Notes
Expansion and its conflicts
- Manifest Destiny drove the annexation of Texas (1845), the Oregon Territory compromise with Britain (1846), and the Mexican-American War (1846–1848). The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the U.S. California and the Southwest.
- The Wilmot Proviso proposed banning slavery in land from Mexico. It failed but deepened sectional division.
- The California Gold Rush (1849) brought migrants from around the world, including Chinese immigrants.
Sectional crisis
- Compromise of 1850: California entered as a free state; a stronger Fugitive Slave Act angered Northerners.
- Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) turned many Northerners against slavery.
- Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854): popular sovereignty let settlers decide on slavery, repealing the Missouri Compromise line. It led to "Bleeding Kansas" and the creation of the Republican Party (opposed to slavery's expansion).
- Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): the Supreme Court ruled Black people weren't citizens and Congress couldn't ban slavery in territories.
- John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry (1859). Lincoln's election (1860) led Southern states to secede.
The Civil War (1861–1865)
- The Union had more people, industry and railroads; the Confederacy had skilled generals and fought defensively.
- The Emancipation Proclamation (1863) freed enslaved people in rebelling states and let Black men join the Union army. It made ending slavery a war goal.
- Gettysburg (1863) and the fall of Vicksburg were turning points. Lee surrendered at Appomattox (1865).
- The war expanded federal power (income tax, the draft, the Homestead Act, the transcontinental railroad).
Reconstruction (1865–1877)
- 13th Amendment (1865): abolished slavery. 14th (1868): citizenship and equal protection. 15th (1870): voting rights regardless of race.
- Presidential Reconstruction under Andrew Johnson was lenient; Southern states passed Black Codes. Radical Republicans in Congress took over, passing the Reconstruction Acts and impeaching Johnson.
- The Freedmen's Bureau set up schools and helped formerly enslaved people. Black men voted and held office.
- Many formerly enslaved families ended up in sharecropping. White violence (the Ku Klux Klan) and Northern fatigue weakened Reconstruction.
- The Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction: federal troops left the South.
Practice
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo transferred the land.
It was central to the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
It made Northern citizens and officials take part in slavery.
It struck down limits on slavery's expansion.
It applied to areas in rebellion and changed the war's purpose.
The 14th Amendment (1868).
Southern states used them to control Black labor and movement.
Rutherford B. Hayes became president in exchange for withdrawal.
Free response
Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.
Free-response question
Answer (a), (b) and (c).
(a) Briefly describe ONE way Reconstruction changed the lives of formerly enslaved people.
Show the answer and scoring guide
The 13th Amendment ended slavery, and the 14th and 15th gave citizenship and voting rights; Black men voted and were elected to office, and the Freedmen's Bureau opened schools.
Check off the points you earned:
(b) Briefly describe ONE way life stayed the same for many formerly enslaved people.
Show the answer and scoring guide
Many remained economically dependent on white landowners through sharecropping, often trapped in debt.
Check off the points you earned:
(c) Briefly explain ONE reason Reconstruction ended.
Show the answer and scoring guide
Northern voters lost interest, an economic depression in the 1870s shifted attention, white Southern violence intimidated Black voters, and the Compromise of 1877 removed federal troops.
Check off the points you earned: