Term
Texas Independence
& The Alamo 1836 |
|
Definition
American expansion concerning to Mexico's President- Santa Anna
He invites Stephan Austin + 300 American settlers into Texas & gives titles of land
Americans ignore all conditions to land titles- won't be Roman Catholics, refuse to give up slaves after Emancipation 1830, and won't become Mexicans> Mexican government needs to enforce to be respected as "real"
The Alamo 1836: Frontiersman like Davy Crocket, Jim Buoey, + approx. 200 Americans fight Mexicans to the death at a Missionary and America's reaction is to take Texas because the word that travels back from the battle is that crazy Mexicans murdered Americans on American soil (Texas)
- Americans capture Mexican President-Santa Anna- threaten him with his life and force him to sign a treaty with Texas, which Anna later repudiates because it was illegal for America to do this.
1837- Texas applies to become a slave state |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
James K. Polk wants to start a war when Mexico refuses to sell America California, which he wants as part of Manifest Destiny. He uses the American deaths at Alamo in 1836 as his causus belli to rally hatred towards Mexicans.
A landslide victory for America with capture of Mexico city
= the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Mexican cession, which is all the land west of Louisiana Purchase (America to Mexico $15 million)
= Conscience Whig party- against Mexican- American War and Mexican Cession because the executive branch deceived the people to get them behind war efforts + the south only wanted this territory as slave territory |
|
|
Term
| Market Revolution- changed the way society worked |
|
Definition
(1) A railroad built from 1828-1860
(2) Transatlantic Telegraph- information about market values travels more quickly
(3) the cotton gin- its efficiency at picking the seeds out of cotton increase productivity by 4000%- more people could afford cotton clothing- slave labor was ACTUALLY re-instituted because people realized how much money was to be made in cotton and they wanted more and more of it grown and harvested. E. Whitney thought he was helping the south, but he actually led the country closer to a Civil War (slavery was the chief issue)
(4) Mechanized textile production, Samuel Slater- spied on England's factories and enabled a textile industry in the United States =====>
(5) Factory girls/ wage slaves as a result of Market Revolution + mechanized textile production- the south charged the North with their wage slaves being worse the south's african slaves because a wage slave's boss had no vested iterest in her well being because she wasn't "property" (basically, factories de-humanized labor).
>>> Increased tension all around between North and South >>> Civil War beginnings |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
largely appealed to and drew its leadership from former anti-slavery members of the Whig Party and the Democratic Party in the North. For this party, however, slavery was not a moral issue, but rather an economic issue- members were concerned about poorer Americans competing with slaves for jobs.
Opposed expansion of slavery into western territories
- rise of Republican party took most of its members. |
|
|
Term
| California Goldrush and Underground Railroad |
|
Definition
1848- When people find gold, California's population explodes , which qualifies them (based on population) to become a state. Arid land means that they apply as a free state.
Once again, the South threatens to secede.
the Underground Railroad allowed relatively few slaves to escape, but the south only saw it as real evidence that African Americans were actively trying to free themselves. Can be compared to hysteria over shark sighting at a local beach.
Main Fears about losing Slavery-
a. The south's issue was over property rights- in southerners minds, the north was helping to take away their property.
b. power- the North making decisions for the south
c. economy and culture |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A secret scheme by Franklin Pierce to buy Cuba. The manifesto was important because it was yet another example of the federal government trying to prevent the South from seceding from the union by seeking addition slave territory. In the end, Pierce's plan is leaked- the North finds out- and the purchase of Cuba as slave territory falls flat. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Passes in House
Northern Congressmen
Not in Senate
Bans slavery in the West- never happens.
Important because it leads to Lewis Cass' idea to enact popular sovereignty in the West in the Election of 1848. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
the old generation of Senate leaders (Big Whigs)- John C. Calhoun (SC), Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay (KY)
response to South's threat to seceed from the Union if California- recently obtained from Mexican cession- becomes a free state, which is likely because the land is arid and the slaves wouldn't have a use in that climate.
North's side-
- Texas, a slave state, was to give up part of disputed territory in what is now NM
- Symbolic: Buying and selling slaves was made illegal in DC
By wanting to keep slave trade away from the eyes of foreign diplomats, it sent the message that what the SOuth was doing was bad and immoral.
South's side-
- All Mexican cession land will be open to popular sovereignty (all based on population recs.)
- Texas receives $10 million from the Federal Government- seen as small potatoes
- the big point: stronger fugitive slave law: made it easier for Southerners to capture their run-away slaves- complete violation of the black person's civil liberties because in trial they weren't allowed to defend themselves & had little chance anyway because the presiding judge got paid $15 for conviction and only $10 for acquittal. HOWEVER, the North nullifies this law, so the South really doesn't get anything they care about from the Comp. of '50.
Effect: leads Country closer to Civil War |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Concept that the state or territory got to decide whether it would have slaves or be free.
