Manifest
Destiny & Westward Expansion
Destiny & Westward Expansion
The idea that Americans had a divine right to expand westward.
He was president of the U.S. during the Civil War.
Who is Abraham Lincoln?
This system of secret routes and safe houses helped enslaved people escape to the North. It was supported by abolitionists and had leaders like Harriet Tubman who helped guide others to freedom.
What is the Underground Railroad?
This natural resource was increasingly important for the growth of industrial machinery, railroads, and steam engines.
What is coal?
This region of the United States was known for its large plantations and reliance on enslaved labor, especially in the 1800s.
What is the South?
This major discovery in 1848 in California led to a massive influx of settlers known as the "49ers," dramatically increasing the U.S. population and pushing westward expansion.
What is the California Gold Rush?
In 1863, this act by President Abraham Lincoln declared all enslaved people in Confederate-held territory to be free, changing the nature of the Civil War by making abolition an explicit war aim.
What is the Emancipation Proclamation?
These two influential Black leaders in the late 1800s and early 1900s had different ideas about how African Americans should achieve equality. One promoted vocational training and working within the system, while the other demanded immediate civil rights and higher education.
Who are DuBois and Washington?
This government approach during the Gilded Age minimized regulations on businesses and allowed corporations to grow without restrictions.
What is laissez-faire?
The passage of this 1820 law aimed to balance the number of slave and free states in the Union by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, while establishing a boundary line for slavery in the western territories.
What is the Missouri Compromise?
This territory was annexed by the United States in 1845, directly contributing to the start of the Mexican-American War.
What is Texas?
This federal agency, created in 1865, provided food, education, medical care, and legal support to formerly enslaved people and poor whites in the South, but struggled due to underfunding and Southern opposition.
What is the Freedmen's Bureau?
This 1852 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe helped push anti-slavery sentiment in the North by portraying the brutal realities of slavery. It became a national bestseller.
What is Uncle Tom's Cabin?
This corrupt system rewarded supporters when a candidate won an election.
What is the patronage system?
This 1856 conflict in Kansas was a direct result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, where pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions clashed, leading to deaths and further division between the North and South.
What is Bleeding Kansas?
This law passed in 1848 was designed to encourage the migration of settlers to the West by offering 160 acres of land to anyone who would improve it for five years, contributing to the rapid settlement of the frontier.
What is the Homestead Act?
This controversial president who took office after Lincoln’s assassination frequently clashed with Radical Republicans, vetoed key Reconstruction legislation, and was ultimately impeached for violating the Tenure of Office Act.
Who is Andrew Johnson?
This radical abolitionist who hoped to spark a slave rebellion led an 1859 raid on a federal arsenal. Though it failed, it terrified the South and made him a martyr in the North.
Who is John Brown?
This popular movement during the Gilded Age advocated for the application of Christian ethics to social problems, such as poverty, inequality, and labor rights, and was often linked to efforts to improve living conditions for the urban poor.
What is the Social Gospel?
This principle allowed the settlers of a territory, like Kansas or Nebraska, to decide for themselves whether to permit slavery. While it aimed to resolve tensions over slavery in the territories, it instead led to violence and political conflict in the 1850s.
What is popular sovereignty?
This clause in the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo granted the US large amounts of land after their victory in the Mexican-American War
What is the Mexican Cession?
This 1877 political deal resolved the contested 1876 presidential election by awarding the presidency to Rutherford B. Hayes in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction.
What is the Compromise of 1877?
After slavery was abolished, many formerly enslaved African Americans in the South entered into this system, where they rented land from white landowners in exchange for a portion of their crops. This often led to deep debt and economic dependency.
What is sharecropping?
This business strategy popularized by John D. Rockerfeller involved buying out all competitors to create a monopoly on a single sector.
What is horizontal integration?
In 1860, this Southern political leader argued that the South had the right to secede from the Union, citing the protection of slavery as a fundamental right. His speeches and actions played a central role in defending Southern interests during the secession crisis.
Who is John Calhoun?