Essay: A range of history related short answers

Learning Targets
1. California Gold Rush led to more people migrating because of the prospects of gold and wealth. People were enamored by the idea of coming to the United States and obtaining wealth and maybe bringing it back to their countries. Mormons escaped their own countries because of the way they were being persecuted for their beliefs. In escaping, they migrated to places that allowed religious freedom. Natural resources were another cause for increased migration because settlers wanted more land to farm, since the crops they grew were taxing on the land.
2. Manifest destiny is the belief that American settlers were just in expanding across the continent and that it was unavoidable. It compelled settlers to expand to the Pacific Ocean because manifest destiny was their excuse and they would define the borders of the American continent.
3. The Mexican American War could be surmised as a war for land. I believe it could be reduced to this because Mexico was fighting to protect their land which they thought was rightfully theirs and the U.S. fought for the challenged Texan land because they wanted to expand and have access to more of Mexico’s northern territory.
4. The Mexican American War raised questions about the issue of slavery because of the conflicting ideas. On one hand, the Texans declared they wanted to be independent because they were living under a tyrant. But, abolitionists thought that annexing Texas would allow slavery to spread, which was what they were against. Pro-slavery Americans wanted that land so they could grow more cash crops and expand slavery, because land was needed for the land that was destroyed while producing cotton.
5. The United States were interested in Asia because Japan was isolated and they wanted to expand their trade because they wanted goods from that country. They wanted Japan to open their ports to American ships, and if things escalated, they would use gunboats. Matthew Perry created more ties with Asia when he visited and demanded that their ports be open and prisoners be returned. He commanded a squadron of large ships that intimidated the Japanese and it was clear he would get what he want. They signed a treaty which allowed trade at two ports and later, more ports were opened and there were even cities where they could trade. Japanese government became more centralized as a result.
6. Germans and Irish migrants migrated to America because of a number of reasons. One of the reasons was that they were in such of work, because they were unemployed in their own countries. They also sought an escape or refuge from civil unrest and the lack of political and religious freedom they had. They wanted to desert their prosecution back home.
7. The Know-Nothing party was a party that appeared when the Whig party was brought to its demise because of the disunity between the Southern and Northern democrats caused by the argument over slavery. The party members were hostile towards German and Irish Catholic immigrants because they weren’t native born. They gained passionate supporters and advocates of the violent acts in Kansas. When asked a political question, they would respond with, “I know nothing.”
8. The free-soil movement was an organization that was made up by a group of people that despise slavery for different reasons. They didn’t like slavery, not because of moral reasons, but they wanted white workers to have the chance to rise up and increase their salary. They also wanted more expansion since they wanted Americans to own more property. They supported internal improvements because of the prospects of expansion, and getting more soil, as shouted in their slogan, “Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men.”
9. Abolitionists came together and formed an anti-slavery group called the Free-Soil Party. They supported aid for internal improvements and approved for settler estate. They didn’t want the enslaved to take over their workforce and decrease their chance of going into self-employment. The Underground Railroad assisted runaway slaves with a system that would lead the runaway slaves to Canada, where they would be free. Another association such as the American Colonization Society thought that it would be best for the slaves to be transported to Africa. Their reasons were that many whites still did not want to live with blacks. Some key abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglas. William Lloyd Garrison published the liberator which influenced many people because they were demanded to free the slaves and talked about moral conscience. Frederick Douglass was another famous abolitionist who gave speeches and he published his own newspaper, campaigning for the end of slavery and demanding equal rights.
10. There were arguments persisting through the years of the practice of slavery. Antislaveryites said that the practice of slavery was immoral, and other arguments said that slaves would increase the challenge for the white male to own more property and rise up above dependence on job salaries. Pieces of literature such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin persuaded more people to see and cast a limelight on the atrocities of slavery, and what the slave goes through. Advocates for slavery, such as the slave-holding southern states argued that they were doing them a favor, an idea similar to the White Man’s Burden, giving them an escape out of savageness. Slaveholders also argued that slavery should not be abolished because their economy depended on it.
