Road to War and Civil War - Historical SignificanceCompromise of 1850

Attempted to ease sectional tensions by admitting California as a free state while strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act; temporarily delayed but ultimately failed to prevent the Civil War as it intensified Northern-Southern divisions over slavery expansion

Compromise of 1850

Attempted to ease sectional tensions by admitting California as a free state while strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act; temporarily delayed but ultimately failed to prevent the Civil War as it intensified Northern-Southern divisions over slavery expansion

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed popular sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska; led to violent conflict in "Bleeding Kansas" and further polarized North and South, contributing to the breakdown of political compromise

Ostend Manifesto

Secret 1854 document proposing US acquisition of Cuba from Spain; exposed and condemned by Northerners who viewed it as a Southern plot to expand slavery, increasing sectional distrust

Bleeding Kansas

Series of violent confrontations in Kansas Territory (1854-1861) between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers; demonstrated that popular sovereignty could lead to violence and made compromise increasingly impossible

Sumner-Brooks Beating

1856 assault where Congressman Preston Brooks caned Senator Charles Sumner on the Senate floor; symbolized the breakdown of civil discourse and demonstrated how violence was replacing political debate in sectional conflicts

Dred Scott v. Sandford

1857 Supreme Court decision denying citizenship to African Americans and declaring Missouri Compromise unconstitutional; inflamed sectional tensions by legally protecting slavery expansion and convinced many Northerners the "Slave Power" controlled the government

John Brown and Harper's Ferry Raid

1859 failed attempt by abolitionist to spark a slave uprising by seizing a federal arsenal; terrified the South and convinced them that the North wanted to eliminate slavery through violence, accelerating the move toward secession

Republican Party

Formed in 1854 in opposition to slavery expansion; represented the North's political consolidation against the South and its 1860 victory with Lincoln triggered Southern secession

Abraham Lincoln

First Republican president whose election in 1860 without a single Southern electoral vote convinced the South that they had lost political power, directly triggering secession and the Civil War

Election of 1860

Four-way presidential race that revealed the nation's sectional divisions; Lincoln's victory without any Southern support prompted immediate secession of seven Southern states, making war inevitable

Fort Sumter

Confederate attack on federal fort in April 1861 that began the Civil War; forced border states and remaining Northerners to choose sides, unifying the North for war

Bull Run/Manassas

First major battle (July 1861) where Confederate victory shattered Northern hopes for a quick war; revealed the conflict would be long and bloody, leading both sides to mobilize for total war

Robert E. Lee

Confederate general whose military skill prolonged the war and inflicted massive casualties; his eventual surrender at Appomattox ended the Confederacy and preserved the Union

Ulysses S. Grant

Union general whose strategy of total war and relentless offensive campaigns defeated the Confederacy; his victories at Vicksburg and acceptance of Lee's surrender secured Union victory and ended slavery

Jefferson Davis

President of the Confederate States whose leadership of the rebellion symbolized Southern resistance; his capture marked the Confederacy's collapse and failure of secession

Anaconda Plan

Union strategy to blockade Southern ports and control the Mississippi River; successfully strangled Confederate economy and split the Confederacy, demonstrating how Northern industrial power could defeat the South

Emancipation Proclamation

1863 executive order freeing slaves in rebel states; transformed the war into a moral crusade against slavery, prevented European intervention, and enabled African American military service crucial to Union victory

Lives of Black soldiers

Nearly 200,000 Black soldiers served in the Union Army despite facing discrimination and Confederate threats of execution; their service proved essential to Union victory and advanced the cause of racial equality

Total War

Union strategy targeting civilian infrastructure and resources, not just armies; broke Confederate will to fight and revolutionized modern warfare by making entire populations legitimate military targets

NYC Draft Riots

1863 violent uprising against military conscription that targeted Black Americans; revealed Northern racism and class tensions that undermined the Union war effort and complicated emancipation

"Copperhead" Democrats

Northern Democrats who opposed the war and emancipation; their criticism undermined war support and highlighted political divisions that threatened Union cohesion during the conflict

Gettysburg

July 1863 battle that was the war's turning point; ended Confederate invasion of North and Lee's offensive capability, ensuring the Confederacy could never achieve decisive military victory

Sherman's March to the Sea

1864 Union campaign destroying Georgia's infrastructure and resources; broke Confederate civilian morale, proved the South couldn't protect its citizens, and demonstrated total war's effectiveness in crushing rebellionAntietam

September 1862 bloodiest single-day battle; Union tactical victory provided Lincoln the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, transforming the war's purpose and preventing European recognition of the Confederacy

April 1865 site of Lee's surrender to Grant; ended the Civil War, preserved the Union, abolished slavery, and established federal government supremacy over states

John Wilkes Booth

Confederate sympathizer who assassinated President Lincoln on April 14, 1865, just days after Lee's surrender; his act plunged the nation into mourning, eliminated Lincoln's moderate Reconstruction vision, and intensified sectional bitterness during the postwar period