Untitled Flashcards Set

1850s

1. Compromise of 1850: Balanced free and slave states but heightened tensions over the Fugitive Slave Law.

2. Personal Liberty Laws: Northern resistance to the Fugitive Slave Law protected escaped slaves.

3. Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Novel exposing slavery’s brutality, intensifying sectional tensions.

4. Kansas-Nebraska Act: Allowed popular sovereignty, leading to violent conflicts in Kansas.

5. Formation of the Republican Party: Anti-slavery party opposing the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

6. Lawrence vs. Pottawatomie Creek Incidents: Violent clashes during Bleeding Kansas.

7. Brooks vs. Sumner Incident: Physical attack in Congress symbolizing sectional conflict.

8. Dred Scott Case: Supreme Court ruled slaves were property, not citizens, inflaming tensions.

9. Lincoln-Douglas Debates: Debates highlighted national divisions over slavery’s expansion.

10. Raid at Harpers Ferry: John Brown’s failed attempt to incite a slave revolt.

11. Election of 1860: Lincoln’s election prompted Southern secession.

12. Formation of the Confederacy: Southern states seceded, forming a pro-slavery government.

13. Southern Justifications for Slavery: Claimed slavery was economically and socially necessary.

Civil War

1. Why did states join the Confederacy?: To protect slavery and assert states’ rights.

2. North’s Anaconda Plan: Blockade, control of the Mississippi, and dividing the South.

3. Fort Sumter: War began with Confederate victory in South Carolina.

4. First Bull Run: Early Confederate victory revealed the war’s seriousness.

5. Second Bull Run: Another Confederate victory in Northern Virginia.

6. Antietam: Bloodiest single day, leading to the Emancipation Proclamation.

7. Shiloh: High casualties secured Union control of western Tennessee.

8. Gettysburg: Turning point; Union victory halted Confederate invasion of the North.

9. Vicksburg: Union gained control of the Mississippi River, splitting the Confederacy.

10. Richmond: Fall of the Confederate capital signaled war’s end.

11. Emancipation Proclamation: Shifted the war’s focus to abolishing slavery.

12. North’s Advantages: Industry, population, and transportation gave the Union an edge.

13. South’s Advantages: Skilled generals and home-field advantage.

14. Civil War Impact: North strengthened economically; South devastated.

15. Gettysburg Address: Redefined the war as a fight for democracy and equality.