Constitution
What constitutional principle ensures that no single branch of government becomes too powerful by allowing each branch to limit the actions of the others?
Checks and Balances
Which branch of government is headed by the President and responsible for enforcing laws?
The Executive Branch
What belief held that the United States was divinely appointed to expand across the North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean?
Manifest Destiny
What 1820 compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, banning slavery north of the 36-30 line?
Missouri Compromise
What order issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declared enslaved people in Confederate-controlled territories to be free?
Emancipation Proclamation
What agreement at the Constitutional Convention created a bicameral legislature, balancing state population representation in the House with equal representation in the Senate?
The Great Compromise
Name the 5 basic freedoms protected under the First Amendment
Speech, Religion, Press, Assembly, and Petition
What invention significantly increased cotton production in the South and simultaneously grew the demand for enslaved labor?
Cotton Gin
What law, passed as part of the Compromise of 1850, made it a federal crime to assist runaway slaves and required them to be returned to their owners?
Fugitive Slave Act
Why is the Battle of Gettysburg considered a major military turning point in the Civil War?
It ended the South's last attempt to invade the North, causing severe Confederate losses from which they couldn't recover.
List the three branches of the government and their primary responsibilities
Executive - enforce the law
Legislative - write the law
Judicial - interpret the Constitution
Which branch of the government has the power to declare war?
Legislative Branch (Congress)
What 1830 law resulted in the forced relocation of Native American tribes to western territory, a journey known as the Trail of Tears?
The Indian Removal Act
What anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 dramatized the cruelty of slavery and built widespread abolitionist sentiment in the North?
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Which Reconstruction amendment officially abolished slavery and involuntary servitude across the entire United States?
13th Amendment
Fill in the equation that describes the bi-cameral legislature:
_________ + _________ = Congress
House of Representatives + Senate = Congress
Which amendment reserves any powers not explicitly given to the federal government back to the states?
10th Amendment
What was the primary objective of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention?
To advocate for women's rights
How did the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 repeal the Missouri Compromise?
It allowed territorial settlers to decide the status of slavery through popular sovereignty (voting).
What did the 14th Amendment do?
Guarantees citizenship to all persons born in the U.S., regardless of previous servitude.
Which constitutional compromise allowed Southern states to count a portion of their enslaved population for representation in Congress?
The Three-Fifths Compromise
Which 1803 Supreme Court case established judicial review, strengthening the Judicial branch's power over unconstitutional laws?
Marbury v. Madison
What 1831 event in Virginia was one of the most significant armed slave rebellions in U.S. history, striking fear into Southern plantation owners?
Nat Turner's Revolt
What was the Supreme Court's ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford regarding citizenship and Congress's power over territorial slavery?
It ruled that Black people were not U.S. citizens and that Congress had no authority to ban slavery in federal territories.
What major military campaign led by General Sherman destroyed Southern agriculture and infrastructure, severely weakening the South's ability to fight?
Sherman's Atlanta Campaign/March to the Sea