APUSH Notes around the Civil War

Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was an overland route that started for most in Independence, Missouri and ended up in Oregon. Travel on the trail increased following the Oregon Treaty of 1846.

Annexation of Texas
President Tyler signed the treaty of annexation with Texas in April 1844, but the Senate rejected it. When Polk came into office, Congress approved a new annexation bill on February 28, 1845.

presidios
Fortified bases established by the Spanish in North America during the 16th century to protect against pirates and Native Americans.

Free Soilers
Members of the short-lived political party active in the 1848 and 1852 elections. The Free Soilers opposed the expansion of slavery into the western territories, but did not call for the abolition of slavery in states where it already existed.

Compromise of 1850
5 bills aimed at resolving territorial and slavery controversies. It turned California into a free state, resolved a border dispute and strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act.

Wilmot Proviso
A bill submitted into the House on August 8, 1846 by David Wilmot. The Democratic Congressman’s intent in the bill was to prevent the introduction of slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico. Needless to say, it failed.

Know-Nothing Party
This party, aka the American Party was a nativist organization that was anti-immigration and anti-Catholic throughout its short life. It originated in 1843 and became a party in 1845. At its zenith, it had more than 1 million members.

Commodore Perry
(1794-1858) Matthew Perry was the Commodore of the U.S. Navy who compelled the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854.


Popular Sovereignty
The belief that the legitimacy of the state is created by the will or consent of its people. In other words, the people decide what happens in their states (e.g. Kansas).

Republican Party
“Free soil, free labor, free men, free speech”

Fugitive Slave Law
Within the Compromise of 1850 there was a clause that basically restored the Fugitive Slave Law. However, it was largely ignored and protested against in the North, leading to sometimes violent confrontations.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin
(1852) An antislavery novel written in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe which depicted the evils of slavery. It contributed much to the antislavery sentiment in the North and was the second best-selling book of the century, following the Bible.


Kansas-Nebraska Act
(1854) An act of Congress that created two states: Nebraska and Kansas. It was intended that Kansas become slave and Nebraska free so as to appeal to both the North and South. It led to Bloody Kansas.

Ostend Manifesto
(1854) A secret document written in 1854 by U.S. diplomats at Ostend, Blegium describing a plan to acquire Cuba from Spain. The document sparked greater divisions in America from fear of a Slave Power conspiracy.

Dred Scott Decision
The decision by the Taney court pissed off many Northerners. It ruled that Dred Scott was not a citizen and therefore could not be in court. Later though, it was overruled with the 14th Amendment.

Gadsden Purchase
(1853) Aka Treaty of La Mesilla, it was a 30,000 sq. mi land purchase of the Gadsen territory for $10 million as authorized by President Franklin Pierce in June 24, 1853. The new territory enabled a railroad to traverse it.

Lincoln-Douglass Debates
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate, and the incumbent Stephen A. Douglas, a Democrat, for an Illinois seat in the United States Senate.


Freeport Doctrine
(1858) The Freeport Doctrine was articulated by Stephen A. Douglas at the Lincoln-Douglas debates on August 27, 1858, in Freeport, Illinois. It basically stated that slavery could be prevented by refusal of people to pass laws favorable to slavery.


Election of 1860

The Election of 1860 divided the South and North and split the Democratic Party allowing the Abraham Lincoln rise to power without the support of a single Southern state. Lincoln’s other opponents were John Breckinridge and Stephen A. Douglas. Immediately following Lincoln’s victory, South Carolina and other states declared secession.

John Brown’s Raid
(1859)
In, 1859, John Brown and a few followers raided Harpers Ferry, Virginia, a federal arsenal in order to prepare slaves for a large scale rebellion. He was stopped and eventually hanged for his crime but was praised much in the North.

Fort Sumter
(1861) A coastal fort built in Charleston, South Carolina. On April 23, 1861, Confederate batteries opened fire, firing for 33 hours on the fort. The beginning of the Civil War was marked by the Union surrender of the fort.

Robert E. Lee
(1807-1870) Robert E. Lee was a brilliant Virginian general and strategist who fought on the Confederate side. He led the Confederates to victory numerous times until the battle of Gettysburg.

P.G.T. Beauregard
(1818-1893) The first prominent general for the C.S.A. during the Civil War. He commanded the attack on Fort Sumter and later was the victor at the First Battle of Bull Run. Also, he was critical to the defense of Richmond.

Jefferson Davis
(1808-1889) He was a former senator who became the president of the Confederate States of America. His vice president was Alexander Stephens.

Crittenden Plan
(1860) The Crittenden Compromise (1860) was an unsuccessful proposal by KY Senator John Crittenden that included extending the Missouri Compromise line and preserving fugitive slave laws.

Bull Run
The first major battle in the Civil War. aka Battle of Manassas.

George B. McClellan
(1826-1885) A major general during the civil war. He organized the Army of the Potomac and served briefly (11/1861 – 3/1862) as general-in-chief. He was a meticulous planner which got him much criticism, especially from the Battle of Antietam.

