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- Kansas-Nebraska Act
- 1854 - This act repealed the Missouri Compromise and established a doctrine of congressional nonintervention in the territories. Popular sovereignty (vote of the people) would determine whether Kansas and Nebraska would be slave or free states.
- Harriet Beecher Stowe
- She wrote the abolitionist book, Uncle Tom's Cabin. It helped to crystalize the rift between the North and South. It has been called the greatest American propaganda novel ever written, and helped to bring about the Civil War.
- Elias Howe
- Invented the sewing machine in 1846, which made sewing faster and more efficient.
- Free Soil Party
- Formed in 1847 - 1848, dedicated to opposing slavery in newly acquired territories such as Oregon and ceded Mexican territory.
- Henry Clay
- He helped heal the North/South rift by aiding passage of the Compromise of 1850, which served to delay the Civil War.
- Samuel F.B. Morse
- Developed a working telegraph which improved communications.
- Robert Fulton
- Designed and built America's first steamboat in 1807. Also built the first submarine.
- American Anti-slavery Society
- Formed in 1833, a major abolitionist movement in the North.
- Abolitionism
- The militant effort to do away with slavery. It had its roots in the North in the 1700s. It became a major issue in the 1830s and dominated politics after 1840.
- Fugitive Slave Law
- Enacted by Congress in 1793 and 1850, these laws provided for the return of escaped slaves to their owners. The North was lax about enforcing the 1793 law, with irritated the South no end. The 1850 law was tougher and was aimed at eliminating the underground railroad.
- Commodore Matthew Perry
- He went to Japan to open trade between it and the U.S. In 1853, his armed squadron anchored in Tokyo Bay, where the Japanese were so impressed that they signed the Treaty of Kanagania in 1854, which opened Japanese ports to American trade.
- Cyrus McCormick,
- This man built the mechanical reaper in 1831 to make farming more efficient. Part of the industrial revolution, it allowed farmers to substantially increase the acreage that could be worked by a single family, and also made corporate farming possible.
- Birth of the Republican Party
- Formed from a coalition of the Free Soil Party, the Know-Nothing Party and renegade Whigs merged in 1854. A liberal, anti-slavery party. The party's Presidential candidate, John C. Fremont, captured one-third of the popular vote in the 1856 election.
- Underground Railroad
- A secret, shifting network which aided slaves escaping to the North and Canada, mainly after 1840.
- Clipper ships
- Long, narrow, wooden ships with tall masts and enormous sails. Developed in the latter part of the 1800s. These ships were unequalled in speed and were used for trade, especially for transporting perishable products from distant countries like China and between the eastern and western U.S.
- King Cotton
- Expression used by Southern authors and orators before the Civil War to indicate the economic dominance of the Southern cotton industry, and that the North needed the South's cotton.
- Election of 1852: End of the Whig Party
- This party was so weakened by this time that the Democrats swept Franklin Pierce into office by a huge margin. Eventually this party became part of the new Republican party.
- Harriet Tubman
- A former escaped slave, she was one of the shrewdest conductors of the underground railroad, leading 300 slaves to freedom.
- Nat Turner's Insurrection
- 1831 - Slave uprising. A group of 60 slaves led by Nat Turner, who believed he was a divine instrument sent to free his people, killed almost 60 Whites in South Hampton, Virginia. This let to a sensational manhunt in which 100 Blacks were killed. As a result, slave states strengthened measures against slaves and became more united in their support of fugitive slave laws.
- Independent Treasury System
- Meant to keep government out of banking. Vaults were to be constructed in various cities to collect and expand government funds in gold and silver. Proposed after the National Bank was destroyed as a method for maintaining government funds with minimum risk. Passed by Van Buren and Polk.
- Compromise of 1850
- Called for the admission of California as a free state, organizing Utah and New Mexico with out restrictions on slavery, adjustment of the Texas/New Mexico border, abolition of slave trade in District of Columbia, and tougher fugitive slave laws. Its passage was hailed as a solution to the threat of national division.
- John C. Calhoun
- Formerly Jackson's vice-president, later a South Carolina senator. He said the North should grant the South's demands and keep quiet about slavery to keep the peace. He was a spokesman for the South and states' rights.
- Sectionalism
- Different parts of the country developing unique and separate cultures (as the North, South and West)
- Frederick Douglass
- A self-educated salve who escaped in 1838. He became the best known abolitionist speaker.