| Term | Definition |
| Dred Scott | Slave who sued for his freedom; Supreme Court ruled slaves (and blacks) are not citizens but property |
| 14th Amendment | Granted citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" which included former slaves |
| Dixie | Historic nickname for the Southern United States/Confederacy |
| Emancipation Proclamation | Statement by Abraham Lincoln that proclaimed freedom for slaves in the states that were in rebellion against the United States. |
| Sectionalism | During Antebellum period, the North and South began to place their specific interests over those of the country as a whole |
| Uncle Tom's Cabin | An anti-slavery book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe about the evils of slavery |
| Abolitionist | Someone who fought against slavery. |
| Confederacy | The southern states that left the United States in the 1860's to fight the Civil War. |
| 13th Amendment | Abolished slavery in the United States |
| Secede/Secession | To formally leave the union |
| Civil war | A war between parts of the same country |
| Border States | The slave states that bordered the United States during the Civil War. Included Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. |
| Nullify | The right of a state to cancel a federal laws within it's borders |
| 15th Amendment | Guaranteed all citizens the right to vote |
| Antebellum | "Before the War", time period that led up to the Civil War |
| Underground Railroad | A secret network of escape routes to smuggle run-away slaves to freedom in the North |
| Cotton gin | Invented in 1793 by Eli Whitney, made it easier for slaves to clean cotton and increased the demand for slavery. |
| John Brown | An abolitionist who led forces in Bleeding Kansas as well as a raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia to get weapons |
| Gettysburg Address | A famous speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln in November 1863 at the dedication of a national cemetery on the site of the Battle of Gettysburg |
| Fugitive Slave Act | Law that made it illegal to help runaway slaves, even in the North |
