March 2, 2020 - Exam Study Guide 

  • 3 branches of government 
    • Legislative
    • Executive
    • Judicial
  • Legislative branch
    • Bicameral (made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate)
  • Executive branch
    • President
      • Chief Executive Officer 
      • Must be a natural born citizen
      • Thirty-five years of age
      • A resident of the US for 14 years 
  • Judicial branch
    • Supreme Court
      • Justices are appointed by the president and serve for life 
      • The supreme court can declare laws of Congress unconstitutional 
  • Constitution
    • Establishes a framework for the government 
  • Mississippi Government
    • Lawmaking body is the legislative branch 
  • Checks and balances 
    • Keeps one branch of government from gaining too much power 
  • Bill of Rights 
    • The first ten amendments to the US Constitution 
  • To vote a person must be 
    • 18
  • 3 Major tribes in Mississippi 
    • Natchez
    • Choctaw
    • Chickasaw
  • Spanish and French
    • First Europeans to explore Mississippi 
  • Cotton
    • Most prosperous crop in the south and Mississippi during the antebellum period 
  • Cotton Gin
    • Invented by Eli Whitney 
    • Separated the seeds and stems from the cotton 
    • Increased the use of slavery and made cotton more prosperous 
  • 13th amendment 
    • Ended slavery 
  • 14th amendment 
    • Made African Americans citizens with equal rights and protections under the law 
 
  • 15th amendment 
    • Gave African American men the right to vote 
  • Large Planters
    • Owned the most slaves and the most land but made up the smallest group in Antebellum Society 
  • Popular Sovereignty
    • People in a territory voting to decide on slavery 
  • Kansas-Nebraska Act
    • People in Kansas and Nebraska would vote to decide on slavery through popular sovereignty
    • Fighting broke out in Kansas and the conflict became known as Bleeding Kansas 
  • Dred Scott
    • Slave in Missouri who was taken to Illinois
    • Sued for his freedom because he claimed being taken to a free territory made him a free man 
    • Supreme Court eventually ruled against him and said that because slaves were not citizens, he could not sue in federal court 
  •  Missouri Compromise
    • Missouri would be slave state 
    • Maine would be a free state 
    • Any states in the Louisiana Territory north of the compromise line would be free
    • Any states in the Louisiana Territory south of the compromise line would be slave 
  • Emancipation Proclamation 
    • Called for the immediate abolition of slavery in all rebelling states 
  • South’s Economy
    • Relied on farming and agriculture
  • North’s Economy
    • Relied mainly on industries 
  • Slavery
    • Issue that would ultimately divide the country 
  • Anaconda Plan 
    • North’s military plan to surround the south by taking Vicksburg and cutting them off from supply routes