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The Northwest Ordinance
It declared slavery illegal in the new territory acquired and it set a percentage of how new states should enter the Union. The new states would have to enter on equal terms. Kick-starting the Westward Expansion. The Northwest Ordinance help set up a pathway for the states and establish rights for settlers. The ordinance divided land north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi river into smaller territories. -
The Louisiana Purchase
Territory purchased by Thomas Jefferson from France. The United States paid fifteen million dollars for this new land. America wanted the Lousiana Purchase for the control of the Mississippi ports. Doubling the size of the United States. It increased our national resources but angered the Indians. Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore the Lousiana Territory after it was purchased. It set a percentage for future land and controlled the Mississippi River. -
The Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to become a slave state. Maine entered the Union as a freed state. More importantly, a line was drawn for the expansion of slavery at the 36´30 line. Automatically dividing the nation even more because it created a difference of opinions regarding the spread of slavery, causing more sectionalism. The Missouri Compromise Line determined the status of slavery in future states. North of the line slavery was banned, South of the line slavery was allowed. -
Monroe Doctrine
President James Monroe issued the policy in 1823. It prevented further European colonization in South and Central America. This influenced the ideas of Manifest Destiny because America could grow and expand without European interference. Because of the Monroe Doctrine, the United States became a powerful leader in the Western hemisphere. -
Nullification Crisis
The Nullification Crisis says that states have the right to declare a federal law or tax null and void if it harms that state. The federal government passed a very high protective tariff, which angered the South. John C. Calhoun attempted to nullify the tariff stating South Carolina wouldn't pay. Andrew Jackson wanted to maintain that the federal government was stronger than that of the states. e didn't want to lose the support of the South. South Carolina was forced to pay the tariff. -
Texas Annexation
The United States had the belief that it was the God-given right to move West. Texas was the 28th state to be annexed to the United States. The controversy over the Annexation of Texas was because it would increase the number of states that allowed slavery. Texas won independence from Mexico. The downside is that the United States faced economic troubles. The South and the Democratic Party favored Annexation. Northerns opposed it because they feared of war with Mexico. -
The Oregon Treaty
This terriotory was jointly clamied and acquired by the Americans, the British, and the Spanish. However, the spanish claim to the territory ended after the Adams-Onis treaty was signed. Conflict between the Ameicans and the British led to the negoiations of a British-American border. The newspaper headlined ¨54´40¨ or Flight supporting war with the British over the territory. This negoiation led to the Oregon Treaty of 1846 granting US control South of the 49th parallel and avoiding war. -
The Mexican Cession
The Mexican Cession completed Manifest Destiny by giving Americans control of land from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It contained territories that made up most of the rest of the southwestern United States. The United States acquired this treaty and it ended the Mexican-American War. Mexico agreed to give Calfornia and New Mexico to the U.S. for 15 million. -
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 helped develop the idea of popular sovereignty in the Mexican Cession. It outlawed the slave trade in Washinton D.C and strengthed Fugitive Slave laws. It made Calfornia a free state and did not allow slavery in the new territories in the Mexican Cession. -
Kansas - Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act overturned the Missouri Compromise by allowing popular sovereignty North of 36´30. Stephen Douglas proposed popular sovereignty to decided whether these states would be slave or free states. Both sides sent supporters to sway the votes. This lead to the debate of pro-slavery and anti-slavery. Conflicted turned violent it became known as Bleeding Kansas. After Kansas became a free state. Eventually, this led to the emergence of a new party, the Republican Party. -
Bleeding (Bloody) Kansas
Bleeding Kansas started because the US allowed citizens to decide whether it should be a slave state or a free state. This debate led to extreme violence. Abolosnists John Brown led anti-slavery fighters in Kansas before his famed raid on Harper Ferry. The significance of ¨Bleeding Kansas¨ is that this crisis really pushed the North and South apart and had a great deal to do with causing the Civil War. -
The Battle of Fort Sumter
On April 12, 1861, the Battle of Fort Sumter began when confederate soldiers fired on the Union. The garrison commander surrendered on April 13th and was evacuated the next day. The outcome of the war depended upon the economic resources of the North and the South. The geographic factors influenced the strategy and the military and political leadership that influenced public support. -
