Vocabulary
People
Places
Events
Groups
100

This term refers to the belief that the U.S. was destined to expand across the North American continent, a driving force behind the Mexican-American War and the annexation of territories.

Manifest Destiny

100

This president, elected in 1844, is associated with the annexation of Texas and the start of the Mexican-American War. He famously believed in Manifest Destiny.

James K Polk

100

This western territory was admitted as a free state in 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850, upsetting the balance between slave and free states.

California

100

Created as a part of the Compromise of 1850, required Northerners to assist in the capture and return of escaped slaves, which angered many in the North and led to stronger abolitionist movements.

Fugitive Slave Act

100

This political party, founded in the 1850s opposing the expansion of slavery into new territories and later the institution of slavery itslef.

Republican Party (GOP)

200

This term describes the economic system in the Southern states that relied heavily on agriculture, particularly cotton, and on enslaved labor.

King Cotton

200

This Illinois senator became famous for his debates with Abraham Lincoln in 1858 and later pushed for the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Stephen A Douglas

200

State which remained in the Union during the Civil War, had a strong pro-Southern sentiment but also produced many Union soldiers.

Kentucky

200

This 1857 Supreme Court decision ruled that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, could not be citizens of the United States and that Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in the territories.

Dred Scott v Sanford

200

This group of Southern states formed the "Confederate States of America" after seceding from the Union in 1860-1861.

Confederacy

300

This term refers to the system of political and social compromise by which the North and South tried to balance the expansion of free and slave states in the U.S. territories.

Missouri Compromise

300

This former enslaved African American became one of the leading abolitionists, known for his powerful speeches and autobiography. He also advocated for the rights of women.

Frederick Douglass

300

This state was the first to secede from the Union in 1860, marking the beginning of the Confederacy.

South Carolina

300

This 1860 event in which an armed abolitionist attempted to seize a federal arsenal in Virginia, hoping to start a slave revolt, further heightened tensions between the North and South.

John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry

300

This political group formed in the 1840s  advocated for the expansion of slavery into new territories.

Democratic Party

400

This term refers to the formal withdrawal of a state from the Union, a key action taken by Southern states leading to the Civil War.

Secession

400

This firebrand abolitionist and leader of the "Free Soil" movement was a fierce opponent of slavery, arguing that it was a moral wrong and should be excluded from the western territories.

William Lloyd Garrison

400

This Southern city was the site of a key battle during the Civil War, serving as the capital of the Confederacy until its fall in 1865.

Richmond, VA

400

This event in 1854, involving the Kansas-Nebraska Act, allowed residents of those territories to decide for themselves whether to permit slavery, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise and intensifying sectional conflicts.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

400

This group of pro-slavery settlers from Missouri crossed the border into Kansas during the 1850s to ensure that slavery would be legalized in the territory.

Border Ruffians

500

This phrase refers to the political stance that the federal government should not interfere with slavery in the states but could limit its expansion into new territories.

Popular Sovereignty

500

This former president and leader of the Confederacy was the first and only president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War.

Jefferson Davis

500

This major river served as a critical supply route during the Civil War, and made it possible for the Union forces to split the Confederacy into two after victory at the Battle of Vicksburg

Mississippi River

500

This 1863 decree issued by President Abraham Lincoln declared all enslaved people in Confederate states to be free and marked a turning point in the Union's war aims.

Emancipation Proclamation

500

A faction within the GOP that advocated for the immediate emancipation of slaves, full civil rights for African Americans, and a harsh policy towards the Southern states after the Civil War.

Radical Republicans