Unit 9:Reform Movements and Sectionalis

Abolition Movement

The campaign to end slavery, it grew from religious and Enlightenment ideals, gaining momentum in the 18th-19th centuries from Quaker and Christian influences.

Abraham Lincoln

A Republican leader who opposed slavery's expansion, viewed it as morally wrong, and sought its eventual extinction while prioritizing Union preservation and constitutional principles.

Care of the Disabled

A 19th-century reform effort led by Dorothea Dix to improve conditions for the mentally ill and disabled, advocating for humane treatment and state-funded asylums.

Civil Disobedience

A nonviolent resistance to unjust laws, exemplified by Thoreau's refusal to pay taxes funding slavery and war, advocating individual conscience over government policies.

Compromise of 1850

A set of laws easing North-South tensions by admitting California as a free state, strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act, and allowing popular sovereignty in territories.

Davis' Inaugural Address

A speech asserting the South's right to secede, emphasizing states' rights, and framing the South as preserving constitutional liberties and defending Southern interests.

Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions

A document from the Seneca Falls Convention demanding gender equality, modeled after the Declaration of Independence, addressing women's rights in law, education, and voting.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

A Supreme Court ruling denying citizenship to African Americans, declaring Congress lacked power to ban slavery in territories, strengthening sectional tensions and pushing the nation toward war.

Education Reform

A movement advocating for public schooling, teacher training, and curriculum improvements, led by figures like Horace Mann to promote equal access and democratic citizenship.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

A women's rights activist who co-organized the Seneca Falls Convention, authored the Declaration of Sentiments, and advocated for suffrage, property rights, and legal equality.

Firing on Fort Sumter

The Confederate attack on a federal fort in 1861, marking the Civil War's start and prompting Lincoln to call for troops to preserve the Union.

Frederick Douglass

An escaped slave, abolitionist, and orator who advocated for emancipation, through speeches, The North Star, and his autobiography, influencing anti-slavery movements.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

A law requiring the return of escaped slaves, penalizing those who aided them, increasing Northern resistance, and intensifying sectional tensions before the Civil War.

Hudson River School

A group of 19th-century American painters focused on landscape art, emphasizing natural beauty and the nation's wilderness, symbolizing national identity and manifest destiny.

Jefferson Davis

President of the Confederacy during the Civil War, advocating for states' rights, the preservation of slavery, and the South's independence from the Union.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

A law allowing territories to decide on slavery through popular sovereignty, leading to Bleeding Kansas and intensifying tensions between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions.

Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

A speech where the president reassured the South, pledging not to interfere with slavery where it existed, but emphasizing Union preservation and the opposition to secession.

Prison Reform

A movement advocating for humane treatment of inv, emphasizing rehabilitation over punishment, and led by reformers like Dorothea Dix in the 19th century.

Reform Era

When widespread social efforts sought to improve society. They were inspired by religious revival and democratic ideals, which expanded democracy but deepened sectional tensions.

Republican Party

A new party that emerged from the anti-slavery Whigs, Free Soilers, and abolitionists, aiming to prevent slavery's expansion into the territories.

Second Great Awakening

A religious revival in the early 19th century, it inspired social movements like abolitionism, temperance, women's rights, and prison reform, promoting moral and societal improvements.

Sectionalism Era

A period in the early to mid-19th century marked by growing regional tensions over slavery, economic differences, and political power, ultimately contributing to the Civil War.

Seneca Falls Convention

A 1848 women's rights convention in New York, where activists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton demanded equal rights, including suffrage, through the Declaration of Sentiments.

States' Rights

The belief that states should have authority over their own affairs, particularly regarding issues like slavery and federal laws, often used to justify secession and limit federal power.

Susan B. Anthony

A leading women's rights activist who advocated for coeducation. She fought for women's suffrage, even getting arrested for voting illegally in an election.

Temperance

A social movement in the 19th century aimed at reducing or eliminating alcohol consumption, linked to issues like family welfare, moral reform, and public health.

Transcendentalism

A philosophical movement emphasizing nature, individualism, and self-reliance, with thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau advocating for spiritual and intellectual growth.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

A anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, depicting the harsh realities of slavery, which galvanized abolitionist sentiment and deepened sectional tensions in the U.S.

Women's Rights Movement

A social and political movement advocating for gender equality, focusing on issues like voting rights, education, and legal equality, with leaders like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.