Untitled Flashcards Set

Compromise of 1850

Balanced free and slave states but heightened tensions over the Fugitive Slave Law.

Personal Liberty Laws

Northern resistance to the Fugitive Slave Law protected escaped slaves.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

A novel exposing slavery’s brutality, intensifying sectional tensions.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Allowed popular sovereignty, leading to violent conflicts in Kansas.

Formation of the Republican Party

Anti-slavery party opposing the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Lawrence vs. Pottawatomie Creek Incidents

Violent clashes during Bleeding Kansas.

Brooks vs. Sumner Incident

A physical attack in Congress symbolizing sectional conflict.

Dred Scott Case

Supreme Court ruling that slaves were property, not citizens, inflaming tensions.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Debates that highlighted national divisions over slavery’s expansion.

Raid at Harpers Ferry

John Brown’s failed attempt to incite a slave revolt.

Election of 1860

Lincoln’s election prompted Southern secession.

Formation of the Confederacy

Southern states seceded, forming a pro-slavery government.

Southern Justifications for Slavery

Claims that slavery was economically and socially necessary.

Why did states join the Confederacy?

To protect slavery and assert states’ rights.

North’s Anaconda Plan

Blockade, control of the Mississippi, and division of the South.

Fort Sumter

Location where the war began with a Confederate victory in South Carolina.

First Bull Run

An early Confederate victory that revealed the war’s seriousness.

Second Bull Run

Another Confederate victory in Northern Virginia.

Antietam

The bloodiest single day of battle, leading to the Emancipation Proclamation.

Shiloh

High casualties secured Union control of western Tennessee.

Gettysburg

The turning point; Union victory that halted Confederate invasion of the North.

Vicksburg

Union control of the Mississippi River, splitting the Confederacy.

Richmond

The fall of the Confederate capital, signaling the war’s end.

Emancipation Proclamation

Shifted the war’s focus to abolishing slavery.

North’s Advantages

Industry, population, and transportation gave the Union an edge.

South’s Advantages

Skilled generals and home-field advantage.

Civil War Impact

North strengthened economically; South devastated.

Gettysburg Address

Redefined the war as a fight for democracy and equality.