Text of the Unit II Review

Identify three of the significant reform movements from the early 1800’s.

Temperance, public education, abolition, women’s rights, 2nd Great Awakening

Why did many Americans settle in Texas in the early 1800s?

invited by Mexico, wanted chance to own land

Why did Santa Anna lay siege to the Alamo? What happened as a result of fighting between Mexico & Texas?

settlers were refusing to follow Mexican Laws, Texas won its independence

What is “Manifest Destiny”?

The belief that the U.S. would someday control the land from coast to coast.

Who opposed the Mexican American War? Why?

Whigs and Abolitionists, opposed extension of slavery

What was the result of the Mexican American War?

The United States defeated Mexico and bought the land you’re sitting on

What was the first time our government officially compromised over slavery?

3/5 Compromise

What was the result of giving Kansas and Nebraska popular sovereignty over slavery?

Bleeding Kansas (fighting over slavery)

Why was the Dred Scott decision significant?

it maintained that slaves remained property regardless of the circumstances

What was John Brown hoping to do when he took over the arsenal at Harpers’ Ferry?

arm slaves who would take part in a widespread revolt

Name two advantages the South had at the start of the Civil War.

Better generals, defensive war, passion for their cause

Name three advantages the North had at the start of the Civil War.

larger population, more industry, better transportation, more food production

What was the first actual fighting of the war?

SC firing on Ft. Sumter

What happened to the Southern industrial and agricultural production facilities during the war?

They were almost totally wiped out

What was the official name of the South’s government? Who was it’s President

CSA (Confederate States of America), Jefferson Davis

What was the bloodiest single day of fighting during the Civil War?

Battle of Antietam

What was it about the style of fighting in the Civil War that led to such huge numbers of casualties?

you would lead large #s of your men in an attempt to break lines of large #s of the opposition (e.g. Picket's Charge)

What was the purpose of the Emancipation Proclamation? What did it give the Union?

Free the slaves in rebellious states, moral cause for fighting the war

What two Union victories happened on July 4, 1863? Why were they important?

Gettysburg (turned Lee back from DC) and Vicksburg (control of the Mississippi)

What was Lincoln’s main point in the Gettysburg Address?

no nation had ever been founded on the idea of the equality of all men, and this was a cause well worth fighting for

Who marched through the South in 1864-1865 with the goal of forcing them to surrender? How?

Sherman, waging “total war”

What was Lincoln’s philosophy on reconstruction? Why was he unable to implement it?

Heal the wounds (malice toward none…), he was assassinated 6 days after the war ended

What did the 13th Amendment do?

Made slavery illegal

What President did the Radical Republicans have a major problem during Reconstruction? Why?

Andrew Johnson, he appeared to be sympathetic to the South

Why did the Radical Republicans push for the 14th Amendment?

Southern States were passing Black Codes

What was a carpetbagger? A scalawag?

a northerner who came south to help with reconstruction, a southerner that sympathized with the north

Name 2 things that kept freedmen from gaining true equality during reconstruction.

sharecropping, KKK, black codes, racist attitudes

How did sharecropping keep many freedmen in the same basic conditions as slavery?

Put them in debt to landowners, locked to the land living in poverty

Name 2 ways Southern states kept freedmen from voting.

poll taxes, literacy tests, threats & violence

Why did Congress impeach Johnson? What was the verdict in his trial?

fired Stanton in violation of the Tenure of Office Act, not guilty

Which amendment guaranteed freedmen the right to vote?

Fifteenth

What event of 1873 drew the attention of much of the country away from reconstruction?

the Panic of 1873 (economic depression)

Why was homesteading attractive to people like immigrants and freedmen?

gave them a chance to own land

Why did the lifestyle of the plains Native Americans clash with the permanent fixtures (RRs, farms, etc.) of the settlers?

the NAs were nomadic

What gov’t agency was in charge of handling relationships with the Native Americans?

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Give two examples of conflicts between Plains NAs and the settlers/army.

Wounded Knee, Sand Creek, Little Big Horn, Chief Joseph

Who led his people on a 3,000 mile journey in an attempt to avoid being placed on a reservation?

Chief Joseph (Nez Perce)

What law basically forced Native Americans to accept “white culture”?

Dawes Act

Identify three U.S. gov’t policies that were designed to force the Native Americans to assimilate.

reservations, education, English, farming, supplies

What industries were the cornerstones of western settlement?

mining and ranching

What infrastructure was necessary for either of these industries to be successful?

the Transcontinental Railroad

What were the key inventions in communications?

telegraph, telephone, typewriter

Give two examples of men who took advantage of these new inventions to build powerful business empires.

Carnegie (Steel), Rockefeller (oil), Vanderbilt, Stanford, Huntington (RR’s)

What is laissez faire economics?

a system with no gov’t control or interference

How do corporations raise capital?

sell stock or take loans

What do you call a group of corporations controlled by the same board for common interest?

trust

What is a pool?

companies in competition divide up market

Why were companies able to pay low wages and maintain poor conditions?

huge labor surplus (more workers than jobs)

Give 2 examples of poor working conditions.

heat/cold, unsafe machines, long hours, toxic chemicals, low wages

What kind of organizations did workers form to try and improve pay and conditions? How do these orgs get their power?

unions, collective bargaining

What was the first national labor organization?

Knights of Labor

Who was the first leader of the American Federation of Labor?

Samuel Gompers

What two groups did unions regularly exclude?

blacks and immigrants

What clash between labor and gov’t was wrongfully blamed on “bomb-throwing anarchists”?

Haymarket Square Riot

What was the first strike where one union supported another?

Pullman Strike

Why would the gov’t always side with the owners against the unions?

the owners had put them into the offices they held

Identify 2 reasons why many immigrants came to the U.S. between 1875-1925.

religious or political freedom, economic opportunity, land ownership, seeking adventure

Where were most immigrants who came to the U.S. in the late 1800’s & early 1900’s processed?

Ellis Island

Name 2 things that would have kept an immigrant from getting into the U.S..

health problem, criminal record

What two regions did most immigrants come from in the late 1800s?

Europe and Asia (China and Japan)

Why were new immigrants subjected to so much xenophobia?

different languages, religions, complexions, illiteracy

What are 2 characteristics of the “Gilded Age”?

new wealth, conspicuous spending, political corruption, imitating Victorian lifestyle

What groups essentially stole the voting power away from the poor to use for their own benefit?

political machines

How many families was the floor of a tenement designed for? How many actually lived there?

2, 6-10