Civil War, Reconstruction and Western Expansion

Civil War

Compromise of 1850: A series of laws enacted in 1850 that attempted to resolve disputes over slavery in new territories. Unfortunately it failed to do so.
Dred Scott Decision: An 1857 Supreme Court ruling that African Americans were not citizens and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in U.S. territories.
Kansas-Nebraska Act: An 1854 law that allowed residents of Kansas and Nebraska to vote on whether to allow slavery (popular sovereignty), leading to violence.
Freeport Doctrine: Stated that communities could exclude slavery by not adopting laws to protect it, further exasperating the slavery issue.
Ostend Manifesto: A document written in 1854 describing the rationale for the U.S. to purchase Cuba from Spain while implying that the U.S. should declare war if Spain refused.
Sectional Differences: The economic, social, and political disparities between the North and the South, primarily concerning slavery and states' rights.
States' Rights: The belief that states have the right to govern themselves and can resist federal laws if they believe they are unconstitutional.
Emancipation Proclamation: An executive order issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, declaring the freedom of slaves in Confederate territories.
Vicksburg: The Siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee marched from their base across the Mississippi River and commenced an offensive which drove the Confederate army into defensive lines protecting the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Anaconda Plan: The initial Civil War strategy by the Union to defeat the Confederacy by blockading southern ports and controlling the Mississippi River, effectively cutting the South in two.
Missouri Compromise: An agreement in 1820 that regulated slavery in western territories, prohibiting slavery above the 36°30′ parallel, except for Missouri.
Frederick Douglass: A prominent African American abolitionist, writer, and orator who advocated for the end of slavery and equal rights.
Popular Sovereignty: The principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives (Rule by the People), who are the source of all political power.
Abraham Lincoln: The 16th President of the United States, who led the Union during the Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

Reconstruction

Reconstruction: The period after the Civil War (1865-1877) focused on rebuilding the South and reintegrating it into the Union, while also addressing the rights of newly freed slaves.
Carpetbaggers: Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War, often seeking economic or political gain.
Radical Republicans: A faction of the Republican Party that advocated for the abolition of slavery and equal rights for African Americans during Reconstruction.
Debt Peonage: A system where individuals are forced to work to pay off a debt, often trapping them in a cycle of servitude.
Sharecropping: A system in which former slaves and poor whites worked land owned by others in return for a share of the crops.
African American Migration: The movement of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North and West, seeking better opportunities and escaping racial discrimination.
Jim Crow Laws: State and local laws enacted in the Southern United States to enforce racial segregation.
Ku Klux Klan: A white supremacist terrorist group that used violence and intimidation to suppress African Americans and maintain white dominance.
Black Codes: Restrictive laws passed in Southern states after the Civil War to limit the freedom and rights of African Americans.
13th Amendment: Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
Gettysburg: The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863) was fought in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. The battle with the most casualties of the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point.
14th Amendment: Granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves, and guaranteed equal protection under the law.
Gettysburg Address: A famous speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln in November 1863 at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, emphasizing the principles of equality, freedom, and national unity.
15th Amendment: Prohibited the denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Nadir: The period in the history of the Southern United States from the end of Reconstruction in 1877 through the early 20th century, when racism was worse than in any other period after the American Civil War.
Freedmen's Bureau: A U.S. federal government agency established in 1865 to aid freed slaves (freedmen) in the South during the Reconstruction era of the United States.
Scalawags: White Southerners who supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party, often seen as traitors by other Southerners.

Westward Expansion

Westward Expansion: The 19th-century movement of settlers into the American West, driven by the search for land, gold, and opportunity.
Reservation System: The policy of confining Native Americans to specific areas of land, often with poor conditions and limited resources.
Dawes Act: An 1887 law that divided Native American reservation land into individual allotments, aiming to assimilate them into American society.
Assimilation: The process by which a person or group's language and/or culture come to resemble those of another group.
Trail of Tears: The forced removal of Cherokee and other Native American tribes from their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States to areas west of the Mississippi River.
Farmers: Individuals engaged in agriculture, cultivating land, or raising stock.
Homestead Act: An 1862 law that granted 160 acres of public land to settlers who agreed to live on and cultivate it for five years.
Agricultural Surplus: An amount of agricultural production that exceeds the needs of the society for which it is produced, and may be exported or stored for future times.
Cross of Gold: "Cross of Gold" was the title of a speech delivered by William Jennings Bryan, a former United States Representative from Nebraska, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on July 9, 1896. In the address, Bryan supported bimetallism or "free silver", which he believed would bring the nation prosperity.
Farmers' Alliance: An agrarian movement during the 1870s and 1880s that sought to improve economic conditions for farmers through political activism and cooperative efforts.
Grange: Also known as the Patrons of Husbandry, a fraternal organization for American farmers that encourages farm families to band together for their common economic and political well-being.
Granger Laws: A series of laws passed in several Midwestern states in the late 1860s and early 1870s to regulate railroad rates and practices.
Populism: A political movement that emerged in the late 19th century, advocating for the rights and interests of common people against the elite.
Interstate Commerce Act: An 1887 law that regulated railroad rates and practices, establishing the Interstate Commerce Commission to oversee the industry.
Railroads: A major mode of transportation, especially in the late 19th century, which facilitated the movement of goods and people across the country.
Sherman Silver Purchase Act: Enacted in 1890, it required the U.S. government to purchase nearly twice as much silver as before, but it did not mandate the free coinage of silver.
William Jennings Bryan: A dominant force in the populist wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as the Party's nominee for President of the United States.

Key Questions

What were the causes and consequences of the Civil War?
Who were the significant people or groups of Reconstruction and what were their goals?
What were the issues that divided Republicans during the early Reconstruction Era?
What impact did the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution have on African Americans and others?
How did Jim Crow laws influence life for African Americans and other racial/ethnic minority groups?
What effects did the Black Codes and the Nadir have on freed people?
What were the effects of sharecropping and debt peonage as practiced in the United States?
Why did Reconstruction fail?
How did Westward Expansion influence the lives of Native Americans?
What were the economic challenges to American farmers and how did farmers respond to these challenges in the mid to late 1800s?