EVIDENCE PLANNER PERIOD: 5
[1844 – 1877]
Thematic Learning Objective:
NAT 3.0 Analyze how ideas about
national identity changed in response
to U.S. involvement in international
conflicts and the growth of the United
States.
Key Concept 5.1: The United States became more connected with
the world, pursued an expansionist foreign policy in the Western
Hemisphere, and emerged as the destination for many migrants
from other countries.
I. Popular
MIG 2.0 Analyze causes of internal
migration and patterns of settlement
in what would become the United
States, and explain how migration
has affected American life.
GEO 1.0 Explain how geographic and
environmental factors shaped the
development of various communities,
and analyze how competition for and
debates over natural resources have
affected both interactions among
different groups and the
development of government policies.
WOR 1.0 Explain how cultural
interaction, cooperation,
competition, and conflict between
empires, nations, and peoples have
influenced political, economic, and
social developments in North
America.
WOR 2.0 Analyze the reasons for, and
results of, U.S. diplomatic, economic,
and military initiatives in North
America and overseas.
enthusiasm for U.S. expansion, bolstered by economic and security
interests, resulted in the acquisition of new territories, substantial migration
westward, and new overseas initiatives.
A) The desire for access to natural and mineral resources and the hope of many settlers for
economic opportunities or religious refuge led to an increased migration to and settlement in the
West.
EVIDENCE:
B) Advocates of annexing western lands argued that Manifest Destiny and the superiority of
American institutions compelled the United States to expand its borders westward to the Pacific
Ocean.
EVIDENCE:
C) The U.S. added large territories in the West through victory in the Mexican–American War and
diplomatic negotiations, raising questions about the status of slavery, American Indians, and
Mexicans in the newly acquired lands.
EVIDENCE:
D) Westward migration was boosted during and after the Civil War by the passage of new
legislation promoting Western transportation and economic development.
EVIDENCE:
E) U.S. interest in expanding trade led to economic, diplomatic, and cultural initiatives to create
more ties with Asia.
EVIDENCE:
EVIDENCE PLANNER PERIOD: 5
[1844 – 1877]
Thematic Learning Objective:
NAT 4.0 Analyze relationships among
different, regional, social, ethnic and
racial groups, and explain how these
groups’ experiences have related to
U.S. national identity.
Key Concept 5.1: The United States became more connected with
the world, pursued an expansionist foreign policy in the Western
Hemisphere, and emerged as the destination for many migrants
from other countries.
II. In
the 1840s and 1850s, Americans continued to debate questions about
rights and citizenship for various groups of U.S. inhabitants.
A) Substantial numbers of international migrants continued to arrive in
the United States from
Europe and Asia, mainly from Ireland and Germany, often settling in ethnic communities where
they could preserve elements of their languages and customs.
EVIDENCE:
CUL 4.0: Explain how different group
identities, including racial, ethnic,
class, and regional identities, have
emerged and changed over time.
B) A strongly anti-Catholic nativist movement arose that was aimed at limiting new immigrants’
political power and cultural influence.
EVIDENCE:
MIG 1.0 Explain the causes of
migration to colonial North America
and, later the United States, and
analyze immigration’s effects on U. S.
Society.
C) U.S. government interaction and conflict with Mexican Americans and American Indians
increased in regions newly taken from American Indians and Mexico, altering these groups’
economic self-sufficiency and cultures.
EVIDENCE:
EVIDENCE PLANNER PERIOD: 5
[1844 – 1877]
Thematic Learning Objective:
NAT 1.0 Explain how ideas about
democracy, freedom, and
individualism found expression in
the development of cultural values,
political institutions, and American
Identity.
Key Concept 5.2: Intensified by expansion and deepening regional
divisions, debates over slavery and other economic, cultural,
and political issues led the nation into civil war.
I. Ideological
and economic differences over slavery produced an array of
diverging responses from Americans in the North and the South.