11. The Mexican Cession lead to controversy over the subject of slavery being allowed in the new territories. They believed that would break the balance between the free and slave states, so there would be more slave states. This could tip the power between the state and federal governments, where they could pass bills or make laws to benefit themselves.
12. The court case, Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857, was about a slave claiming he was free. Scott claimed he was a free man because he was held in slavery in Missouri until he was transported to Wisconsin, which was a free territory. He argued that since he lived on that free land for 2 years, he was a free citizen. The majority of the court ruled against him. It lead to further conflict about slavery because slaves didn’t have the right to sue in a federal court. It also raised issues over territorial expansion because the Supreme Court declared slavery was allowed in the western territories.
13. “Bleeding Kansas” was a result after the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Both the North and South were claiming that territory was theirs. Fighting arose and it escalated when settlers lives were lost when both sides attacked each other’s homes. The act was ultimately a failure because it only angered the North because the South had the chance to expand slavery into Northern territory and it went back on the Missouri Compromise.
14. Abraham Lincoln was from the Republican Party, the party that the South was concerned about because they were made up of people that despise slavery. The South didn’t want Lincoln to run for president because he spoke out against slavery and was against the expansion of it. When Lincoln was elected as president, that was the final straw which lead to South Carolina to secede. There was a secession convention in South Carolina and other countries followed suit, nullifying their contract with the United States and forming the Confederacy.
15. The Union were advantageous in the Civil War because they were more established, since the Confederacy was made on a whim by Southern States seceding. They also held most of the manufacturing of weapons and materials, since they had more factories, making it harder for the South to produce materials. Because of the immigration, the North had more numbers and population to partake in the army. They were disadvantageous in that at first, they didn’t have a solid cause to fight against, until Lincoln made slavery an honorable cause to fight for. They also had to fight on foreign land since the South wasn’t taking the offensive, so they had to meet them on Southern land, which the South was more accustomed to.
16. The Confederacy was advantageous because they were on the defensive, forcing the Union’s army to come onto their soil, and fall into traps they lay because they were unfamiliar with the land. They also had good leadership because there were former officers in the U.S. army. They also had a solid cause to fight for, freedom to practice slavery. Their weaknesses are that they weren’t as industrialized as the North so they had few factories to produce weapons. Also, a good chunk of their population were slaves, and they were sure as hell not going to arm them.
17. The Emancipation Proclamation was Lincoln declaring that all slaves in the Confederate states were free, this did not apply to the slaves still in the Union.. It impacted the Civil War because the Union had something else to fight against, slavery. This would raise more morale because they had a solid cause to fight for in the war. When Union troops marched into Southern lands, they would free slaves and the slaves would occasionally join the Union army, increasing the size of their army. Their army would be an advantage for them in the war.
18. The Gettysburg Address was a speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 at a cemetery for Union soldiers that gave up their life at the Battle of Gettysburg fighting during the Civil War. Some historical context for this is that many soldiers lost their lives in the war and it caused General Lee’s confederate troops to retreat, continuing to take the defensive since their offensive plan of surprising the Union army didn’t work. There were 50,000 casualties, which prompted the creation of the Gettysburg National Cemetery.  It portrayed the struggle against slavery because many soldiers lost their lives fighting against the expansion of slavery. This could also be attributed by the Declaration of Independence, where it stated that people were free and individual freedom.
19. The earliest Confederate victory in the Civil War was the attack on Fort Sumter, where they forced the troops stationed there to surrender the fort after they opened fire with cannons. The Confederacy was so dominant in early battle becauses after the attack on Fort Sumter, more states seceded and supported the Confederacy. They also had excellent leaders such as Robert E. Lee who won in the Second Bull Run and had 20,000 casualties.
20. Some of the early problems the Union army faced during the Civil War was that they had to invade unfamiliar land and had to fight over a large territory. The advantages they had that helped them obtain their ultimate victory in the Civil War was their army. As they advanced into their lands, the freed slaves would want to join the Union and become one of the soldiers. The Union also had people because of the immigration. They had a big army yes, but what’s an army without weapons? Well, it really was a full fledged army because they manufactured weapons, from their factories.