Unit 5: A Nation Divided

8-4.1 Explain the importance of agriculture in antebellum South Carolina, including the plantation system and the impact of the cotton gin on all social classes.

8-4.2 Analyze how sectionalism arose from racial tension, including the Denmark Vesey plot, slave codes and the growth of the abolitionist movement.

8-4.3 Analyze key issues that led to South Carolina’s secession from the Union, including the nullification controversy and John C. Calhoun, the extension of slavery and the compromises over westward expansion, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott decision, and the election of 1860.

8-4.4 Evaluate the arguments of unionists, cooperationists, and secessionists on the issues of states’ rights and slavery and the ways that these arguments contributed to South Carolina’s secession.