discussion of slavery in the House or Representatives

Great American Desert

the term applied to the land west of the Missouri River and east of the Rocky Mountains. The landscape had no trees, little rainfall and tough prairie sod. This land seemed like a desert to the many who past through this unexplored area on their way to the Pacific Coast and that is how it came to be known.