Election of 1848- Lewis Cass (Democrat) believed that the problems with slavery in the West could be solved by allowing popular sovereignty (increases local rights and takes some of the pressure off of Congress)
As part of the compromise of 1850, the south was supposed to benefit from leaving slave/free decision for all mexican cession land up to the individual state/territory. In the end, because of the climates, they almost all ended up being free. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Someone, in this case William Walker, who is a free-booter or pirate. Walker wanted to take over his own country to find additional slave territory. |
|
|
Term
Trans.-Continental railroad
& Gadsden Purchase |
|
Definition
Cause: California is now a state with a lot of economic opportunity (gold, natural resources), but there was no easy way to get there. > Build a railroad > requires a lot of labor and resources & wherever the rails go through will become populated and wealthy = a lot of north/south political tension with Senators fighting to get the railroad to pass thru their state
Effect: The Southern territory is more organized- advantage + with the GADSDEN PURCHASE, a pass thru area of Rockies that cut back engineering challenges, it made more sense to build there, so Stephan Douglass could offer the South slave states in exchange for organizing territory. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
replaces the Missouri compromise, divides the areas into two separate territories, and leaves Kansas and Nebraska open to popular sovereignty because Kansas is due West of a slave state and Nebraska is due West a free state- Senate thinks it will work itself out.
Stephan Douglass (IL) assumes North will be happy about the railroad and will be less concerned about the new slave territory, but he's wrong.
Important because it leads to Bleeding Kansas, the Birth of the Republican Party, and the Civil War. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| made up of abolitionists from the north. a result of the Kansas- Nebraska Act offering the South new slave territory- spreading slavery is immoral. |
|
|
Term
Border ruffians
Shawnee Mission
Topeka |
|
Definition
Kansas holds an election for their local legislature in 1855 & border ruffians sneak in and illegally vote for slavery. The ruffians are important because their pro-slavery government- the Shawnee Mission- is recognized by the Nat. Gov.
When Kansas submits for statehood, the supporters of the anti-slavery local government in Topeka refuse to take a vote on the state constitution and pro-slavery constitution is the one that goes to Congress.
President Buchanan wants to accept, Northerners in Congress say no-way to Kansas being a slave state, & Stephan Douglass also refuses, even though he promised the South another slave state- the South feels cheated by this bait n'switch of Kansas Nebraska Act. |
|
|
Term
| New England Immigrant Aid Co. |
|
Definition
The other side's version of border ruffians. Sent poor NE'ers to Kansas to work.
Henry Beecher, an anti-slavery preacher, raises funds to arm like-minded Kansas residents. Some bloodshed- Beecher's bibles (rifles) lead to a crusade by violent Southern faction that wants slavery. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A radical abolitionist MA Republican. Gives a speech on the "Crime against Kansas"denouncing the South as immoral/illegal.
Andrew Butler (SC Senator)
AB's Cousin Senator Preston Brooks beats Sumner to a pulp & cheered for it + re-elected.
Beating and re-election of Butler/Preston shows how rowdy the South is, how deeply they hate the North, and that they are more than willing to defend their honor >>> Civil War |
|
|
Term
John Brown
Pottawatomie Massacre in Bleeding Kansas |
|
Definition
abolitionist who wants to eradicate all slavery.
Cause: sacking of Lawrence,Kansas by proslavery forces and brutal beat of abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner (R-MA)
What- Group of abolitionists led by John Brown kill 5 proslavery settlers around Pottawatomie creek; one of the bloodiest acts of bleeding Kansas before the Civil War. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A slave to an Army surgeon. Surgeon's work takes him to free territory (MN) and his wife allows Dred Scott to sue for his freedom after surgeon's death- she was trying to get the Supreme Court to say something about slavery that would have a lasting effect.
Infamous Ruling by Justice Taney:
a. The Constitution never meant to allow Blacks to be US Citizens, so they don't have the right to sue.
b. the 5th amendment is used to dismiss the case because the court states that the amendment prohibits government from taking property without Due Process of Law (trial). However, this amendment would also make the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional- the South is happy because they think that they can reinstate slavery, but the North just says that they will not listen to the Supreme Court ruling.
+ if Congress can't ban slave territory the territory will become slave states!
Effect: increased sectional tension & Abraham Lincoln enters the scene |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Abraham Lincoln words on slavery make sense- if you can enslave someone inferior to you, what about the people who are superior to you?
His points back Senator Stephan Douglass (IL) into a corner in Freeport,IL on a lecture tour & he is caught with an inconsistent message = Freeport Doctrine, essentially saying the territories will have popular sovereignty. Douglass attempted to find happy medium between pro-slavery & slavery sides.
Important because leads to free soil party- worried about slaves taking too many jobs |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
first full day of Presidency... 1. Lincoln declares that the North has no interest in interfering with slavery in the south 2. the US government is going to hold onto any property that it maintains in the South (southern forts)
> He gets a message that fort sumter has run out of food, so Lincoln needs to come up with a way to re-supply without looking aggressive & without simply withdrawing those troops, which would make him look week.
What happened next was a 36 hour bombardment of fort sumter ='d surrender of Fort, but stirred the North- they wanted to go back and fight the south
Result: It's wartime! Lincoln, believing it will be a quick, clean civil war, orders 75,000 troops for 3 mos. period. this makes the north look very aggressive = more secession |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
attempt by John Brown to launch an armed slave revolt by seizing the US Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, VA.
led to Brown's hanging. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1. Permanent re-establishment of Missouri Compromise line- North of the 36/30 lat. line- all slavery prohibited. South of this line- slavery guaranteed.
2. Congress forbidden to abolish slavery in places under its control (like a military base) within any slave state.
3. Congress wouldn't abolish slavery in DC as long as there was still slavery in VA & MD
4. Congress wouldn't interfere with interstate slave trade
5. Tougher fugitive slave laws- not unconstitutional |
|
|
