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Mexican-American war
This war was fought between May 1846 to February 1848. This was a war of American expansion, as Mexico was in no condition to fight the U.S.. The war ended with the treaty of Guadalupe Hidlago, which gave the U.S. New Mexico, Texas, Arizonia, and California -
California Gold Rush
Gold was found in Stutter's mine in Sacrimento Valley, and the news of this caused thousands of settlers to rush to California with hopes of getting rich. By the end of 1849 the population had swelled to over 100,000 which allowed California to apply for statehood. -
Compromise of 1850
This was a compromise between the free states and slave states that allowed for California to be allowed as a free state. Also the slave trade was banned from Washington D.C., but slave holding was not banned from D.C.. The compromise also made an improvement to the Fugitive Slave Act, that enforced slavery in the South and the returning of slaves from the north. -
Dred Scott v. Stanford
This is a major trial i which a slave named Dred Scott sued his master for freedom as he was brought to a free terrtiory by his master. Scott argued that as soon as he entered the territory of Wisconsin he was free from slavery, which lower courts upheld. Yet the Supreme Court's decision stated that since Scott was a slave he had no right to sue in federal court, but the court would go farther and rule that a slave taken to any territory would still be considered a slave. -
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Lincoln-Douglas Debates
These debates were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and senator Steven A. Douglas over a seat for an Illinois senator. The most famous of these debates is the one at Freeport Illinois, where Lincoln would ask Douglas, what if slavery was voted down in the territory, where Douglas responded by saying that slavery would stay down if the people wanted it down. At the end of the debates, Douglas would be chosen for the senate seat but Lincoln would receive exposure to the common man -
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Brown raids Harper's Ferry
John Brown, a man who had gained fame from Bloody Kansas, planed an invasion of the south in order get the slaves to rise up and create a black free state. Brown ans some 20 men, backed by northern abolishionists, went to western Virginia and raided the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry. This would cause the death of seven men, one a free black man, and wounding 10 others. Slaves were largely ignorant of Brown's strike and failed to rise up. they were quickly crushed by federal troops; executed -
The rise of the Ku Klux Klan
The KKK founded in Tennessee in 1866 as a response for white southerners to the success of Black legislators. They would try to scare carpetbagger and black people, they would go to a person's house and asking for water. After pretending to drink the water, the person would remark that it was the first time they drank water since they were killed. This scared people, but many were quick to catch on and stopped voting, but those who refused to stop voting were whipped, mutilated and even killed." -
The purchase of Alaska
William Seward payed $7.2 million dollars n a treaty to Russia for the territory of Alaska in 1867. This was disliked by nearly everyone as the territory seemed to have no economic value at the time, as it had been furred out by the Russians. This purchase would be known as Seward's Folly as nobody wanted control Alaska let alone live in the territory at the time. -
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The Jungle
The book called the Jungle by Upton Sinclare was a book that exposed the conditions of people working in the meat industry in the early 1900s. The book was meant to expose the atrosities these people face but it only brought outrage from the people as concern rose about the meat they were receiving. -
Rise of Muckrakers
In the Early 1900's, a slew of cheap magazines arose, where the writers exposed much of the corrumption in the country which turned the public against much of the government and big compaines like Standard Oil. This angered many of the rich in the country and this even prompted President Roosevelt to give them the name muckrakers.