AP U.S.

History  
Unit 4 Study Guide 
Chapters 14, 15, 16, 17 
 
1. Oregon Territory  
➔ Oregon stretched from the north tip of California to the 54 40 line 
➔ England and the U.S. claimed it 
➔ England had reasons for it was claims north of the Columbia River 
➔ Americans also had reasoning because they populated it much more 
 
2. Manifest Destiny 
➔ concept that the U.S. was destined to expand across the continent and gain as much 
land as possible 
 
3. Mexican-American War & President Polk 
➔ Polk favored American expansion, especially advocating the annexation of Texas, 
California, and Oregon  
➔ He believed in Manifest Destiny. 
➔ U.S. Operations were led by Stephen W. Kearny and John C. Fremont 
➔ conflict after U.S. annexation of Texas 
➔ US won- Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo giving U.S. CA and TX territory 
 
4. Compromise of 1850 
➔ Series of 5 congressional statutes 
➔ temporarily calmed the sectional crisis 
➔ Made California a free state 
➔ ended slave trade in D.C.  
➔ strengthened fugitive slave law 
 
5. Kansas-Nebraska Act 
➔ Act passed in 1854  
➔ repealed Missouri Compromise  
➔ split Louisiana Purchase into two territories, 
➔ allowed popular sovereignty 
➔ enflamed slavery issue 
➔ led opponents to form the Republican party. 
 
6. Dred Scott v. Sandford 
➔ 1857 Supreme Court case 
➔ a slave, ​Dred Scott​, tried to sue for his freedom on the grounds that his master moved 
him to a free territory. 
➔ The judge ruled against ​Scott  
➔ considered one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in American History 
 
7. Emancipation Proclamation 
➔ freed slaves in the rebellious and border states 
➔ The Union created African American units in the Army and Navy 
➔ it was believed that slaves were helping the Confederates 
➔ Lincoln issued the ​Emancipation Proclamation​ to free the slaves 
 
8. Border States 
➔ There were four slave states that stayed in the Union  
➔ assurances that the war was being fought to preserve the Union rather than end 
slavery.  
➔ Missouri, Delaware, Kentucky, and Maryland. 
➔ Maryland was the key state for the North to keep in the Union.  
➔ If it had joined the confederacy, the capital, DC, would have been surrounded by the 
Confederacy. 
 
9. Advantages/ Disadvantages of Union/Confederacy 
➔ Union advantages 
◆ Industry/Technology 
◆ Transportation- More railroads etc. 
◆ Larger Population 
◆ Controlled Banking- Strong Money System 
◆ Natural Resources- Coal, Iron and Shipbuilding 
➔ Union disadvantages  
◆ Series of Poor Generals and Military Leadership 
➔ Confederacy advantages 
◆ Agriculture/food resources 
◆ Strong Generals and Military Leadership. Brilliant strategists. 
◆ Home field advantage 
◆ Soldiers with commitment to their cause 
◆ Spy System 
➔ Confederacy disadvantages 
◆ Small population. Not enough men to fight. 
◆ Poorly trained soldiers (farmers) 
◆ Few factories to make weapons 
◆ Poor transportation system 
◆ Weak Money System- made worthless Confederate Dollars 
 
10. Black Codes 
➔ laws passed by southern states after the Civil War  
➔ denying ex-slaves the complete civil rights enjoyed by whites 
➔ intended to force blacks back to plantations and impoverished lifestyles. 
 
  
11. Civil Rights Act of 1886 
➔ An act declaring that everyone born in the U.S. is a citizen  
➔ regardless of race, color, or previous condition of slavery 
 
12. 14​th​ amendment 
➔ This amendment declared that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens and are 
guaranteed equal protection under the law 
 
13. 1876 Presidential Election/Presence of federal troops in South 
➔ Rutherford B. Hayes vs. Samuel Tilden  
➔ Hayes wins election because he agreed to end reconstruction 
 
14. Brooks-Sumner Incident (caning) 
➔ -Charles Sumner gave a two day speech on the Senate floor. 
➔ He denounced the South for crimes against Kansas 
➔ singled out Senator Andrew Brooks of South Carolina for extra abuse 
➔ Brooks beat Sumner over the head with his cane, severely crippling him. 
 
