AP US History — Unit 5: Period 5: 1844–1877
Practice questions, answers, and key terms for Unit 5, aligned to the College Board CED.
Exam weighting: Unit 5 is 10-17% of the AP US History exam.
What AP US History Unit 5 covers
The College Board Course and Exam Description breaks Unit 5 into 11 topics:
- 5.2 Manifest Destiny
- 5.3 The Mexican–American War
- 5.4 The Compromise of 1850
- 5.5 Sectional Conflict: Regional Differences
- 5.6 Failure of Compromise
- 5.7 Election of 1860 and Secession
- 5.8 Military Conflict in the Civil War
- 5.9 Government Policies During the Civil War
- 5.10 Reconstruction
- 5.11 Failure of Reconstruction
- 5.12 Comparison in Period 5
AP US History Unit 5 practice questions
In 1845, a journalist wrote that it was America's 'manifest destiny' to spread from coast to coast. Was that phrase really about God — or about land?
Manifest Destiny was the belief that US expansion was divinely ordained. In practice it justified taking land from Mexico and Indigenous nations, framing conquest as a mission to spread democracy and 'civilization.'
Polk won the 1844 election promising to annex Texas, settle Oregon, and grab California — and he did all three in one term. How did he get California, and what did it cost?
Polk provoked war by sending troops into disputed land by the Rio Grande. The Mexican-American War (1846–1848) ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo — Mexico ceded California, New Mexico, and the whole Southwest, over half its territory.
Polk sent troops into disputed land between the Nueces and Rio Grande. Mexico fired. Polk told Congress Mexico shed 'American blood on American soil.' Was he telling the truth?
No — both countries claimed that land, and Polk provoked the clash. He sent troops into contested territory, then used the skirmish to justify war; Lincoln's 'Spot Resolution' demanded he name the exact spot where American blood was shed.
Before the Mexican-American War even ended, a congressman proposed banning slavery in ALL territory acquired from Mexico. It failed — but historians call it 'the first shot of the Civil War.' What was it?
The Wilmot Proviso (1846) passed the House but failed in the evenly split Senate. It never became law, but it drew the line: the North wanted to contain slavery, the South refused any restriction.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo promised Mexican citizens in the ceded territory full citizenship rights. What actually happened to them?
States gave citizenship only to WHITE Mexican men, not mestizo or Indigenous Mexicans. Anglo settlers seized Tejano land despite the treaty, and landowner Juan Cortina led armed resistance against the theft in Texas.
California applied for statehood as a FREE state in 1849, threatening to tip the Senate against slavery. Henry Clay's compromise package settled it — but one provision made Northerners furious. What was it?
The Compromise of 1850 admitted California free, with a tougher Fugitive Slave Act. It let Utah and New Mexico decide by popular sovereignty and abolished the slave trade in D.C., but the Act forced ALL Americans to help capture runaways.
The Fugitive Slave Act paid commissioners $10 for ruling someone was a slave — but only $5 for ruling them free. What does that pay gap tell you?
The system was rigged toward returning people to slavery, with no jury trial. The pay gap pushed commissioners to rule against freedom, so Northern states fought back with 'personal liberty laws' guaranteeing jury trials for the accused.
Free Soilers opposed slavery's EXPANSION but didn't oppose slavery itself. Abolitionists wanted slavery ENDED everywhere. Why does that gap matter for understanding Northern politics?
Most Northerners weren't abolitionists; Free Soilers opposed expansion, not slavery. They didn't want to compete with slave labor out West — Lincoln himself was Free Soil and wouldn't touch slavery where it already existed.
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Key terms in Unit 5
These 12 terms show up in the Unit 5 cards. Each one links to its definition in the AP US History key-term reference.
Drill all of Unit 5 with spaced repetition
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