Causes of the Civil War Study Guide
Things to study:
-Raid on Harpers Ferry
-Uncle Tom’s Cabin
-Compromise of 1850
-Life of a Plantation Slave
-Chapter 13 Section 2
-Chapter 13 Section 4
-Events leading up to the Civil War packet (White packet)
-Fugitive Slave Act
-Causes of the Civil War movie notes
Chapter 13 Section 2
1. Define: Trade Union- organization of workers with the same trade or skill
2. Define: Strike- a stopping of work by workers to force an employer to meet demands
3. In the 1830s what did the workers in New York City go on strike for?
Wanted higher wages, limit their work day to 10 hours
4. What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination?
Prejudice- an unfair opinion not based on facts
Discrimination- unfair treatment of a group, unequal treatment because of a person’s race, religion, ethnic
background, or place of birth
5. Between 1846-1860 what was the largest group of immigrants? How many arrived and settled on the
Northeast?
Ireland, and 1.5 million
6. Define: Famine- an extreme shortage of food
7. How did German and Irish immigrants differ in where they settled?
Irish- Settled in northeast cities because most of them had been farmers and did not have enough money to
afford land in the U.S. Many of them took low paying jobs in factories or preformed manual labor like
building railroads.
Germans- Many arrived with enough money to buy farms or open businesses and settled in many parts of the
county including New York, Pennsylvania, and Midwest
8. Define: Nativist- a person who favors those born in a country and is opposed to immigrants
9. Who were the Know-Nothing Party members?
Nativists formed a secret anti-Catholic society and in 1850 started a political party. Because the members of
the society constantly answered questions saying that “they knew nothing” it became their party name
Chapter 13 Section 4
10. What are the four categories that Southerners could fit into?
Yeoman, tenant farmers, rural poor, plantation owners
11. Define: Yeoman- Southern owner of a small farm who did not enslave people
12. List two differences between yeoman farmers and plantation owners.
1. Plantation owners had enslaved people working on their farms
2. Created farms on hilly rural areas
3. Yeoman farmers grew crops both for their own use and to sell
13. Define: Tenant Farmers- farmers who works land owned by another and pays rent either in cash or crops
14. Where did the rural poor live?
Lived in crude cabins in wooded areas where they could clear a few trees and plant some corn, keep a hog or
a cow.
15. Why were extended African American families vital to African American culture?
If a father or mother were sold away someone from the extended family could raise the children left behind
16. Define: Slave code- the laws passed in the Southern stat that controlled and restricted enslaved people
17. Why were slave codes invented?
Laws in southern states that controlled enslaved people started to become more serious to prevent a slave
rebellion
18. What was the Underground Railroad?
A network of “safe houses” owned by free black slaves and whites who opposed slavery and offered
assistance to runaway slaves by storing them during the daytime
Causes of the Civil War Packet (white packet)
19. What issue was the Republican Party founded on?
Slavery
20. What event happened on May 21, 1856 in Kansas? (Bleeding Kansas)
800 proslavery men marched into Kansas to arrest leaders of the anti-slavery government. During their
destruction they burned local hotels, stole from houses, destroyed anti-slavery printing presses, and killed
one man
21. Where was Charles Sumner from?
Massachusetts
Fugitive Slave Act Packet
22. In what year did Congress pass the Fugitive Slave Act?
1850
23. Under the FSA what happened to those who were suspected of being a runaway slave?
Arrested without warrant, and turned over, they could ask for a trial by jury or testify on his or her behalf
24. What happened to someone who was aiding a runaway slave?
Jailed for 6 months and fined 1,000 dollars
Chapter 15 Section 1
25. What was the Missouri Compromise?
In order for Missouri and slave state to be added to the Union in 1819 there needed to be a free state added to
keep the balance of power in Congress. Maine was added as a free to state to even out the balance of states. It
also provide a line throughout the rest of the Louisiana Purchase to dividing free and slave states
26. Define: Sectionalism- Loyalty to a region
27. What is the Wilmot Proviso and which side favored it?
Wilmot Proviso was proposed to prohibit slavery in land that might be acquired from Mexico which favored
the North
28. Why was the Free-Soil Party created?
Failure of political parties to take sides in slavery lead to the formation of the Free-Soil party , which favored
free speech, labor, and free men.
