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Personal Liberty Laws
The Northern States' attempts at overruling the Fugitive Slave Act. They tried to African-Americans from kidnapping and from being claimed as fugitive slaves. Slave-holding states complained that the laws violated the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. -
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793
an Act of the United States Congress to give effect to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the US Constitution (Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3), which was later superseded by the Thirteenth Amendment. The former guaranteed a right for a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave. Northern resistance lead to the passing of the 1850 one. -
Sharecropping
An agriculture across the South after the Civil War. Black families would rent small plots of land, or shares, to work themselves; in return, they would give a portion of their crop at the end of the year. It was an unfair system that mimicked slavery and was meant to keep blacks down. It was extremely difficult for them to save money on their own land or have money to spend on other important expenses. -
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The Liberator
A weekly abolitionist newspaper, printed and published by William Lloyd Garrison, an American journalistic crusader who helped lead the successful abolitionist campaign against slavery in the United States. It appealed to the moral conscience of its readers, urging them to demand immediate freeing of the slaves. -
American Anti-Slaver Society Founded
An abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, was a key leader of this society who often spoke at its meetings. -
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John Tyler
Whig; Annexation of Texas -
Webster- Ashburton Treaty
Helped to settle disputes over the northern boundary between the United States and Canada, which was controlled by Great Britain. The treaty signaled a strong partnership and diplomatic success for the two nations. Both the United States and Canada further agreed that the international slave trade on the high seas should be banned -
Prigg v. Pennsylvania
The case challenged the legality of the Personal Liberty Laws. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Prigg, setting the precedent that federal law outweighted any state measures that attempted to interfere with the Fugitive Slave Act. -
Treaty of Wang-hsia
This treaty gave the U.S. the right to trade in Chinese ports, as well as gaining additional legal rights inside China. It was the first formal treaty signed between the United States and China in 1844. -
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Period 5
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U.S. Annexation of Texas
Mexico wanted to keep Texas and Van Buren feared it would cause war. He also didn't want to add a new state to the Union that allowed slavery. Americans used Manifest Destiny to justify them taking Texas and Congress voted to annex it. -
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Great Famine in Ireland
Potato blight in Ireland that caused mass starvation and immigration to the U.S. -
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DemocratJames K. Polk
Mexican-American War, Mexican Cession -
Bear Flag Revolt
A temporary revolt led by American immigrants who temporarily declared California to be an independent Republic until U.S. forces took control of the territory. -
Wilmot Proviso
An unsuccessful prohibited the expansion of slavery into any territory acquired by the United States from Mexico as a result of the Mexican-American War settlement. -
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Mexican-American War
Through Manifest destiny, America believed they had a right to Mexico's land. It marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It fulfilled Manifest Destiney for the U.S. -
Seneca Falls Convention
A convention of women that came together demanding equal rights. They used their specialty in all things involving the private sphere—the home—to organize and empower white women. They rejected the cult of domesticity ( the belief that a woman's place was in the home) -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
A treaty that ended the U.S. war with Mexico and granted the U.S. control of all of Texas, New Mexico, and California. Mexico ceded half its territory to the United States, effectively concluding the U.S. program of westward expansion. -
Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions
The resolution passed at the Convention calling for full equality, including the right to vote, for women. -
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Gold Rush
The largest mass migration in American history since it brought about 300,000 people to California. It created a lasting impact by propelling significant industrial and agricultural development and helped shape the course of California's development by spurring its economic growth and facilitating its transition to statehood. -
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Zachary Taylor
Whig; Last Whig president elected, died in office -
Compromise of 1850
A package of five separate bills passed by the United States that tried to defuse the political tension between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired in the Mexican–American War. -
Fugitive Slave Act
A law that was part of the Compromise. It required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning and trying escaped slaves. -
Popular Soverignty
A part of the Compromise of 1850 that allowed territorial residents, not Congress, to decide either or not slavery should be allowed in any new state. -
