History Exam Full Notes

Culture

The beliefs, customs, traditions, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time.

Politics

The people or groups who have or want power.

Economics

The creation, use, and trade of wealth. How people get what they need or want.

Geography

The study of the earth’s surface, specifically its physical features and climates.

Science/Technology

Machines and tools that help people with jobs.

Urban

Big city areas with tall buildings and many people crowded in.

Rural

The country; people are spread out.

Suburban

Areas where many people live, more spread out than a city.

Industry

Factories.

Agriculture

Farming or raising animals.

Plantation

A rich farm where many slaves work.

Cash crop

A plant that is worth a lot of money.

Economic Differences: North

Cold weather, rocky bad farmland, many railroads, rich people own factories, urban, industrial, free workers.

Economic Differences: South

Hot weather, great farmland, rich people own plantations, very few railroads, rural, agricultural, slaves.

Slavery

When a person is treated like an animal, they are property, and have no rights.

Cotton Economy

The South grew 50% of the world's cotton, with the North and Britain making money turning it into cloth.

Emancipation Proclamation

An action taken by Lincoln that ended slavery in the South.

Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

Required all citizens to help catch runaway slaves; it became a crime to help them.

Sectionalism

Thinking the region or local area you are from is better than all the rest.

States Rights

The belief that state and local governments have more power than the federal government.

John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry

Abolitionist John Brown tried to incite a revolution by arming slaves.

Abraham Lincoln

The president who was elected against slavery but promised not to take away slavery where it already existed.

Fort Sumter

The location where the first shots of the Civil War were fired on April 12, 1861.

Union

The Northern states during the Civil War.

Confederacy

The Southern states that seceded during the Civil War.

Battle of Bull Run

The first major battle of the Civil War; the Confederates won.

Minie ball

An accurate bullet used during the Civil War.

Rifling

The grooves in a gun that cause a bullet to spin.

Anaconda Plan

The North's strategy to blockade all southern ports and choke the South's economy.

Ironclads

Ships covered in iron, used during the Civil War.

Total War

An approach where armies attack both soldiers and civilians.

Sherman’s March to the Sea

An 1864 campaign where Sherman captured and burned Atlanta, destroying everything in his path.

Reconstruction

The period following the Civil War focused on rebuilding the South.

Freedmen’s Bureau

A group established to help former slaves transition to freedom.

Thirteenth Amendment

The amendment that ended slavery.

Fourteenth Amendment

The amendment that granted equal protection under the law for all men.

Fifteenth Amendment

The amendment that granted African American men the right to vote.

Black Codes

Laws intended to restrict the freedoms of African Americans post-Civil War.

Ku Klux Klan

A white terrorist group aimed at keeping African Americans from having rights.

Sharecropping

A system where farmers rent land and give a portion of their crops to the landowner.

Nativists

People who opposed immigration and wanted to restrict new immigrants' rights.

Robber Baron

A person who became wealthy by exploiting others, often involved in unethical business practices.

Andrew Carnegie

A steel magnate who is known for his philanthropy and innovations in steel production.

Labor Unions

Groups of workers who come together to advocate for better working conditions.

Muckraker

A journalist who exposes corruption or social injustices.

Theodore Roosevelt

The first progressive president who championed environmental conservation and anti-monopolistic policies.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that the expansion of the US across the American continents is both justified and inevitable.

Homestead Act

A law that provided free land to settlers willing to farm it in the West.

Reservations

Designated areas of land where Native Americans were forced to live.