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Questions and Answers
What was the significance of the Underground Railroad?
It helped enslaved people escape to freedom in the North or Canada.
What was the main argument in the Dred Scott Case?
Dred Scott argued that he should be free because he had lived in a free state.
How did Harriet Beecher Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' contribute to the Civil War?
It highlighted the brutal realities of slavery, increasing anti-slavery sentiment.
What was the purpose of Special Field Orders No. 15?
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What was the goal of McCarthyism during the Cold War?
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Study Notes
US History Topics
Early Conflicts and Tensions
- North-South Divide: Economic, social, and cultural differences between Northern and Southern states, leading to rising tensions.
- Underground Railroad: Network of secret routes and safe houses used by enslaved African Americans to escape to freedom in the 19th century.
Literature and Its Impact
- Uncle Tom's Cabin: Novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852) exposing the brutal realities of slavery, fueling abolitionist sentiments.
Landmark Court Cases
- The Dred Scott Case (1857): Supreme Court ruling denying African Americans citizenship and declaring the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, escalating tensions leading to the Civil War.
Causes of the Civil War
- Disputes over states' rights, economic systems, and slavery led to the secession of Southern states and the formation of the Confederacy.
Reconstruction and Its Aftermath
- Special Field Orders No. 15: Union General Sherman's 1865 decree granting freed slaves 40 acres of land and a mule, later revoked.
- Sharecropping: System of agriculture where landowners leased land to tenants in exchange for a share of crops, often perpetuating poverty and racial disparities.
- Reconstruction: Period (1865-1877) of rebuilding and attempted social reform in the post-Civil War South.
Economic and Industrial Developments
- The Railroad and the Economy: Railroads transformed the US economy, facilitating growth, industrialization, and westward expansion.
Rise of Industrial Giants
- Captain of Industry/Robber Baron: Terms used to describe industrialists like Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Vanderbilt, who dominated US industries and amassed vast wealth.
Native American Affairs
- Reservation System: US government policy of forcibly relocating Native American tribes to designated areas, often leading to cultural suppression and social injustices.
Cold War and Red Scare
- The Cold War: Period of geopolitical tension and rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union (1947-1991).
- McCarthyism/The Red Scare: Widespread fear of communist infiltration in the US, fueled by Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist crusade.
Nuclear Deterrence
- Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD): Cold War doctrine where the threat of nuclear retaliation maintained a fragile peace between the US and the Soviet Union.
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Description
Explore significant events and concepts in US history, from the lead-up to the Civil War to the Cold War era, including social, economic, and political developments.
