Social Studies Final Vocab

U6L18, U6L19, & U7L21

Second Great Awakening - a revival of religious feeling and belief from the 1800s to the 1840s

Trancendentalism - a philosophy emphasizing that people would transcend, or go beyond, logical thinking to reach true understanding, with the help of emotions and institution

Reform Movements - to make change in order to bring about improvement, end abuses, or correct injustices

Abolitionist - a person who supported abolition (the ending of slavery)

Seneca Falls Convention - the gathering of supporters of women’s rights in July 1848 that launched the movement for women’s right to vote

Declaration of Sentiments - a formal statement of injustices suffered by women, written by the organizers of the Seneca Falls convention. Sentiments means “beliefs” or “convictions”

Popular Sovereignty - the authority to govern comes from people, not from a divine right or other source

Agrarian - person who favors an agricultural way of life and government policies that support agricultural interests

Cotton gin - a hand-operated machine that cleans seeds and other unwanted material from cotton

Deforestation - the clearing away of forests

Industrial Revolution - the dramatic change in economies and cultures brought about by the use of machines to do work formerly done by hands

Industrialist - person whose wealth comes from the ownership of industrial businesses and who favors government policies that support industry

Plantation - a large area of privately owned land where crops were grown by workers who were enslaved or free

Pull factor - an influence that draws someone to a new location

Push factor - an influence that drives someone away from a location

Compromise of 1850 - the agreements made in order to admit California into the union as a state without slavery. These agreements included:

allowing the New Mexico and Utah territories to decide whether to allow slavery

outlawing the trade of enslaved people in Washington, D.C.

creating a stronger law targeting fugitives slavery

Dred Scott Decision - a Supreme Court decision in 1857 that held that African Americans could never be citizens of the United States and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional

Fugitive - a person who flees or tries to escape (for example: from slavery)

Kansas-Nebraska Act - an act passed in 1854 that created the Kansas and Nebraska territories and abolished the Missouri Compromise by allowing settlers to determine whether slavery would be allowed in the new territories.

Lincoln-Douglass Debates - a series of political debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglass, who were candidates in the Illinois race for U.S. senator, in which slavery was the main issue

Missouri Compromise - an agreement made by Congress in 1820 under which Missouri was admitted to the Union as a state with slavery and Maine was admitted as a state without slavery. The line for the Missouri Compromise is at 36°30'.

Union - the United States as one nation United under a single government. During the Civil War, “the union” came to mean the government and armies of the North

Wilmot Proviso - a proposal made in 184 to prohibit slavery in the territory added to the United States as a result of the Mexican-American war