CM7 Flashcards
1
Q
What are the dates of the Mexican-American War?
A
1846-1848
2
Q
Prelude to the Mexican-American war
A
- 1820s: American settlers in Mexico
- 1836: Texas declared its independence from Mexico
- Defeat of the Texas volunteers against General Santa Anna (the Alamo fell) and Houston’s victory at San Jacinto
- Texas independent for 10 years
- 1844: Congress annexed Texas
- March 1845: Mexico severed relation with the US
- September 1845: James K.Polk sent John Slidell on a secret mission to Mexico City
- December 29, 1845: Texas entered the US as a slave state
3
Q
War chronology
A
- January 1846: Polk ordered troops under Gen. Zachary Taylor to occupy the disputed area on the border between Mexico and Texas
- May 9, 1846: declaration of war (‘American blood on American soil’)
- Divided reactions
- August 8, 1846: the Wilmot Proviso
- 2 American army forces: Taylor’s invaded the heart of Mexico and Kearny’s occupied New Mexico and California
- February 1847: Monterrey was captured and Americans won the battle of Buena Vista
- March: General Scott took Veracruz and conquered Mexico City of September 14, 1847
- Infection and disease tood many more US casualties than combat did
4
Q
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the war’s legacy
A
- February 2, 1848: Mexico ceded to the US nearly all the territory now included in the states of New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Texas and western Colorado for $15 million
- Zachary Taylor = national hero who became President in 1849
- Compromise of 1850: the status of slavery was settled
5
Q
Kansas-Nebraska Act
A
- 1854, January 4: Douglas introduced:
- a middle ground bill that left open the question of slavery
- a revised bill that repealed the 1820 Missouri Compromise - May 30: the Nebraska bill became law and a prelude to Civil War
- 1854-1859: Bleeding Kansas
- May 21, 1856: sack of the town of Lawrence
- Conflict at the US Senate between Senator Carles Sumner and Representative Preston S. Brooks from Carolina
- John Brown and the Pottawatomie massacre
- Divided public opinion - January 1861: Kansas admitted as a free state
6
Q
Slaves working and living conditions
A
- regime of sorrow, degradation, relentless toil, dredful personal security and perpetual frustration
- comparison with industrial workers in Britain: worked as hard but working shorter and not whipped
- slaves had to accept the clothing, housing and food their owners gave them: ‘Negro cloth’
- most slaves went dirty, barefoot and in rags
- still retained their self-respect, fragments of their ancestral culture, memories of their origins
- conditions slightly better in the Upper South compared to ‘down the river’
- internal slave trade market between upper south and deep south
- marriage between slaves not recognized
- great deal of sexual exploitation of female slaves by white masters or supervisors
- lot of male slaves ran away to try and rejoin their wives and children (families split up)
- slave patrols: white gendarmerie rode about at night maintaining order
- slaves usually not taught to read and write, couldn’t own property and be taught industrial trades, only the most limited responsabilities
7
Q
Frederick Douglass
A
slave in Maryland who ran away and became abolition’s most notable orator
8
Q
white women and slavery
A
- white ladies had to be:
- idle, else they would not have needed slaves to work for them
- sexually cold and rigidly chaste or there could be no justification for their husbands to chase after black women - had to abandon their function as mothers to black ‘mammies’ so that they could parade before the world perpetually in fine dresses, jewels and carriages - fruits of slavery, advertisements of their menfolk’s sucess
- white women had to be denied education and political rights, so that no challenge could be made to the supremacy of the white male: one challenge might breed another, and if men conceded that they had no right to tyrannize over women, what right could they claim to tyrannize over slaves?
9
Q
the Southern Belle
A
- colloquialism for a debutante in the planter class of the Antebellum South
- characterized by fashion elements (hoop skirt, corset, pantalettes, straw hat and gloves)
- signs of tanning were considered working-class and unfashionable: parasols and fans often represented
- expected to marry respectable young men & become ladies of society dedicated to family and community
- Southern hospitality, cultivation of beauty, flirtatious yet chaste demeanor
10
Q
white men and slavery
A
- young men trained to ride horsesand shoot so that they could effectively play their part in slave patrols
- Jefferson’s dream that the University of Virginia would be a great light of republican civilization quickly annihilated
- colleges of the south remained jokes until the 20th century
- instead of science and Greek, young gentlemen learned how to hold their liquor, use a knife in a brawl, play cards, make money
- ‘poor white trash’ = small white farmers didn’t want slaves to be free for fear of competition for land and profit
11
Q
rise of abolitionism
A
- some people thought that any scheme of emancipation must include provision for sending the ‘Negros’ back to Africa or to Haiti
- a lot of people considered that slaves were radically inferior to whites
- some Notherners, often religous reformers, started campaigning for the abolition of slavery
- abolition emerged as a clear movement in 1831: foundation of the Liberator in Boston
12
Q
The coming of the war
A
- Lincoln’s election = signal for secession
- December 1860: South Carolina = first state to withdraw from the Union
- 1861, February 4: a new independent government was formed by southern states (and Texas) in Montgomery, Alabama
–> the Confederate states of America - May 1861: new capital in Richmond, Virginia
- April 12, 1861: the war began at Fort Sumter, South Carolina
13
Q
Political course of the war
A
Similarities of both Lincoln and Davis’ Government:
- Army: volunteers then conscription
- Economy: laissez-faire; borrowing (financing the war)
- Slavery
14
Q
Moves towards emancipation
A
- September 1862: preliminary proclamation of emancipation
- January 1863: final proclamation of emancipation
- January 31, 1865: Slavery was abolished with the 13th amendment
- March 1865: the Confederate Congress authorized the raising of African American regiments
15
Q
Sectional dissatisfaction
A
- Both administrations faced attacks in their own sections
- Both were attacked by state governors
- Congressional elections of 1862 and 1863 reflected it
- Military victories strenghtened Lincoln’s administration
- Davis’ administration lost support with every defeat
- Robert E. Lee became supreme commander of all Southern forces in January 1865
