APUSH Period 5 Civil War Overview

Nov 19, 2024

APUSH Period 5 Study Guide

Overview

  • Period 5: 1844-1877
    • Start: Increasing sectionalism in the US
    • End: Reconstruction period concludes
    • Significance: Clarifies tensions leading to the Civil War and post-war equality issues

Key Ideas

  • Civil War: Causes, nature, and outcomes
  • Expansionism: Drivers and consequences

President Polk and the Mexican-American War

  • Background:
    • Texas applied for US statehood, Mexico didn't recognize its independence
    • Texas was a large slave territory causing tension in Congress
  • War:
    • US declared war after Texas was supposedly attacked by Mexico
    • Result: Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo led to Mexican Cession
  • Consequences:
    • Infusion of land below the Missouri Compromise line increased Southern power potential
    • Wilmot Proviso attempted to block slavery spread — failed to pass
    • Formation of the Free Soil Party opposing slavery expansion
    • Whig Party division and destruction over the issue
  • Main Effect: Increased North-South tensions over economic and political power

Rising Tensions Leading to Civil War

  • Compromises:
    • Used as temporary solutions to rising tensions
    • Popular Sovereignty: New territories decide on slavery status upon statehood
    • Compromise of 1850: Various concessions to North and South
    • Kansas-Nebraska Act: Popular sovereignty led to "Bleeding Kansas"
  • Formation of Republican Party:
    • Comprised of anti-slavery factions, largely Northern support
    • Aimed to restrict slavery expansion and support Northern industry
  • Dred Scott Decision: Ruled Congress could not ban slavery anywhere, heightening tensions

Causes of the Civil War

  • Economic differences: Southern agriculture vs. Northern industry
  • Political: Sectional parties (Republicans in North, Democrats in South)

Civil War (1860-1865)

  • Election of 1860: Lincoln’s victory spurred South Carolina's secession
  • South:
    • Led by Jefferson Davis, suffered economic and social issues
    • Class tensions due to conscription policies
  • North:
    • Industrial advantage with established infrastructure
  • War Purpose:
    • North: Preserve the Union, later emphasized slavery
    • South: States’ rights
  • Lincoln’s Strategies:
    • Emancipation Proclamation and 13th Amendment shifted global alliances
    • Using escaped slaves as soldiers for the North
  • Key Battles:
    • Antietam (Union victory)
    • Sherman’s March to the Sea weakened the South

Reconstruction (1865-1877)

  • Lincoln’s 10% Plan: Minimal requirements for Southern states’ re-entry
  • Johnson’s Plan: Largely failed, allowed Confederate resurgence
  • Congressional Reconstruction:
    • 14th and 15th Amendments granted civil rights and voting rights to black men
    • Military Reconstruction Act ensured compliance in the South
  • Successes and Failures:
    • Political gains for blacks, but persistent social and economic inequality
    • Corruption and economic issues diverted attention from Reconstruction

Expansionism

  • Encouraged by: Manifest Destiny, population growth, land desires
  • Consequences: Heightened slavery tensions, Native American conflicts

Other Groups

  • Women: Continued lack of voting rights
  • African Americans:
    • Freedmen’s Bureau aid, sharecropping issues
    • Formation of black churches as community support
  • Immigrants:
    • Mainly from China, Ireland, Germany
    • Faced nativism and lived in ethnic ghettos

  • Understanding the Civil War: Central to political, economic, and social discussions
  • Guidance: This study guide connects major events and ideas of the period.