APUSH: AMSCO Unit 5
Hinton R. Helper
wrote Impending Crisis of the South, which used statistics to demonstrate to fellow southerners that slavery had a negative impact on the South's economy
Winfield Scott
General in Chief of the Union; veteran of the 1812 and Mexican wars, who devised a 3-part strategy for winning the war: the Anaconda Plan, taking control of the Mississippi River, and training an army of 500,000 to take Richmond
John C. Fremont
Republicans' 1856 nominee for president; a young explorer and senator from California; carried 11 of the 16 free states' electoral votes
house-divided speech
a celebrated speech by Abraham Lincoln, reported in the nation's press; in which Lincoln said that the government "cannot endure permanently half slave and half free"
Matthew C. Perry
a commodore sent to Japan to persuade it to open up its ports to trade with America; in 1854, he convinced them to agree to a treaty that opened two Japanese ports to US trading vessels
Dred Scott v. Sanford
a controversial Supreme Court Case in which the Court ruled that (1) Dred Scott had no right to sue in a federal court because, as a person of African descent, the Framers of the Constitution did not intend for him to be an American citizen, (2) Congress did not have the power to deprive anyone of property, and, if slaves were a form of property, Congress could not exclude slavery from any federal territory, and (3) that because the Missouri Compromise excluded slavery from some territories, its existence was unconstitutional; this decision increased northerners' suspicions of a slave power conspiracy and induced thousands of former Democrats to vote Republican
Free soil movement
did not demand the end of slavery but sought to keep the West a land of opportunity for whites only so that they didn't have to compete with the labor of slaves and free blacks; advocated free homesteads and internal improvements
Ostend Manifesto (1852)
drawn up by three American diplomats attempting to buy Cuba from Spain; was leaked to the press and provoked an angry reaction from antislavery members of Congress
Franklin Pierce
elected president in 1852; adopted prosouthern policies and attempted to secretly purchase Cuba from Spain
the Alamo
famous fort in San Antonio, which Santa Anna's army attacked, killing every one of its American defenders. Remember it.
Republican Party
founded as a direct reaction to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act; made up of a coalition of Free-Soilers and antislavery Whigs and Democrats
Stephen Austin
Moses Austin's son; succeeded in bringing 300 families into Texas and thereby beginning a steady migration of American settlers into the vast frontier territory
Four main causes of the civil war
(1) slavery: moral issue in the North, defense/expansion in the south (2) constitutional disputes: nature of federal union and states' rights (3) economic differences: industrial North and agricultural South (4) political blunders and extremism on both sides
California Bear Flag Republic
(1846) Short-lived California republic, established by local American settlers who revolted against Mexico. Once news of the war with Mexico reached the Americans, they abandoned the Republic in favor of joining the United States.
Roger Taney
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and a southern Democrat; presided over the Dred Scott case
Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson
Confederate General who counterattacked the Union forces at Bull Run and sent the Union troops back to DC
Robert E. Lee
Confederate General who emerged as the commander of the South's eastern forces; his brilliant tactical moves stopped McClellan's Union army and attacked Pope's forces, sending the Union army backward to Bull Run and Washington
Lewis Cass
Democratic senator from Michigan nominated by the Democrats for the 1848 election; proposed the concept of popular sovereignty
James Buchanan
Democrats' 1856 presidential nominee; won a majority of both the popular and electoral votes
Free Soil Party
Formed in 1847 - 1848, dedicated to opposing slavery in newly acquired territories such as Oregon and ceded Mexican territory.
