Notes
Slavery and the growing divide
- About 4 million people were enslaved by 1860. They resisted in many ways, from escape to revolt.
- Abolitionists such as Garrison, Douglass and Tubman fought slavery; the Underground Railroad helped people escape.
- Congress tried compromise: the Missouri Compromise (1820), the Compromise of 1850 (with the Fugitive Slave Act) and the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), which led to Bleeding Kansas.
The road to war
- Uncle Tom's Cabin, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's raid and the founding of the Republican Party deepened the split.
- Lincoln's election in 1860 led Southern states to secede. The war began at Fort Sumter (1861).
The Civil War
- The Union had more people and industry; the Confederacy fought on home ground.
- The Emancipation Proclamation (1863) made ending slavery a war goal; about 180,000 Black soldiers served the Union.
- Gettysburg and Vicksburg were turning points. Lee surrendered at Appomattox (1865).
Reconstruction and its end
- The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments ended slavery, defined citizenship and equal protection, and protected voting from racial discrimination.
- Radical Republicans and the Freedmen's Bureau expanded rights, but Black Codes, the KKK and sharecropping limited freedom.
- The Compromise of 1877 pulled federal troops out. Jim Crow laws and ***Plessy v. Ferguson* (1896)** followed.
Topics in this unit
Each topic has its own short notes and practice.
Practice
1820, 1850, 1854, 1857.
Opening northern territory to possible slavery triggered Bleeding Kansas and the rise of the Republican Party.
Lincoln predicted the conflict over slavery could not be compromised away forever.
It was an executive war measure; the 13th Amendment ended slavery nationwide.
Poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather clauses got around the 15th Amendment.
Economic depression, scandal, terror and the Compromise of 1877 ended federal enforcement.
Free response
Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.
Free-response question
The Civil War and Reconstruction transformed the meaning of freedom in the United States.
(a) Describe TWO causes of the Civil War.
Show the answer and scoring guide
The expansion of slavery into western territories caused conflict, as seen in Bleeding Kansas after the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Lincoln's election in 1860 led Southern states to secede because they feared a Republican government would threaten slavery.
Check off the points you earned:
(b) Explain how the Reconstruction amendments changed the rights of Black Americans.
Show the answer and scoring guide
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery. The 14th made all people born in the U.S. citizens with equal protection of the laws, and the 15th barred denying the vote based on race.
Check off the points you earned:
(c) Explain ONE way the gains of Reconstruction were limited or reversed after 1877.
Show the answer and scoring guide
After federal troops left, Southern states passed Jim Crow laws and used poll taxes and literacy tests to keep Black men from voting. The Supreme Court upheld segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896.
Check off the points you earned: