USHC 2.4 Key Terms/Ideas/People/Events & Vocabulary

Key Terms/Ideas/People/Events:

  • Antebellum period – time period before the Civil War; generally refers specifically to the South before the Civil War
  • Specialties – North – manufacturing; South – cotton growing; West – raw materials & food
  • Sectionalism – regionalism; when you place your own region or section’s interests above the nation
  • Commercial centers – large cities where trade was important; New York City, Philadelphia
  • Congregational Church – the Puritan church (particularly in New England)
  • Manifest Destiny – idea that God has predetermined the United States would occupy and dominate the North American continent; led many to head west and claim land; other cultures (Native Americans) and countries (Mexico) would give way
  • Old Northwest – area North of the Ohio River and west of the Appalachian mountains
  • Northwest Ordinance – law passed by Articles of Confederation; set standard for states entering Union; outlawed slavery in the territory; eliminated any land claims in the new land
  • Universal manhood suffrage – voting rights for all white males, regardless of property ownership
  • De facto segregation – segregation (separation of the races); even though there was no slavery in the northern states, blacks & whites were not equal; segregation was still practiced in the north
  • Underground Railroad – elaborate and secret system of bringing slaves out of the South and to freedom in the North or Canada; both northerners and southerners risked their lives and property to help lead slaves to freedom
  • Great Awakening – religious revival movement; will lead to reform movements (abolition, women’s rights, prison reform, education, and temperance); part of the Great Awakening centered on the idea that everyone could be saved (this included slaves); caused much division
  • Inner light – “divine spark”; some would call it a soul; according to new beliefs at the time, everyone has it
  • Nat Turner – slave in Virginia who led a rebellion which resulted in several deaths of whites; put down brutally by the state and slave-owners; reminded southerners of how fragile their society – they kept closer watch on slaves
  • Abolitionists – individuals who wanted the immediate end of slavery; could be white or black, Northerner or Southerner (much more rare); methods differed from abolitionist to abolitionist; only a small segment of the population in the North would be considered abolitionists
  • Frederick Douglass – black abolitionist who learned to read & write on his own; became very well-known and great speaker against abolition
  • Harriet Tubman – black abolitionist who actively worked on the underground railroad; she made several trips into the South to bring large numbers of slaves to freedom
  • John Brown – white abolitionist who believed violence was best way to end slavery; he and his sons fought in Kansas; later, he captured a federal arsenal (weapon storage) in Virginia and wanted the slaves to rise up; he will be caught, tried, convicted and killed; North see him as a martyr while South sees him as proof the North wanted to end their way of life;
  • Harriet Beecher Stowe – white author of the anti-slavery book Uncle Tom’s Cabin; greatly impacted the abolition movement
  • Grimke sisters – white Southern sisters from South Carolina; saw the evils of slavery firsthand and wrote and spoke about them; had to leave South Carolina and move North
  • William Lloyd Garrison – white abolitionist; he wrote a newspaper (The Liberator) that had the most impact on the abolition movement
  • Positive good – idea popularized in the south to counter North’s argument that slaves would be better off free; idea that northern factory workers were free, but worse off than the slaves
  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton - early advocate of women’s rights & abolition
  • Lucretia Mott – early advocate of women’s rights & abolition
  • Seneca Falls (New York) Convention – location of the first major women’s rights meeting in the United States; Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Lucretia Mott led the convention; agreed to fight for women’s rights

Vocabulary:

Diversity – variety or assortment

Faithful – those dedicated to the same religious beliefs

Assimilate – integrate or adjust and adapt

Emancipated – liberated or freed; unshackled

Privileged – advantaged or fortunate

Myth – fabrication or fiction

Navigable – passable or traversable; able to easily travel (by water)

Significant – important

Substantially – considerably or greatly

Contributed – influenced or impacted

Promoted – supported or endorsed

Individualism – independence or reliance upon oneself

Prohibited – forbidden or banned

Exercise – use or practice

Disenfranchised – to have had the right to vote at one point, but then have it taken away from you

Benevolence – kindness or generosity

Revival – renewal or revitalization

Radicalness – extremism or uncompromising

Effectiveness – success or efficiency

Confrontation – hostility or conflict

Advocate – promote or support

Securing – obtaining or acquiring