federal land grants
In 1850, the U.S. government gave 2.6 million acres of federal land to build the Illinois Central railroad from Lake Michigan to Gulf of Mexico. (p. 238)
Pottawatomie Creek
In 1856, abolitionist John Brown and his sons attacked this proslavery farm settlement and killed five settlers. (p. 253)
farming frontier
In the 1830s and 1840s pioneer families moved west to start homesteads and begin farming. Government programs allowed settlers to purchase inexpensive parcels of land. (p. 237)
executive power
Lincoln's use of his power without congressional approval; he used it to (1) call for volunteers to put down the "insurrection" in the South, (2) authorize spending for the war, and (3) suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
Zachary Taylor
Mexican War hero who had never been involved in politics and took no position on slavery in the territories; nominated by the Whigs and won the presidential election of 1848
"Fifty-Four Forty or Fight"
Political slogan of the Democrats in the election of 1844, which claimed fifty-four degrees, forty minutes as the boundary of the Oregon territory claimed by the United States
John Tyler
President from 1841-1845; a southern Whig concerned by the British's growing influence in Texas, he worked to annex it but his proposal was rejected by the US Senate
Jefferson Davis
President of the Confederacy; tried to increase his executive powers during the war, but southern governors resisted his attempts at centralization
mining frontier
The discovery of gold in California in 1848 caused the first flood of newcomers to the West. A series of gold strikes and silver strikes in what became the states of Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, and South Dakota kept a steady flow of hopeful young prospectors pushing into the West. (p. 237)
Alexander H. Stephens
Vice President of the Confederacy and defender of states' rights; urged the secession of Georgia in response to the "despotic" actions of the Confederate government
urban frontier
Western cities that arose as a result of railroads, mineral wealth, and farming. They included San Francisco, Denver, and Salt Lake City. (p. 238)
overland trails
Westward trail route of wagon trains bearing settlers; collective experience; despite contradicting stories, Indian attacks were extremely rare & more helpful than harmful
Millard Fillmore
Zachary Taylor's Vice President who took office after Taylor's sudden death; a strong supporter of compromise, readily signed Douglas's bills into law
Texas
a Mexican province into which the US wanted to push its borders; by 1830, Americans here outnumbered Mexicans by 3:1, and they revolted, turning it into the Republic of Texas and requesting its annexation into the US
Ulysses S. Grant
a West Point graduate who partly commanded the North's campaign for control of the Mississippi River; used a combination of gunboats and army maneuvers to capture Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, opening up the state of Mississippi to Union attack
Wilmot Proviso
a bill proposed by David Wilmot; forbid slavery in any of the new territories acquired from Mexico; passed the House twice but was defeated in the Senate both times; seen by historians as the first round in an escalating political conflict that led to the civil war
Crittenden Compromise
a final attempt to prevent southern secession; proposed an amendment that would guarantee the right to hold slaves in all territories south of the 36 degree 30' line; rejected by Lincoln because it opposed his Republican platform
Panic of 1857
a financial panic that ended the midcentury economic boom; caused a serious drop in prices for midwestern farmers and increased unemployment in northern cities--because the South was less affected, they believed their plantation economy was superior and that continued union with the North was not necessary
Fort Sumter
a fort in the harbor of Charleston, SC which was cut off from vital supplies and reinforcements by southern control of the harbor; its attack and capture by Confederates united most northerners behind a patriotic fight to save the Union
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
a general who, in 1834, made himself dictator of Mexico and abolished its federal system of government; insisted on enforcing Mexico's laws in Texas and attacked the Alamo, but was captured and forced to sign a treaty that recognized Texas' independence
Stephen Kearney
a general who--leading a force of under 1,500--took Santa Fe, the New Mexico territory, and southern California
Franklin Pierce
a northerner and safe compromise Democratic candidate who supported the Fugitive Slave Law, won all but four of the electoral votes
Lecompton Constitution
a proposed proslavery state constitution for Kansas, crafted by the Southern legislature at Lecompton; President Buchanan asked Congress to accept it, but they did not, as many Democrats joined with the Republicans in rejecting it--additionally it was overwhelmingly defeated by the majority of Kansas settlers
James K. Polk
a protege of Andrew Jackson and a Democrat; firmly committed to expansion and manifest destiny, favored the annexation of Texas, reoccupation of Oregon, and the acquisition of California; won the presidential election of 1844
John Brown
a stern abolitionist from Connecticut who led his sons on an attack of a proslavery farm settlement as Pottawatomie Creek, brutally killing five settlers
Abraham Lincoln
a successful trial lawyer and former member of the Illinois legislature who challenged Stephen Douglas' campaign for the Illinois Senate seat and was elected president in 1860; a moderate who opposed the expansion of slavery
manifest destiny
