19th Century U.S. History Topics

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19th Century U.S. History Topics

• 1803-1896

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Louisiana Purchase-1803

• 1800- France received Louisiana Territory from
  Spain
• U.S. problem- U.S. needed to ally themselves with
  Britain against France in North America
• Jefferson tried to buy New Orleans and western
  Florida from France
• 1803- Napoleon offers to sell the entire
  Louisiana Territory to the U.S for 15 million

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• Jefferson closed the deal with France
• Treaty approved by the Senate
• Doubled the size of the U.S. U.S. western
  borders to the western tributaries of the
  Mississippi River
• 1803- Lewis and Clark expedition formed to
  explore the newly acquired territory

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Marbury v. Madison-1803

• Supreme Court that established the principle of
  judicial review
• Considered by many the greatest case in Supreme
  Court history
• Principle holds that the Supreme Court has the
  authority to declare acts of Congress
  unconstitutional
• Supreme Court established itself as a check on
  the legislative and executive branches

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Treaty of Ghent-1814

• Brought the War of 1812 between the U.S. and
  Britain to an end
• More like an armistice than a treaty
• No territory changed hands
• The causes of the War(impressment and freedom of
  the seas) were not addressed
• U.S.survived a War and emerged as a united nation
• U.S. and Britain began to settle their
  disagreements peacefully

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Missouri Compromise-1820

• Involved the issue of slavery in the Louisiana
  Territory
• 1820- Missouri wants to come into the Union as a
  slave state this might set a precedent for the
  entire Territory
• Slavery debated in Congress
• Maine wants to come into the Union as a Free
  state
• Henry Clay of Kentucky- the Great Compromiser

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Provisions of the Missouri Compromise

• Missouri-slave Maine-free
• Sectional balance in the Senate
• Louisiana Territory split in two at 3630
• North-free except Missouri
• South-slave
• Settled the problem of slavery for a generation

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Monroe Doctrine-1823

• President James Monroe warned all European powers
  not to interfere with the affairs in the Western
  Hemisphere
• They should not try to establish new colonies or
  try to overthrow the newly established republics
• U.S. would consider this dangerous to its peace
  and safety
• U.S. would not interfere in European affairs or
  with existing colonies in the Western Hemisphere

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Gibbons v. Ogden-1824

• Supreme Court decided that the federal government
  should control interstate commerce instead of
  states
• Federal government should have more power than
  the states

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Indian Removal Act-1830

• President Jackson removes the Indians by force
  across the Mississippi River to open up the
  southwest to settlement by white U.S. citizens
• Led to the 1835-1838 Trail of Tears where 16,000
  Cherokee Indians were moved to Indian Territory
  which later became Oklahoma
• By 1850- most Indians removed from east of the
  Mississippi River

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Seneca Falls Convention-1848

• Women and men meet in New York to discuss womens
  rights
• Wrote the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments
  which was similar to the Declaration of
  Independence
• all men and women are created equal

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Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo-1848

• Ended the Mexican War and awarded 55 of the
  Mexican Territory to the U.S.
• Territory included the present states of
  Arizona,California,Nevada,New Mexico,Texas,Colorad
  o and Utah
• U.S. paid Mexico 15 million and assumed several
  million dollars of American claims against Mexico

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Compromise of 1850

• Involved the Mexican Cession
• 1949- California wants to join the Union as a
  free state
• Debate within Congress over sectional balance
• Henry Clays compromise accepted and a possible
  sectional conflict is averted

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Kansas-Nebraska Act-1854

• Land north of 3630 divided into the Kansas and
  Nebraska Territory
• Both would allow popular sovereignty to decide
  the issue of slavery
• Repealed the Missouri Compromise helped form the
  Republican Party in 1854
• 1855-caused Bleeding Kansas where Americans
  killed each other over the issue of slavery
• 200 Americans were killed in a miniature civil
  war

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Scott v. Sandford-1857

• Dred Scott, a slave, sued for his freedom in a
  St. Louis court
• Scott had lived with his owner in a free
  territory and thus he believed he should be free
• Freedom went with the land
• Supreme Court decided that slaves could not sue
  in court
• Slaves are property and can be taken anywhere and
  they still remain slaves
• Congress had no authority to ban slavery from a
  federal territory

