IB History 1 SL - U.S. Civil War: Key Terms (Farmer Ch.1)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from Farmer Ch.1 and the linked Civil War reading guide.

Great Experiment

Americans saw themselves as doing things differently from, and more successfully than, the rest of the world.

Republican

A form of government without a monarch (or someone who supports such a government).

Federal

A government in which several states, while largely independent in home affairs, combine for national purposes.

Democratic

A form of government in which ultimate power is vested in the people and their elected representatives.

Declaration of Independence

Thirteen American colonies declared independence from Britain on 4 July 1776.

Confederate

Supporter of the Southern states that seceded from the Union in 1861.

abolitionist

Someone who wanted to end slavery in the USA.

Fire-eaters

Southerners who wanted to leave the Union.

Secede

To leave or quit.

Westward expansion

The United States expanded westward, increasing territory and settlement.

Louisiana Purchase

The 1803 acquisition that doubled the size of the United States by purchasing Louisiana from France.

Slavery

The system of forcing people to work without freedom or compensation; a central issue and failure of the great experiment.

Civil War

The conflict between the North and South in the 1860s; often debated as not strictly a ‘civil’ war because the Confederacy sought independence.

Fort Sumter

The site where the first shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861.

Pearl Harbor

The 1941 Japanese attack cited in notes as a counterpart to firing the first shots; used for comparison to the Civil War event in the guide.

Sectionalism

The division of the U.S. into regional interests (North vs. South) over politics, economy, and slavery.

Union

The Northern states that remained loyal to the United States during the Civil War.

Confederacy

The group of Southern states that seceded from the Union and formed a separate government.

Abolitionism

the desire to end slavery

Temperance

Opposition to the drinking of Alcohol

Plantation Agriculture

Sugar, rice, tobacco and cotton were grown on large Southern estates.

Ordinance

law or regulation

King Cotton

Cotton was so important to the American economy that it became known as 'King Cotton'. 'No power on earth dares to make war on cotton', declared Senator James Hammond in 1858. 'Cotton is king.'

Eli Whitney

Invented the cotton gin

Alexis de Tocqueville

perspective frenchman

feudal hierarchy

A system of social organisation prevalent in Western Europe in the Middle Ages. People held a range of positions within a rigid class system.

The american dream

The idea that the American way of life offers the prospect of economic and social success to every individual.

cult of domesticity

The notion that women's place was in the home.

the 'peculiar institution'-

White Southerners referred to slavery as their 'peculiar' institution. By this they meant that it was special to - and characteristic of - their region.

founding fathers

The men who drew up the Constitution in 1787.

segregation

The system whereby blacks and whites are separated from each other (for example in schools) on grounds of race

Nat Turner

won the support of about 70 slaves and killed 55 whites

Harriet Tubman

escaped slave that helped slaves escape through the underground railroad

Ante-bellum-

the time before the war

paternalistic

A system akin to that of a family, whereby a father looks after and cares for his children.

planters

Men who owned plantations with twenty or more slaves.