Unit 5 Vocab

Question 1

Manifest Destiny

Answer 1

widely held belief that settlers were destined to expand across North America

Question 2

Samuel Morse

Answer 2

contributed to the invention of the telegraph; co-developer of Morse code

Question 3

Wilmot Proviso

Answer 3

proposed to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican War; did not pass through Congress

Question 4

Bear Flag Republic

Answer 4

short-lived breakaway state that briefly controlled the area north of the San Francisco Bay in 1846

Question 5

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Answer 5

peace treaty signed on February 2, 1848 ending the Mexican War and ceding land to the Unites States

Question 6

Mexican Cession

Answer 6

historical name for the region of the American Southwest that was ceded by Mexico after the Mexican War

Question 7

Zachary Taylor

Answer 7

12th president of the US; war hero from the Mexican-American War nominated by the Whigs

Question 8

Free-Soilers

Answer 8

single-issue party of Whigs and antislavery Democrats dedicated to preventing the spread of slavery

Question 9

Bleeding Kansas

Answer 9

a series of violent political confrontations between the antislavery “Free-Staters” and the proslavery “Border Ruffians” between 1854 and 1861

Question 10

Popular sovereignty

Answer 10

residents of a territory can decide whether or not slavery is allowed in that territory

Question 11

Compromise of 1850

Answer 11

passed through Congress in 5 separate bills; admitted California as a free state, established popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico, and enacted a stronger fugitive slave law

Question 12

Stephen Douglas

Answer 12

Democrat politician from Illinois who designed the Kansas-Nebraska Act; lost to Lincoln in the 1860 presidential race

Question 13

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Answer 13

created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and established popular sovereignty, drawing in both pro and antislavery groups & resulting in Bleeding Kansas

Question 14

Secession

Answer 14

withdrawal of a group from a larger entity; usually a political entity like a country

Question 15

Fugitive Slave Law

Answer 15

passed by Congress as a part of the Compromise of 1850; required that all escaped slaves be returned to their owners and required citizens to hunt them down, even in free states

Question 16

Underground railroad

Answer 16

network of hiding places and “safe” trails utilized by enslaved people escaping their masters

Question 17

Dred Scott v. Sandford

Answer 17

landmark case in which Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney ruled that Black people were not US citizens and thus could not sue in federal court; nullified the Missouri Compromise and Kansas-Nebraska Act

Question 18

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Answer 18

series of 7 debates between Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln and Democrat incumbent Stephen Douglas for the Illinois Senate seat (also known as the Great Debates of 1858)

Question 19

John Brown

Answer 19

radical American abolitionist who believed armed insurrection was the only way to overthrow slavery in the United States

Question 20

Harpers Ferry Raid

Answer 20

failed attempt by John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt in 1859 by taking over the US arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, VA

Question 21

Uncle Toms’ Cabin

Answer 21

antislavery novel published by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852; set the framework for the Civil War

Question 22

Jefferson Davis

Answer 22

president of the Confederacy during the Civil War

Question 23

Greenbacks

Answer 23

fiat (not backed by gold or silver) paper money issued by the US government during the Civil War;

Question 24

Homestead Act

Answer 24

US federal laws that gave an applicant ownership of land (homestead) at little or no cost

Question 25

Anaconda Plan

Answer 25

planned blockade of Southern ports that called for an advance down the Mississippi River, cutting the South in two

Question 26

Gettysburg

Answer 26

Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army was defeated, preventing them from expanding the Confederacy to Northern states

Question 27

Vicksburg

Answer 27

battle in which the North captured the last hold of the South on the Mississippi River, gaining control of the region and splitting the South

Question 28

Sherman's March

Answer 28

led by General Sherman across the South using scorch earth warfare; high point was the burning of Atlanta

Question 29

Habeas corpus

Answer 29

legal concept that one is innocent until proven guilty; Lincoln suspended this right during the Civil war to arrest anti-Union/pro-Confederate advocates

Question 30

Emancipation Proclamation

Answer 30

presidential proclamation/executive order enacted by Lincoln on January 1, 1863 that freed over 3 million enslaved people in the United States

Question 31

13th amendment

Answer 31

outlawed slavery in the United States

Question 32

Draft riots

Answer 32

violent disturbances in New York City as a result of working-class discontent with the draft requiring them to serve in the Civil War

Question 33

Copperheads

Answer 33

Northern Peace Democrats who opposed the Civil War