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Home , 1840s, Caning of Charles Sumner, Compromise of 1877, Spot Resolutions

Period 5: 1844-1877 A. Explain the context in which sectional conflict emerged 1848 to 1877. • Political developments (transition from Federalists v. Democratic–Republicans to Jackson Era: Democrats v. Whigs) PRE 1844 • Market PRE 1844 • Second Great Awakening PRE 1844

For other potential questions in this era, it depends when the question starts. The major events in order are: • Territorial Expansion/ (1844-1848): Purchase 1803, Purchase 1819 is context • Breakdown of Nation (): Manifest Destiny is contest, acquiring land in West caused division; 1820 • (1861-1865): Political Breakdown of 1850s is context • Reconstruction (1865-1877): Civil War is context • New South (1877-1896/1960s): Reconstruction is context

B. Explain the causes and effects of westward expansion from 1844 to 1877. • Causes: precedence: Louisiana 1803, Florida 1820; nationalism & feelings of power: , 1823; Market Revolution & desire for markets/materials/cotton territory; ideas of Manifest Destiny & God given rights; ideas of cultural superiority over Native Americans & Mexicans; desire to trade in Asia • Effects: addition of 1845 ( owned Texas & invited Americans to settle , Texas War 1836 , Texan independence because US wouldn’t add it as a slave state 1836-1845, annexation 1845); addition of 1846 (54 40 of fight, Treaty w/ ); Asia: 1844, Treaty of Kanagawa 1853; Mexican American War 1846-1848 (see below); Gadsden Purchase 1853 (RR); Alaska Purchase Treaty 1867

C. Explain the causes and effects of the Mexican American War. 1846-1848 • Causes: ideas of Manifest Destiny; election of James K Polk 1844 (promises Texas, Oregon, ); failed attempts to purchase California; instigation of war 1846 (Spot Resolutions) • Effects: addition of Mexican through Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848; US takes land from Native Americans and Mexicans (despite Mexican citizens being promised land/citizenship in treaty); debates over the expansion of into the territories: failed 1848 (no slavery in : passes House, not Senate, riles up South), (see below)

D. Explain the similarities and differences in how regional attitudes affected federal policy in the period after the Mexican American War. • Debate over the status of slavery Mexican Cession results in Compromise of 1850 o Background: Wilmot Proviso debate 1848, California Rush brings people to California so it wants to join as a free state 1848-49, & made South furious, up to this point politicians could generally compromise (Clay) o Terms of Compromise: California enters as a free state (ends balance of free/slave states); new & stronger Fugitive Slave Act, popular sovereignty (vote) decides slavery in rest of Mexican Cession – favors the North because of California and many northerners ignored the Fugitive Slave Act; last legislation by Clay, Whig Party collapses over the issue of slavery

E. Explain the effects of immigration from various parts of the world on American culture from 1848 to 1877. • Immigrants continue to arrive from & Germany; immigrants work cheap, were often Catholic, often lived in ethnic neighborhoods, and impacted politics through political machines • Native born citizens resented immigrants (nativism) and formed the Know Nothing Party in the 1850s to oppose immigration (particularly Catholicism & political power) • Chinese immigration increased in the West Coast; Chinese worked cheap, lived in ethnic enclaves, and had different language & customs; they experienced harsh nativism on the West Coast culminating in the Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

F. Explain how regional differences related to slavery caused tension in the years leading up the Civil War. • Northern manufacturing supports free labor and opposes expansion of slavery (economic, not morals); free soil movement grows in North; small in 1840s/50s • Abolitionists become more influential in the 1850s: Frederick Douglas (escaped slave) gave powerful speeches against slavery; advocates for immediate emancipation; Harriet Beecher Stowe writes Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1852 informing the North & England about the evils of slavery • Underground Railroad grows in America & thousands escape enraging the South; Harriet Tubman • John Brown tries to start at slave revolt at Harper’s Ferry 1859 by capturing guns from a federal fort; fails and is executed as a traitor; martyr in North, terrorist in South • South continues to defend slavery on economic grounds (North relies on slave cotton, slaves are treated better than factory workers), racism, and legal grounds ( & states’ rights protect slavery)

G. Explain the political causes of the Civil War. • Compromise of 1850 doesn’t work very well; neither side was happy • Congress passes Kansas Nebraska Act 1854 (Stephen Douglas; popular sovereignty in Kansas & Nebraska territories which were above 36 30 line; cancels Missouri Compromise upsetting many Northerners); people move to Kansas to vote resulting in ; when Kansas votes they pass the LeCompton Constitution which protected slavery no matter how people voted • Republican Party 1854 is born in aftermath of K-N Act to stop the spread of slavery in the territories; they replace the Whigs; the Second Party system (Democrats v. Whigs) is over; Republicans are a sectional party (North only); Know Nothings are a small third party for a bit in 1850s – all of this reduces the likelihood of compromise • Caning of (N) by (S) 1856 • Dred Scott v. Sandford 1857: Supreme Court rules that slaves are property, not citizens, therefore they can be taken into any territory; many in North do not accept the decision

