Reform & Ideas
This early-1800s religious revival emphasized personal responsibility and inspired reform movements like abolition and temperance.
Second Great Awakening
This 1820 agreement attempted to maintain balance by admitting one free state and one slave state at the same time.
Missouri Compromise
This 1828 tariff angered Southern states by raising taxes on imported goods and favoring Northern industry.
Tariff of Abominations
This 1831 slave uprising increased Southern fear and led to stricter slave codes.
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
This war from 1846–1848 expanded U.S. territory and intensified debates over slavery’s expansion.
Mexican–American War
This movement grew throughout the 1830s–1850s, arguing that slavery was morally wrong and should be ended.
Abolitionist Movement
This 1846 proposal sought to ban slavery in territories gained from Mexico but never became law
Wilmot Proviso
This early-1830s crisis occurred when a Southern state claimed it could ignore a federal law it disagreed with.
Nullification Crisis
This mid-1850s conflict erupted when settlers violently clashed over whether a territory would allow slavery.
Bleeding Kansas
This political party formed in the 1850s with the goal of stopping the spread of slavery into western territories.
Republican Party
This secret network helped enslaved people escape to freedom using safe houses and coded communication.
Underground Railroad
This 1850 series of laws temporarily eased sectional tensions but included a highly controversial enforcement provision.
Compromise of 1850
This 1850 law forced citizens in free states to help capture and return escaped enslaved people.
Fugitive Slave Act
This abolitionist-led 1859 raid aimed to spark a larger slave rebellion and terrified the South.
John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry
This election convinced many Southern states that slavery was no longer safe within the Union.
Election of Abraham Lincoln
This 1852 novel used emotional storytelling to expose the brutality of slavery and sway Northern public opinion.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
This 1854 law repealed earlier limits on slavery by allowing settlers to vote on the issue themselves.
Kansas–Nebraska Act
This Supreme Court decision ruled that enslaved people were not citizens and that Congress could not ban slavery in territories.
Dred Scott Decision
This attack on a U.S. military fort in 1861 marked the official start of the Civil War.
Attack on Fort Sumter
This formal term describes the action involved Southern states leaving the Union after the 1860 election, claiming states’ rights and the need to protect slavery.
Secession
This congressional rule blocked discussion of anti-slavery petitions, angering reformers who argued it violated free speech.
Slavery Gag Rule
This final 1860 compromise proposal attempted to protect slavery to prevent secession but failed to pass.
Crittenden Compromise
This Illinois senator promoted popular sovereignty, helped author the Kansas–Nebraska Act, and debated Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Senate race.
Stephen Douglas
This violent 1856 attack inside Congress symbolized the breakdown of compromise and political civility.
Caning of Charles Sumner
This government was formed in 1861 by Southern states that seceded from the Union in order to protect slavery and assert states’ rights.
Confederate States of America