29. Define: Fugitive- runaway or trying to runaway
30. Explain all 5 parts of Clay’s new Compromise (Compromise of 1850)
1. California was admitted as a free state
2. New Mexico territory would have no restrictions on slavery
3. New Mexico-Texas border dispute would settled in favor of New Mexico
4. Slave trade would be abolished in Washington D.C
5. A stronger fugitive slave Act
31. What happened to President Taylor that put Millard Fillmore in charge?
He died
Causes of Civil War Movie Notes
32. What doubled the size of America?
Louisiana Purchase
33. Who controlled the banks and what did it mean for the rest of the country?
North controlled the banks and meant that the rest of the country would have to borrow money from the
north
34. What were the five disagreements that divided the north and south?
1. Tariffs
2. State Rights
3. Economics
4. Politics
5. Slavery
35. Why did congress pass a tariff, placing a tax on imported goods?
To encourage southerners to buy local instead of importing goods from Europe
36. Where did the slaves earning go when they were hired out?
To their owner
37. What type of government did the south favor?
State’s rights
38. What did Dred Scott argue? What was the result?
He believed that he should be free because he and his owner had once lived in Free states. The Supreme
court argued that because he was a slave he was not a citizen and therefore had no rights and there for could
not sue.
39. What were abolitionists?
People who fought to abolish slavery
40. How many trips did Harriet Tubman make?
19
41. Which was the first state to leave the union?
South Carolina
42. Who was the president of the confederacy?
Jefferson Davis
Chapter 15 Section 4
43. Why did the election of 1860 lead to the breakup (session) of our country?
The issue of slavery eventually broke up the Democratic Party. There were multiple men nominated for the
Presidency.
44. Who did the Republicans nominate and how did they attract voters?
Abraham Lincoln, who attracted voters from many places believing that slavery should be left undisturbed
where it existed but that should be excluded from territories.
45. Define: Secession- withdrawal from the Union
46. How many states were in the confederacy?
By 1861 Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina
47. Had the southern states seceded by the time Lincoln became president?
Yes
48. Explain Lincoln’s Inaugural Address.
Secession was not permitted and he would hold federal property and enforced the laws of the U.S .
49. How did the war begin?
One day after Lincolns address he got a message from Fort Sumter in South Carolina that they running low on
supplies. Lincoln sent a message to the governor of South Carolina explaining that unarmed men were
bringing supplies to the men in Fort Sumter. Davis made a fateful choice and ordered his men to attack fort
Sumter before the union supplies could come in time. The union men fought for 33 hours before
surrendering and the Confederate soldiers flew their flag over the fort.
50. What was the result for Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansa?
They joined the Union.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
51. Who wrote the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin?
Harriet Beecher Stowe
52. How did the novel affect northerners?
It allowed them to see for the first time what was actually going down south. It was eye opening for many
people
53. How was this novel propaganda?
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a form of propaganda because Stowe was trying get a rise out of the northeners by
giving one opinion of what was happening in the south. The novel only portrayed negative aspects of the
south.
Compromise of 1850
54. What was the first state to abolish slavery?
Pennsylvania
55. In what year was slavery abolished from the British empire?
1834
56. List the provisions of the 1850 Compromised
-Texas would relinquish land in the dispute in favor of New Mexico
-Texas would be given 10 million dollars in return as compensation that could be used to pay their debt to
Mexico
-New territories could be created without mentioning slavery and inhabitants of the country could decide if
they wanted to be a free or slave state
-Slave trade would be abolished in Washington D.C.
-California would be a free state
57. The compromise was intended to alleviate the controversy over slaver that was dividing the north and
south. Did it? Explain
No it did not get rid of the controversy in the north and south, instead it separated the country even further.
Life of Planation Slaves
58. Why did was the African American culture so unique?
All Africans bought their culture with them to America and therefore had to mix all their cultures together
forming a new nation. Their new heritage was formed through their music, religion, and other customs
59. Why was loyalty important to slaves?
Slaves protect each other from punishment by masters and they had created their own laws for punishing
liars and thieves.
60. Where did slaves live?
“Slave Row” a group of one or two room cabins with dirt floors and no windows. All different types of slaves
came together.