Video Lecture Flashcards: Tensions between the North and South (1846–1861)

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the lecture notes on pre-Civil War tensions between the North and South.

Industrial North

Region in the North that became increasingly industrialized with factories and wage labor, distinct from the agricultural South.

Agricultural South

Southern United States dominated by farming and an agrarian economy, where slavery played a central role.

Sectionalism

Strong loyalty to a particular region (north vs south) rather than to the nation as a whole.

Nationalism

Identification with the United States as a whole, transcending regional loyalties.

Tariff

A tax on imported goods intended to protect domestic industry and influence trade.

Tariff of Abominations

A historically controversial high tariff that provoked southern opposition and debate.

Nullification

Attempt by a state (notably South Carolina) to cancel or ignore federal tariffs.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Influential anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe that galvanized abolitionist sentiment.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

Supreme Court decision declaring enslaved people were not citizens and had no rights, intensifying sectional conflict.

Bleeding Kansas

Period of violent conflict in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions, contributing to party realignment.

Republican Party

Political party formed in the 1850s opposing the expansion of slavery into new territories.

Election of Abraham Lincoln (1860)

Lincoln’s victory, representing opposition to the expansion of slavery, heightening sectional tensions.

John Brown

Abolitionist known for militant actions against slavery, including Bleeding Kansas and the Harpers Ferry raid.

Compromise of 1850

Series of laws intended to resolve disputes over slavery and territorial status in new areas.

Slavery

System of human bondage central to the sectional conflict and the drive toward the Civil War.

Manifest Destiny

Belief that U.S. expansion westward across the continent was justified and inevitable.

Railroads

19th-century transportation network that linked East and West, facilitated movement of materials, goods, and people, and helped unite the country.

Telegraph

Early communication system using wired lines to transmit messages quickly, aided by Morse code.

Morse Code

System of dots and dashes used to encode messages for the telegraph.

Immigrants (1840s–1850s wave)

New arrivals who often settled in the Northeast for industrial work and faced tensions related to wages and slavery.

Wage Laborers

Workers paid wages in factories and urban industries, contrasted with slave labor.

Northern Cities (Philadelphia, New York, Boston)

Major industrial hubs in the Northeast with growing urban economies.

Westward Expansion / Midwest Growth

Movement and settlement toward the Midwest and West, linked by railroads and driven by manifest destiny.

Federal vs. State vs. the People (Popular Sovereignty)

Debate over whether policy should be set by the federal government, state governments, or the people.

Civil War

Bloodiest war in American history (1861–1865) fought between the Union and Confederacy over unresolved sectional issues.