C19 - Drifting Toward Disunion 1854-1861 Flashcards
Harriett Beecher Stowe
Mother of 6 who had never seen slavery in the Deep South.
Wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a fictional novel that became so widely read that it became very important politically. May have been another push toward the Civil War, this one author changed the course of American history.
Also widely read in Britain and France.
She was hated in the south and her book was banned there.
She met President Abraham Lincoln in 1862.
Freeport Doctrine
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American (Know-Nothing) party
Due to some ugly antiforeignism (bigotry against Irish and German immigrants and Roman Catholics), this 3rd party was formed.
Called Know nothing party because of their secretiveness.
Nominated ex president Millard Fillmore as their candidate.
Jefferson Davis
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Dred Scott decision
Supreme Court decision: March, 1857. Another influential event leading to the Civil War.
This legal case dealt with a black slave, Dred Scott, who sued for his freedom on the grounds that he and his master had lived for years in free states like WI and MI.
The Supreme Court was made up mostly of Southerners. Chief Justice Taney was from slave state of Maryland. He decided that the Supreme Court would hear the case (he may have seen this as a way to put the slavery issue to rest).
The ruling: Slaves are property and therefor could be taken into any territory (free or slave) and still remain the property of his/her master. They also ruled that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 (outlawing slavery in the Missouri territory) had been unconstitutional all along.
Southerners were delighted with this ruling.
Some democrats and all republicans were outraged. Democrats who believed in popular sovereignty, like Stephen Douglas, were outraged.
This decision did not put the slavery issue to rest as C.J. Taney had planned. It further inflamed the sides, with the North refusing to acknowledge the Supreme Court’s ruling. The south wondering how much longer they could stay in a Union with the North if the North would not even honor a Supreme Court ruling.
panic of 1857
Financial crash with many causes. The Crimean War in Europe had overstimulated grain growing, which caused a collapse for grain growers in the North. Cotton growers in the South were not affected and became a bit overconfident.
Over speculating on land was also a cause.
Over 5000 businesses failed within a year, causing unemployment and hunger.
This panic gave Republicans some big issues to use in the election of 1860.
self-determination
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Crittenden Compromise
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John C. Fremont
Explorer and surveyor of the west, he was not tainted by the Kansas Nebraska act (wasn’t involved), so that made him a good nominee for the Republicans in the 1857 campaign.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
southern Nationalism
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The Impending Crisis of the South
Book written by Hinton Helper of SC and read by many people in the North.
Banned in the South.
New England Immigrant Aid Society
Antislavery organization that sent 2000 people to Kansas on the anti-slavery/North side. In order to push for Kansas to become a free state.
Pottawatomie Creek massacre
5 innocent men were murdered by John Brown and his followers who were abolitionists.
This provoked fighting with proslavery supporters and started civil war in Kansas.
John Bell
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