a theme used by a host of supporters of territorial expansion after the term was penned by O'Sullivan; expressed the popular belief that the US had a divine mission to extend its power and civilization across the breadth of North America
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850)
a treaty between the US and Great Britain; provided that neither nation would attempt to take exclusive control of any future canal route in central America; continued in full force until the end of the century
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
a treaty negotiated in Mexico by American diplomat Nicholas Trist; provided that (1) Mexico would recognize the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas, and (2) the Mexican Cession
Oregon territory
a vast territory on the Pacific Coast that originally stretched as far north as the Alaskan border; was claimed by four different nations (Spain, Russia, Britain, and the US) at one point; finally, Britain and America divided it at the 49th parallel, and the US took the southern half
Stephen A. Douglas
a young Senator from Illinois who engineered different coalitions to pass each part of the Compromise of 1850 separately
popular sovereignty
allowed the matter of slavery in a territory to be determined by a vote of people settled there; Lewis Cass's approach to the issue of slavery
Harpers Ferry Raid
an attack on the federal arsenal at Harper Ferry led by the fanatical and violent John Brown; he planned to use the guns from the arsenal to arm Virginia's slaves and encourage them to revolt, but his band was captured after a two-day siege and hanged by the state of Virginia
Harriet Tubman
an escaped slave who made at least 19 trips into the South to help some 300 slaves escape
"barnburners"
antislavery Democrats ridiculed because their defection threatened to destroy the Democratic party
Fredericksburg
at which a large Union army under Ambrose Burnside attacked Lee's forces and suffered immense losses
Shiloh
at which the Union army was surprised by Confederates, but held its ground and forced them to retreat after terrible losses on both sides
Antietam
at which the bloodiest single day of combat in the entire war took place; over 22,000 men were either killed or wounded; stopped the confederates from getting open recognition and aid from foreign powers, and was a decisive battle in the war
John C. Fremont
backed only by a few dozen soldiers, a few navy officers, and American citizens, overthrew Mexican rule in northern California and proclaimed it to be an independent republic--the Bear Flag Republic
mountain men
fur traders; the earliest nonnative group to open the Far West; in the 1820s, they held yearly rendevous in the Rockies with Native Americans to trade for animal skins; provided much of the early information about trails and frontier conditions
Underground Railroad
helped escaped slaves reach freedom in the North or in Canada; was neither well-organized nor dominated by white abolitionists as it is sometimes believed.
Zachary Taylor
his force of 6,000 men drove the Mexican army from Texas, crossed the Rio Grande into northern Mexico, and won a major victory at Buena Vista
election of 1860
in which Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate, was elected as president; the final event that triggered the South's decision to leave the Union
Freeport Doctrine
in which Douglas responded to Lincoln's questions by stating that slavery could not exist in a community if the local citizens did not pass and enforce laws (slave codes) in order to maintain it; angered Southern Democrats who believed Douglas did not go far enough in supporting the implications of the Dred Scott decision
Trent Affair
in which a Union warship captured two Confederate diplomats (James Mason and John Slidell), who were on a mission to gain British recognition and aid; Lincoln gave in to British demands to release the prisoners of war
Summer-Brooks incident
incident in which Congressman Preston Brooks--Senator Andrew Butler's nephew--defended Butler's honor against personal charges made by Senator Charles Sumner (in his speech "The Crime Against Kansas") by beating Sumner over the head with a cane
Mexican War (1846-1847)
initiated when a Mexican army crossed the Rio Grande and killed 11 Americans; was fought mostly in Mexican territory by relatively small armies of Americans--took Santa Fe, the New Mexico territory, southern and northern California, and Texas; a military disaster for Mexico, who had no choice but to concede its territories to the US
Samuel F. B. Morse
invented the electric telegraph and first successfully demonstrated it in 1844
Elias Howe
invented the sewing machine
Fugitive Slave Law
its passage persuaded many Southerners to accept the loss of California to the abolitionists; its chief purpose was to track down runaway slaves escaped to the North, capture them, and return them to their southern owners
Sam Houston
led an army that captured Santa Anna; became the first president of the Republic of Texas, and applied to the US government for annexation
industrial technology
like the sewing machine and the electric telegraph; technologies made and used by factories that had huge effects on society--the sewing machine took clothing production out of the home and into the factories, and the electric telegraph sped up communication across the country
gold/silver rush
mass migrations to the mineral-rich mountains of the West, caused by the discovery of gold and silver in California, Colorado, Nevada, the Dakotas, and other western territories; caused California's population to soar from 14,000 to 380,000 between 1848 and 1860
Harriet Beecher Stowe
norther writer of Uncle Tom's Cabin, a novel about the conflict between a slave named Tom and the brutal white slave owner Simon Legree; moved a generation of northerners to regard all slave owners as monstrously cruel and inhuman
