Period 5: 1844-1877

Question 1

Conflict between Americans and Mexicans began in 1829 when…

Answer 1

Mexico outlawed slavery and required all immigrants to convert to Roman Catholicism.

Question 2

Mexican Government

Answer 2

1834: Santa Anna made himself the dictator of Mexico and abolished the nation’s federal system of government.

Question 3

Texas declared an independent republic (1836)

Answer 3

CAUSE: When Santa Anna tried enforcing Mexican laws in Texas, American settlers led by Sam Houston revolted.

Question 4

Jackson and Van Buren put off the annexation of Texas because…

Answer 4

Because of political opposition among Northerners to the expansion of slavery and the potential addition of new slave states created out of the Texas territories.

Question 5

Aroostook War 1838

Answer 5

CAUSE: A conflict between between rival groups of lumbermen on the Maine-Canadian border erupted into open fighting.

Question 6

Webster-Ashburton Treaty 1842

Answer 6

Treaty that resolved the Aroostook War. EFFECT: disputed territory was split between Maine and British Canada and settled the boundary of the Minnesota territory.

Question 7

Oregon Fever

Answer 7

CAUSE: Protestant missionaries and farmers from the U.S. settled in the Willamette Valley in the 40s. Their success in farming led many Americans to travel the Oregon Trail to settle south of the Columbia River.

Question 8

Martin Van Buren

Answer 8

Led the Northern wing of the democratic party, opposed immediate annexation.

Question 9

John C. Calhoun

Answer 9

Led the Southern wing of the democratic party, pro-slavery and pro-annexation.

Question 10

James. K Polk

Answer 10

Democrats ended up nominating Polk, who was committed to expansion and manifest destiny, supported the annexation, the reoccupation of Oregon, and the acquisition of California.

Question 11

“Fifty four forty or Fight!”

Answer 11

Democratic slogan that appealed strongly to Westerners and Southerners who were expansionists.

Question 12

Annexing Texas

Answer 12

Instead of seeking Senate approval of a treaty that would have required a 2/3 vote, John Tyler persuaded both houses of Congress to pass a joint resolution for annexation.

Question 13

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848

Answer 13

CAUSE: Negotiated by in Mexico after the war. EFFECT: Mexico recognized the Rio Grande as a southern border of Texas & the U.S. took possession of the former Mexican provinces of CA and NM.

Question 13

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848

Answer 13

CAUSE: Negotiated by in Mexico after the war. EFFECT: Mexico recognized the Rio Grande as a southern border of Texas & the U.S. took possession of the former Mexican provinces in of CA and NM.

Question 14

Wilmot Proviso

Answer 14

David Wilmot proposed that an appropriations bill be amended to forbid slavery in any of the new territories acquired from Mexico. Passed the House twice but was defeated in the Senate.

Question 15

Manifest destiny to the South

Answer 15

Many Southerners were dissatisfied with the territorial gains from the Mexican
War. In the early 1850s, they hoped to acquire new territories in Latin America where they thought plantations worked by slaves were economically feasible.

Question 16

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty 1850

Answer 16

CAUSE: Both the U.S. and Britain wanted to build a canal through Central America. EFFECT: This treaty prevented each other from seizing the opportunity on its own.

Question 17

Gadsden Purchase 1853

Answer 17

President Pierce added a strip of land to the American southwest for a railroad.

Question 18

Overland trails

Answer 18

Pioneers traveled west in hopes of clearing the forests and farming the fertile valleys
of California and Oregon. By 1860, many had reached their
westward goal by following the Oregon, California, Santa Fe, and Mormon trails.

Question 19

Gold/silver rushes

Answer 19

The discovery of gold in California in 1848 set off migrations to mineral-rich mountains of the West. Gold/ silver rushes occurred in Colorado, Nevada, and other western territories. Booms attracted miners from around the world.

Question 20

Farming frontier

Answer 20

Many pioneer families moved west to start homesteads and begin farming. Preemption Acts of the 1830s and 1840s gave squatters the right to settle public lands and purchase them for low prices once the government put them up for sale.