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Millard Fillmore
Whig, Compromise of 1850 -
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Underground Railroad
Support system set up by Antislavery groups in the upper South and the North to assist fugitive slaves in escaping the South. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
An anti-slavery novel. It had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S. and is said to have "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War". -
Gadsden Purchase
The final acquisition of land in the continental U.S. U.S paid Mexico 10 million for a strip of land in what is now southern New Mexico and Arizona. The U.S. hoped that the land would be used for the transcontinental railroad but it never happened. -
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Franklin Pierce
Democrat; Kansas-Nebraska Act, Ostend Manifesto -
Kanagawa Treaty
An agreement between the United States and Japan that opened two ports to American commerce, protected shipwrecked American sailors, and ended Japan's two hundred years of isolation. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
A law passed creating the Kansas and Nebraska Territories but leaving the question of slavery open to local residents. This caused tensions between pro- and anti-slavery advocates erupted into violence. -
Republican Party Founded
A new political party that was dedicated to stopping the spread of slavery in any place in the nation where it did not exist. -
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Bleeding Kansas
A mini civil war between pro- and anti-slavery forces that occurred in Kansas. Following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, thousands of Northerners and Southerners came to the Kansas Territory to vote for or against slavery. Tensions between the two sides led to significant bloodshed and national attention. -
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Know-Nothing Party
An anti-immigration party that formed from the Whig party and some disaffected Northern Democrats. They rose in popularity during 1854, fueled by the fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish immigrants. It eventually split over the subject of slavery -
Dred Scott v Sandford
A Supreme Court case brought Dred Scott, a slave demanding his freedom based on his residence in free territories, though brought there as a slave. The decision argued that as a slave Scott was not a citizen and could not sue in a federal court or get his freedom. Declared that congress has no right to bar slavery in any federal territories and it could not prohibit slavery in any federal territory -
Panic of 1857
A banking crisis that caused a credit crunch in the North but was less severe in the South. It further increased tension in the United States which was on the verge of American Civil war over the issue of slavery -
Lecompton Constitution
During the scramble for Kansas pro-slavery settlers helped secure a proslavery legislature in Kansas, which drafted a proslavery constitution. It was drafted by Kansas delegates elected under questionable circumstances; it was decisively rejected by Congress. -
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James Buchanan
Democrat; Dred Scott decision, John Brown's raid, Seven states leave Union -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
A series of seven debates between the Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and Republican Abraham Lincoln. It largely concerning the issue of slavery extension into the territories. Many of the topics discussed revolved around slavery. The debates previewed the issues that Lincoln later faced after his victory in the 1860 presidential election. -
Harper's Ferry
John Brown lead a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery. -
The Election of 1860
Lincoln won the election and had more electoral votes and more popular votes than any candidate. His election served as the immediate impetus for the outbreak of the American Civil War. -
Cooper Union Address
Lincoln elaborated his views on slavery by affirming that he did not wish it to be expanded into the western territories and claiming that the Founding Fathers would agree with this position. This is significant because Lincoln positions himself as a moderate...in order to attract more supporters and make himself likable. -
South Carolina seceds from the union
The first slave state in the south to declare that it had seceded from the United States. They claimed that secession was declared as a result of the refusal of free states to enforce the Fugitive Slave Acts. However, it was most likely due to the fact that Lincon, A Republican (anti-slavery) had won the election. -
Crittenden Compromise
A last-ditch effort at a compromise to amend the Constitution and to protect slavery in states where it existed. It was an unsuccessful proposal that would have made it unconstitutional for future Congresses to end slavery. Proposed moving the Missouri Compromise line to the pacific. Would preserve slavery in the lower half -
Sanitary Commission
Created by women to improve the medical services and treatment for sick and wounded Union soldiers during the war. -
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Abraham Lincoln
Republican; Civil war, Emancipation Proclamation, First President Assassinated. -
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Confederate States of America
A collection of 11 states that seceded from the United States in 1860 following the election of President Abraham Lincoln. Led by Jefferson Davis. The Confederacy struggled for legitimacy and was never recognized as a sovereign nation. -
