Skip to main content
SWStudyWalks Search

History of the United States I / Unit 12   USH1 1712 short lesson, about 20 seconds

Filibustering in the 1850s

Captions available

The idea

Filibusters were men who led unofficial military operations intended to seize land from foreign countries or foment revolution there.

In practice

American citizens forming themselves into private armies to annex land without their government's approval.

Where people slip

An eighteen eighteen federal law criminalised such expeditions. Unit 11 covers the earlier wave; this is the proslavery one.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it  ·  Sources for History of the United States I