| A | B |
|---|
| manifest destiny | widely held belief that the U.S. had the duty to settle all land from the Atlantic to the Pacific |
| Texas Revolution | war for independence fought by the Americans in Texas after Santa Anna tried to force them to obey Mexican law |
| Alamo | the battle in which Santa Anna and his Mexican forces surrounded and killed all 187 Texans inside a Spanish mission at the cost of 1500 Mexicans killed or wounded |
| Republic of Texas | independent country created after the Texas Revoultion when the U.S. refused to annex Texas because of the slavery issue. It existed until Texas was annexed in 1845 |
| Mexican War | caused by our desire for California, our annexation of Texas, and the dispute over the southern boundary of Texas. It resulted in the Mexican Cession and the re-opening of the slavery issue. |
| Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo | ended the Mexican-American War and resulted in the Mexican Cession as well as Mexico's agreement to the Rio Grande boundary in Texas |
| Mexican Territory | land given to the U.S. after the Mexican-American war including California and the Southwest |
| Gadsden Purchase | land bought from Mexico south of New Mexico and Arizona as a possible route for a transcontinental railroad |
| Treaty of 1846 | settled the Oregon dispute with Britain by extending the 49th parallel from the Rockies to the Pacific |
| Oregon Trail | started in Independence, Missouri across the Great Plains and the Rockies into Oregon and used by settlers moving west |
| forty-niners | people who rushed to California to look for gold |
| popular sovereignty | the right of the people of a territory to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery in their territory. It was used in New Mexico, Utah, Kansas, and Nebraska. |
| Wilmot Proviso | an attempt to prohibit slavery in all territories gained from the Mexican War. It passed the House, but failed in the Senate. |
| Compromise of 1850 | written by Henry Clay and pushed through Congress by Stephen A. Douglas, it resulted in the admission of California as a free state, a stronger Fugitive Slave Law, and the use of popular sovereignty in the New Mexico and Utah territories |
| Fugitive Slave Act | provided for stiffer penalties for helping slaves escape and required northern law enforcement officials to help capture and return runaway slaves |
| Kansas-Nebraska Act | written by Stephen A. Douglas it repealed the Missouri Compromise, organized the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and provided for popular sovereignty there |
| Bleeding Kansas | a mini-Civil War fought as pro- and anti-slavery forces fought for control of the Kansas Territory |
| Dred Scott vs. Sanford | Supreme Court ruling that a slave was not a citizen and could not sue in court, that only states could outlaw slavery, and that the Missouri Compromise had been unconstitutional |
| Lincoln-Douglas debates | series of debates between Lincon and Douglas while competing for the U.S. Senate. The major issue was slavery and there was no clear cut winner. Douglas won re-election and Lincoln gained national recognition. |
| Election of 1860 | saw four candidates compete for the Presidency with slavery as a major issue. Abraham Lincoln won, and the South began to secede. |
| secession | the act of a state choosing to leave the Union. This was begun by South Carolina in 1860 |
| polarization | the process of people being forced to the extremes on issues such as slavery in the 1850s |
