Westward Expansion
The term coined by John O'Sullivan to refer to the United States' belief that it was their god-given right to expand across the North American continent.
"Manifest Destiny"
This group was most widely and adversely affected by the United States' westward expansion.
Native Americans
Aside from admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state to maintain political balance in the Senate, what did the Missouri Compromise establish?
The the land above the 36 30 parallel would be free territory
Name the two sides during the American Civil War.
The Union (North); The Confederacy (South)
Briefly and simply explain what each of the Reconstruction Amendments did (13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments).
13th - abolished slavery; 14th - established birthright citizenship; 15th - granted voting rights
This territory was acquired by Thomas Jefferson from the French and included the "middle third" of the North American continent.
The Louisiana Purchase (1803)
This infamous president most represents the era of suffering during America's westward expansion.
President Andrew Jackson (7th U.S. president)
Describe the concept of popular sovereignty.
People vote on whether or not to allow slavery in a territory
This is where General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865.
Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia
Why was Reconstruction considered a failure?
Disproportionate legal and social resistance, particularly in the south
This current state declared its independence from Mexico in 1836 and was annexed by the United States in 1845.
Texas (The Lonestar State)
Explain how westward expansion reopened the issue of slavery that the Founders failed to adequately address.
New territory meant deciding whether to expand or prohibit slavery
This event directly led to the secession of South Carolina and the eventual bombardment of Fort Sumter.
The presidential election of 1860; the electoral victory of Abraham Lincoln (R)
The first of these two major battles of the Civil War demoralized the Union, making it clear this would not be a swift war to put down the rebellion.
The First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas, VA; 1861)
What was the Freedmen's Bureau?
A federal agency established after the passage of the 13th Amendment to help former slaves transition into lives of freedom
This agreement ended the Mexican-American War and ceded California and the southwest territory to the United States.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
This is the name given to describe the forced removal of Natives from their homelands in the southeast to lands west of the Mississippi River that resulted in thousands upon thousands of deaths.
The Trail of Tears
This Supreme Court ruling can be presumed to have helped to radicalize John Brown into raiding the armory at Harpers Ferry in a failed attempt to foment a slave rebellion. What did the ruling state?
Scott v. Sandford (1857); "The Dred Scott Decision"; black people are not citizens
What was the Emancipation Proclamation? Why did President Lincoln declare it?
Formal declaration freeing all slaves in the secessionist states; Lincoln wanted to provide the Union moral authority, or a righteous war aim
List at least three examples of legal or social resistance to Reconstruction.
KKK; Black Codes; convict labor leasing; sharecropping; poll taxes/literacy tests; Plessy v. Ferguson; lynchings; Jim Crow; racist propaganda
Explain why the Mexican-American war was fought
A dispute between the U.S. and Mexico over the U.S.'s western border
What was the Battle of Little Bighorn?
The massacre of United States Army troops under the command of General George Armstrong Custer in present-day Montana by Native Americans under the command of Sitting Bull; also known as "Custer's Last Stand" (1876)
Why did the Kansas-Nebraska Act lead to the event known as Bleeding Kansas?
Pro-slavery "border ruffians" and anti-slavery "free-soilers" descended on the territory of Kansas to vote for and against slavery, respectively, resulting in confrontation and outright violence
What was the significance of the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1863)
It was the only Civil War battle fought above the Mason Dixon line (north of Maryland); it expelled the Confederacy from Union territory
When and how did the Resistance era end?