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The Election of 1860

• Lincoln wanted to ban slavery from the
  territories but did not believe the government
  could abolish it where it already existed
• Many Southern states feared that Lincoln and the
  Republican Party would destroy their way of life
• South Carolina seceded from the U.S. in December,
  1860 and was followed by 6 other Southern states
• Paved the way for the Civil War in April, 1861

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Homestead Act-1862

• Republicans want to encourage western migration
  to solve the congestion problems in the eastern
  cities
• Any American citizen who never borne arms against
  the U.S. could claim 160 acres of land
• Improve the land by building a dwelling and
  cultivating the land after 5 years the land
  belongs to the homesteader
• 1862-1904- 500 million acres of land given away
  by the government

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Pacific Railway Act-1862

• Called for the building of a transcontinental
  railroad
• Union Pacific built west from Omaha
• Central Pacific built east from Sacramento
• Government gave land grants to railroad companies
• May,1869- Promontory Point, Utah

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Morrill Act-1862

• 1st federal aid for higher education
• Government donated public lands to the states
  that provided for college education
• Each state 30,000 acres for each senator and
  representative
• Created a national system of state colleges and
  universities

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Emancipation Proclamation-1863

• Ending slavery was not an original goal of the
  Civil War
• January, 1863- Lincoln frees the slaves in the
  rebellious states
• Did not apply to the border states
• Wanted the slaves to support the Union cause
• Wanted to keep France and Britain from
  recognizing the C.S.A.
• Accepted black troops in the Union army
• Depended on a Union victory

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War Department General Order 143-1863

• 1792- law banned blacks from the military
• 1861-1862- afraid that black recruitment would
  upset the border states
• After the Emancipation Proclamation-recruitment
  of black soldiers
• 40,000 black troops died in the Civil War
• Frederick Douglass encouraged volunteering to
  ensure full citizenship

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Gettysburg Address-1863

• Lincolns two minute speech
• Focused not on the battle but rather the larger
  significance of the War
• Involved the Declaration of Independence and its
  principles of equality and liberty
• Spoke of a new birth of freedom for the nation
• Reshaped the aims of the War now a War for union
  and freedom

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President Lincolns Second Inaugural Address-1865

• March,1865-Set the tone for the nations
  reconstruction
• Lincolns attempt to heal a wounded nation
• With malice toward none and with charity for
  allto do all which may achieve and cherish a
  just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with
  all nations

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13th Amendment

• Abolished slavery everywhere in the U.S.
• Did not answer all the questions about the status
  of the freedmen like citizenship or voting rights

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Purchase of Alaska-1867

• In 1866 Russia offered the U.S. the opportunity
  to buy the territory of Alaska
• Secretary of State William Seward jumped at the
  chance to expand the U.S.for 7.2 million
• U.S. acquired 600,000 square acres for less than
  2 cents an acre
• People criticized the purchase
• 1896- gold discovered in Alaska
• 1959- Alaska became the 49th state
• 1969- oil discovered largest North American oil
  fieldcaused land rights and environmental
  concerns

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Treaty of Fort Laramie-1868

• As more settlers move West, tensions with the
  Native Americans increased
• U.S. government set up forts along the Oregon
  Trail to protect settlers
• Treaty-U.S. sets aside a large reservation in the
  Black Hills for the Sioux nation
• 1875- gold discovered in the Black Hills
  conflicts erupt
• 1876- General George Custers troops defeated by
  the Sioux and their allies led by Crazy Horse and
  Sitting Bull at Little Big Horn
• Victory was short-lived
• Still remains a legal dispute over the Black
  Hills

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14th Amendment-1868

• Granted full citizenship to all people born or
  naturalized in the U.S. thereby including former
  slaves
• Because it was clear that some Southern states
  would not protect the rights of black citizens,
  the amendment stated that no state shall deprive
  any person of life, liberty, or property without
  due process of law nor deny to any person the
  equal protection of the laws.
• Did not give directly grant black citizens the
  right to vote

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15th Amendment-1870

• Granted black males the right to vote
• The beginning of a struggle for equality that
  would continue for a century before African
  Americans began to participate fully in American
  public and civic life
• Southern states took steps to ensure white
  supremacy-literacy tests,grandfather clauses and
  poll taxes
• Voting Rights Act of 1965, extended in 1970,1975
  and 1982, finally abolished all remaining
  deterrents to voting rights for black Americans