US History 1 - Final Study Guide (Multiple Choice Topics)

William Lloyd Garrison

* Abolitionist, social reformer, and journalist who was motivated by ending slavery
* Wrote “The Liberator”
* Founded the American Anti-Slavery Society
* Embraced a radical vision for America’s future
* Lost interest in gradual emancipation (the eventual freeing of slaves born after a certain date when they turned 28) and wanted a more immediate abolition of slavery
* Also fought for the women’s suffrage movement

John C. Calhoun

* Pro-slavery senator and leader in the south
* Debated the Compromise of 1850
* Was vice president under Andrew Jackson and often fought with him
* Began his political career as a nationalist and an advocate for protective tarrots
* Turned into an advocate for free trade, states’ rights, limited government, and nullification

Nat Turner

* Leader of the slave rebellion of 1831 in Virginia, which lead to the deaths of about 60 white people (specifically women and children)
* He led this rebellion because he saw a solar eclipse which he thought was a sign from God
* The rebellion lead to the “gag rule”, which outlawed the discussion of slaver in the House of Representatives

Harriett Tubman

* One of the leaders/conductors of the Underground Railroad
* Led over 300 slaves to freedom
* Was very outspoken for women’s rights

Abraham Lincoln

* 16th president of the United States and let the US through the civil War
* Wanted to preserve the Union at all costs
* Was assassinated in April of 1865

Jefferson Davis

* President of the Southern Confederate States from 1860 to 1865
* Struggled to form a solid government for the states to be governed

Frederick Douglass

* Ex-slave who became an abolitionist and public speaker
* Gave a new voice and cause to the abolitionists

Adam Smith

* Philosopher, economist, and philosopher
* Wrote “A Theory of Moral Sentiments”
* Was a pioneer in the political economy and played a big role in Scottish Enlightenment

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

* American writer and activist
* Leader in the women’s rights movement from the mid to late 19th century
* Organized the first convention of women’s rights with Lucretia Mott
* Issued the Deceleration of Sentiments (declared men and women be equal and demanded the right to vote for women)

Lucretia Mott

* Feminist, activist, and advocate for the abolition of slavery
* Dedicated her lift to speaking out against radical and gender injustice
* Organized the first convention of women’s rights with Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Indian Removal Act of 1830

* Passed by Congress in 1830
* Supported by President Jackson
* Allowed the government to remove Native Americans from the east and force them to move west of the Mississippi
* Many tribes signed treaties and agreed to voluntary removal

Trail of Tears

* The land and water route used by the government to remove thousands of Native Americans (specifically Cherokee) from their homes between Georgia and Oklahoma
* Over 4000 Native Americans died on this route

What led to the rise of Capitalism?

* The invention of the cotton gin, which created a boom in the cotton industry
* Slavery

Capitalism

* An economic system where resources and production are privately owned
* The government has no control over the economy and power is given to the upper class (the ones who privately own the resources)

Socialism

* An economic system where resources and production are owned by the state (government)
* The state controls the means of production and the distribution of goods
* Attempts to provide a more human and socially worthwhile alternative to capitalism (imperfect opposite)

Popular sovereignty

* A controversial political doctrine where the people in each state/territory should decide if their state should enter the Union as free or slave states

Abolitionists

* Someone who’s part of the movement to abolish (end) slavery

Fugitive Slave Act

* Part of the Compromise of 1850
* Made it illegal to help runaway slaves
* Allowed for the arrest of escaped slaves in areas where slavery was illegal
* Required escaped slaves to be returned to their slaveholders

Underground Railroad

* A system of trails and people who assisted salves in escaping the south
* It went from the South up to the North and into Canada
* It consisted for conductors (guides), passengers (slaves), stationmasters (people who owned safe houses), and stockholders (people who had resources like food and clothes)

Dred Scott Case

* Ruled that African Americans (with and without ancestors who were slaves) had not legal view in court

Bloody Kansas/”Bleeding Kansas”

* A period of violence (1854-1858) where people fought over whether Kansas should be a free or slave state

Rural Slavery

* Slaves worked on plantations as field hands
* There were severe punishments
* This was the more common type of slavery

Urban Slavery

* Slaves worked on mills or ships and were very skilled
* They had more freedom of movement and were punished less severely
* They had increased contact with free black people who expanded their ways of thinking and increased their opportunities to learn

The Confederacy

* A loose union of independent states
* The name given to the government used by the southern states that suceded during the Civil War

The Confederate States of America

* A republic formed in February if 1861
* Comprised of 11 Southern states that suceded from the US (Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia)

Emancipation Proclamation

* A formal announcement from President Lincoln signed January 1st, 1863
* Called for the freeing of “all persons held as slaves” within the southern states

Civil War Effect on Economy of North

* Economy got better (relatively stable)
* Good conditions for providing military supplies (machinery and guns)

Civil War Effect on Economy of South

* Lots of inflation in the economy
* Lack of food and a lot of suffering
* Railroads that were used for the transportation of goods were destroyed

Sanitary Commission

* Established in 1861
* Trained nurses, collected medical supplies, and equipped hospitals in an effort to help the Union army
* Helped to professionalize nursing and gave any women confidence in the women’s movement in the post war years

Habeas Corpus

* “you have the body”
* An order that requires jailers to bring a prisoner before a court/judge to explain why the person is being held

Expansion of Presidential Power by Lincoln during the war

* Suspended Habeas Corpus
* Ceased the telegraph office (limited and monitored communication) Put ships in the harbor to block the south from receiving goods
* Sent out the Emancipation Proclamation

