an American statesman and politician who served as President of the Confederate States of America for its entire history from 1861 to 1865

an Illinois statesman who ran against Lincoln, Bell, and Breckenridge in the 1860 presidential election on a popular sovereignty platform for slavery, Douglas also authored the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and heightened the slavery debate

Equilibrium of slave-free states if CA was added to the Union, Texas wanted their land north of the 42nd parallel, abolition of slavery in WA DC, loss of runaway slaves

Spanish officials in Cuba seized this American steamer in 1854, so President Pierce declared war, but the major European powers (England, Spain, and Russia) were already involved in the Crimean War

in 1853 presented the Japanese with a letter from the President calling for Japan to grant trading rights to Americans, they signed a treaty opening Japan for trade in 1854

American diplomat who negotiated the Treaty of Wanghia with China in 1844

pre-Civil War laws passed by Northern state governments to counteract the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Acts and to protect escaped slaves and free blacks settled in the North, by giving them the right to a jury trial.

the purchasing of land from Mexico that completed the continental United States It provided the land needed to build the transcontinental railroad in 1853 for $10 million

sprang up in Middle West (Michigan, Wisconsin), included disgruntled Whigs, Democrats, Free-soilers, Know-Nothings, and other foes of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Elected a Speaker of the House of Representatives within two years and was the sectional major political party

Formed in 1847 - 1848, dedicated to opposing slavery in newly acquired territories such as Oregon and ceded Mexican territory. Liked the Wilmot Proviso, advocated federal aid for internal improvements and free govt. homesteads for settlers

Democratic candidate for President in 1852 and the fourteenth president of the US. He made the Gadsden Purchase, which opened the Northwest for settlement, and passed the unpopular Kansas-Nebraska Act.

began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill, California. News of the discovery brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. Of the 300,000, approximately half arrived by sea and half walked overland.

"Higher law" and natural rights, Opposed slavery expansion, Whig senator. "Irrepressible conflict" expansion of slavery between north and south

Taylor urged california to adopt this constitution that prohibited slavery (1849)

Jefferson Davis had James Gadsden buy an area of Mexico from Santa Anna for which the railroad would pass. Gadsden negotiated a treaty in 1853 and the Gadsden Purchase area was ceded to the United States for $10 million.

The first diplomatic agreement between China and America in history, signed on July 3,Since America signed as a nation interested in trade instead of colonization, it was rewarded with extraordinary amount of trading power.

Group of Southern extremists that met in 1850 and took a strong pro-slavery position and condemned the compromise measures

an 1854 agreement between the United States and Japan, which opened two Japanese ports to U.S. ships and allowed the United States to set up an embassy in Japan.

a declaration (1854) issued from Ostend, Belgium, by the U.S. ministers to England, France, and Spain, stating that the U.S. would be justified in seizing Cuba if Spain did not sell it to the U.S. Offered $120 million for Cuba

line that divided free and slave states (originally a surveying line in the 1760s that divided PA & MD)

General that was a military leader in Mexican-American War and 12th president of the United States. Was a Whig. Sent by president Polk to lead the American Army against Mexico at Rio Grande, but defeated. Died in 1850