Civil War Causes & Key Event
American Civil War Causes
Main causes:
• Slavery expansion into new territories
• Economic differences (industrial North vs agricultural South)
• States’ rights vs federal authority
• Sectionalism
Important events leading to war:
• Kansas–Nebraska Act (1854)
• Allowed popular sovereignty to decide slavery in Kansas/Nebraska
• Led to Bleeding Kansas
• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
• Supreme Court ruled enslaved people were not citizens
• Congress could not ban slavery in territories
• Wilmot Proviso (1846)
• Proposed banning slavery in Mexican Cession territories
• Failed but increased sectional tensions
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Battle of Antietam (1862)
• Bloodiest single-day battle of the Civil War
• Allowed Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation
• Prevented European support for the Confederacy
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Reconstruction
Andrew Johnson
• Lincoln’s successor
• Favored lenient Reconstruction for the South
• Clashed with Radical Republicans
• First president impeached (but not removed)
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Booker T. Washington vs W. E. B. Du Bois
Booker T. Washington
• Promoted vocational training
• Believed Black Americans should gain rights gradually
W.E.B. Du Bois
• Wanted immediate civil rights
• Helped found the NAACP
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Dawes Severalty Act (1887)
• Broke Native American reservations into individual land plots
• Goal: force assimilation
• Result: Natives lost millions of acres of land
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Labor & Industrialization
Knights of Labor
• Early national labor union
• Included skilled and unskilled workers
• Wanted:
• 8-hour workday
• end of child labor
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American Federation of Labor (AFL)
Led by Samuel Gompers
Focused on:
• Skilled workers
• Higher wages
• Better working conditions
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Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)
• First federal law to break up monopolies
• Often not enforced well at first
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Boss Tweed
• Political boss of Tammany Hall in New York
• Known for corruption and political machines
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Economic & Social Ideas
The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie
Idea:
• Wealthy people should use their money to benefit society
Example:
• Carnegie funded libraries and universities
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Social Gospel movement
Belief that Christians should:
• Help the poor
• Improve social conditions
• Address inequality
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Farmers & Populism
The Grange
• Farmers’ organization
• Wanted government regulation of railroads and grain storage
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Populist Party
Represented farmers and workers.
Key demands:
• Free silver
• Direct election of senators
• Government ownership of railroads
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Immigration & African American Migration
Exoduster Movement
• African Americans moved to Kansas after Reconstruction
• Escaping racism and violence in the South
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Agriculture Systems
Sharecropping
• Farmers rented land from landowners
• Paid with a share of crops
• Often trapped farmers in debt
Crop-Lien System
• Farmers borrowed money using crops as collateral
• Led to cycle of debt
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Reform & Urban Help
Jane Addams
• Founded Hull House
Settlement House Movement
• Helped immigrants and poor urban families
• Provided:
• education
• childcare
• healthcare
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Imperialism
Open Door Policy
• U.S. policy toward China
• Wanted equal trade access for all nations
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Jim Crow & the New South
Jim Crow laws
• Laws enforcing racial segregation
• Mainly in the Southern states
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Key Idea: Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny
Belief that the United States was destined to expand westward across North America.
Effects:
• Westward expansion
• Conflict with Native Americans
• Expansion of slavery debates
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VERY Likely APUSH Test Questions
Be ready to answer:
1️⃣ How industrialization affected workers
2️⃣ Differences between Knights of Labor and AFL
3️⃣ Causes of the Civil War
4️⃣ Goals of the Populist movement
5️⃣ Effects of the Dawes Act on Native Americans
6️⃣ Difference between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois
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✅ Fast way to study tonight (30 minutes):
1. Memorize key definitions
2. Focus on WHY each mattered
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