The Monroe Doctrine

1. What is the Monroe Doctrine?

The Monroe Doctrine was the Declaration by President Monroe in 1823 that the US would oppose efforts by any outside power to control a nation in the Western Hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine took George Washington's foreign policy and then expanded on it. Not only would we stay out of European affairs, but it warned Europe to stay out of North and South America. The doctrine indicated that failure to do so would be considered a threat to the US.

2. What was the "trail of tears'?

The "Trial of Tears" is the expression used to describe the forced movement of the Cherokee Indians in 1838-1839 to land west of the Mississippi. This is associated with Andrew Jackson and the Indian Removal Act.

3. What is manifest destiny and how is it related to westward expansion?

Manifest Destiny is associated with westward expansion. It is the term that was used to describe the fact that the United States was destined to expand all across North America. Manifest Destiny is the belief that Americans had a God-given right to expand its borders from "sea to shining sea". It was justification for westward expansion. The slogan "Fifty-four forty or fight!", the annexation of Texas and the Mexican cession are just some examples of a belief in manifest destiny.

4. What was the Missouri Compromise?

The Missouri Compromise is an agreement made in 1820 that called for the admission of Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, and outlawed slavery in any future states to be created north of 36 30 N latitude. It was later found to be unconstitutional. The Missouri Compromise is associated with sectional differences. The North wanted states to be free and the South wanted new states to be slave states to help maintain a balance in Congress.

5. What is Sectionalism?

Sectionalism is the term used to describe loyalty to a particular geographic section or region, rather than to one's country. People in the North had different economic and cultural needs than people in the South during pre-Civil War times. Sectional differences led to the Civil War.

6. What is popular sovereignty?

Popular Sovereignty is a policy that allows the people in a territory decide whether slavery would be allowed there.

7. How was territorial expansion related to the issue of slavery?

The North wanted states to be free and the South wanted new states to be slave states to help maintain a balance in Congress. There was always the question of whether these new territories would become states that were for or against slavery. For example, abolitionists opposed annexation of new western territory because they feared the admission of new slave states.

8. What were the two major issues that dominated US policies during 1820-1860?

Sectionalism and Slavery and Westward Expansion

9. What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act?

In 1820 the Missouri Compromise had prohibited slavery in the lands that made up Kansas and Nebraska. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 overturned the Missouri Compromise by allowing those territories to decide the question of slavery by popular sovereignty. When pro- and antislavery people rushed into Kansas to vote on the issue, violence erupted, known as Bleeding Kansas.

10. Compare and contrast the economic conditions of the North and South.

The North had urban areas with many people living in the cities. Industrialization and factories were prominent. Urban poor lived in tenements and did not make much money. The South had large farms and plantations and was rural. They made most of their money through cotton or tobacco. Slaves were used on the farms or plantations and were considered property.

11. Why didn't the north own many slaves?

The North did not own slaves due to a number of reasons. The North was primarily an industrial region and had numerous factories. They relied on poorly paid workers, initially teenage girls and later immigrant workers. The farms that did exist in the North were generally small and were not as extensive as the southern plantations.

12. What was the Abolitionist movement?

The abolitionists were people who wanted to end slavery. The movement was stronger in the North than in the South. The abolition movement attracted a wide variety of activists including African Americans such as Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, and Sojourner Truth, and white activists like William Lloyd Garrison. Abolitionists organized the Underground Railroad, a series of safe houses where escaping slaves could rest safely as they made their way north and into Canada. This reform movement caused the greatest tension between the North and the South.

13. What were the ways the US acquired territory in the West?

There were several ways the United States gained territory in the West.

* US purchased land from a foreign government. This included the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 where the land west of the Mississippi doubled the size of the country. It also focused the country on westward expansion (Lewis and Clarke). The Gadsden Purchase in 1853 was bought from Mexico and included parts of New Mexico and Arizona.

* US acquired territory by treaty. Florida was acquired from Spain. The Mexican Cession also gave lands to the US through a treaty that ended the Mexican War. Area that is now California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming became part of the US.

* Some territories were acquired through annexation. After settlers gained independence from Mexico, land that made up Texas, and part of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming and Kansas became part of the United States. Texas was added as a slave state.

* Compromise