Topic 5.2
This idea—popularized by newspaper editor John L. O’Sullivan—claimed the U.S. had a God-given mission to expand across North America “from sea to shining sea.”
What is Manifest Destiny?
The immediate dispute that sparked fighting in 1846: the U.S. claimed this river as Texas’s southern border, while Mexico claimed the Nueces River.
What is the Rio Grande?
This massive land gain after the Mexican–American War ignited the central question: Would slavery be allowed in the new territories?
What is the Mexican Cession?
In the 1840s–50s, the two largest immigrant groups arriving from Europe were these groups, who often formed ethnic communities in Northern cities or the Midwest.
Who are German and Irish?
The 1854 law pushed by Stephen Douglas that created new states and used popular sovereignty—effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise line.
What is the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
This religious group migrated west and established communities including Salt Lake City to practice their faith more freely.
Who are the Mormons?
The 1848 treaty that ended the Mexican–American War and transferred huge territories (including California and the Southwest) to the U.S.
What is the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?
Under the Compromise of 1850, slavery in Utah and New Mexico would be decided by this idea: the people living there vote on it.
What is popular sovereignty?
This anti-Catholic nativist political party—also called the American Party—rose in the 1850s and aimed to limit immigrants’ political power.
What is the Know-Nothing Party?
The nickname for the violent clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers fighting to control Kansas after the Kansas–Nebraska Act.
The event that pulled roughly 300,000 people to California and rapidly transformed the region’s population and economy.
What is the California Gold Rush?
Proposed in 1846, this measure tried to ban slavery in any territory gained from Mexico—intensifying sectional conflict even though it failed.
What is the Wilmot Proviso?
Nicknamed the “Great Compromiser,” this Kentucky senator helped craft the Compromise of 1850.
Who is Henry Clay?
This movement argued that expanding slavery into the West threatened Northern free labor and opportunity; its famous slogan was “______, Free Labor, Free Men.”
What is the Free-Soil movement (or Free Soil Party)?
This 1857 Supreme Court decision ruled that Black Americans were not citizens and that Congress could not ban slavery in federal territories.
What is Dred Scott v. Sandford?
This Democrat won the 1844 election after running on a platform centered on U.S. expansion into the West, helping launch the era of Manifest Destiny politics.
Who is James K. Polk?
This Whig congressman challenged Polk’s claim that “American blood” was spilled on “American soil,” demanding the exact location of the clash.
Who is Abraham Lincoln? (the “Spot Resolution”)
The most controversial part of the Compromise: it required citizens to help capture alleged runaways and denied accused fugitives the right to a jury trial.
What is the Fugitive Slave Act/Law of 1850?
This abolitionist newspaper—published by William Lloyd Garrison—called for immediate emancipation and rejected compromise with slavery.
What is The Liberator?
As the Second Party System collapsed, this new party formed in 1854 in opposition to the expansion of slavery into the territories and became dominant in the North.
What is the Republican Party?
This 1862 law offered 160 acres of western public land to settlers (with residence and improvement requirements), accelerating migration west.
What is the Homestead Act?
As U.S. power expanded in the Southwest, this 1864 forced relocation of the Navajo to an internment camp caused widespread suffering.
What is the Long Walk?
In 1859, the Supreme Court struck down Wisconsin’s attempt to nullify the Fugitive Slave Act, reaffirming that states can’t overrule federal law.
What is Ableman v. Booth?
This Southern leader famously defended slavery as a “positive good,” grounding arguments in white supremacy, constitutional protections, and states’ rights.
Who is John C. Calhoun?
This nickname described pro-slavery Missourians who flooded into Kansas to illegally vote and intimidate settlers after Kansas–Nebraska.
Who are the Border Ruffians?