AP US History Unit 5: 1844-1877

Overview

Covers the time period from 1844 to 1877.
Significant portion of the AP exam.
Unit focuses on westward expansion, tensions leading to the Civil War, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.

Manifest Destiny: Belief that Americans were destined to expand across the continent.
- Expansion motivated by opportunities: fertile land, mining (Gold Rush), and religious freedom (e.g., Mormons in Utah).
Homestead Act and Pacific Railroad Act: Encouraged westward settlement by offering land and building railroads.
Transnational interest: Opened trade with Asia through treaties with China and Japan.

James K. Polk's Presidency: Focused on westward expansion.
- Negotiated Oregon territory with Britain.
- Mexican-American War over Texas boundaries, resulting in Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Mexican Cession: Gained land raised slavery disputes.
- Wilmot Proviso: Proposal to ban slavery in new territories failed, increasing tensions.
Compromise of 1850:
- California as a free state.
- Territories decide on slavery via popular sovereignty.
- Stricter Fugitive Slave Act angered Northerners.

Immigration: Influx of Irish and German immigrants in northern cities.
- Built ethnic communities, faced nativist opposition.
Abolitionists:
- Influential figures: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom's Cabin), Harriet Tubman.
- Exposed slavery's horrors and supported the Underground Railroad.

Kansas-Nebraska Act: Allowed territories to decide on slavery, leading to Bleeding Kansas.
Formation of Republican Party: In response to slavery's expansion.
Dred Scott Decision: Ruled slaves were not citizens, increasing tensions.

Presidential Election of 1860: Lincoln elected, prompting Southern secession.
- South Carolina first to secede, forming the Confederacy led by Jefferson Davis.
War Strategies:
- Confederate: Defensive strategy, hope for European support.
- Union: Anaconda Plan to blockade and divide the South.
Turning Points:
- Battle of Gettysburg and Siege of Vicksburg shifted momentum to the Union.
- Emancipation Proclamation reframed the war as a fight against slavery.

Lincoln's 10% Plan: Lenient readmission of Southern states.
Radical Reconstruction: Harsher measures to protect black rights.
Key Amendments:
- 13th Amendment: Abolished slavery.
- 14th Amendment: Citizenship and equal protection.
- 15th Amendment: Voting rights for black men.
Challenges:
- Black Codes and Sharecropping: Limited freedoms of African-Americans.
- Ku Klux Klan: Intimidation and violence against black voters.
End of Reconstruction: Compromise of 1877 ended federal intervention, leading to Jim Crow laws.

Reconstruction failed to secure long-term civil rights for African-Americans.
The legal foundation for future civil rights movements was established through the 14th and 15th Amendments.
Unit 5 concludes with the end of Reconstruction and the beginning of Jim Crow laws.