APUSH Ch 17 & 18 Vocab

General Zachary Taylor

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Second Era of Good Feelings

A second era dawned - disquieting talk of sucession and people at peace were determined that the compromises should be a finality and that the explosive issue of slavery should be buried

Lewis Cass

A veteran of the War of 1812, he was also known as the reputable "father of popular sovereignty" and was also nominated as the presidential candidate of the 1848 election during the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore

John Tyler

Accused of being a Democrat in Whig clothing, he was put on the ballot in the election of "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" mainly too attract more Southern votes; his vetoes on the Whig party's "Fiscal Corp." and their proposed tax got him formally expelled from the party and almost impeached

Treaty of Kanagawa

After one year it was offered by Matthew Perry and signed in 1854, ending Japan's two century of economic isolation, establish an American consulate and secured American coaling rights in Japanese ports

"The California Problem"

Although the gold rush brought in big profits for the Californians, it brought with it more crime and residents grappled earnestly the idea of building a stronger government; later in 1849 they drafted a constitution, which excluded slavery, and boldly applied to Congress

William Walker

An American adventurer that sought to control Nigeria and make it slave territory, and later, joined by armed forces, he went and made himself president and legalized slavery; the "gray-eyed man's destiny" later crumpled under the Honduran firing squad after the coalition of Central America formed an alliance to overthrow him

Harriet Tubman

An illiterate runaway slave from Maryland who was considered to be one of the "most amazing volunteers" of the underground railroad

Free-Soil Party

Antislavery party in the 1848 and 1853 elections that opposed against the extension of slavery, arguing that it would lessen the opportunities for free labourers

Election of 1852

Between the Whig's Winfield Scott and Democrat's Franklin Pierce, Pierce ultimately won because of the split of the Whig Party

Matthew Perry

Commodore of a fleet of ships to Japan after it emerged from its self-imposed quarantine; he diligently prepare for his mission and composed the Treaty of Kanagawa, requesting free trade and receiving a reply one year later in 1854

John Slidell

Dispatched by President Polk to Mexico City as a minister with instructions to offer $25 million for California, but he never get a chance to offer his "insulting" preposition

Caleb Cushing

Dispatched by President Tyler to secure comparable concessions for the United States; Chinese diplomats were impressed by his charm and largesse and signed the Treaty of Wanghia in 1844 - the first formal diplomatic agreement between China and the U.S.; he also secured vital rights and privileges from China and flourished trade with China

The "Caroline" incident

During the Third War w/ Britain, a British vessel attacked the American ship; the attack resulted in an unnecessary and alarming aftermath among American citizens even though there was only one American casualty

Popular Sovereignty

Idea that the sovereign people of a territory should decide whether to permit slavery; favored by many, it was largely opposed in by Northerners who feared that it would aid in the spread of slavery in other territories

The Texas Issue

In the eight years Texas became the Lone Star Republic, Mexico failed to recognize Texas' independence; foreign interests in the republic became a threat to the neighboring American nation but the United States later annexed Texas

Underground Railroad

Informal network of volunteers who created an invisible train to freedom from Southern states to free-soil Canada; seeking to halt the flow of slaves to the North, Southern planters urged for stronger fugitive slave laws

Tyler's Vetos

John Tyler's presidential vetoes on the Whig party's "Fiscal corporation", a counter proposal to the Fiscal bank, and their proposed tariff had him formally expelled from the party and nearly impeached

Sutters Mills, CA

Location near where gold was first spotted in 1849, causing many to venture westward in search of gold, which became known as the gold rush; the discovery of gold within the area in early 1848 blew off the top of the slavery issue that Taylor was trying to avoid

Republican Party

New name of the previously known Free-Soil Party supported by many antislavery advocators

"The Bloodhound Bill"

Nickname for the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and passed as a part of the compromise of 1850 which set high penalties for anyone who aided in escaped slaves and compelled officers to the retrieval of runaways; the law strengthened the antislavery cause in the North

Third War w/ England

Not necessarily a battle with guns but with words, it was fought between American and British novelists/authors;the war started partially because of Anti-British passions that were still around after the recent previous wars

Kansas Nebraska Act

Proposed that Kansas and Nebraska be brought into the Union under popular sovereignty, this revoking the Missouri Compromise; introduced by Stephen Douglass to secure a Northern transcontinental railroad

