States' Rights
Name the action Southern states took after Abraham Lincoln’s election because they believed the federal government threatened their rights.
Secession, seceded
What system of forced labor in the American South relied on enslaved African Americans working on plantations?
Chattel Slavery
Which president's election victory in 1860 led many Southern states to fear loss of political power and prompted secession?
Abraham Lincoln
Which part of the country had more factories and railroads, helping create economic differences?
the North
What agreement included admitting California as a free state, abolished slave trade in Washington, D.C., and strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act?
The Compromise of 1850
a system of government that divides and shares power between a central (federal) government and local (state) governments
federalism
Which law of 1850 required people in the North to help return escaped enslaved people to the South?
Fugitive Slave Act
What violent period in Kansas resulted from allowing settlers to decide whether slavery would be permitted there?
Bleeding Kansas
Give one example of how the North and South had different economic interests that led to political arguments
disputes over tariffs that protected Northern industry; Southern opposition to high tariffs that raised costs on imported goods
What nickname was given to the violent conflict in Kansas in the 1850s
Bleeding Kansas
Describe one example of disputes over admitting new states to the Union connected to the states' rights argument.
Missouri Compromise struggles, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Bleeding Kansas
What was the main economic reason the South wanted to keep slavery?
Plantation system, cash crops
Name the event in Congress when a senator was attacked with a cane after speaking against slavery.
Caning of Charles Sumner
Explain how the South’s reliance on plantation agriculture affected its political power and decisions about new territories.
Plantation owners pushed for policies that protected slavery and influenced admission of pro-slavery territories
What is the term used for people who wanted to end slavery?
abolitionist
Which legal/political concept did Southern leaders cite when arguing they could keep slavery even if the national government disagreed?
Nullification
How did the Court rule in the Dred Scott decision?
Dred Scott could not be a citizen and that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories
Describe John Brown’s action at Harpers Ferry and why it alarmed the South.
John Brown led a raid on Harpers Ferry to seize weapons and spark a slave rebellion
Describe one way economic differences shaped disagreements over federal policies
Southern states opposed tariffs that favored Northern manufacturers; they opposed federal spending on internal improvements that they thought benefited the North more
Why did many Northerners become more supportive of abolition after the Fugitive Slave Act?
Because it forced Northerners to participate in returning escapees, making the injustice of slavery visible and provoking more people to support abolition
Explain how the secession of Southern states tested the balance between state sovereignty and federal authority.
Southern states claimed the right to leave the Union; the federal government insisted on preserving the Union — this conflict over ultimate authority led to war.
Explain why slavery created both moral and political conflicts between North and South (give two specific reasons)
Slavery was a moral issue for many Northerners
a political/economic institution for the South to make money
it affected laws, representation, and territorial expansion.
How did the Dred Scott decision, Bleeding Kansas, and the 1860 election together increase political tensions leading to war? Provide a short explanation connecting all three.
Dred Scott made it seem the national government supported slavery; Bleeding Kansas showed settlers would fight over slavery; Lincoln’s election convinced the South it had lost influence — together they collapsed trust and increased secession
how did economic systems in the North and South make compromise harder in the 1850s — include at least two concrete details.
The North’s industrial economy favored high tariffs and infrastructure spending;
the South’s agricultural economy relied on cotton exports and cheap imports —
these conflicting interests made it hard to create federal policies both sides accepted.
Choose one key event from the list of 8 we studied and explain the Who, What, When, Where, and Why does it lead to the Civil War- Historic IDs
Who
What
When
Where
Why