Antietam
(1862) Fought on September 17, 1862 with McClellan v. Robert E. Lee. “Single bloodiest day in American history.” Though the battle of tactically inconclusive, it gave Lincoln the confidence to announce his Emancipation Proclamation.

“Total war”
Where two societies array their resources against each other in battle. Used to describe the case between the North and South during the Civil War.

Habeas Corpus A legal action, or writ, through which a person can seek relief from unlawful detention of him or herself, or of another person.


Sanitary Commission
(1861) An official agency of the US government created on June 18, 1861, to coordinate the volunteer efforts of women who wanted to contribute to the war effort.


Clara Barton
Clara Barton (December 25, 1821 – April 12, 1912) was a pioneer American teacher and nurse. She is best remembered for organizing the American Red Cross (est. 1881).

Contraband
This is the term that General Benjamin Butler gave to runaway slaves that ended up in his camp. It soon became the general term for slaves that were captured by Union forces.

Emancipation Proclamation
(1863)
The Emancipation Proclamation was formally passed in September 22, 1862 through Lincoln. It was intended to give the South the choice of either slavery or secession. When none of them budged, Lincoln signed it into law in January 1, 1863 making slavery illegal in all parts outside of the Union.

Gettysburg
(July 1-3, 1863) Was a battle fought in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War. Gettysburg marked the turning point of the war.

Vicksburg
(5/25 – 7/4, 1863) Was a Union success where Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee captured Vicksburg leading the control of the Mississippi River thus marking a turning point in the war.

Modern War
A war where even civilians are targets.
William Tecumseh Sherman
(1820-1891) William Tecumseh Sherman was a General in the Union Army during the Civil War. He is known for his “March to the Sea” and his scorched earth policies he implemented in conducting total war.

Election of 1864
In the election, Lincoln, along with running mate Andrew Johnson, ran against his former general George McClellan. Lincoln was re-elected as president with 212 votes vs. McClellan’s 21.

Lincoln’s Second
Inauguration Speech
“With malice toward none; with charity for all… let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds.” Hoped to reconcile everyone.

Amendment XIII
(1865) The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude. It was adopted on December 6, 1865. 1st of Reconstruction Amendments.

Appomattox
Courthouse
The location of the Battle of Appomattox and the place where Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered, thus ending the Civil War.

Lincoln’s Plan
(1863)
Known as the 10-percent plan, it decreed that when 10 percent of voters (based on 1860 census) had taken an oath of allegiance to the U.S. and pledge to abide by emancipation, and write a constitution abolishing slavery forever, Lincoln would recognize the reconstructed government.

Thaddeus Stevens
(1792-1868) Was Radical Republican leader who wrote much of the financial legislation that paid for the Civil War. During Reconstruction, he tried to hard to secure racial justice for the freedman.

Radical Republicans
The Radical Republicans were a faction of Republicans from about 1854 to 1877 that demanded harsh policies toward slavery, the Confederacy, and toward ex-Confederates after the war, as well as support for equal rights for Freedmen


Wade-Davis Bill
(1864) Was a Reconstruction program proposed for the South written by two Radical Republicans. The bill made it a requirement for a majority of each state to take the Ironclad oath in order to rejoin the Union. It was pocket vetoed by Lincoln.

Freedman’s Bureau
(1865) A U.S. federal government agency that aided distressed refugees of the Civil War. Passed on March 3, 1865, it was key agency during Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was disbanded in 12/1868.

Black Codes
The Black Codes were laws passed on the state and local level mainly in the rural Southern states in the United States to limit the civil rights and civil liberties of African Americans.


Amendment XIV
(1868) The 14th Amendment was a Reconstruction Amendment ratified on July 9, 1868. It provided a broad definition of citizenship, overruling Dred Scott. It required states to provide equal protection under the law to all persons.

Civil Rights Act of 1866
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was the first act that gave further rights to the freed slaves after the end of the American Civil War. It was vetoed by Johnson but overrode by Congress.

Reconstruction Act of 1867
The Act created 5 military districts in the seceded states, required congressional approval for new state constitutions, gave voting rights to all men, and required all states to ratify the 14th Amendment.

Amendment XV
(1870) The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States to prevent a citizen from voting based on that citizen's race.

Edwin M. Stanton
(1814-1869) Was a United States Attorney General and Secretary of War through most of the Civil War and Reconstruction era. When Johnson attempted to fire him, radicals in Congress used it as evidence to impeach Johnson.

Scalawags
A scalawag was a term for southern whites who supported Reconstruction following the Civil War.

Carpetbaggers
Carpetbagger was the term southerners gave to (ambitious) northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era between 1865 and 1877.

Sharecropping
Sharecropping is a system of agriculture or agricultural production in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land (e.g., 50 percent of the crop).

Whiskey Ring
(1875) Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. Bristow broke the ring in 1875.

Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877 was an informal deal that settled the dispute in the election of 1876. Republican Rutherford B. Hayes would become president on the condition that he removed federal troops. It effectively ended Reconstruction.

Ku Klux Klan
The KKK is a secret militant organization in the United States that popped up in 1865. It often used terrorism and lynching to intimidate and oppress African Americans and other minorities.