"Fire Eaters"

Reference to a group of Pro-Slavery Southern Politicians who focused mainly on the slavery issue over all other issues and also those urged the separation of Southern states from the Union, which later became known as the Confederate States of America

Walker Tarriff of 1846

Revenue-enhancing measure that lowered tariffs to 1842 levels thereby fueling trade and increasing Treasury reciepts

Ostend Manifesto

Secret Franklin Pierce administration proposal to purchase or, that failing, to wrest militarily Cuba from Spain; once news of the offer leaked it was quickly abandoned due to the vehement opposition from the North

William H. Seward

Senator from New York who failed to realize that compromise had brought the Union together; his appeal that tge Christian legislation should obey God's moral laws and man's moral mundane laws and his appeal to a "higher power"

Stephen A. Douglass

Senator of Illinois, he took over for Henry Clay in the Compromise of 1850 and came up with a possible solution by splitting up the compromise; he also introduced with the Kansas-Nebraska act that was opposed by so many in the north

"Arostook War"

Series of clashes between American and Canadian lumberjacks in the disputed northern Maine territory, starting in 1839; the conflict was later resolved after a permanent boundary was agreed upon

Clayton Bulwer Treaty

Signed by Great Britain and the United States, agreeing that they would jointly protect the neutrality of Central America and neither would seek to fortify or exclusively control any future isthmian waterway; helped avoid a full-blown confrontation but later revoked by Britain in the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1901, It did give America the Panama Canal

Millard Fillmore

Successor of Zachary taylor, he happily signed the compromises that have been debated over in Congress for nine months

Lord Ashburn

The London Office conciliatory financier and nonprofessional diplomat whom they sent to Washington after the Aroostook War crisis deepened; cordial relations with Secretary Webster were made and a boundary was negotiated in 1842

The 1850 Senate

The Senate of this time was faced with a conflict when free-soil California had allied, raising the many fears of Southern "fire eaters" who threatened to secede from Union if Congress had not acted upon the issue soon

Treaty of Wanghia

The first diplomatic agreement between the U.S. and China, it assured that America was granted the concessions in trade as other powers, greatly expanding America's trade

49th Parallel

The northernmost border and the most disputed area of the Oregon Country between Britain

Franklin Pierce

The second "dark horse" presidential candidate in American History, nominated by in the Democratic convention; his platform revived the Democrat's commitment in territorial expansion as pursued by Polk and emphatically endorsed the Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Law, and all

54 40"

The southernmost border of he so-called "Oregon Country" which was owned but four nations at once during one period of time but later America was the last to keep its claims because of strong number of missionaries; it became the main issue of the 1844 campaign and the slogan "All of Oregon or none" emerged

Nueces River

The southwestern border of Texas during the long occupation of the Spanish Mexicans but the boundary eventually neared the Rio Grande as Texans started settling and expanding

Election of 1848

The two main candidates, Zachary Taylor and Lewis Cass, focused less on the issues and more on firing each other's personalities; the lesser candidate Martin Van Buren did not win any states but won enough of the demographic in New York to help Taylor win the election

"Oregon Fever"

The very thing that "seized" the hundreds of people that took the two-thousand mile journey westward through the Oregon Trail

Gadsden Purchase

Treaty negotiated in 1853 by James Gadsden, acquiring additional land out west from Mexico $10 mil. in order to facilitate a transcontinental railroad, Northern boosters argued that if the matter were an organized territory test, the Nebraska should admitted but any proposals on the issue were greeted in Congress with apathy and hostility

James K. Polk

Winner of the 1844 election and the first "dark horse" presidential candidate; despite the Whig's efforts to get votes for their Henry Clay, Polk eventually won with 170 to 105 in the Electoral College

Polk's four objectives

a lowered Tariff - his Secretary of the Treasury devised the Walker Tariff which lowered rates to 25% and proved to be an excellent revenue producer; reinstate the Treasury - although dropped by the Whigs in 1841, the president's efforts were later rewarded in 1846; acquisition of Oregon Country and Texas - the reoccupation of Oregon country died after the annexation of Texas and although he did not get his 54 49, he did compromise after a war with Britain

Manifest Destiny

dating from the 1840s - 1850s it was the belief that the United States was destined by God to spread its "empire of liberty" across N. America; it served as a justification to mid-ninteenth-century expansionism