Presidents
Name the president whose administration saw the passage of the Indian Removal Act (1830) and was associated with the rise of the "common man" politics.
Andrew Jackson
What single invention (by Eli Whitney, 1793) helped spur the growth of textile factories by making cotton processing faster and more profitable?
Cotton Gin
What crop’s dramatic expansion in the South made it the dominant export by 1840s?
cotton
Name one prominent abolitionist leader from the antebellum era and one key activity or achievement associated with them.
Frederick Douglass (lecturer, writer), William Lloyd Garrison (published The Liberator), Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman (conductor), etc.
Name one reform movement that grew in the antebellum period and state its central goal.
Temperance, feminism, public schools, prison, asylums, labor, moral reform
Which president presided over the era of the Mexican-American War (1846–1848) and was a Democrat who previously served as governor of Tennessee?
James K. Polk.
What industry in New England grew fastest during the early 19th century and relied heavily on female labor in mill towns like Lowell?
Textile Manufacturing
Name one technological or infrastructural innovation that increased agricultural productivity in the 19th-century United States.
Cotton Gin, Plows, steamboats, railroads,
What 1831 publication by a formerly enslaved person had major influence on Northern antislavery sentiment?
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1830s—often listed as 1845; accept 1845).
What movement, often tied to religious revivalism, sought to reduce or eliminate alcohol consumption in American society?
Temperance
Which president is most associated with the "Tariff of Abominations" controversy earlier in his career as a senator and later a strong opponent of federal nullification?
Andrew Jackson
Name the system of labor in early New England factories where young women lived in company-owned boardinghouses and worked set hours in mills
Lowell System
Explain how the development of the cotton gin changed the scale and profitability of cotton farming in the South.
Made short staple cotton profitable, expanded plantations ag, and increased wants for slaves.
What movement or network helped enslaved people escape to freedom in the North and Canada, and name one famous conductor associated with it?
Underground railroad
Identify one major educational reformer from the antebellum era and one reform they promoted.
Horace Mann,
Which president's election in 1860 led directly to the first wave of Southern secessions (note: name the victor in 1860)?
Lincoln
Explain one major economic effect factories had on urbanization between 1820 and 1860
Urban Growth with regional Specialization
Describe the role of the steamboat or the railroad in transforming agricultural markets for southern and western farmers between 1820 and 1860.
reduced transport time and cost, linked distant markets, and encouraged commercial ag.
Summarize one major argument used by Northern abolitionists and one counterargument used by Southern defenders of slavery.
Abolitionists argued slavery was immoral and incompatible with American ideals; defenders argued slavery was essential to Southern economy, a "positive good," or justified by law and tradition.
Explain how the Second Great Awakening influenced at least two different social reform movements in the antebellum period.
The Second Great Awakening inspired moral responsibility, leading people to reform prisons, temperance, abolition, and education as part of religious duty.
Identify the president whose policies and party realignment during the 1830s helped create the modern two-party system of Democrats vs. Whigs.
JAckson
Describe how the development of interchangeable parts affected both manufacturing and northern industrial growth in the antebellum period.
Increase efficiency, lowered cost, enabled mass production, and supported growth of industries.
Analyze how soil exhaustion and westward movement influenced the agricultural economy and planting patterns in the Old South.
pushed planters west, lead to monoculture.
Explain how the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act influenced abolitionist activity and Northern public opinion.
The Fugitive Slave Act outraged many Northerners, spurred more active abolitionist resistance and increased sectional tensions.
Analyze how prison and asylum reform efforts reflected changing ideas about human nature and social responsibility during the period.
Reformers believed environment and moral instruction could rehabilitate people; prisons and asylums were reimagined to focus on improvement rather than punishment.