Period 5 (jan 1, 1844 – dec 31, 1877)

Description:

American/National Identity:
-Increasing sectional tension over the expansion of slavery will lead to Civil War.
-Union victory in Civil War leads to THE United States rather than THESE United States.
-During Reconstruction, Black men afforded rights and privileges of citizenship despite Southern pushback.

Politics and Power:
-Presidents ineffective in handling sectional tension. Several attempts at compromise (Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Act, Dredd Scott v. Sanford, Popular Sovereignty, etc.)
-Emergence of the Republican Party as the Northern party, wins election of 1860 with Lincoln.
-14th Amendment gives African Americans citizenship.
-15th Amendment gives Black men the right to vote; women still cannot vote.

Work, Technology, and Exchange:
-13th Amendment abolishes slavery, causes South to shift to sharecropping.
-North continues to industrialize; factory power contributes to their victory in Civil War.
-Railroads begin to connect the country more, especially in the North and West.

Culture and Society:
-Conflict between militant abolitionism and ideological defenses of slavery.
-Rise of anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant nativism.

Migration/Settlement:
-Large number of Catholic immigrants continue to come from Ireland and Germany, settling in eastern cities and the Midwest respectively.
-Continued westward migration, especially during California Gold Rush.
-Conflicts with Native Americans, beginnings of the reservation system.

Geography/Environment:
-Discovery of gold in California leads to mass migration, California Gold Rush.
-"Breadbasket" in the north, much larger population contributes to Union victory in Civil War.
-South continues to exhaust soil growing cotton.

America in the World:
-Continued expansion west with Mexican-American War (Mexican Cession), Oregon Treaty with Great Britain.
-Largely isolationist after war with Mexico.
-Fears Britain/France will interfere in Civil War on Confederate's side, leads to Emancipation Proclamation.

Added to timeline:

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