1. Cotton Gin • Definition: A machine invented by Eli Whitney in 1793 that quickly removed seeds from cotton fibers. • Historical Significance: Increased cotton production in the South, making it highly profitable and dramatically increasing the demand for enslaved labor, thus reinforcing slavery. 2. Slave-Owning Society • Definition: A society where the economy, culture, and politics are deeply tied to the institution of slavery. • Historical Significance: The Southern states relied heavily on enslaved labor for their agricultural economy, which led to deep divides between the North and South. 3. Free African Americans • Definition: African Americans who were not enslaved, either by birth, manumission, or escape. • Historical Significance: They faced significant discrimination and had limited rights, but many worked to support abolition and helped others escape slavery via networks like the Underground Railroad. 4. Life of Southern Slaves • Definition: The harsh conditions endured by enslaved people, including forced labor, physical abuse, and lack of freedom. • Historical Significance: Their lives exemplified the brutality of slavery, fueling abolitionist movements in the North. 5. Texas Annexation (1845) • Definition: The incorporation of Texas into the United States. • Historical Significance: Sparked tensions with Mexico, leading to the Mexican-American War, and reignited debates over the expansion of slavery into new territories. 6. Manifest Destiny • Definition: The belief that the United States was destined to expand westward across the continent. • Historical Significance: Justified U.S. territorial expansion, but it also led to conflicts with Native Americans, Mexico, and debates over slavery. 7. Mexican-American War (1846-1848) • Definition: A war between the U.S. and Mexico over territorial disputes, especially Texas. • Historical Significance: Resulted in the U.S. gaining large territories (like California and the Southwest) but intensified debates over slavery. 8. Popular Sovereignty • Definition: The idea that people in a territory should vote to decide whether to allow slavery. • Historical Significance: Tried to resolve the slavery debate but led to violent conflicts, especially in Kansas (“Bleeding Kansas”). 9. California Gold Rush (1848-1855) • Definition: The mass migration to California after gold was discovered. • Historical Significance: Accelerated California’s statehood but raised issues about slavery in new territories. 10. Harriet Tubman • Definition: An escaped enslaved woman who became a conductor on the Underground Railroad. • Historical Significance: Helped hundreds of enslaved people escape to freedom and became a symbol of the abolitionist movement. 11. Compromise of 1850 • Definition: A series of laws meant to balance the interests of free and slave states. • Historical Significance: Included the Fugitive Slave Act, which angered the North and deepened sectional tensions. 12. Free-Soil Party • Definition: A political party opposing the expansion of slavery into new territories. • Historical Significance: Highlighted the growing political divide over slavery. 13. Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) • Definition: Allowed territories to decide on slavery through popular sovereignty. • Historical Significance: Repealed the Missouri Compromise and led to violent clashes in Kansas. 14. Stephen A. Douglas • Definition: A senator who championed popular sovereignty and debated Lincoln in the 1858 Senate race. • Historical Significance: Played a key role in the Kansas-Nebraska Act and national debates over slavery. 15. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) • Definition: A novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe depicting the horrors of slavery. • Historical Significance: Increased anti-slavery sentiment in the North and angered the South. 16. Dred Scott Decision (1857) • Definition: Supreme Court ruling that African Americans were not citizens and that Congress couldn’t ban slavery in territories. • Historical Significance: Infuriated abolitionists and made sectional tensions worse. 17. Bleeding Kansas • Definition: Violent clashes in Kansas over whether the territory would allow slavery. • Historical Significance: Demonstrated the failure of popular sovereignty and escalated tensions leading to the Civil War. 18. Election of 1856 • Definition: James Buchanan (Democrat) won, defeating Republican John C. Frémont. • Historical Significance: Buchanan’s win avoided immediate conflict but failed to prevent the Civil War. 19. Harper’s Ferry/John Brown (1859) • Definition: John Brown’s raid on a federal arsenal to start a slave uprising. • Historical Significance: Polarized the nation and made Brown a martyr for the abolitionist cause. 20. Election of 1860 • Definition: Abraham Lincoln won as the Republican candidate. • Historical Significance: His election prompted Southern states to secede, leading to the Civil War. 21. Abraham Lincoln • Definition: The 16th U.S. president who led the Union during the Civil War. • Historical Significance: Preserved the Union, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and worked to end slavery. 22. Secession • Definition: The withdrawal of Southern states from the Union after Lincoln’s election. • Historical Significance: Directly led to the Civil War. 23. Confederate States of America • Definition: The government formed by Southern states that seceded. • Historical Significance: Their existence caused the Civil War. 24. Fort Sumter (1861) • Definition: A Union fort in South Carolina where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. • Historical Significance: Marked the official start of the Civil War. 25. Civil War Border States • Definition: Slaveholding states that stayed in the Union (e.g., Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland). • Historical Significance: Their loyalty was crucial to the Union’s strategy.