The Battle of Bull Run
The Battle of Bull Run was the first major land battle of the war. It made both sides of the war realize that the Civil War would be much longer and bloodier than the previously thought. General Irvin McDowell led the Union and General Thomas J. Jackson led the Confederates aka Stonewall Jackson. Although McCelleanś army was more massive than the Confederate army, General Lee led his army skillfully causing McClellan to retreat to Washington. -
The Battle of Antietam
Also known as ¨tactical draw¨ on September 17, 1862, the Battle of Antietam was the single bloodiest day of the war. Twenty-three thousand soldiers died or got wounded. This was the first Southern invasion into the North. Although the Union experienced more losses than the Confederacy, Lee retreated to Virginia and Lincoln had found the opportunity he needed to move forward with the Emancipation Proclamation. -
The Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation did not free slaves in the regions under Confederate control or in the border states. Only states in rebellion on Janurary 1, 1863 would be commanded to free their slaves. It allowed African Americnas to fight on the side of the Union. -
The Battle of Vicksburg
Ulysses S. Grant led the Union and John C. Pemberton led the Confederate. The Union wanted to take control of the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in half. Lincoln believed the capture of Visburg is key to bringing an end to the war. The surrender of Vicksburg, and Port Hudson, Lousiana days later, split the Confederacy in two at the Missppiss River and gave the Union control of the rive. The key turning point in the western theatre. -
The Battle of Gettysburg
General George G. Meade led the Union and General Robert E.Lee led the Confederacy. Let set off to Pennsylvania to take some Union ground. Although the Confederates seemed victorious as night fell on the first night of the battle, swift thinking and action on the part of the Union put them at an advantage. Then Lee retreats to Virginia. Almost one-third of his fighting forces were dead or wounded. The second and last attempt of the South trying to invade the North. -
The Gettysburg Address
On November 19, 1863, Lincoln visited the Gettysburg battlefield to dedicate a cemetery for the fallen soldiers. He describes the Civil War as a struggle to fulfill the Declaration of Independence and preserve a nation ¨dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.¨ -
Congressional Reconstruction (1867-1877)
Congressional Reconstruction was a time period when Congress sent soldiers and Northerns South to help guarantee the freedom to former slaves. During this period, Northerns that went South were called ¨carpetbaggers¨. These people helped with things like aid programs and government. At this point, the U.S. was starting to become more of a Democratic Society. Congressional Reconstruction was very successful. It gave former slaves freedom and gave many southern and former slaves education. -
Sherman´s March to the Sea
The March to the Sea was led by General William Sherman. It was the journey of the Union Army from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. During that trip, the Union Army destroyed all factories, railroads, and farms along their path. This was known as total warfare. The main purpose of Sherman´s ¨March to the Sea¨ in 1864 was to destroy the South´s strategic and economic capacity to fight. He felt like the South deserved the destruction of their lands for making war first. -
The 13th amendment (passed)
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. After the Civil War, it was written. It was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865. When slavery was made illegal, Southern states had to free all slaves even though they didn´t want to. -
Presidential Reconstruction (1863-1867)
Abraham Lincoln created the 10% plan. It stated that only 10% of the voters in the 1860 election needed to promise an oath to the union and accept the terms of the Emancipation Proclamation. High military leaders and Confederate officials were removed from this process. After Lincoln´s assassination Andrew Jackson continued his plan. Johnson wanted to broaden the Reconstruction plan. He also granted pardons to the people who swore allegiance to the Union. Later Congress impeached Johnson. -
The 14th amendment (passed)
The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to all the people who were born in the United States including former slaves. It forbids states from denying any person ¨life, liberty or property, without due process of law¨ or to ¨deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.¨ -
The 15th amendment (passed)
The 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote. It states that no man can be denied the right to vote because of their ¨race, ethnicity, or religion.¨ This did not include women of any race just men. -
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
The Supreme Court ruled that the ¨seperate but equal¨ provision of the Lousiana law was constitutional. The case established this principle of segregation until it was overturned in 1954. This case established ¨seperate but equal¨, also known as segregation, as constitutional. After this, Jim Crow Laws, laws that discriminated against African Americans, spread across the US and were heavily enforced in the South.