Abe
The 16th U.S. president who led the country during the Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln
A powerful empire in the 1800s and one of the oldest continuous civilizations in the world.
China
People who fought to end slavery in the United States.
Abolitionists
A major Chinese export that fueled British demand and contributed to trade imbalances.
Tea
A highly addictive drug smuggled into China by British merchants; its widespread use led to social and economic crises.
Opium
Two mid-19th century conflicts between Britain and China over trade rights and opium; resulted in unequal treaties and territorial losses for China.
The Opium Wars
In this context, the physical and psychological dependence on opium that devastated Chinese communities.
Addiction
A 1863 executive order by Lincoln declaring enslaved people in Confederate states (but not enslaved people in Union states) to be free.
Emancipation Proclamation
Merchants who sought Chinese goods and used opium to balance trade deficits.
British traders
The act of Southern states leaving the Union to form the Confederacy.
Secession
A luxurious fabric exported from China; highly prized in Europe and central to global trade.
Silk
A formerly enslaved man who became a powerful writer, speaker, and abolitionist leader.
Frederick Douglass
Fine ceramic ware from China; another valuable export that increased Western interest.
Porcelain
Traders who illegally brought opium into China.
Smugglers
Ratified in 1865, this amendment abolished slavery throughout the United States.
The 13th Amendment
A Supreme Court ruling in 1857 that denied citizenship to African Americans on the basis that enslaved people were “property" and upheld slavery's expansion.
The Dred Scott Decision
A law requiring escaped enslaved people to be returned to their enslavers, even from free states.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
A massive civil war in China (1850–1864) that challenged imperial rule and caused millions of deaths.
Taiping Rebellion
To date, Abraham Lincoln was our tallest president and had the largest show size! He was this tall and wore this size shoe.
6'4" and wore size 14 shoes.
A conflict (1861–1865) between the Northern and Southern states over slavery, states’ rights, and national unity.
The Civil War
Payments or compensation made to cover losses or damages, often imposed by one country on another after conflict. In colonial contexts, these were used to punish or control defeated nations, such as China after the Opium Wars or Haiti after its independence.
Indemnities
A peace treaty signed in 1842 that ended the First Opium War between Britain and China. It was the first of the "unequal treaties," forcing China to cede Hong Kong to Britain, pay large indemnities, and open five ports to British trade.
Treaty of Nanjing
he name of the state founded by Hong Xiuquan during the Taiping Rebellion, aiming to reform society and overthrow the Qing dynasty.
Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace
Legislation that allowed white people in new states to decide whether to allow slavery, leading to violent conflict known as “Bleeding Kansas.”
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
A Chinese religious leader who claimed to be the brother of Jesus and led the Taiping Rebellion.
Hong Xiuquan