Events
An internal conflict in the U.S. fought between 1861–1865 between the North (the Union) and 11 Southern states (Confederates) over the issue of slavery
American Civil War
Decided that three-fifths of a state's enslaved population would be counted toward its total population, demonstrating the lack of humanity enslaved people were given.
3/5 Compromise
This person predicted the "dangers of forming parties" by the end of his term as the first president of America
George Washington
The brutal system of forced labor where one human being legally owns another as personal property
Chattel Slavery
What your introduction should include that brings outside information to explain the situation of the time period
Historical Context
The conflict in which the U.S. expanded westward by gaining territories like Texas, California, and Nevada
Mexican-American War
In 1820 this federal legislation maintained the balance of power between free and slave states. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, and created a line formally dividing the North (free states) and the South (slave states)
Missouri Compromise
This person escaped from slavery and used the Underground Railroad to help other enslaved people make their way to freedom too
Harriet Tubman
The collection of cotton in the South and the production of cotton in the North in which both Northerners and Southerners profited from slave labor
Cotton Economy
A one-sentence quote from each document to support your claim
Evidence
1857 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared enslaved Black people were not citizens and could not sue in federal court.
Dred Scott v Sandford case
An 1850 federal law that required all U.S. citizens and law enforcement to assist in capturing and returning escaped enslaved people to their owners, regardless if they were in a free or slave state
Fugitive Slave Act
A former enslaved person who escaped slavery to become one of the most powerful speakers and abolitionists in American history.
Frederick Douglass
A network of secret routes and safe houses that helped an estimated 30,000 to 100,000 enslaved people escape the American South to the free states
Underground Railroad
Going beyond just description of the documents but explaining how the documents support your claim, why they matter, and how they relate to the broader history
Analysis
A violent conflict (1854–1859) between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in the Kansas Territory after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed
Bleeding Kansas
Five bills that tried to help both the South & North by: (1) admitting California to the Union as a free state, (2) Giving New Mexico and Utah popular sovereignty to decide on slavery, (3)defined the Texas border, (4) abolished the slave trade in Washington, D.C., and (5) passed the Fugitive Slave Act
Compromise of 1850
The author of Uncle Tom's Cabin who was supported by the North for spreading awareness about the brutalities of slavery but hated by the South for "spreading lies" and being uninformed about their way of life
Harriet Beecher Stowe
The American ideology which believed that the United States was divinely ordained to expand its borders across the North American continent to justify it getting new territories, displacing Native Americans, and the spreading America's political and economic systems.
Manifest Destiny
Recurring themes that lead to historical events and events we see today in politics. For example, conflict due to party divisions, desire for power, capitalism and economic ambitions, or discrimination.
Historical patterns
In 1856, John Brown and a group of abolitionists abducted and killed 5 pro-slavery settlers at the Pottawatomie Creek, in response to the May 21st attack and ransacking of Lawrence, Kansas
Pottawatomie Massacre
In 1854, this law created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and gave them popular sovereignty over the decision of slavery. This effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and intensified the national debate over slavery.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Senator of Massachusetts who had given a speech attacking slavery and the people who supported it after the Bleeding Kansas conflict, and was later attacked by Southern Representative Preston Brooks who beat him unconscious with his cane on the Senate floor
Senator Charles Sumner
An excessive loyalty or devotion to the interests of a specific state/region, often at the expense of the nation as a whole.
Sectionalism
HOW ONE EVENT/ IDEA/ PERSON BRINGS ABOUT SIGNIFICANT AND LASTING CHANGE IN HISTORY
Turning Point