Conscription (and ways draftees avoided it)

* Drafting people for the army
* In the north, rich people would pay poor people to take their spot

Experience of African American Soldiers

* They did not receive equal pay
* They were still segregated, but were led by white officers
* They were treated worse than their white counterparts

Grant's Victory at Vicksburg

* The Union (north) captured the Mississippi River, which cut the Confederacy (south) in half
* Boosted the morale of the North

Lee Surrender to Grant at Appomattox ending the Civil War

* The south’s militia was surrounded and greatly outnumbered, so Lee decided it wasn’t worth the sacrifice and surrendered
* Grant decided to let him and the confederacy go in order to begin reconstruction

13th Amendment

* Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude (except as a punishment for a crime)

14th Amendment

* Granted citizenship to all people born in or naturalized (someone not born as a citizen) in the United States

15th Amendment

* Gave African American men the right to vote
* "“rights of citizens of the United State to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude”

Radical Republicans

* A faction of the Republican Party from 1854 to 1877 (the end of Reconstruction)
* Strongly opposed slavery during the war
* Demanded harsh policies for the former rebels after the war
* Emphasized civil and voting rights for the recently freed slaves
* Were more common in the North

Democrats

* More common in the south
* Were pro slavery

Lincoln’s 10% Reconstruction Plan

* Outlined that a southern state could be readmitted into the Union once 10% of its voters swore an oath of allegiance to the Union

Freedman’s Bureau

* A federal agency that was formed to aid and protect the newly freed black people in the south after the civil war
* It was established in March of 1865 under the name “bureau of refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands”
* It functioned for one year after the end of the Civil War

Slave Codes

* Laws passed by southern states before the civil war to keep slaves from running away or rebelling
* They forbade slaves from gathering in groups of more than 3, leaving their owner’s land without a written pass, or owning a gun

Black Codes

* Laws passed by the southern states after the civil war denying most legal rights to newly freed slaves
* They forbade former slaves from suing people in court, did not allow black people to vote, and imprisoned black people that did not have jobs

Reconstruction Act of 1867

* Act passed by Congress that abolished previous state governments and set up 5 temporary military districts in the South run by Union generals
* Designed to protect the rights of freed slaves by outlining the terms for readmission into the US for the rebel states

Scalawags

* Used to describe white southerners that supported the Reconstruction after the Civil War
* They worked with the freed slaves

Carpetbaggers

* People that the Democrats believed had betrayed the south by voting for the Republican party
* They rushed to the South carrying their possessions in bags made of carpeting

Impeachment

* An action by the House of Representatives to accuse the president, vice president, or other civil officer of committing “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors”
* Happened to Andrew Johnson when he violated the Tenure of Office Act (law that limits a president from firing a congressional appointee without the senate’s approval)

High Crimes and Misdemeanors

* Crimes against democracy and self government, like failure to supervise and abuse of authority

Andrew Carnegie

* One of the richest Americans in history
* He led the expansion of the American steel industry
* Was an industrialist and philanthropist who gave 90% of his fortune to philanthropy causes because he didn’t want to die rich (captain of industry)
* Preached for the rights of laborers and protected their jobs (captain of industry)

John D. Rockefeller

* America’s first billionaire
* Had humble beginnings but had the vision to become the richest person in America
* While the average worker earned $8-$10 a week, he earned millions
* Established the Standard Oil Company
* Regarded as the greatest, wisest, and meanest monopoly in history (robber baron)
* Donated money to churches, education, and medical science charities (captain of industry)

Cornelius Vanderbilt

* Financier who accumulated a lot of wealth from his railroad and shipping businesses
* Made longer and faster steam boats
* Treated his workers poorly and gave them low pay (robber baron)

J.P. Morgan

* One of the most powerful bankers of all time
* Dominated the railroad and steel industries
* Criticized for being too manipulative and spent most of his money on his art collection (robber baron)

Robber Baron

* Industrialists or big business owners who gained profits by paying their employees low wages
* Drove out their competitors by selling their products cheaper than it cost to produce it
* Once they controlled the market, they raised the prices higher than the original price

Captain of Industry

* Owners and mangers of large industrial enterprises who had political and economic power which they used to benefit the workers

Benefits of Railroad Boom

* Offered more jobs building and running the railroads
* Faster mail service (increased communication and the spread of ideas)
* Made travel easier, cheaper, faster, and more accessible

Ellis Island

* The island that many Europeans immigrated into America through

Labor Unions

* A group of workers who joined together for a common purpose (to improve the terms and conditions they worked under)

Rutherford B Hayes and Election of 1876

* The 19th President
* His presidency was decided by the Compromise of 1877, which ended the Reconstruction Era and forced the removal of federal troops from the south

Tenant Farmers

* A farmer who rent land owned by another person
* They pay rent in cash or shares of the crops

Sharecropping

* System of farming where farmers worked on land owned by an owner who provided them equipment and seeds
* The farmer and the owner would both share the profits

Origins of the Ku Klux Klan

* Racist, anti-Semitic group committed to extreme violence to achieve its goals of racial segregation and white supremacy
* Formed as a social group in Tennessee in 1866
* Goals included political defeat of the Republican Party and the maintenance of absolute white supremacy

Compromise of 1877

* Unwritten deal that settled the 1976 US presidential election
* The north got the presidency, but they had to pull their troops out of the South, formally ending the Reconstruction Era