H. Describe the effects of ’s election. • Election of 1860: Lincoln (Republican: stop the spread of slavery), Douglas (N. Democrat: popular sovereignty), Breckenridge (S. Democrat: protect slavery), Bell (Constitutional Union: compromise) – no national party left, Lincoln wins election with no southern votes by winning all of the North and West • South begins to secede after this election (SC was first) arguing their rights were threatened and they had lost too much power; sitting president Buchanan does nothing during lame duck period, Lincoln take oath of office 1861 with the Deep South having seceded; Lincoln states he will not threaten slavery where it exists; Upper South doesn’t secede until war begins at Fort Sumter in April 1861; some border states with slaves remain in the union

I. Explain the various factors that contributed to the Union victory in the Civil War. • Union mobilization (factories produce war materials, RRs transport them, W. farmers produce food, draft soldiers to supply troops – huge population advantage); Confederate mobilization (limited resources due to few factories, RRs, & food farm; limited population made it difficult to replace soldiers) • Opposition in North: border states were sympathetic to South, Lincoln suspends habeas corpus in Maryland illegally to keep RR lines open 1861; NYC faces draft riots in 1863 as many poor immigrants opposed war; Opposition in South: many southern states resisted the authority of the central government • War: Confederacy did well early in the war due to tactics and leadership, as the war goes along the North promoted better leaders (Grant) and used its material/demographic advantages to overwhelm the South • Key Battles: Antietam 1862 (inspires Lincoln to issue Emancipation Proclamation 1862 effective 1863), Vicksburg 1863 (North wins ), Gettysburg 1863 (North repels South’s invasion of North, many Confederates are killed), Sherman’s March 1864 (total war), Appomattox Courthouse 1865 (end of war)

J. Explain how Lincoln’s leadership during the Civil War impacted American ideals over the course of the Civil War. • Lincoln’s goals evolve over the course of the war: First: restore the Union (didn’t want to offend border states & have them secede); Second: free some slaves to weaken the Southern war machine ( 1861 – army could free slaves); Emancipation Proclamation 1862 effective 1863 – all slaves in states still in rebellion were free (made the war about slavery & also kept Europeans from intervening to protect slavery); Third – “new birth of freedom” at the 1863; fulfill the ideas of the founders for all people • African Americans served in the military during the war to help the North defeat the South

K. Explain the effects of government policy during Reconstruction on society from 1865-1877. • The federal government gained strength over the states during and after the Civil War (secession is illegal, 13th-15th Amendments, Radical Reconstruction; eventually the federal government tires of Reconstruction and allows southern states to regain power; federal agency to care for slaves (Freedman’s Bureau 1865) • Reconstruction Amendments: 13th 1865 – ends slavery; 14th 1868 – citizenship & equal protection under the law; 15th 1870 – black men can vote; radical changes? • Women were not included in the Reconstruction amendments; Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting in the 1872 election, she argued she was a citizen by the 14th Amendment and could therefore vote, she lost • Conflict between branches: o Presidential Reconstruction 1865-66 (Lincoln – dies 1865, Johnson) planned to go easy on the South as long as slavery ended w/ 13th Amendment 1865, the Union should be restored; South institutes sharecropping and Black Codes while Johnson was in power which was very similar to slavery; Freedmen’s Bureau 1865 set up to care for former slaves o Congressional/Radical Reconstruction 1866-1877: protect rights of freedmen & punish the South; pass the 14th 1868 & 15th 1870 Amendments, send Army into South 1867 to supervise Reconstruction, impeach President Johnson 1868 for challenging their views, send Army into South to go after KKK 1871 o South resists change (KKK, , violence) and eventually the North loses interest • : Tilden gets more votes than Hayes in the election of 1876, but three states have disputed results; a commission agrees to let Hayes become president in exchange for removing troops from the South and ending Reconstruction

L. Explain how and why Reconstruction resulted in continuity and change in regional and national understandings of what it meant to be an American. (racism & violence continue, but the ways in which the South institute their policies were new to the situation – you have to decide on C/COT) • Sharecropping to mid 1900s – former slaves were given a plot of land and “shared” a portion of their crops as rent; new version of farming that tied former slaves to land, often for generations, very similar to slavery • Segregation/ – African Americans were forced to use separate facilities o Civil Rights Cases 1883 – legalizes segregation in private facilities o Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 – legalizes segregation in public facilities “” • Voting Restrictions 1880s/90s : poll tax (pay to vote), literacy test (take a test to vote), (if your grandfather voted you didn’t have to pay the poll tax or take literacy test, didn’t apply to former slaves), violence • Violence: KKK, White League, lynching • Politics: emergence of Democratic 1880s/90s – one party rule in South until after WWII, often enforced with violence

M. Compare the relative significance of the effects of the Civil War on American values. • Ends slavery (13th Amendment), but sharecropping doesn’t offer much change • Expands citizenship (Dred Scott cancelled by 14th Amendment), but changes go away quickly (segregation, Plessy) • Expands some voting rights (15th Amendment), but women weren’t included (Anthony) and changes go away quickly (voting restrictions, violence) • Begins the long struggle for equal rights (Gettysburg, Reconstruction) although limited effectiveness in that era