15. Free Blacks economic opportunities/interests 
➔ the Union Army became the army of freedom 
➔ some left the south, others stayed to work as wage earning employees for the first time 
➔ some slaves refused to work unless they were paid 
➔ searched for family 
➔ started their own schools/ universities & became teachers 
➔ after the war & the Thirteenth Amendment men could vote and hold office 
 
16. California Gold Rush/Economic opportunities out West 
➔ thousands of miners travel to Northern California  
➔ news reports of the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in January of 1848.  
◆ spread around the world not just in the US 
➔ This caused Californians to apply for statehood in 1849 
 
17. South Carolina Secession 
➔ the first state to secede from the Union after the election of Abraham Lincoln  
➔ 1860 with a unanimous vote for it. 
 
18. Southern resistance/response to reconstruction 
➔  
19. Gettysburg Address 
➔ (1863) 
➔ Abraham Lincoln's speech delivered at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg 
battlefield. 
 ➔ Lincoln framed the war as a means to uphold the values of liberty. 
 
20. Sherman’s March to the Sea 
➔ (1​864-1865) 
➔ Union General William Tecmseh Sherman's  
➔ destructive March through Georgia 
➔ early instance of "Total War", 
➔ purposely targeting infrastructure and civilian property  
◆ diminish morale and undercut the confederate war effort. 
 
21. Wilmot Proviso 
➔ Bill proposed after the Mexican War 
➔ stated that neither slavery no involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any territory 
gained from Mexico  
➔ It was never passed through both houses but it transformed the debate of slavery. 
 
22. Know-Nothing Party in the 1850's 
➔ American political group around the 1840s and 1850s that came after the Whig party 
➔ They rose massively during 1854, 
◆ fueled by fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish 
immigrants.  
◆ Their goal was to slow down/block immigration and naturalization (gaining 
citizenship) in the US  
➔ had little success and died out pretty fast during the election of 1856, due to opinions 
over slavery.  
➔ Hated Irish, Catholics, Irish Catholics, Germans, and pretty much everyone else.  
 
23. William Lloyd Garrison 
➔ William Lloyd Garrison was a radical abolitionist who favored immediate 
uncompensated emancipation of slaves 
➔ published a newspaper known as ​The Liberator w ​ hich became the mouthpiece for 
radical abolitionists in the north.   
➔ initially represented the sentiments of extremely few northern abolitionists  
➔ his outspoken condemnation of slavery as an immoral institution gradually gained 
converts in the north 
➔ terrified southerners who believed his position represented mainstream abolitionist 
sentiment 
24. Uncle Tom’s Cabin 
➔ best selling novel 
➔ adapted as a play 
➔ fuels abolitionist guilt and rhetoric in free states 
25. Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment 

➔ Johnson​ presided over the Reconstruction era, 

 
This unit test we will practice the type of Short Answer questions that will be on the AP test. You 
will have 3 options and you will have to write on 1 of them. 

Topics:  
-Significant factors leading to the Civil War 
➔  
-Anaconda Plan 

➔  

-Reconstruction 

➔ The second "round" of Reconstruction that began after the congressional elections of 1866  
➔ Republicans in Congress unified and took a more radical stance  
➔ (fearing that the Democrats would gain power).  
➔ the southern states were occupied by the Union army  
◆ many steps to guarantee the rights of blacks were taken.  
➔ The Radical Republicans also had Johnson impeached in 1867. 
➔ divided the South into 5 military districts 
➔ disenfranchised former confederates, 
➔ required that Southern states ratify the 14th Amendment  
➔ write state constitutions guaranteeing freedmen the franchise before gaining readmission to 
the Union.