US History Unit 5 Study Guide

Westward Expansion

• The Oregon Trail was a major route for settlers moving westward in the 19th century
• Brigham Young led the Mormons to establish a successful settlement in Salt Lake City, Utah
• The Transcontinental Railroad connected the eastern and western United States, facilitating travel and trade
• The Homestead Act provided land to settlers willing to develop and live on it for a certain period
• Sodbusters were farmers who used new farming techniques to cultivate the Great Plains
• The Populist Party advocated for the rights of farmers and laborers against big business interests

Texas Revolution and Manifest Destiny

• Stephen F. Austin played a key role in the colonization of Texas by Americans
• The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution
• The Texas Revolution was the 1836 rebellion in which Texas gained its independence from Mexico
• The annexation of Texas led to its admission as a state in the United States
• The concept of Manifest Destiny was the belief that the U.S. was destined to expand across the continent
• The Gold Rush attracted thousands of people to California in search of wealth
• The 49ers were the nickname for the people who migrated to California during the Gold Rush

Mexican-American War and Territorial Expansion

• The Mexican-American War resulted in the Mexican Cession of territories to the U.S.
• The Mexican Cession was the territory Mexico ceded to the U.S. after the Mexican-American War

Abolition and Slavery

• Abolition was the advocacy for the abolition of slavery in the United States
• Frederick Douglass was an American abolitionist and writer who escaped slavery and became a leading African American spokesman and writer
• Nat Turner was a United States slave and insurrectionist who led a rebellion of slaves in Virginia in 1831
• The Liberator was an abolitionist newspaper founded by William Lloyd Garrison
• The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses to help enslaved individuals escape
• Harriett Tubman was a prominent conductor of the Underground Railroad
• The Free Soil Party advocated for the exclusion of slavery from the western territories
• The Compromise of 1850 addressed the issue of slavery in newly acquired territories
• Bleeding Kansas was a conflict over the extension of slavery into Kansas
• Uncle Tom's Cabin was a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, depicting the harsh realities of slavery