UNIT IV APUSH: ANTEBELLUM

"King Cotton" ("cash crop")

A phrase used to describe the immense economic and political power of cotton production in the South. As a "cash crop," it was grown primarily for sale and profit rather than for use by the grower, and its cultivation was dependent on enslaved labor.

Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe

An incredibly influential anti-slavery novel that depicted the harsh realities of slavery and humanized its victims, galvanizing abolitionist sentiment in the North.

Gabriel Prosser and Prosser's Rebellion 1800

An enslaved blacksmith in Virginia who planned a large-scale slave rebellion. The plot was discovered before it could be carried out, and Prosser and dozens of others were executed.

Nat Turner's Rebellion 1831

A violent slave rebellion in Virginia led by Nat Turner that resulted in the deaths of over 50 white people and, in retaliation, the killing of more than 200 Black people. The rebellion terrified the South and led to the passage of much stricter slave codes.

Defenses of Slavery

"Disquisition on Government" (1850) by John C. Calhoun

Free Blacks

African Americans who were not enslaved. They lived under the constant threat of being re-enslaved and faced severe legal, social, and economic discrimination in both the North and the South.

The Second Great Awakening

A Protestant religious revival movement during the early 19th century that emphasized personal salvation, individual responsibility, and the idea that society could be perfected. It fueled many of the era's reform movements.

Transcendentalism

A philosophical and literary movement, centered in New England, that emphasized individualism, self-reliance, and the inherent goodness of humanity and nature. Key figures included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.