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Missouri Compromise
-Was an effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted.
-At the time, the United States contained twenty-two states, evenly divided between slave and free. -
Monroe Doctrine
-Was a United States policy of opposing European colonialism in The Americas beginning in 1823.
-Stated that further efforts by European nations to take control of any independent state in North or South America would be viewed as "the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States."
-Also noted that the U.S. would recognize and not interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries. -
Battle of the Alamo
-Was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution.
-Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar, killing all of the Texan defenders
-Santa Anna's cruelty during the battle inspired many Texans—both Texas settlers and adventurers from the United States—to join the Texan Army.
-The Texans defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, ending the revolution. -
Panic of 1837
-Was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major recession that lasted until the mid-1840s.
-Profits, prices, and wages went down while unemployment went up. Pessimism abounded during the time.
-Banks collapsed, businesses failed, prices declined, and thousands of workers lost their jobs. -
Trail of Tears
-Was a series of forced removals of Native American nations from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to an area west of the Mississippi River that had been designated as Indian Territory.
-The forced relocations were carried out by various government authorities following the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830.
-The relocated people suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route, more than 4,000 died before reaching their various destinations. -
Sutter's Fort
-Was a 19th-century agricultural and trade colony in the Mexican Alta California province.
* Was built in 1839 and originally called New Helvetia (New Switzerland) by its builder John Sutter.
-Was the first non-Indigenous community in the California Central Valley.
-Is famous for its association with the Donner Party, the California Gold Rush, and the formation of Sacramento.
-Is notable for its proximity to the end of the California Trail & Siskiyou Trails, which it served as a waystation. -
Pre-Emption Act
-Was a federal law approved on September 4, 1841 during the early presidency of John Tyler.
-Was designed to "appropriate the proceeds of the sales of public lands... and to grant 'pre-emption rights' to individuals" who were already living on federal lands.
-Was widely utilized by settlers in Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory.
-When the Homestead Act was enacted in 1862, claims under the Preemption Act sharply decreased. -
Bear Flag Revolt
-During this, a small group of American settlers in California rebelled against the Mexican government and proclaimed California an independent republic.
-The republic was short-lived because soon after the Bear Flag was raised, the U.S. military began occupying California, which went on to join the union in 1850.
-The Bear Flag became the official state flag in 1911. -
US - Mexican War
-war between the United States and Mexico (April 1846–February 1848) stemming from the United States’ annexation of Texas in 1845 and from a dispute over whether Texas ended at the Nueces River or the Rio Grande
-The war (in which U.S. forces were consistently victorious) resulted in the United States’ acquisition of more than 500,000 square miles of Mexican territory extending westward from the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean. -
Compromise of 1850
-Was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850, which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican–American War.
-The compromise, drafted by Whig Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky and brokered by Clay and Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, reduced sectional conflict. -
Fugitive Slave Law
-Also known as the Fugitive Slave Act
-Was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers.
-Was one of the most controversial elements of the 1850 compromise and heightened Northern fears of a "slave power conspiracy".
-Required that all escaped slaves were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate in this law. -
Gadsden Purchase
-Is a 29,670-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States purchased via a treaty signed on December 30, 1853, by James Gadsden, U.S. ambassador to Mexico
-The purchase was the last substantial territorial acquisition in the contiguous United States.
-The U.S. sought a better route for the construction of the southern transcontinental railway line. -
Bleeding Kansas
-was a series of violent political confrontations in the United States involving anti-slavery "Free-Staters" and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian", or "southern" elements in Kansas.
-Pro-slavery forces said every settler had the right to bring his own property, including slaves, into the territory.
-Anti-slavery "free soil" forces said the rich slaveholders would buy up all the good farmland and work it with black slaves, leaving little or no opportunity for non-slaveholders. -
Dred Scott Decision
-Legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on March 6, 1857, ruled that a slave who had resided in a free state and territory was not thereby entitled to his freedom.
-African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States; and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.
-The decision added fuel to the sectional controversy and pushed the country closer to civil war. -
Harper's Ferry
-was an effort by armed abolitionist John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt in 1859 by taking over a United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia.
-Brown's party of 22 was defeated by a company of U.S. Marines, led by First Lieutenant Israel Greene. Colonel Robert E. Lee was in overall command of the operation to retake the arsenal. -
Gettysburg
-South Carolina secedes from the Union on December 20, 1860
-January 1861 - Six additional southern states secede from the Union. -
Civil War
-Was fought in the United States.
-After a long standing controversy over slavery and state's rights, war broke out in April 1861, when Confederates attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina, shortly after Abraham Lincoln was elected.
-The nationalists of the Union proclaimed loyalty to the U.S. Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States of America advocating states’ rights to perpetual slavery and its expansion in the Americas. -
Emancipation Proclamation
-Was a presidential proclamation & executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln
-Changed the federal legal status of more than 3 million enslaved people in designated areas of the South from slave to free.
-As soon as a slave escaped the control of the Confederate government, the slave became legally free.
-It was issued as a war measure during the American Civil War, directed to all of the areas in rebellion and all segments of the executive branch of the US -
Gettysburg Address
-Is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, delivered during the American Civil War
-Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence[6] and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the preservation of the Union sundered by the secession crisis, with "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all of its citizens.
-Also redefined the Civil War as a struggle not just for the Union, but also for the principle of human equality. -
Civil War
-The Union finally won the war when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at the battle of Appomattox
-Left 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers dead
* The Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, & 4 million slaves were freed.
-The Reconstruction Era followed the war: the process of restoring national unity, strengthening the national government, & granting civil rights to freed slaves throughout the country. -
13th Amendment
-The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States and was the first of three Reconstruction Amendments adopted in the five years following the American Civil War.
-The 13th Amendment, passed by Congress January 31, 1865, and ratified December 6, 1865, states: 1. -
14th Amendment
-The amendment grants citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" which included former slaves who had just been freed after the Civil War.
-On July 28, 1868, the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. -
15th Amendment
-the Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution granted African-American men the right to vote.
-The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was Adopted on March 30, 1870