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Civil War
After decades of simmering tensions between northern and southern states over slavery, states' rights and westward expansion. It was also important because the North's victory proved that democracy worked. It showed that other monarchy countries the strength of the country and further bonded it together. -
Peninsular Campaign of 1862
A major Union operation launched in southeastern Virginia, the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater. They attempted to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond from the southeast during the American Civil War. The Battle ended in the inconclusive Battle of Seven Pines and command was passed to Robert E. Lee -
Emancipation Proclamation
It made the emancipation of slaves an official part of the United States's military strategy. The aim of the war changed to include the freeing of slaves in addition to preserving the Union. It promised that the United States was committed to ending slavery once and for all. -
Sherman's March to the Sea
A campaign with the purpose to frighten Georgia's civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause. Sherman's soldiers did not destroy any of the towns in their path, but they stole food and livestock and burned the houses and barns of people who tried to fight back. In addition, they liberated slaves. -
Thirteenth Amendment Ratified
Formally abolished slavery in the United States -
Freedman's Bureau
Agency established by Congress in March 1865 to provide social, educational, and economic services as well as advice and protection to former slaves.Created a new public school system & ratified the 13 amendment. Model for transition back to the Union for other confederate states -
Black Codes
Laws passed by states and municipalities denying many rights of citizenship to free blacks and to control black labor, mobility, and employment -
Black Codes
Laws passed by states and municipalities denying many rights of citizenship to free blacks and to control black labor, mobility, and employment -
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Reconstruction Era
Civil War Ended and the Compromise of 1877. -
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Presidential Reconstruction
Name given to the immediate post-Civil War era, when resident Andrew Johnson took the lead to return full rights to the former Confederate States -
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Andrew Johnson
Republican; Reconstruction, First President impeached, Purchased Alaska -
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Reconstruction Era
Period after the American Civil War during which the United States grappled with the challenges of reintegrating into the Union the states. It was the push to secure rights for former slaves. Radical Republicans passed a series of progressive laws and amendments in Congress that protected blacks' rights under federal and constitutional law. -
Civil Rights Act
Ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, is considered one of the crowning legislative achievements of the civil rights movement. -
Ku Klux Klan Founding
One of several vigilante groups that terrorized black people in the South during the Reconstruction era, founded by Confederate veterans. -
First Congressional Reconstruction Act
Laid out the process for readmitting Southern states into the Union. Included procedures and possible reservations and changes they needed to make before coming back. -
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Congressional Reconstruction
Name given to the period when the Republican-dominated Congress controlled Reconstruction-era policy. Sometimes it is also known as Radical Reconstruction -
Fourteenth Amendment Is Ratified
Granted citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" which included former slaves who had just been freed after the Civil War. -
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Ulysses S. Grant
Republican; Reconstruction continued, Many scandals -
Fifteenth Amendment Is Ratified
Granted African American men the right to vote. -
Social Darwinism
The application of Charles Darwin's theory of biological evolution to society. Holding that the fittest and wealthiest should thrive and lead the weak and the poor deserve their fate. Government action is unable alter this process. -
The Slaughterhouse Cases
Ruled that a citizen's "privileges and immunities," as protected by the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment against the states, were limited to those spelled out in the Constitution and did not include many rights given by the individual states. It allowed state legislatures to suspend blacks' legal and civil rights as outlined in the Constitution. -
Civil Rights Act of 1875
Affirmed the “equality of all men before the law” and prohibited racial discrimination in public places and facilities such as restaurants and public transportation. -
United States v Cruikshank
Led to an allowance of violence and deprivation of rights against the newly freed slaves. Their citizenship rights, equal protection of the law, and several other Fourteenth Amendment provisions were being deprived. -
Compromise of 1877
It ended Reconstruction. Southern Democrats' promised to protect civil and political rights of blacks if the federal government pulled the last troops out of the South. The Southerners did not keep their promises and the reconstruction era ended. -
Jim Crow Segregation
Segregation laws that became widespread in the South during the 1890s named for a minstrel show character portrayed satirically by white actors in blackface. They enforced racial segregation and perpetuated racism. They helped pass the separate but equal laws.