APUSH: Chapter 18 Study Guide – Flashcards
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popular sovereignty
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the notion that the sovereign people of a given territory should decide whether to allow slavery; opposed by Northern abolitionists, who feared it would promote the spread of slavery to the territories
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Free Soil party
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(1848-1854) antislavery party in the 1848 and 1852 elections that opposed the expansion of slavery into the territories, arguing that the presence of slavery of slavery would limit opportunities for free laborers
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California gold rush
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(beginning in 1849) inflow of thousands of miners to northern California after news reports of the discovery of gold in 1848 had spread around the world; the number of migrants prompted Californians to organize a government and apply for statehood
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Underground Railroad
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informal network of volunteers that helped runaway slaves escape from the South and reach Canada
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Seventh of March speech
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(1850) Daniel Webster's impassioned address urging the North to support the Compromise of 1850; urged northerners to prevent disunion
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Compromise of 1850
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admitted California as a free state, opened New Mexico and Utah to popular sovereignty, ended the slave trade in DC, and introduced a harsher fugitive slave law
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Fugitive Slave Law
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(1850) passed as part of the Compromise of 1850, set high penalties for anyone who aided escaped slaves and compelled all law enforcement officers to participate in retrieving runaways
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Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
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(1850) signed by Great Britain and the US, provided that the 2 nations would jointly protect the neutrality of Central America and that neither power would seek to fortify or exclusively control any future isthmian waterway
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Ostend Manifesto
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(1854) secret Franklin Pierce administration proposal to purchase or, that failing, to wrest militarily Cuba from Spain; abandoned due to opposition from the North
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Opium War
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(1839-1842) war between Britain and China over trading rights, particularly Britain's desire to continue selling opium to Chinese traders; prompted Americans to seek similar concessions from the Chinese
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Treaty of Wanghia
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(1844) signed by the US and China, it assured the US the same trading concessions granted to other powers, greatly expanding America's trade with the Chinese
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Treaty of Kanagawa
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(1854) ended Japan's 200 year period of economic isolation, establishing an American consulate in Japan and securing American coaling rights in Japanese ports
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Gadsden Purchase
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(1853) acquired additional land from Mexico for $10 million to facilitate the construction of a southern transcontinental railroad
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Kansas-Nebraska Act
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(1854) proposed that the issue of slavery be decided by popular sovereignty in the Kansas and Nebraska territories, revoking the Missouri Compromise; introduced by Stephen Douglas in an effort to bring Nebraska into the Union and pave the way for a northern transcontinental railroad
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Lewis Cass
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father of "popular sovereignty"
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Zachary Taylor
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general and hero of the Mexican-American war; elected to the presidency in 1848, representing the Whig party; good soldier but a poor administrator
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Harriet Tubman
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known for her role in the Underground Railroad
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Millard Fillmore
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took over as president after Taylor died in office
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Franklin Pierce
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elected president in the 1852 election; pro-southern northerner who supported the Compromise of 1850 and especially the Fugitive Slave Law; tried to gain Cuba for the South as a slave state, but was stopped because of Northern public opinion; supported the dangerous Kansas-Nebraska Act
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William Walker
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tried repeatedly to take control of Nicaragua in the 1850s, backed by an armed force recruited largely in the South, he installed himself as president in July 1856 and promptly legalized slavery
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Caleb Cushing
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American diplomat who negotiated the Treaty of Wanghia with China in 1844
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Matthew C. Perry
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military leader who convinced the Japanese to sign a treaty in 1853 with the US; treaty allowed for a commercial foot in Japan
