APUSH Week 11 Vocab + Dates

1838

British Ban on Slavery

1846-1848

Mexican-American War

1848

Seneca Falls Convention

1850

Compromise of 1850

1852

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

1854

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1858

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

1859

John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry

Harriet Beecher Stowe

(1811-1896) American author and daughter of Lyman Beecher, she was an abolitionist and author of the antislavery novel Uncle Toms Cabin.

Sig- Her novel, Uncle Toms cabin, ignited anti-slavery sentiment in the North, deepening sectional tension’s between the North and the South leading to the Civil War.

Frederick Douglas

Famous black abolitionist that escaped from slavery and later wrote a narrative of his life.

Sig-Promoted abolitionist causes, drew a line where evil must denounced, and advocated for black suffrage.

Abolitionist

A person who wanted to end slavery in the U.S

Sig- Reshaped American politics, religion, and morality, paving a way for the Civil War.

Gag Rule (1836)

Prevented anti-slavery discussions in Congress by tabling all abolitionist petitions.

Sig- Symbolizes how slavery divided the U.S and a governmental attempt at suppressing debate.

William Lloyd Garrison

(1815-1879) Prominent American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. Editor of radical abolitionist newspaper “The Liberator”, and one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Sig- His uncompromising stance split the movement but kept focus on the moral urgency of abolition.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

(1815-1902) A suffragette who, with Lucretia Mott, organized the 1st convention on women’s rights, held in Seneca Falls, New York(1848). Issued the Declaration of Sentiments, which declared men and women to be equal and demanded suffrage for women. Co-founded the National Women’s Suffrage Association with Susan B. Anthony in 1869.

Sig- Linked abolitionism with feminism, laying groundwork for future suffrage battles.

Transcendentalism

A philosophy pioneered by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 1830’s and 1840’s, in which each person has direct communication with God and Nature, with no need for organized churches. Incorporated the idea that mind goes beyond matter, intuition is valuable, that each soul is part of the Great Spirit, and each person is part of a reality where only the invisible in truly real.

Sig-Promoted individualism, self-reliance, and freedom from social constraints, and emphasized emotions.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

American Transcendentalist who was against slavery and stressed self-reliance, optimism, self-improvement, self-confidence, and freedom.

Sig- Prime example of a Transcendentalism and helped spread the Transcendentalism movement.

Henry David Thoreau

Transcendentalist; civil disobedience; gov that violates individual morality has no legit authority.

Sig- Influenced environmentalism and non violent resistance.

Shakers

1770’s by “Mother” Ann Lee; utopian group that split from the Quakers; believed that they and all other churches had grown too interested in worldly affairs and become neglectful of their afterlives; prohibited marriage and sexual relationships, and practiced celibacy.

Sig- Challenged gender norms and materialism, offering a radical alternative to mainstream society.

Joseph Smith

Founded Mormonism in New York in 1830 with the guidance of an angel.

Sig- In 1843, Smiths announcement that God sanctioned polygamy split the Mormons and led to an uprising against Mormons in 1844; translated the Book of Mormon and died a martyr.

Oneida

A group of socio-religious perfectionists who lived in New York. Practiced polygamy, communal property, and communal raising of kids.

Sig-Tested the limits of social reform and gender roles in antebellum America.

Brook Farm

A Transcendentalist Utopian experiment, put into practice by transcendentalist former Unitarian minister George Ripely at a farm in West Roxbury Massachusetts. The community, in operation from 1841-1847, was inspired by socialist concepts of Charles Fourier. Fourierism was the belief that there could be a utopian society where people could share together to have a better lifestyle.

Sig- Symbolized the era’s idealism and experimentation.

Horace Mann

Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education; “Father of the public school system”; prominent proponent of public school reform.

Sig- Set the standard for public schools throughout the U.S; lengthened the academic year, pro training and set higher salaries for teachers.

Temperance

Restraint or moderation, especially in regards to alcohol or food.

Sig- Massive social movement aimed at lowering alcohol abuse, mobilized women, influenced politics, and eventually led to Prohibition.

Seneca Falls Convention

(1848) The 1st National Women’s rights convention, at which the Declaration of Sentiments was written.

Sig- Launched the organized women’s movement, advocating for gender equality and women’s suffrage.

Paternalism

The policy or practice of treating/governing people in the manner of a father dealing with his children, providing their needs but not giving them rights.

Sig- Slave owners used this to portray/justify slavery as a “benevolent institution”, reinforcing racial hierarchies and ideologies in the South.