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Alamo
Was fought between the Republic of Texas and Mexico from February 23, 1836 to March 6, 1836. It took place at a fort in San Antonio, Texas called the Alamo. The Mexicans won the battle, killing all of the Texan soldiers inside the fort. -
Wilmont Proviso
This was an unsuccessful proposal to prohibit slavery in the territory acquired by the United States at the conclusion of the Mexican War. In 1846, David Willmont Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, proposed the Wilmot proposal. -
Mexican war of 1846-47
This was the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. President James K. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
This ended the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States. Mexico also gave up all claims to Texas and recognized the Rio Grande as America's southern boundary. -
Fugitive Slave Law
It was part of the Compromise of 1850. The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves. -
Ostend Manifesto
The Ostend Circular, was a document written in 1854 that described the rationale for the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain while implying that the U.S. should declare war if Spain refused. -
Sumner-Brooks Incident
Senator Charles Sumner made an abolitionist speech insulting SC Senator Andrew Butler.Preston Brooks, heard Sumner's speech and on the Senate floor beat him into a coma with his cane and the beating helped to escalate tensions between north and south. -
Dred Scott v Sanford
The Supreme Court ruled that Americans of African descent, whether free or slave, were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court. -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
Was series of seven debates between the Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois senatorial campaign, largely concerning the issue of slavery extension into the territories. -
SC secession
South Carolina became the first slave state in the south to declare that it had secede from the United States.The declaration also claims that secession was declared as a result of the refusal of free states to enforce the Fugitive Slave Acts. -
Fort Sumter
Also known as the Battle of Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the civil war were fired. Once the Confederate States of America took control of Charleston Harbor, they soon aimed coastal guns on the fort, and fired. -
Bull Run
This is also known as the Battle of Manassas, marked the first major land battle of the American Civil War.The engagement began when roughly 35,000 Union troops marched from the federal capital in Washington, D.C. to strike a Confederate force of 20,000 along a small river known as Bull Run. -
Anaconda Plan
This was the Union's plan to defeat the Confederacy at the beginning of the American Civil War. The main purpose of the plan was to defeat the rebellion by blockading southern ports and controlling the Mississippi river. -
Pacific Railroad Act
A series of acts of Congress that promoted the construction of a transcontinental railroad the Pacific Railroad) in the United States through authorizing the issuance of government bonds and the grants of land to railroad companies. -
Homestead Act
This act accelerated settlement of U.S. western territory by allowing any American, including freed slaves, to put in a claim for up to 160 free acres of federal land. -
10% Plan
The plan that imcluded when a state could be reintegrated into the Union when 10% of the 1860 vote count from that state had taken an oath of allegiance to the U.S. and pledged to abide by emancipation, citizens of former Confederate states would be given the opportunity to swear allegiance to the government in Washington. -
Wade Davis
This required that 50 percent of a state's white males take a loyalty oath to be readmitted to the Union. The bill made a complete abolition of slavery to prevent it from surviving in any way after the war. -
Freedmens Bureau
Was the first welfare agency used to provide food, clothing, medical care, and education to freedman and to white refugees.First to establish a school for blacks to learn to read. -
Black codes
These were laws that controlled free backs . They were passed in 1865 and 1866 by Southern states, after the American Civil War, in order to restrict African Americans freedom, and to compel them to work for low wages. -
Reconstruction Acts
Created five military districts in the seceded states this did not include Tennessee, which had ratified the 14th Amendment and was readmitted to the Union. Each district was to be headed by a military official empowered to appoint and remove state officials.
