Rise of King Cotton
What crop became the main cash crop in the Deep South and was nicknamed "King" because of its economic importance?
Cotton
What is the term for loyalty to a region of the country rather than to the nation as a whole?
Sectionalism
What was the Missouri Compromise (short answer: what did it do about slavery and geography)?
The Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to enter as a slave state and Maine as a free state and banned slavery north of latitude 36∘30′36∘30′ in the Louisiana Territory (except Missouri).
In what year did the Civil War begin?
1861
Who was the President during the Civil War?
Abraham Lincoln
How did the invention of the cotton gin affect cotton production and the demand for enslaved labor?
The cotton gin made cleaning short-staple cotton faster and cheaper, greatly increasing cotton production and increasing demand for enslaved labor to plant and pick more cotton.
Give one example of a cultural or economic difference between the North and the South in the early-mid 1800s.
The North industrialized with factories and wage labor while the South relied on plantation agriculture and enslaved labor.
What was the purpose of the Compromise of 1850 and name one provision from it?
The Compromise of 1850 aimed to ease sectional tensions; one provision was admitting California as a free state or the Fugitive Slave Act strengthening capture/return of escaped enslaved people.
Name the first shots of the Civil War location (the fort attacked) and which state it was in.
Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina
Who were the leaders of both the Northern and Southern Armies during the Civil War?
North - Ulysses S. Grant
South - Robert E. Lee
Name two ways cotton influenced the economy of the Northern states.
Supplied raw material for Northern textile mills; stimulated shipping, banking, and manufacturing; created trade relationships between North factories and Southern planters
How did tariff policies create tension between Southern states and the federal government?
Protective tariffs raised prices on imported goods; the South, which imported more, saw them as benefiting Northern manufacturers and harmful to Southern interests.
Explain the significance of the Kansas-Nebraska Act for the idea of popular sovereignty.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed settlers in those territories to decide on slavery by popular sovereignty, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise line and leading to violence in "Bleeding Kansas."
Explain one major advantage the North had and one major advantage the South had at the start of the war.
North advantage: larger population, more factories, better railroads.
South advantage: experienced military leaders, fighting on home territory, strong motivation to defend homeland.
Where did the Civil War end? Which side surrendered?
Explain how the growth of cotton production connected the United States to world markets.
Cotton was exported to textile factories in Britain and the North, making the U.S. a major player in world markets and tying Southern prosperity to global demand.
Identify one political party or leader who worked to preserve the Union before the Civil War and explain their approach.
Abraham Lincoln (Republican leaders generally sought to preserve the Union through political means); or statesmen like Daniel Webster who argued for compromise and the Constitution to hold the Union.
What was the Dred Scott decision and why did it make conflict between North and South worse?
The Dred Scott decision ruled that African Americans were not citizens and that Congress could not ban slavery in territories; it angered Northerners and emboldened pro-slavery forces.
What was the Emancipation Proclamation? (Give its main effect and who issued it.)
The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, declared freedom for enslaved people in Confederate-held territories and reframed the war as a fight against slavery (it did not free enslaved people in Border States still in the Union).
What was the name of the Northern Strategy for fighting the Civil War? What did the plan hope to do?
The Anaconda Plan OR Scott's Great Snake
Surround the South, cut off supply lines, keep allies from aiding the South, and force the South to fight a defensive war, all forcing the South to surrender.
Describe how the expansion of cotton agriculture affected Native American lands and frontier settlement.
Cotton expansion pushed settlers westward, displaced Native American peoples through removal and treaty pressure, and led to new plantations on formerly Native lands.
Explain how westward expansion intensified debates over slavery and contributed to sectionalism.
As new territories were acquired, Northern and Southern states debated whether slavery should be allowed, leading to sectional disputes and crises over political power in Congress.
Describe how abolitionist actions and literature (name one example) increased tensions between sections.
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin exposing slavery's brutality; John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry attempting armed revolt — both galvanized opinions and increased sectional tension.
Describe one important consequence of the Civil War for South Carolina's political or economic structure.
The abolition of slavery (later guaranteed by the 13th Amendment) dramatically changed South Carolina's labor system and social order; the state's economy suffered disruption without the slave-based plantation system.
Efforts in leading the charge on Fort Wagner.