A) The North’s expanding manufacturing economy relied on free labor in contrast to
the Southern economy’s dependence on slave labor. Some Northerners did not object
to slavery on principle but claimed that slavery would undermine the free labor market.
As a result, a free-soil movement arose that portrayed the expansion of slavery as
incompatible with free labor.
POL 2.0 Explain how popular
movements, reform efforts, and
activist groups have sought to change
American Society and institutions.
WXT 1.0: Explain how different labor
systems developed in North America
and the United States, and explain
their effects on workers’ lives and
U.S. Society.
EVIDENCE:
B) African American and white abolitionists, although a minority in the North, mounted
a highly visible campaign against slavery, presenting moral arguments against the
institution, assisting slaves’ escapes, and sometimes expressing a willingness to use
violence to achieve their goals.
EVIDENCE:
CUL 2.0: Explain how artistic,
philosophical, and scientific ideas
have shaped society and institutions.
C) Defenders of slavery based their arguments on racial doctrines, the view that slavery was a
positive social good, and the belief that slavery and states’ rights were protected by the
Constitution.
EVIDENCE:
EVIDENCE PLANNER PERIOD: 5
[1844 – 1877]
Thematic Learning Objective:
NAT 2.0 Explain how interpretations
of the Constitution and debates over
rights, liberties, and definitions of
citizenship have affected American
values, politics, and society.
Key Concept 5.2: Intensified by expansion and deepening regional
divisions, debates over slavery and other economic, cultural,
and political issues led the nation into civil war.
II. Debates
over slavery came to dominate political discussion in the 1850s,
culminating in the bitter election of 1860 and the secession of Southern
states.
A) The Mexican Cession led to heated controversies over whether to allow slavery in the newly
acquired territories.
EVIDENCE:
B) The courts and national leaders made a variety of attempts to resolve the issue of slavery in
the territories, including the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas–Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott
decision, but these ultimately failed to reduce conflict.
EVIDENCE:
POL 1.0 Explain how different beliefs
about the federal government’s role
in U.S. social and economic life have
affected political debates and
policies.
C) The Second Party System ended when the issues of slavery and anti-immigrant nativism
weakened loyalties to the two major parties and fostered the emergence of sectional parties, most
notably the Republican Party in the North.
EVIDENCE:
D) Abraham Lincoln’s victory on the Republicans’ free-soil platform in the election of 1860 was
accomplished without any Southern electoral votes. After a series of contested debates about
secession, most slave states voted to secede from the Union, precipitating the Civil War.
EVIDENCE:
EVIDENCE PLANNER PERIOD: 5
[1844 – 1877]
Thematic Learning Objective:
NAT 1.0 Explain how ideas about
democracy, freedom, and
individualism found expression in
the development of cultural values,
political institutions, and American
Identity.
Key Concept 5.3: The Union victory in the Civil War and the
contested Reconstruction of the South settled the issues of
slavery and secession, but left unresolved many questions about
the power of the federal government and citizenship rights.
I. The
North’s greater manpower and industrial resources, the leadership of
Abraham Lincoln and others, and the decision to emancipate slaves
eventually led to the Union military victory over the Confederacy in the
devastating Civil War.
A) Both the Union and the Confederacy mobilized their economies and societies to wage the war
even while facing considerable home front opposition.
EVIDENCE:
B) Lincoln and most Union supporters began the Civil War to preserve the Union, but Lincoln’s
decision to
issue the Emancipation Proclamation reframed the purpose of the war and helped
prevent the Confederacy from gaining full diplomatic support from European powers. Many
African Americans fled southern plantations and enlisted in the Union Army, helping to
undermine the Confederacy.
EVIDENCE:
WOR 2.0 Analyze the reasons for, and
results of, U.S. diplomatic, economic,
and military initiatives in North
America and overseas.
C) Lincoln sought to reunify the country and used speeches such as the Gettysburg Address to
portray the struggle against slavery as the fulfillment of America’s founding democratic ideals.
