Tensions between the North and South (Pre-Civil War) - Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture notes on tensions between the North and South (1846–1861) leading up to the Civil War.

Industrial North

Northern states increasingly industrialized with factories and wage labor, contrasting with a more agrarian South.

Agricultural South

Southern states with an economy based on farming and slavery.

Sectionalism

Loyalty to the interests of one's own region or section over the nation.

Nationalism

Identification with and loyalty to the United States as a whole.

Slavery

System of human bondage that was a central and contentious issue before the Civil War.

Tariff

Tax on imported goods intended to protect domestic industry; often a source of sectional conflict.

Tariff of Abominations

Controversial tariff that led South Carolina to threaten nullification; cited in pre-Civil War tensions.

Nullification

Idea that states could invalidate federal laws or tariffs they deemed unconstitutional.

Dred Scott decision

Supreme Court ruling denying enslaved people citizenship and limiting Congress's power to ban slavery in new territories.

Bleeding Kansas

Series of pro-slavery and anti-slavery conflicts in Kansas that heightened national tensions.

Republican Party

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

Abraham Lincoln

Politician elected President in 1860; his election intensified sectional conflict.

John Brown

Abolitionist whose militant actions (e.g., Harpers Ferry) contributed to rising tensions.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Influential anti-slavery novel that popularized abolitionist sentiment.

Compromise of 1850

Series of laws aimed at resolving tensions over slavery in new territories.

Immigration (Irish and German waves)

Mid-19th century influx of Irish and German immigrants settling in the Northeast, contributing to labor force and facing nativist attitudes.

Free labor

Northern belief in wage labor that could be depressed by the expansion of slavery; a key economic concern.

Manifest Destiny

Belief in westward expansion of the United States, driving settlement and expansion.

Railroads

Rail links that connected the East and West, spurred growth, and facilitated expansion of markets and settlement.

Telegraph

Morse code-based communication that enabled faster long-distance communication and national cohesion.