conscience Whigs
opposed slavery; nominated Van Buren for president
New England Emigrant Aid Company
organized by Northern abolitionists and Free-soilers; paid for the transportation of antislavery settlers to Kansas in order to win antislavery control of the territory
"bleeding Kansas"
what the Kansas territory came to be known as after fighting broke out between proslavery and antislavery gorups vying for control
Compromise of 1850
proposed by Henry Clay; would admit California to the Union as a free state, divide the remainder of the Mexican Cession into two territories--Utah and New Mexico--and allow the settlers to decide the slavery issue by popular sovereignty, give the disputed lands to new territories in return for the government's assuming of Texas' public debt ($10 million), ban the slave trade in D.C. but permit whites to hold slaves there, and adopt a new Fugitive Slave Law and enforce it rigidly; its passage bought time for the Union
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
proposed that the Nebraska territory be divided into the Kansas territory and the Nebraska territory, and that the settlers there be allowed to decide whether or not to allow slavery; provided Southerners an opportunity which had previously been blocked by the Missouri Compromise; passed after 5 months of bitter debate
Mexican Cession
provided that the US would take possession of former Mexican provinces California and New Mexico, and that it would pay $15 million for these, and assume the claims of American citizens against Mexico
border states
remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War; their loss would have increased the Confederate population by more than 50 percent and would have severely weakened the North's strategic position for conducting the war
Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842)
resolved conflict of the Aroostook War; in which the disputed territory was split between Maine and British Canada, and the boundary of the Minnesota territory was settled
Winfield Scott
selected by President Polk to invade central Mexico, his army of 14,000 took the coastal city of Vera Cruz and then captured Mexico City in September 1847
Lincoln-Douglas debates
seven campaign debates held in different Illinois towns, in which the Republican challenger attacked Douglas' seeming indifference to slavery as a moral issue and questioned how he could reconcile popular sovereignty with the Dred Scott decision
railroads
soon emerged as America's largest industry; required immense amounts of labor and capital and gave rise to complex business organizations; the cheap/rapid transportation it provided promoted western agriculture, and united the common commercial interests of the Northeast and Midwest; was a great advantage to the North in the civil war
Walker Expedition
southern adventurer William Walker's grandiose scheme to develop a proslavery Central American empire; he succeeded in taking over Nicaragua, but was defeated by a coalition of Central American countries and executed by Honduran authorities
Know-Nothing Party
the "American Party," formed by nativist hostility to immigrant newcomers; won a few local and state elections in the mid-1850s and helped to weaken the Whigs, but quickly lost influence as sectional issues became paramount
Aroostook War
the "battle of the maps;" a conflict between rival groups of lumbermen on the Maine-Canadian border which erupted into open fighting, but was resolved in a treaty negotiated by the US Secretary of State--Daniel Webster--and a British ambassador--Lord Alexander Ashburton
Rio Grande/Nuecco River
the Mexican government insisted that Texas' southern border was on the Nuecco River, but President Polk and his envoy, Slidell, asserted that it lay on the Rio Grande
Anaconda Plan
the Union's plan to use the US navy to blockade southern ports and cut off essential supplies from reaching the South
Great American Desert
the arid area between the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific Coast; emigrants passed over it to reach the more inviting lands of California and Oregon
George Fitzhugh
the boldest and best known of the proslavery authors; wrote Sociology for the South and Cannibals All! which questioned the prospect of equal rights for "unequal men" and attacked the capitalist wage system as worse than slavery
Bull Run
the first major battle of the Civil War; in which 30,000 federal troops marched from Washington DC to attack Confederate forces in Virginia; the Union troops were forced back to Washington, ending the illusion of a short war
Monitor and Merrimack
the first two ironclad ships; could sink each other's wooden ships almost at will--fought a 5-hour duel in Virginia, with neither able to inflict much damage on the other
secession
the formal withdrawal of a state from the Union
Confederate States of America
the government of the seceded Southern States; its capital was located at Richmond, Virginia, and it had a strong ideology of states' rights (which hindered its ability to collect money and soldiers from individual states for the war)
George B. McClellan
the new commander of the Union army in the East; insisted that his troops be given a long period of training and discipline before going into battle, but was stopped by Robert E. Lee and forced to retreat after 5 months
Gadsdon Purchase (1853)
the sale of a strip of land in the American Southwest (part of present-day New Mexico/Arizona) from Mexico to the US for $10 million; land was used to build a railroad
Kanagawa Treaty
the treaty that Japan made with Commodore Matthew C. Perry in 1854 in which Japan opened its doors
Far West
the western frontier in the Rocky Mountains
