slave states
Pre-war bondage territories
The slave states were U.S. states where slavery was legal before the Civil War.
The term distinguished the Southern states—from Delaware to Texas—from the free states of the North.
Border states like Kentucky and Missouri were slave states that remained in the Union.
The designation became obsolete after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in 1865.
Large-scale farming operation
- cottonPlant fiber for textiles
- tobaccoDried smoking leaf
- sugarCrystalline carbohydrate sweetener
- indigoPlant-derived blue dye
rice · cash crops · cotton gin · exports · auction · chattel · overseer · commodities
Formal withdrawal from union
- ConfederacySecessionist Southern government
- UnionNamed political entity
- Missouri Compromise1820 slavery boundary legislation
- Kansas-Nebraska Act1854 territorial organization law
Dred Scott · antebellum · nullification · popular sovereignty · Compromise of 1850 · Mason-Dixon Line · sectionalism · Southern Democrats
Covert abolitionist escape network
- abolitionismMovement to end oppression
- escapeFlight from captivity
- fugitiveOne fleeing authorities
- runawaysThose who fled
freedom seekers · safe house · conductor · emancipation · insurrection · rebellion · Nat Turner · maroons
Secessionist state supporter
- rebellionDefiance of established power
- UnionNamed political entity
- secessionFormal withdrawal from union
- antebellumBefore a war's start
abolitionists · emancipation · battles · blockade · casualties · Reconstruction · surrender · Fort Sumter
- John BrownRadical antislavery insurrectionist
- Sojourner TruthAbolitionist and suffragist orator
- Dred ScottAntebellum freedom-suit plaintiff
- Jefferson DavisConfederacy's only president
Frederick Douglass · Nat Turner · Robert E. Lee · Abraham Lincoln · Harriet Beecher Stowe
plantation
Large-scale farming operation
indigo · rice · cash crops · cotton gin · exports · auction · chattel · overseer · commodities · textiles
secession
Formal withdrawal from union
- ConfederacySecessionist Southern government
- UnionNamed political entity
- Missouri Compromise1820 slavery boundary legislation
Kansas-Nebraska Act · Dred Scott · antebellum · nullification · popular sovereignty · Compromise of 1850 · Mason-Dixon Line · sectionalism · Southern Democrats · fire-eaters
Underground Railroad
Covert abolitionist escape network
- abolitionismMovement to end oppression
- escapeFlight from captivity
- fugitiveOne fleeing authorities
runaways · freedom seekers · safe house · conductor · emancipation · insurrection · rebellion · Nat Turner · maroons · sanctuary
Confederate
Secessionist state supporter
- rebellionDefiance of established power
- UnionNamed political entity
- secessionFormal withdrawal from union
antebellum · abolitionists · emancipation · battles · blockade · casualties · Reconstruction · surrender · Fort Sumter · Appomattox
Harriet Tubman
- John BrownRadical antislavery insurrectionist
- Sojourner TruthAbolitionist and suffragist orator
- Dred ScottAntebellum freedom-suit plaintiff
Frederick Douglass · Nat Turner · Jefferson Davis · Robert E. Lee · Abraham Lincoln · Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Abolitionismabolitionists, abolitionist movement, antislavery, abolitionism, Frederick Douglass
- Antebellum Americaantebellum era, Compromise of 1850, sectionalism, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Missouri Compromise
- Border StatesKentucky, Delaware, Missouri, Maryland, West Virginia
- Secessionsecession, disunion, Confederacy, South Carolina, Fort Sumter
- Slavery EscapeUnderground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, runaways, fugitives
- slave lawsCode Noir, pass laws, curfew laws, inheritance laws, inheritance rules