Contrary to many peoples’ beliefs, Charles Darwin did not create Social Darwinism. Herbert Spencer is responsible for the creation of the idea of “Social Darwinism,” although he based a large part of his ideas on Darwin’s theory.

Social Darwinism employed some of the aspects of Darwinism to the socioeconomic sphere. In other, more concrete terms, Spencer’s theory held that the lower class(es) would either stay where they were and die out, or the more ‘worthy’ of them would make it out of the lower class and become a member of the upper class. Thus, Spencer, for example, would not approve of social engineering like welfare.

Samuel Gompers was the leader of the American Federation of Labor—what ended up being the largest labor union (or federation of unions) in the late 19th/early 20th century. The AFL was more exclusive (and more realistic) than any of its contemporaries (like the “Wobblies”).

The AFL only allowed skilled workers within their ranks, and they struck (or agitated for) simple, everyday issues of their members—so-called “bread and butter” issues (like better hours and higher wages).

Abolitionism, the political movement to end slavery before the Civil War, gathered supporters from many different groups in the North.  Irish immigrants, who generally worked the lowest wage jobs and fought free blacks for them, feared that newly freed slaves would hurt their employment opportunities and housing options.  The other groups listed as answer choices all supported abolition.

The term Carpetbagger was used derisively by many Southerners during the Reconstruction period to refer to those Northerners who begun moving south to take advantage of opportunities there, and to push through a political Republican agenda. Scalawags was the name given to white Republicans who already lived in the South. Sharecropping was a way for freedman to work on the land and be paid for it. It was a system where landowners granted a percentage of their land to tenants in return for a percentage of the crops produced. In practice in the Reconstruction Era South, it was a means to effectively enslave poor whites and blacks into perpetual debt. The other two terms, to our knowledge, are totally made up. 

As the name implies, the Northwest Passage was a passage through the northwest of North America sought for centuries as a new, quicker route to the Asian nations.  It was not an objective of the Lewis and Clark Expedition who ventured farther south.

The application of the Fugitive Slave Law caused a great deal of anger and resentment in the North. Many Northerners bulked at the violation of human rights and felt that Southerners coming into the North to capture fugitive slaves was a dangerous precedent. It encouraged many Northerners to join the anti-slavery movement and to pass personal liberty laws designed to limit the legality of the Fugitive Slave Law. The South responded that the North was plainly violating the Compromise of 1850, and tensions grew significantly worse, as each side became further entrenched in regional ideologies of personal and property rights.

The Seneca Falls Convention was convened in 1848 in Seneca, New York. The meeting was organized primarily by several influential female Quakers. The intention was to provide a series of meetings and lectures in which speakers could argue for the advancement of women’s rights in the United States. Many historians refer to the Seneca Falls Convention as the birth place of the female suffrage movement; others contend that it was simply a noteworthy example of a trend that had already received some support and would continue to gain momentum for the next century. Numerous prominent members of the female suffrage movement were in attendance, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The Convention adopted the Declaration of Sentiments, which reads very much like the Declaration of Independence, but is inclusive of women. 

The Presidency of John Quincy Adams was a crucial administration for the solidification of Northern and Southern economic and ideological differences. Adams favored Northern merchants and bankers over Southern plantation owners, enacting policies to that effect. The so-called Tariff of Abominations was designed to favor Northern industry over European industry, but it had the opposite effect in the South where it led to economic stagnation and poverty for some. Adams lost a great deal of credibility in the South and helped encourage ideological notions of a separate Southern and Northern identity. 

The above quote was spoken by trade unionist Samuel Gompers, in a speech to an assembly of some twenty thousand workers in 1893. In the early 1890s there was a severe economic recession and tensions between the wealthy and the working classes were growing. Samuel Gompers worked with this feeling—creating the American Federation of Labor and working tirelessly to improve the conditions of the working class. 

"Bushwhacker" was a general term used during the Civil War to refer to any guerrilla groups that were not directly tied to the command structure of either army. While at first used for both sides, the term in particular began to be used to refer to the pro-Confederate guerillas in Missouri's Ozarks. These "bushwhackers" would commit many atrocities in the latter parts of the War, but also produced a number of outlaws that would gain fame in the late-nineteenth century, including Frank and Jesse James, and Cole Younger.