APUSHch13 Flashcards
free-soil movement; Free-Soil party
Did not want end of slavery but they wanted to keep the West a land of opportunity for whites only so that the white majority would not have to compete with the labor of slaves or free blacks; Free-Soil party in 1848 in North, saying, “free soil, free labor, free men”; advocated free homesteads (public land grants to small farmers) and internal improvements
conscience Whigs
Anti-slavery whigs who opposed both the Texas annexation and the Mexican War on moral grounds.
barnburners
Free-Soilers whose defection threatened to destroy the Democratic party., conscience Whigs and anti-slavery Democrats were known as this
popular sovereignty
in the mid-1800s, a term referring to the idea that each territory could decide for itself whether or not to allow slavery by popular vote
Lewis Cass
Democratic senator who proposed popular sovereignty to settle the slavery question in the territories; he lost the presidential election in 1848 against Zachary Taylor but continued to advocate his solution to the slavery issue throughout the 1850s.
Zachary Taylor
12th US President (1849-1850) Taylor was a general and hero of the Mexican-American war. He was elected to the presidency in 1848, representing the Whig party. He was in office during the crisis of California’s admittance to the Union but died in office before a compromise could be worked out, and left vice president Filmore to finalize a deal between the hostile north and south. Advocated admission of California and New Mexico to US.
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay proposed: Admit California to the Union as a free state
Divide the remainder of the Mexican Cession into New Mexico and Utah (popular sovereignty)
Give land in dispute between Texas and New Mexico to federal government in return for paying Texas’ public debt of 10 million
Ban slave trade in D. C., but permit slaveholding
New Fugitive slave Law to be enforced
Stephen A. Douglas
An Illinois statesman who ran against Lincoln, Bell, and Breckenridge in the 1860 presidential election on a popular sovereignty platform for slavery, Douglas also authored the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and heightened the slavery debate
Millard Fillmore
13th President of the United States, serving from 1850 until 1853, and the last member of the Whig Party to hold that office. He was the second Vice President to assume the Presidency upon the death of a sitting President, succeeding Zachary Taylor. Passed Compromise of 1850, sent Matthew C. Perry to Japan to request opening of ports.
Fugitive Slave Law
Congress passed a second version of this law in 1850 to establish fines on federal officials who refused to enforce the law or from whom a runaway slave escaped, to establish fines on individuals who helped slaves escape, to ban runaway slaves from testifying on their own behalf in court, and to give special commissioners power to enforce the law
Underground Railroad
A network of people who helped thousands of enslaved people escape to the North by providing transportation and hiding places
Harriet Tubman
American abolitionist. Born a slave on a Maryland plantation, she escaped to the North in 1849 and became the most renowned conductor on the Underground Railroad, leading more than 300 slaves to freedom.
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Influential book about the conflict between a slave named Tom and the brutal white slave owners Simon Legree; moved a generation of northerners as well as many Europeans to regard all slave owners as cruel and inhuman; Southerners believed it to be proof of northern prejudice
Hinton R. Helper, Impending Crisis of the South
Book of nonfiction that attacked slavery using statistics to demonstrate to fellow southerners (he was from NC) that slavery had a negative impact on the South’s economy; Southern states banned the book but used by the North
George Fitzhugh, Sociology of the South
Boldest and most well known of proslavery authors, questioned the principle of equal rights for unequal men and attacked the capitalist wage system as worse than slavery
Franklin Pierce
14th President of the United States from 1853-1857 (Democrat); he swore to honor the Compromise of 1850 and enforce the Fugitive Slave Act, passed Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
Stephen Douglas’s bill to open western territories, promote a transcontinental railroad, and boost his presidential ambitions; it divided the Nebraska territory into two territories and used popular sovereignty to decide slavery in the region. Among Douglas’s goals in making this proposal was to populate Kansas in order to make more attractive a proposed route for a transcontinental railroad that ended in Chicago, in his home state of Illinois.
Know-Nothing party
Immigrants in the U.S. began to pose a threat to the “natives” because of their unknown languages and cultures. Some feared that the foreigners would outnumber them and eventually overrun the country. This hostility rekindled the spirit of European religious wars, resulting in clashes between the Protestants and Catholics. Some nativities formed this party in New York called the “Order of the Star Spangled Banner”. The members refused to indentify themselves and would say they know nothing. They were an anti-Catholic group, until it subsided and slavery became the focal issue.
