APUSH Study Guide – Unit 4
Main Points to Study for Unit 4:
Power Points: Manifest Destiny, Long/Short Term Causes of Civil War, Behind the War,
Outbreak of War, Women’s role in the Civil War
Assignments/Readings: Unit 4 IDs, Reading’s pp391-403, pp421-433, pp.446-462
Questions to ask while studying:
1. What were the terms of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty? (creates border b/n US and
Canada)
2. What foreign policy issues finally convinced the U.S government to annex Texas?
3. In what way was Polk’s election a mandate for Manifest Destiny?
4. What was the major reason for Polk settling for less than 54, 40 as the border for Oregon?
5. What was the “Spot Resolution”?
6. What were the significant results of the Mexican War?
7. What were the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo?
8. How did the Wilmot Proviso create a fateful debate over slavery?
Ids/Key notes to review: Lewis Cass, Zachary Taylor, “popular sovereignty”, Free Soil Party,
Forty-niners, California Gold Rush, Underground Railroad, fugitive slave law, Compromise of
1850, “personal liberty laws”, Franklin Pierce, Ostend Manifesto, Gadsden Purchase, KansasNebraska Act, Senator Stephen Douglas (The Little Giant), Republican Party, Democratic Party
Questions:
1. What was the platform of the Free Soil Party?
2. What political and economic impact did the Gold Rush have on California?
3. What were the terms of the Compromise of 1850?
4. How did the Kansas Nebraska Act repeal the Missouri Compromise?
5. How did the Kansas Nebraska Act give rise to the Republican Party?
Key Ids/Notes to review: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Bleeding Kansas,
Pottawatomie Massacre, John Brown, James Buchanan, Sumner-Brooks feud, Know-nothing
Party (American Party), nativism, Dred Scott
Questions:
1. How did Uncle Tom’s Cabin help to further polarize the nation over the slave issue?
Explain from both a northern and southern point of view.
2. How did the Kansas Nebraska Act lead to the outbreak of violence in Kansas?
3. Why did the Election of 1856 cast a “dark shadow” on the political future of the nation?
4. What was the decision in the Dred Scott case, and why was it so devastating to the FreeSoilers and the Republican Party?
5. How did the Dred Scott decision impact the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas
Nebraska Act
Key Ids/Notes to review: Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Freeport Doctrine, John
Brown’s Raid, Harpers Ferry, John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, Constitutional Union Party,
Secessionists, Jefferson Davis, Confederate States of America, Crittenden Compromise
Questions:
1. Describe Lincoln’s early legal and political career.
2. How did the Lincoln-Douglas Debates result in improving Lincoln’s chances for the
presidency, while injuring Douglas’ chances? Hint – Freeport Doctrine
3. How did John Brown’s Raid add “fuel” to the already volatile issue of slavery, especially
for Southerners?
4. How did the Electoral College Presidential results of 1860 foreshadow the coming of the
Civil War?
5. Who were the four candidates for president in 1860, and what were the primary platforms
of each candidate or party?
6. Why is Lincoln’s election considered the immediate cause of the breakup of the Union?
Questions:
1. What geographic, political and economic factors made secession of the South from the
Union infeasible?
2. What impact did the firing on Ft. Sumter have on both the North and South?
3. What political and military reasons did Lincoln have for declaring the war an effort to
save the union instead of the moral reason of freeing the blacks?
4. Create a T-Chart that compares the relative strengths between the two sides in regards to
Military Commanders, Railroad mileage, Industrial production, population (both white
and black), Farm production (food – wheat and corn), Military preparedness
5. Why was the Confederacy unable to use King Cotton to lure foreign support during the
Civil War?
6. What states created the Border States? Who were they loyal to? Why was this
significant?
7. How did the war lead to an economic boom for the North?
8. What role did women play on both sides in the Civil War?
Questions:
1. What was the first Battle of the Civil War?
2. How did the Confederacy and Union far regionally during war battles?
3. What were the military and political impacts of the Union victory at Antietam?
4. How did the Emancipation Proclamation change nature of the war?
5. Why did some Abolitionist critics of Lincoln claim the Emancipation did not free a single
slave?
6. To what extent did Blacks contribute to the Northern war effort? How did they hinder
the Southern war effort?
7. In what way was Gettysburg the military and political turning point in the Civil War?
8. Describe the Anaconda Plan of War for the Union.
9. How did Sherman’s “scorched earth” policy in Georgia ultimately shorten the war and
save lives?
10. What economic, political and social impacts did the war have on America?
11. Describe the devastation of the South at the end of the war.