EVIDENCE:
D) Although the Confederacy showed military initiative and daring early in the war, the Union
ultimately succeeded due to improvements in leadership and strategy, key victories, greater
resources, and the wartime destruction of the South’s infrastructure.
EVIDENCE:
EVIDENCE PLANNER PERIOD: 5
[1844 – 1877]
Thematic Learning Objective:
NAT 2.0 Explain how interpretations
of the Constitution and debates over
rights, liberties, and definitions of
citizenship have affected American
values, politics, and society.
Key Concept 5.3: The Union victory in the Civil War and the
contested Reconstruction of the South settled the issues of
slavery and secession, but left unresolved many questions about
the power of the federal government and citizenship rights.
II. Reconstruction
POL 3.0 Explain how different beliefs
about the federal government’s role
in U.S. social and economic life have
affected political debates and
policies.
WXT 1.0: Explain how different labor
systems developed in North America
and the United States, and explain
their effects on workers’ lives and
U.S. Society.
CUL 3.0 Explain how ideas about
women’s rights and gender roles
have affected society and politics.
and the Civil War ended slavery, altered relationships
between the states and the federal government, and led to debates over new
definitions of citizenship, particularly regarding the rights of African
Americans, women, and other minorities.
A) The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, while the 14th and15th Amendments granted African
Americans citizenship, equal protection under the laws, and voting rights.
EVIDENCE:
B) The women’s rights movement was both emboldened and divided over the 14th and 15th
amendments to the Constitution.
EVIDENCE:
C) Efforts by radical and moderate Republicans to change the balance of power between
Congress and the presidency and to reorder
race relations in the defeated south yielded some
short-term successes. Reconstruction opened up political opportunities and other leadership
roles to former slaves, but it ultimately failed, due both to determined Southern resistance and
the North’s waning resolve.
EVIDENCE:
D) Southern plantation owners continued to own the majority of the region’s land even after
Reconstruction. Former slaves sought land ownership but generally fell short of self-sufficiency,
as an exploitative and soil-intensive sharecropping system limited blacks’ and poor whites’
access to land in the South.
EVIDENCE:
E) Segregation, violence, Supreme Court decisions, and local political tactics progressively
stripped away African American rights, but the 14th and 15th Amendments eventually became the
basis for court decisions upholding civil rights in the 20th century.
EVIDENCE:
PERIOD 5: 1844-1877 - Overview
Summary As the young nation grew in population and land, regional tensions centered around the spread of slavery and state’s rights led to a civil war that permanently transformed American
society and the nature of the government. Beginning with the election of James Polk in 1844, the United States pursued westward expansion and the opening of new foreign markets. The
ideology of “Manifest Destiny” led to a war with Mexico and the acquisition of vast western lands, while intense debates regarding the spread of slavery intensified sectional tensions. After
Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860, the southern states seceded, marking the beginning of the Civil War. After four brutal years of fighting and 500,000 casualties, the Union’s military victory
resulted in a contested Reconstruction period and left unresolved many questions about the power of the federal government and citizenship rights.
Beginning = Manifest Destiny, Movement West (Oregon Trail), Election of James K. Polk (Young Hickory)
What do I need to know?
1. The belief in Manifest Destiny led to territorial expansion of the U.S.
a. Examples: Texas Revolution, Mexican/American War, Oregon Trail, California, etc.
2. How slavery (and attempts at Compromises) ultimately failed to prevent Civil War. What sectional tensions existed (economic, social, political) between the North &
South?
a. Examples: Wilmot Proviso, Compromise of 1850, Kansas/Nebraska Act, Dred Scott Case, John Brown’s Raids, Election of 1860
3. The North won the Civil War due to a variety of factors (military leaders, industrial capacity, political action, population, resources, key victories) and the war had a
devastating impact on the country as a whole (death rates, widows, Sherman’s March, Total War).
a. Examples: Lee vs. McClellan, Emancipation Proclamation, Suspension of Habeas Corpus , Wartime Executive Powers, Antietam, Sherman’s March to the Sea, Gettysburg, Fall of
Atlanta, Appomattox Ct. House,
4. How was Reconstruction a failure? How was Reconstruction a success? Did Reconstruction improve the lives of African Americans?
a. Examples: 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments, Radical Republicans, KKK, Jim Crow Laws, Black Codes, Sharecropping, Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, Freedmen’s Bureau, Andrew
Johnson, Thomas Nast’s Cartoon “Worse Than Slavery”
End = Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction – ended 5 military districts, return South to “Home Rule” (Redemption) Lost Cause etc.