Republican party
Political party formed in 1854 in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act; it combined remnants of Whig, Free Soil, and Know-Nothing Parties as well as disgruntled Democrats. Although not abolitionist, it sought to block the spread of slavery in the territories. It also favored tariffs, homesteads, and a transcontinental railroad.
John C. Fremont
An American military officer, explorer, the first candidate of the Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. (Election of 1856), and the first presidential candidate of a major party to run on a platform in opposition to slavery. Won 11 of the 16 free states.
James Buchanan
The 15th President of the United States (1857-1861). He tried to maintain a balance between proslavery and antislavery factions, but his moderate views angered radicals in both North and South, and he was unable to forestall the secession of South Carolina on December 20, 1860. During his term: “Bleeding Kansas” (1856), Caning of Senator Sumner (1856), Lecompton Constitution (1857), Dred Scott case (1857)
New England Emigrant Aid Company
A transportation company set up to transport emigrants to Kansas Territory to shift the balance of power so that Free-Staters rather than slave holders would decide whether Kansas would enter the Union in regards to the slavery question.
bleeding Kansas
Kansas was being disputed for free or slave soil during 1854-1857, by popular sovereignty. In 1857, there were enough free-soilers to overrule the slave-soilers. So many people were feuding that disagreements eventually led to killing in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces.
John Brown; Pottawatomie Creek
This occurred on May 24th and 25th, 1856 where this abolitionist man and his band of settlers and sons set out to attack a proslavery farm in this area in Kansas and had brutally killed five settlers. This attack was in response to the proslavery forces’ attacks upon the free soil town of Lawrence during the “Bleeding Kansas.”
Sumner-Brooks incident
Sumner was an MA senator and unyielding foe of slavery. He was physically attacked by Senator Brooks of SC (caning) in retaliation for a two-day speech made denouncing the proslavery Missourians who had crossed into Kansas and Brook’s pro-slavery uncle who supported the Missourians- showed the split of the government
Lecompton constitution
The antislavery forces formed a legislature in Topeka, Kansas, while those favoring slavery made their capital at Lecompton. When the proslavery body drafted its so-called Lecompton Constitution and submitted it to Congress for statehood in 1857, Buchanan pressed for its acceptance, even after the constitution failed a popular vote in Kansas. Congress did not accept it.
Dred Scott v. Sandford
An 1857 Supreme Court case that finished with Chief Justice Roger B. Taney’s ruling that African Americans, whether free or slave, were not citizens of the U.S.; that living in a free state or territory, even for many years, did not free slaves; and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional - meaning that slavery should be allowed in all states, so Congress did NOT have the power to ban slavery
Lincoln-Douglas debates
During the race to become Senator Lincoln asked to have multiple debates with Douglas. Certain topics of these debates were slavery, how to deal with slavery, and where slavery should be allowed. Although Lincoln lost the election to Douglas, he was known throughout the country because of the debates.
house-divided speech
Speech made by Abraham Lincoln before he was elected stating that the United States will either be all slave or all free because it can’t be half and half and still succeed.
Freeport Doctrine
Doctrine developed by Stephen Douglas that said the exclusion of slavery in a territory could be determined by the refusal of the voters to enact any laws that would protect slave property. It was unpopular with Southerners, and thus cost him the election.
Harpers Ferry raid
Occurred in October of 1859. John Brown of Kansas attempted to create a major revolt among the slaves. He wanted to ride down the river and provide the slaves with arms from the North, but he failed to get the slaves organized. Brown was captured. The effects of Harper’s Ferry Raid were as such: the South saw the act as one of treason and were encouraged to separate from the North, and Brown became a martyr to the northern abolitionist cause.
election of 1860
Lincoln, the Republican candidate, won because the Democratic party was split over slavery. As a result, the South no longer felt like it has a voice in politics and a number of states seceded from the Union.
Crittenden compromise
1860 - attempt to prevent Civil War by Senator Crittenden - offered a Constitutional amendment recognizing slavery in the territories south of the 36_30’ line, noninterference by Congress with existing slavery, and compensation to the owners of fugitive slaves - defeated by Republicans
