American History Exam 3

Andrew Jackson

The 7th U.S. president who expanded presidential power and was known for his populist appeal and implementation of the Indian Removal Act.

The Trail of Tears

The forced relocation of Native American tribes from their homelands to designated territory west of the Mississippi, causing thousands of deaths.

The Theory of Nullification

The idea that states could nullify or invalidate federal laws they deemed unconstitutional, promoted by John C. Calhoun.

Charles Grandison Finney

A leading preacher in the Second Great Awakening known for his emotional revival meetings and call for personal salvation.

The Second Great Awakening

A 19th-century religious revival that emphasized personal faith, emotional worship, and societal reforms like abolition and temperance.

The Abolitionist Movement

A campaign to end slavery in the United States, gaining strength in the 1800s through speeches, publications, and activism.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a powerful anti-slavery novel that fueled abolitionist support in the North.

Louisa May Alcott

Author of Little Women and supporter of women's rights and abolition during the 19th century.

Nat Turner

Enslaved preacher who led a violent slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831, heightening tensions over slavery in the South.

Angelina Grimke

Southern-born abolitionist and women’s rights advocate who spoke out against slavery and gender inequality.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that the U.S. was destined to expand across the North American continent, used to justify westward expansion.

The Alamo

A pivotal battle during the Texas Revolution where a small group of Texans fought to the death against Mexican forces.

The Wilmot Proviso

A proposed law in 1846 that would have banned slavery in territory acquired from Mexico, sparking major debate.

The Gold Rush

A mass migration to California in 1849 after gold was discovered, accelerating statehood and economic growth.

The Compromise of 1850

A package of laws meant to ease tensions between slave and free states; it included the Fugitive Slave Act and admitted California as a free state.

John Brown

A radical abolitionist who used violence against slavery, including the raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854 law that allowed territories to decide on slavery through popular sovereignty, leading to "Bleeding Kansas."

The Dred Scott decision

A Supreme Court ruling that stated slaves were property and could not sue; it also declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.

The Lincoln-Douglas debates

A series of 1858 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, mainly focused on the issue of slavery in the territories.

Harpers Ferry

Location of John Brown’s failed attempt to start a slave uprising by seizing a federal arsenal in 1859.

Fort Sumter

The site in South Carolina where the first shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861.

Abraham Lincoln

The 16th U.S. president who led the country during the Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

Ulysses S. Grant

Union general who led the North to victory in the Civil War and later became the 18th U.S. president.

Robert E. Lee

Commanding general of the Confederate Army during the Civil War, respected for his military tactics.

The Emancipation Proclamation

An executive order by Lincoln in 1863 freeing slaves in Confederate-held territories.

Gettysburg

The turning point battle of the Civil War in 1863; a major Union victory that stopped Lee’s invasion of the North.

The 13th Amendment

An amendment to the Constitution ratified in 1865 that abolished slavery in the United States.

Lincoln’s Assassination

The killing of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth in 1865, just days after the Civil War ended.

Andrew Johnson

Lincoln’s vice president who became president after the assassination; clashed with Congress during Reconstruction.

Compromise of 1877

An agreement that ended Reconstruction by withdrawing federal troops from the South in exchange for Rutherford B. Hayes becoming president.