Slavery's Expansion and American Compromises

These flashcards cover key terms and concepts related to the expansion of slavery, compromises in American history, and significant amendments following the Civil War.

Manifest Destiny

The belief in the 19th century that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

Missouri Compromise

An agreement passed in 1820 to maintain the balance between slave states and free states by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.

Sectionalism

An exaggerated devotion to the interests of a region, leading to division, especially between the North and South before the Civil War.

Popular Sovereignty

The principle allowing the residents of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed.

Compromise of 1850

A set of laws aimed at resolving tensions between slave and free states, including the admission of California as a free state and the Fugitive Slave Act.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

An 1854 law that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, allowing settlers to determine through popular sovereignty whether they would allow slavery.

Emancipation Proclamation

A presidential proclamation by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 that declared the freedom of all slaves in Confederate states.

14th Amendment

An amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, defining citizenship and guaranteeing equal protection under the law.

Fifteenth Amendment

An amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1870, prohibiting the denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Black Codes

Laws enacted in the South after the Civil War to restrict the rights of freed African Americans.