Period Perspectives Following a philosophy of manifest destiny, land was added through negotiations, purchase, and war. With victory in the Mexican War, the United States secured its
southern border and ports on the Pacific Ocean. Expansion and sectionalism intensified the differences over politics, economics, and slavery. Opposition to slavery ranging from free soilers to
abolitionists and an underground railroad grew in spite of fugitive slave laws and the Dred Scott decision. A series of compromises failed and, following the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860,
a civil war ravaged the country.
The Union victory ended the questions of slavery and states' rights. Reconstruction brought confrontations between the executive and legislative branches, and between the federal government
and state governments. As the freed African Americans established new lives, Black Codes and sharecropping were established to maintain their subservience.
Alternate View Views of the Civil War have covered a spectrum from an unavoidable conflict over slavery to a failure of leadership and a need- less bloodletting. Alternate views of
Reconstruction considered it a half-done effort that required another 100 years to realize equality for most Americans.
PERIOD 5: 1844-1877 - Main Themes
Themes
National Identity
Work, Exchange, and Technology
Migration and Settlement
Politics and Power
America in the World
Geography and Environment
Culture and Society
Applied to this period
- Slavery vs. Free nation – ideology of democracy questioned, Wilmot Proviso, Dred Scott Decision, Emancipation Proclamation,
13-15th amendments.
- Civil Liberties in question during time of war – the draft, Habeas Corpus, etc.
- Citizenship and voting rights – 13-15th amendments
- Sectionalism vs. Nationalism – southern secession, “police action” to promote unity.
- Industrialism of the North during the war
- Plantations/Cash crops of the South, Sharecropping and Tenant Farming
- Transportation – Canals, Railroads
- Civil War Draft conscription of soldiers – draft riots
- Technology – mini-ball and rifle, telegraph, ironclads, etc.
- Regional differences (Sectionalism) – political, social (including religious), economic – North vs. South vs. West
- Technology – Telegraph and Railroad
- Westward expansion – Conflict with Mexico, conflict with Indians and Europeans
- Slavery in the South – Emancipation Proclamation, contraband, Underground railroad
- Western Movement – American Indians, Homestead Act
- Early immigration – Irish, Germans, Catholics
- Movements in war – Northern troops to the South
- Post war movement – carpetbaggers, western movement (veterans)
- Federal vs State Rights – SC secession, Confederacy, Nullification conflicts
- New Political Parties – around issue of slavery (Free soil, Know-Nothing, Republican, Radical Republicans Parties)
- Gaining new land and territory expansion – Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act
- Slave vs. Free state states fight for power! – Underground RR vs. Fugitive Slave Act, Bleeding Kansas, Sumner caning
- The Civil War! – a “police action”, Emancipation Proclamation, major battles
- Leaders – presidents, union vs. confederate generals
- Mexican American War – US more dominant in North America
- Expansion – Alaska, Southwestern states
- European vs. American interests – England stays neutral due to slavery, Trent Affair
- Industrialization of the North – pollution, urbanization, deforestation
- Plantations of the south – deforestation, large scale farming, sharecropping
- War destruction of the environment – scorched earth strategy
- New ideas about Abolition – Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Underground RR, Fugitive Slave Act,
- Equality Movements realized – 13-15 amendments
- Role of women – Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Clara Barton.
- Role of African Americans – Fredrick Douglass, Union soldiers, Hiram Revels
- Anti-Foreign sentiment – anti-Catholic, racism, anti-Irish