Nationalism, Sectionalism, and Civil War Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts related to nationalism, sectionalism, and the American Civil War.

Nationalism

A strong sense of pride, devotion, and loyalty toward one's country, emphasizing national unity over regional interests.

Sectionalism

Exaggerated devotion or loyalty to the interests of a specific region rather than to the nation as a whole, which heightened political tensions prior to the Civil War.

States' Rights

The political doctrine holding that individual states possess authority separate from the federal government, often invoked by Southern states regarding federal laws.

Compromise of 1850

A series of five legislative bills that admitted California as a free state, created popular sovereignty in New Mexico and Utah, ended the slave trade in Washington, D.C., and strengthened fugitive slave enforcement.

Fugitive Slave Act

A strict law requiring federal officers and ordinary citizens in all states to assist in capturing escaped enslaved individuals and punishing those who aided them.

Popular Sovereignty

A political principle allowing residents of a territory or state to vote directly on whether or not to permit slavery within their borders.

Abolitionism

A organized social and political reform movement dedicated to immediately eradicating slavery and freeing enslaved people.

Underground Railroad

A secret network of escape routes, safe houses, and assistance provided by volunteers to help enslaved people escape to free states or Canada.

Harriet Tubman

A prominent abolitionist who escaped slavery and made approximately 13 dangerous trips back South as a key conductor of the covert escape network, rescuing over 70 people.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

An influential 1852 anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe that detailed the brutality of slavery and significantly expanded Northern anti-slavery sentiment.

Dred Scott Decision

An 1857 Supreme Court ruling stating that African Americans were not U.S. citizens, that enslaved individuals were constitutionally protected property, and that federal bans on territorial slavery were unconstitutional.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

An 1854 law that overturned the Missouri Compromise by applying popular sovereignty to two newly organized territories, triggering widespread violent conflicts known as Bleeding Kansas.

Election of 1860

The presidential contest in which Abraham Lincoln was elected without winning any Southern electoral votes, prompting seven Southern states to break away from the nation.

Secession

The formal act of withdrawing from a political union, specifically executed by eleven Southern states leaving the United States in 1860–1861.

Confederacy

The government established in 1861 by the eleven Southern states that withdrew from the U.S. to safeguard slavery and state sovereignty.

Union

The national U.S. government and the Northern and border states that remained faithful to federal authority throughout the Civil War.