APUSH

• Compromise of 1850


  Slavery becomes outlawed in Washington D.C., California is admitted as a free state, and Utah and New Mexico will determine whether slavery is allowed through popular sovereignty. Also, the Fugitive Slave Law is passed.
• Fugitive Slave Act of 1852


  these laws provided for the return of escaped slaves to their owners. The North was lax about enforcing the 1793 law, which irritated the South to no end. The 1850 law was tougher and was aimed at eliminating the underground railroad.
• Bleeding Kansas


  A sequence of violent events involving abolitionists and pro-Slavery elements that took place in Kansas-Nebraska Territory. The dispute further strained the relations of the North and South, making civil war imminent.
• Abraham Lincoln


  16th President of the United States saved the Union during the Civil War and emancipated the slaves; was assassinated by Booth (1809-1865)
• Free Soil Party


  Formed in 1847 - 1848, dedicated to opposing slavery in newly acquired territories such as Oregon and ceded Mexican territory.
• Panic of 1857


  An economic crash that arose due to the inflation caused by inpouring California gold. The demands of the Crimean War over-stimulated grain growth and land speculation, and when the collapse came over five thousand businesses failed. Northern farmers were hard-hit by the panic, while the South basically went untouched. Also the panic created a clamor of higher tariff rates.
• Election of 1860


  Lincoln represented the Republicans. Stephen Douglas represented Northern Democrats, and John Breckinridge represented Southern Democrats. John Bell represented the Constitutional Party who wanted to heal the split between the North and South. Lincoln was not on the ballot in most southern states. It was primarily a sectional election (north v. south). Lincoln received the most popular votes (40%) and won the election with the electoral vote.
• Robert E. Lee


  The General of the Confederate troops; he was prosperous in many battles; was defeated at Antietam in 1862 when he retreated across the Potomac; this halt of Lee's troops justified Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation; he was defeated at Gettysburg by General Mead's Union troops; surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
• Ulysses S. Grant


  an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States (1869-1877). He achieved international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil War. Also accepted the surrender of Robert E. Lee
• Emancipation Proclamation


  After victory of Antietam Lincoln announces on the first of 1863 all slaves in the rebelling states would be free. AIM: injure confederacy, threaten its property, heighten its dread, hurt its morale.
• Battle of Gettysburg


  Turning point of the War that made it clear the North would win. 50,000 people died, and the South lost its chance to invade the North.
• Gettysburg Address


  A 3-minute address by Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War (November 19, 1963) at the dedication of a national cemetery on the site of the Battle of Gettysburg
• Election of 1864


  Lincoln vs. McClellan, Lincoln wants to unite North and South, McClellan wants war to end if he's elected, citizens of North are sick of war so many vote for McClellan, Lincoln ends up winning
• John Wilkes Booth


  was an American stage actor who, as part of a conspiracy plot, ASSASSINATED Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865.
• Ten Percent Plan


  Former Confederate states would be readmitted to the Union if 10% of their citizens took a loyalty oath and the state agreed to ratify the 13th Amendment which outlawed slavery. Not put into effect because Lincoln was assassinated.
• Freedmen's Bureau


  1865 - Agency set up to aid former slaves in adjusting themselves to freedom. It furnished food and clothing to needy blacks and helped them get jobs
• 13th Amendment


  This amendment freed all slaves without compensation to the slave owners. It legally forbade slavery in the United States.
• Civil Rights Act (1866)


  Passed by Congress on 9th April 1866 over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. The act declared that all persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition.
• Reconstruction Act (1867)


  divided the Confederate states except Tennessee into five military districts. Military commanders in the districts were appointed to oversee constitutional conventions in the districts and the creation of state constitutions. This military occupation would last until the states created new constitutions that included black suffrage, the permanent disfranchisement of Confederate leaders, and ratification of the 14th Amendment.
• 14th Amendment


  1) Citizenship for African Americans, 2) Repeal of 3/5 Compromise, 3) Denial of former confederate officials from holding national or state office, 4) Repudiate (reject) confederate debts
• Black Codes


  Laws or "codes" passed in the southern states during Reconstruction that greatly limited the freedom of former slaves.
• Ku Klux Klan


  a group of mostly Southerners who were extremely racist against African Americans, and disliked all other cultures and races. They originated in Tennessee in 1865. General Forrest was in charge of this group. The members of this group dominated the democratic party. They also released a campaign that terrified the republicans. The Ku Klux Klan went around blackmailing many republican politicians and burned black schools and churches.
• 15th Amendment


  Citizens cannot be denied the right to vote because of race, color , or precious condition of servitude
• Compromise of 1877


  Ended Reconstruction. Republicans promise 1) Remove military from South, 2) Appoint Democrat to cabinet (David Key postmaster general), 3) Federal money for railroad construction and levees on Mississippi river
• laissez faire


  Economic liberalism that believes in unrestricted private enterprise and no government interference in the economy.
• Social Darwinism


  The application of ideas about evolution and "survival of the fittest" to human societies - particularly as a justification for their imperialist expansion.
• Gilded Age


  1870s - 1890s; time period looked good on the outside, despite the corrupt politics & growing gap between the rich & poor
• Panic of 1893


  Serious economic depression beginning in 1893. Began due to rail road companies over-extending themselves, causing bank failures. Was the worst economic collapse in the history of the country until that point, and, some say, as bad as the Great Depression of the 1930s.
• Great Railroad Strike of 1877


  A violent but ultimately unsuccessful interstate strike, which resulted in extensive property damage and many deaths. The first major interstate strike in us history. The panic of 1873 caused railroad lines to cut wages which caused workers to walk off the job and block the tracks- it eventually turned violent. Federal troops finally quelled the violence. After workers turned violent the public began to blame them for the looting and violence and they lost all sympathy
• Pullman Strike 1894


  in Chicago, Pullman cut wages but refused to lower rents in the "company town", Eugene Debs had American Railway Union refuse to use Pullman cars, Debs thrown in jail after being sued, strike achieved nothing, nonviolent strike Prez. Cleveland shut it down because it was interfering with mail delivery
• Samuel Gompers


  He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers.
• Sharecropping


  A system used on southern farms after the Civil War in which farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a small portion of the crops.
• Farmers Alliance


  A Farmers' organization founded in late 1870s; worked for lower railroad freight rates, lower interest rates, and a change in the governments tight money policy
• Populists


  Group that called for nationalizing the railroads, telephones, and telegraph; income tax, loans for farmers, and free and unlimited coinage of silver.
• National American Women Suffrage Association

  a group formed by leading suffragist in the late 1800s to organize the women's suffrage movement. Led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
• Dawes Act


  1887 law that divided reservation land into private family plots
• Interstate Commerce Act 1887


  Established the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) - monitors the business operation of carriers transporting goods and people between states - created to regulate railroad prices
• Grandfather clause


  A clause in registration laws allowing people who do not meet registration requirements to vote if they or their ancestors had voted before 1867.
• Booker T. Washington


  African American leader from the late 1800's until his death form 1915; founded Tuskegee Institute in Alabama; encouraged African Americans to learn trades and become economically self-sufficient before calling for equal rights.
• Andrew Carnegie


  Scottish-born industrialist who made a fortune in steel.