Question 21

Industrial Technology

Answer 21

Before 1840, factory production had been concentrated mainly in the textile mills of New England. After 1840, industrialization spread rapidly to the other states of the Northeast. The new factories made shoes, sewing machines, firearms, and iron products for railroads and other new technologies.

Question 22

Railroads

Answer 22

Required lots of capital and labor and gave rise to business organizations. Local merchants and farmers would often buy stocks in the new railroad companies in order to connect their area to the outside world. Local/state governments also helped the railroads grow by granting special loans and
tax breaks.

Question 23

Effects of railroads

Answer 23

Cheap and rapid transportation particularly promoted western agriculture. (i.e: farmers in Illinois were now more closely linked to the Northeast by
rail). The railroads united the common commercial interests of the Northeast and Midwest and would also give the
North strategic advantages in the Civil War.

Question 24

Panic of 1857

Answer 24

CAUSE: Prices, especially for Midwestern farmers, dropped sharply
and unemployment in Northern cities increased. Since cotton prices remained high, the South was less affected. EFFECT: As a result, some Southerners believed that their plantation economy was superior and that continued union with the
Northern economy was not needed.

Question 25

Causes for conflict between the North & South

Answer 25

1) Constitutional disputes over the nature of the federal union and states’ rights.
2) Slavery.
3) Economic differences over tariffs, banking, and internal improvements.
4) Political blunders on extremism.

Question 26

Free Soil Party

Answer 26

Political party made up of Northerners who opposed allowing slavery in the territories and advocated free homesteads and internal improvements.

Question 27

Effects of the Gold Rush

Answer 27

Created the need for law and order in the West. Drafted a Constitution that banned slavery.

Question 28

Henry Clay’s proposal for the solving political crisis

Answer 28

1) Admit CA into the Union as a free state.
2) Allow settlers into Utah and New Mexico to decide the slavery issue by popular sovereignty.
3) Ban the slave trade in the District of Columbia.
4) Adopt a new Fugitive slave law.

Question 29

Fugitive Slave Law 1850

Answer 29

Main purpose was to track down runaway slaves who had escaped to a Northern state, capture them, and bring them back to the South.

Question 30

Effect of the Fugitive Slave Law

Answer 30

Placed fugitive slave cases under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government & authorized special commissioners to issue warrants to arrest fugitives.

Question 31

Underground railroad

Answer 31

Network of Northern free blacks with the help of some white abolitionists to escape into free states.

Question 32

Southern reasoning for slavery

Answer 32

Argued that slavery was sanctioned by the Bible and was grounded in philosophy and history.

Question 33

Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854

Answer 33

CAUSE: Stephen Douglas had a plan for building a railroad and promoting western settlement. To obtain southern approval, he introduced a bill to divide the Nebraska territory into two: Kansas & Nebraska. EFFECT: gave southerners the chance to expand slavery.

Question 34

Republican Party (NORTHERN party)

Answer 34

Founded as a direct reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Purpose was to oppose the SPREAD of slavery, NOT to end slavery itself. Composed of free-soilers & anti-slavery Whigs and democrats.

Question 35

Dred Scott v. Sanford 1857

Answer 35

Court decided against Scott because;
1) He didn’t have the right to sue in a fed court because the Constitution didn’t intend African Americans to be U.S. citizens.
2) Cong didn’t have the power to deprive any person of property without due process of law.
3) Missouri compromise was unconstitutional because it excluded slavery from Wisconsin & other Northern territories.

Question 36

Effect of Dred Scott v. Sanford

Answer 36

Supreme Court declared all parts of the Western territories were open to slavery.

Question 37

Abraham Lincoln

Answer 37

Whig, NOT an abolitionist, against the expansion of slavery.

Question 38

Constitutional Union Party

Answer 38

Made up of former Whigs, Know-Nothings, & Moderate Democrats. Pledged the enforcements of the laws & Cons. and preserving the union.

Question 39

Confederate States of America

Answer 39

Made up of seven states that voted to secede the union. It would place limit on the government’s power to impose tariffs and restrict slavery.

Question 40

Crittenden Compromise 1860

Answer 40

CAUSE: John Crittenden proposed a constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to hold slaves in all territories south of the 36°30’. EFFECT: Lincoln couldn’t accept because it violated the Republican position against the expansion of slavery into the territories.