U.S. Political History from 1790 to 1898 - AP U.S. History

Although most slave states seceded from the Union in 1860-1861 to form the Confederate States, a few Border States where slavery was legal remained loyal to the United States. The loyal Border States included Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware. During the war, the pro-Union areas of western Virginia seceded from Virginia to form the new state of West Virginia. Although the Border States officially remained loyal to the United States, citizens from every Border State fought on both sides of the American Civil War.

The Union had to invade and conquer wide swaths of Southern territory in order to defeat the rebellion. It was hoped by Confederate officials that a long and bloody conflict would lead to war weariness in the North and force the United States to recognize Southern independence.

Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was defeated in the Battle of Antietam; however, it was able to escape back into Virginia after the battle. It did not surrender to the Union Army until April 1865 during the Appomattox Campaign.

The Virginia Resolution was written by James Madison. The Kentucky Resolutions (note the plural) were written by Thomas Jefferson.

The Black Codes were laws passed by Southern states in the immediate months after the Civil War ended. The intention behind them was to force freedmen into a labor system that was virtually the same as slavery. For example, a law passed in Mississippi stated that authorities could take children away from parents who allegedly could not support them. The children would then be "apprenticed" to their former slave masters who could perform corporal punishment on them. Outrage over the Black Codes in the North led to increased support for the policies of the Radical Republicans.

The 1862 Homestead Act was passed to encourage settlement in the Western United States by small farmers. It encouraged the widespread migration of Americans to the West after the Civil War. It also led to increased conflicts between the Federal Government and Native groups like the Lakota.

By 1863 Vicksburg, Mississippi was the last city along the Mississippi River that was still under the control of the Confederate forces. It's capture by Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant gave the Union complete control over the Mississippi and cut off Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana from the rest of the Confederacy.

Maine, which was then a northern region of Massachusetts, was admitted to the Union as a result of the Missouri Compromise.

“Bleeding Kansas” is a term that refers to the armed conflict between Free Soil settlers and Pro-Slavery settlers to determine the composition of the state’s populace between 1854 and 1858. The makeup of the population became important because the Congress had allowed new states to decide whether to be Free or Slave states with the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Although the Treaty at Ghent was signed in 1814, it still needed to be ratified by Congress; this was done in February of 1815. Still, the Battle of New Orleans, which resulted in an American victory might have been avoided were communications of the era quicker.

Following Nat Turner's slave rebellion, which resulted in the deaths of 55 whites, and no fewer than 100 blacks, there was no largely sympathetic newspaper coverage in the South.

The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the Confederate held states that were rebelling. The border states of Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware, and Maryland were not affected. All Union states had either already freed their slaves, or would do so in separate state and federal actions. Slavery was not actually illegal until the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, however.

The War of 1812 ended without major gains having been made by either side. In fact, the political and territorial situation after the war was much the same as it was before the war; therefore, it is best considered a stalemate.

Rather than catapulting the Federalist Party to a position of dominance in precipitated their decline—due to the timing of the peace treaty and the Battle of New Orleans—public opinion in America viewed the war as a victory, and the Federalists who had opposed it were disparaged by the American population. Likewise, it very clearly did not result in the decline of the British Empire, which had yet to reach the height of its influence and would not experience decline until after World War Two.

The Republican Party was founded in opposition to slavery and its expansion throughout the United States.

In 1791 Congress passed an excise tax on whiskey at the encouragement of Alexander Hamilton. Many of the frontiersmen, who relied on the sale of whiskey, refused to pay the tax. Hamilton mobilized the militia, and the Whiskey Rebellion died a very quick death. One very important consequence of the Whiskey Rebellion, however, was the complete reversal of popular support in the Western States for the Federalist Party. Instead, they flocked to the Democratic-Republicans and remained largely loyal supporters for several electoral campaigns.

In the Election of 1824 Andrew Jackson garnered the majority of the popular vote, but not an electoral majority. As a result, the case was decided in the House and John Quincy Adams was chosen as President, due in large part to Henry Clay throwing his support behind Adams’ campaign. Adams promptly appointed Henry Clay to the position of Secretary of State. Jackson cried foul, declaring a “corrupt bargain” had been struck, and he issued a massive propaganda response. By the time of the election of 1828 the Democratic-Republican Party had all but fractured and this worked to Jackson’s advantage. He gained full support of the new Democratic Party. Additionally, it is important to understand that the suffrage rights of several western states had changed dramatically over the last decade and by the election of 1828, a much higher percentage of the “common man” had a direct say in the electoral process. Finally, Jackson was deeply popular in the South and the West for his role in the War of 1812 and for his standing as a man taken from their own ranks.

The Copperheads were a faction of Northern Democrats who wanted an immediate peace with the Southern Confederacy, even if that peace meant independence for the rebellious states. A famous Copperhead was Ohio congressman Clement Vallandigham, who was put on trial for treason in 1864.

The ardent abolitionist John Brown led an attack on the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) on October 16, 1859, with the hopes of gaining weapons and support for a widespread slave uprising. In actual fact, Brown's 20 men were quickly counterattacked by local militia, and U.S. troops under Colonel Robert E. Lee managed to kill 10 of Brown's men (including two sons) and capture Brown. Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859, but the event stirred passions North and South regarding issues of slavery. In late December, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union, which helped the country on the road to Civil War.

John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln on April 15, 1865, less than a week after Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, and nearly three weeks after the fall of the Confederate capital at Richmond, VA. Booth was an ardent Southern supporter and white supremacist who believed Lincoln was a tyrant and race traitor. Booth developed a conspiracy to kill not only Lincoln, but Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State Edwin Stanton as well. Neither of those men were killed, as Johnson's assassin backed out and Stanton's was stopped by the Secretary's family. Booth managed to escape, but was instantly villified; he was tracked down by Union troops less than two weeks later. Booth refused to surrender and was shot by a Union soldier.

At the end of the Spanish-American War, the United States gained territory in the Caribbean and the Philippines. Though the United States refused to name these territories as colonies, they essentially treated them as such. Thus joining the Imperialist nations.