Vocabulary

1. American History I Unit 5 – Expansion and Sectionalism Presidents: Van Buren - Buchanan R. M. Tolles Vocabulary

2. Missouri Compromise - AH1U5 • Meant to resolve the issue of sectional conflicts involving the status of Missouri as a slave or free state once admitted to the Union. • The Missouri Compromise of 1820 admitted Missouri as a slave state, admitted Maine as a free state, and prohibited slavery in all land north of 36*30' in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory

3. Mexican War - AH1U5 • Texas applied and accepted admittance to the United States as a slave state – this led to increased tensions between the US and Mexico • Led to a war after Mexican troop crossed the Rio Grande – the war was an overwhelming victory for the United States • Seen as a stage to prepare many of the Civil Wars future generals • The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended it • Seen as a direct result of the United States fulfilling Manifest Destiny

4. Kansas-Nebraska Act - AH1U5 • Passed in 1854, divided Nebraska and Kansas into territories which allowed for the people of those territories to decide if slavery would be allowed in. • Concept of Popular Sovereignty • The act nullified the Missouri Compromise of 1820 • Led to Bleeding Kansas, a step toward Civil War

5. Henry Clay - AH1U5 • He engineered the American System, a program aimed at economic self-sufficiency. • Part of the Political issue known as the Corrupt Bargain – John Quincy Adams election to President • As speaker of the House during Monroe's term in office, he was instrumental in crafting much of the legislation that passed through Congress. • He led the Whig Party until his death in 1852

6. Zachary Taylor – AH1U5 • 12th President of the United States • Advocated popular sovereignty and was instrumental in bringing in the state of California into the Union • Indian Fighter and hero of the Mexican War

7. Battle of the Alamo - AH1U5 • Texas's War for Independence • Texans and American volunteers held off Santa Anna's overwhelming army. • Inspired Americans and Texans in the war for independence and later on in the Mexican American War • The cry: “Remember the Alamo”

8. Monroe Doctrine – AH1U5 • President Monroe issued what would be called the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. • The doctrine asserted United States ascendancy in the Western Hemisphere • Basically stated for Europeans to stay out of the Hemisphere with any intentions of adding to their colonial possessions

9. Manifest Destiny – AH1U5 • The belief of many American in the mid-nineteenth century that it was the nation's destiny and duty to expand and conquer the West in the name of God, nature, civilization, and progress. • Phrase coined by journalist John L. O'Sullivan

10. Wilmot Proviso – AH1U5 • Proposed in 1846 before the end of the Mexican War stipulated that slavery be prohibited in any territory the U.S. Fained form Mexico in the upcoming negotiations. • Passed in the House (Northern dominated) failed in the Senate (Southern dominated)‏

11. Popular Sovereignty – AH1U5 • Lewis Cass and Stephen Douglas, the principle stating that Congress should not interfere with the issued of slavery's expansion, but rather leave the question up to each territory. • Basically - “The People have the right to Choose”

12. California Gold Rush – AH1U5 • 1848 – California's Gold Rush, few individuals actually found gold, only the big mining operations and the saloon owners benefited • Opened the territory to statehood and the desire to get the gold back east – primarily in the North

13. James K. Polk – AH1U5 • 11th President of the United States • Polk led the US into the Mexican War in 1846 • Acquired Texas, New Mexico, and California • Strong Supporter of Manifest Destiny

14. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – AH1U5 • Ended the Mexican War • It granted the US control of Texas, New Mexico, and California. In return, the US assumed all monetary claims of US citizens against the Mexican government and paid Mexico $15 million.

15. John Tyler – AH1U5 • 10th President of the United States • Became president when Henry Harrison died after one month in office

16. William Henry Harrison – AH1U5 • 9th President of the United States • Died after one month in office

17. Freeport Doctrine - AH1U5 • Stephen Douglas's attempt to reconcile his belief in popular sovereignty the the Dred Scott decision. • In the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, Douglas argued that territories could effectively forbid slavery by failing to enact slave codes, even though the Dred Scott case deprived government of the right to restrict slavery in the territory

18. Fugitive Slave Act - AH1U5 • Passed in 1793 and strengthened as part of the Compromise of 1850, it allowed Southerners to send posses onto Northern soil to retrieve runaway slaves • Northerners mounted resistance to the act by helping escaped slaves and passing personal liberty laws • The Act had very lose interpretations on what was a slave and a free person, giving the final decision to the posses

19. Bleeding Kansas - AH1U5 • Violence broke out between representatives of the free-state government in Topeka and the fraudulently elected proslavery government in Lecompton. • Bleeding Kansas represented a major setback for the doctrine of popular sovereignty, as the doctrine failed to provide a clear resolution to the question of slavery in Kansas • Seen as a step or cause of the upcoming Civil War

20. James Buchanan – AH1U5 • 15th President • A moderate Democrat with support form both North and South, did little to stop the steps toward Civil War • He often did little to help the slavery debate, and when the results of the 1860 election were known, he allowed several southern states to succeed from the Union under his watch.

21. Thaddeus Stevens - AH1U5 • Leader of the Radical Republicans in Congress, Thaddeus Stevens was a gifted orator and an outspoken legislator devoted to stringent and punitive Reconstruction. Stevens worked toward social and political equality for Southern blacks

22. Personal Liberty Laws - AH1U5 • During the 1850s some northern states passed personal liberty laws to counteract the Fugitive Slave Act. • These state laws guaranteed all alleged fugitives the right to trial by jury and to a lawyer and prohibited state jails from holding alleged fugitives

23. Fredrick Douglas – AH1U5 • Perhaps the most famous of all abolitionists. An escaped slave, Douglas worked closely with William Lloyd Garrison to promote abolitionism in the 1830s.

24. Millard Fillmore – AH1U5 • Taylor died – Vice President Fillmore took over • Limited as a president, only recognizable feat was the passage of the Compromise of 1850

25. Harriet Tubman – AH1U5 • A former slave, Harriet Tubman helped to establish the Underground Railroad, a network of safehouses and escorts throughout the North to help escaped slaves to freedom

26. Free-Soil Party – AH1U5 • A political party supporting abolition, the Free-soil Party formed in 1848 from the merger of a northern faction of the Democratic Party, the abolitionist Liberty party, and the anti-slavery Whigs. • The Free Soilers nominated Martin Van Buren as their candidate for president. • The relative success of the Free-soil Party demonstrated that slavery had become a central issue in national politics

27. Dred Scott v. Sandford – AH1U5 • In the 1857 Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court ruled that no black, whether slave or free, could become a US citizen or sue in federal court. • The decision further argued that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because it violated the Fifth Amendment's protection of property – including slaves – form being taken away without due process. • Chief Justice Roger B. Taney (Southern) helped push through the ruling • Basically stated – Slaves are not people, will never be people, slaves are property

28. Underground Railroad – AH1U5 • The Underground Railroad was a network of safe houses and escorts established by Northern abolitionists to foil enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act. The network escaped slaves reach freedom in the North and in Canada • Harriet Tubman – famous conductor

29. Franklin Pierce – AH1U5 • Served as President from 1853-1857 • His performance in office can best be described as perfunctory. He was little more than a caretaker in the years leading up to the Civil War