north and south conflict

Walker Tariff (1846)

A tariff passed to reduce the existing tariff rates and promote trade in the United States.

Transportation Revolution

A period of rapid growth in the speed and convenience of travel due to new methods of transportation.

Clipper Ships

Fast sailing ships with sleek hulls and tall sails that became popular in the mid-1800s.

Transcontinental Railroad

A railroad that connects the east and west coasts of the United States, facilitating movement and trade.

Commonwealth vs. Hunt

A landmark case that established the legality of labor unions in the United States.

King Cotton

A slogan used to indicate the dominance of the cotton industry and its importance to the Southern economy.

Fire-eaters

A group of pro-slavery Southern politicians who were advocates for the expansion of slavery.

Popular Sovereignty/Squatter Sovereignty

A political doctrine that allowed the settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed there.

Wilmot Proviso

An unsuccessful proposal to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico.

Compromise of 1850

A series of laws aimed at resolving the conflict over slavery; included provisions like the Fugitive Slave Act.

Fugitive Slave Act

A law that required the return of runaway slaves to their owners, even in free states.

Personal Liberty Laws

State laws that aimed to counteract the Fugitive Slave Act by guaranteeing rights to escaped slaves.

Election of 1852

Election that resulted in the defeat of the Whig Party and the rise of the Democratic Party.

Free Soil Party

A political party dedicated to the opposing expansion of slavery into the western territories.

George Fitzhugh, Sociology for the South

A book arguing for the superiority of the Southern way of life and the institution of slavery.

Ostend Manifesto

A document that proposed the annexation of Cuba, advocating for the expansion of slave territory.

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty

A treaty that provided for the joint construction and control of a canal across Central America.

William Walker/Filibusters in Latin America

America adventurers who attempted to annex Latin American territories, notably Walker's Nicaragua.

Matthew Perry & Japan

A U.S. naval officer who opened Japan to American trade in 1854.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe

A novel that portrayed the harsh realities of slavery and galvanized anti-slavery sentiment.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Legislation that allowed territories to decide the slavery issue through popular sovereignty, leading to conflict.

Know-Nothing Party

A political party that was anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic, emerging in the mid-1850s.

Nativism

The policy of protecting the interests of native-born against those of immigrants.

Origins of the Republican Party

Formed in the 1850s with a platform opposing the extension of slavery and comprised of various anti-slavery groups.

Sumner-Brooks Affair

A violent confrontation in Congress reflecting the intense divisions over slavery.

Bleeding Kansas

A series of violent political confrontations involving anti-slavery and pro-slavery elements in Kansas.

Dred Scott Case

A Supreme Court case that ruled African Americans were not citizens and Congress had no authority to restrict slavery in territories.

Lecompton Constitution

A pro-slavery constitution proposed for Kansas; it was rejected by Congress.

Panic of 1857

An economic crisis that caused widespread financial panic and prompted debates over slavery.

Lincoln-Douglas debates

A series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas during the Illinois Senate race.

Freeport Doctrine

Stephen Douglas's belief that despite the Dred Scott decision, territories could still effectively exclude slavery.

John Brown

An abolitionist who believed in armed insurrection as the only way to overthrow the institution of slavery.

Harper’s Ferry

The site of John Brown's failed raid on a federal armory in 1859, intended to incite a slave uprising.

Constitutional Union Party

A political party formed in 1860 to preserve the Union and avoid the issue of slavery.

Hinton Helper – The Impending Crisis

A book that argued against slavery from an economic perspective, advocating for the interests of non-slaveholding whites.

Millard Fillmore

The 13th president of the United States, who supported the Compromise of 1850.

Franklin Pierce

The 14th president of the United States, known for his support of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

The Election of 1860

An election that led to Abraham Lincoln’s presidency and heightened tensions that resulted in the Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln

The 16th president of the United States, who led the nation during the Civil War and worked to end slavery.

Fort Sumter

The site in Charleston, South Carolina, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.

Secession

The act of withdrawing formally from membership of a federation or body, especially a political state.

Confederate States of America

A collection of secessionist states that formed their own government in 1861.

Civil War – repressible or irrepressible conflict

Debate over whether the Civil War was avoidable or the inevitable outcome of sectional tensions.