History Civil War

Compromise of 1850

Admitted California as a free state, allowed popular sovereignty in new territories, and passed the Fugitive Slave Act.

Fugitive Slave Act

Required the return of escaped enslaved people to their owners.

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Allowed Kansas and Nebraska to decide slavery by popular sovereignty, overturning the Missouri Compromise.

Economic Differences (North vs. South)

The North industrialized with wage labor, while the South relied on plantation agriculture and enslaved labor.

Expansion of Slavery Tension

Disputes over whether slavery should spread into western territories.

Slave Power

Northern belief that Southern slaveholders had excessive influence over the federal government.

Conflicting Ideologies of the Union

Southerners viewed the Union as a compact of states; Northerners viewed it as a permanent nation.

Frederick Douglass

Escaped slave, abolitionist, writer, and speaker who fought for emancipation and civil rights.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, a novel that criticized slavery.

John Brown

Radical abolitionist who led the Harpers Ferry raid in 1859.

Charles Sumner

Abolitionist senator who was caned by Congressman Preston Brooks in 1856.

Abraham Lincoln

16th U.S. President whose election in 1860 led Southern states to secede.

Jefferson Davis

President of the Confederate States of America.

Robert E. Lee

Commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

Ulysses S. Grant

Union general who won key victories and became General-in-Chief in 1864.

Emergence of the Republican Party (1854)

Anti-slavery political party formed in reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Bleeding Kansas

Violent conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in Kansas.

Caning of Charles Sumner (1856)

Preston Brooks attacked Senator Sumner after an anti-slavery speech.

Dred Scott Decision (1857)

Supreme Court ruled Black people were not citizens and declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.

Harpers Ferry Raid (1859)

John Brown's attempt to spark a slave rebellion.

Election of 1860

Lincoln defeated Douglas, Breckinridge, and Bell, triggering Southern secession.

Fort Sumter (1861)

Confederate attack on the federal fort that started the Civil War.

Union Advantages (1861)

Larger population, stronger industry, stronger navy, and control of the federal government.

Confederate Advantages (1861)

Defensive strategy, large territory, military tradition, and local knowledge.

First Battle of Bull Run (1861)

First major Civil War battle; Confederate victory.

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

Freed enslaved people in Confederate territory and allowed Black enlistment in the Union Army.

Battle of Gettysburg (1863)

Major Union victory and turning point of the Civil War.

Capture of Vicksburg (1863)

Gave the Union control of the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy.

March to the Sea (1864)

Union total war campaign led by Sherman that destroyed Confederate infrastructure and morale

Significance of Lincoln's Election (1860)

Led directly to Southern secession and the Civil War.

Border States

Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky; slave states that remained in the Union.