U.S. History: Antebellum Era, Sectionalism, and the Road to the Civil War

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering political parties, key historical compromises, acts, court cases, and prominent figures of 19th-century American history leading up to the Civil War.

Whigs

A political party that emerged in the 1830s purely to focus on opposing the policies of Andrew Jackson, and who disliked "manifest destiny".

Republicans

A political party formed in 1854 to oppose the extension of slavery to the new territories.

Democrats

A political party whose dominant worldview was social conservatism and economic liberalism with a branch of populism ("common people" often in opposition to a perceived elite), holding its greatest strength in the rural south.

Know Nothings

A political group that pledged to vote for no one except native-born Protestants and held no opinion on slavery.

Sectionalism

The idea that individual communities of people create individual sections and loyalties within a larger policy.

Cotton Gin

A machine invented by Eli Whitney in 1793 that sped up cotton production, leading to an increase in enslaved people in the South.

Popular Sovereignty

A principle where voters decide whether or not to permit slavery.

The Liberator

William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist journal, dated to 1834.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

A best-selling autobiography written by Frederick Douglass and published in 1845.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that God intended for the U.S. to occupy North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Three-Fifth's Compromise (1787)

A constitutional agreement counting $\frac{3}{5}$ of enslaved people for state representation.

Electoral College (1787)

A system that determines presidential elections as a compromise between congressional election and popular vote of qualified citizens; provides 2 electors per state with further electors dependent on population.

Louisiana Purchase (1803)

An event where Napoleon Bonaparte directed his emissaries to offer the French Louisiana Territory to Americans due to his need for funds to fight the British.

Missouri Compromise (1820)

An agreement that drew a line from east to west along the 36th parallel, dividing the nation into half free and half slave territories.

Texas Revolution (1836)

An uprising where white settlers declared Texas independent as the "Lone Star Republic".

Mexican-American War (1846–1848)

A conflict initiated after President Polk ordered troops into territory recognized as Mexican territory, declared that Mexico attacked, and asked Congress for a declaration of war.

Mexican Cession (1848)

Land acquired by the U.S. comprising California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and portions of Colorado and Wyoming.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1846–1848)

The treaty that brought an official end to the Mexican-American War.

Compromise of 1850

Legislation that admitted California as a free state, established territorial governments for Utah and New Mexico, defined the Texas–U.S. boundary, abolished the slave trade in D.C., and amended the Fugitive Slave Act.

Fugitive Slave Act (1850)

A law requiring federal and local law enforcement in all states to arrest suspected fugitive slaves, while subjecting anyone aiding an escaped enslaved person to imprisonment and fines.

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

A measure meant to quiet the national slavery argument by letting Western territories decide whether to accept slavery without federal intervention, resulting in the opposite effect.

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1856–1857)

A U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling that Black people, whether enslaved or free, were not U.S. citizens and could not sue in federal court.

Southern Secession (1860–1861)

The formal withdrawal from the Union by South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, accompanied by threats of secession from Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

Crittenden Compromise (1860–1861)

A failed constitutional amendment aimed at preventing the Civil War by permanently protecting slavery, reinstating the 36°30' line, strictly enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act, and barring Congress from interfering with slavery in the states.

William Lloyd Garrison

An abolitionist who viewed slavery as both a sin and a crime, advocated for immediate abolition, and published the journal The Liberator.

John Brown

An abolitionist committed to eradicating slavery who believed God intended him to impose a "restraining fear" on his proslavery neighbors.

Eli Whitney

The inventor who created the cotton gin in 1793.

John C. Calhoun

A powerful politician who denounced the Tariff of Abominations in the South Carolina Exposition & Protest, viewing it as unconstitutional, unequal, and oppressive.

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney

The Supreme Court Chief Justice who wrote the opinion in Dred Scott v. Sanford ruling that the court lacked jurisdiction because Scott was, or had been, an enslaved person.

Stephen Douglas

A political leader who represented the Northern Democrats.

Abraham Lincoln

Leader of the Republican Party elected in 1860 who believed enslaved people had the right to "life, liberty, & pursuit of happiness" (meaning freedom from enslavement, not citizenship), while also holding that the white race was superior.

John C. Breckinridge

A pro-slavery Vice-President nominated for the presidency by Southern Democrats at a rival convention.

Thomas Jefferson

Leader of the Democratic-Republican Party and a lifelong slaveholder who considered slavery morally evil but did not advocate for immediate emancipation.

Andrew Jackson

Presidential figure associated with Jacksonian democracy, advocating for equal political power for all, whose policies prompted the founding of the Whig Party.

Frederick Douglass

An abolitionist who joined the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, believed in the immediate emancipation of slavery, and authored his 1845 narrative.