Ch 15 Flashcards
Wilmot Proviso
a proposal to outlaw slavery in the territory added to the United States by the Mexican Cession’ passed in the House of Representatives, but was defeated in the Senate
Free-Soil Party
a political party formed in 1848 by antislavery northerners who lef tthe Whiga and Democratic parties because neither addressed the slavery issue
secede
to formally withdraw from the Union
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay’s proposed agreement that allowed California to enter the Union as a free state and divided the rest of the Mexican Cession into two territories where slaery would be decided by popular sovereignty
Fugitive Slave Act
a law that made it a crime to help runaway slaves; allowed for the arrest of escaped slaves in areas where slavery was illegal and required their return to slaveholders
Anthony Burns
American enslaved African, he ran away and was arrested in Boston. His arrest became the center of violent protests by northern opponents of the Fugitive Slave Act
Harriet Beecher Stowe
American author and daughter of Lyman Beecher, she was an abolitionist and author fo the famous anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
an antislavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe that showed northerners the violent reality of slavery and drew many people to the abolitionists’ cause
Frankliln Pierce
Democratic candidate for president in 1852 and the fourteenth president of the United States, he made the Gadsden Purchase, which opened the Northwest for settlement, and passed the unpoopular Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephen Douglas
American politician and pro-slavery nominee for president, he debated Abraham Lincoln about slavery during the Illinois senatorial race. He proposed the unpopular Kansas-Nebraska Act, and he established the Freeport Doctrine, upholding the idea of popular soereignty.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
a law that allowed voters in Kansas and NEbraska to choose whether to allow slavery
John Brown
American abolitionist who helped fuel the violence in Bleeding Kansas and was executed for his role in organizing a slave revolt at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia
Charles Sumner
A senator from Masssachusetts, he was attacked by Preston Brooks with a cane over the issue of slavery
Pottawatomie Massacre
an incident in which abolitionist John Brown and seven other men murdered pro-slavery Kansans
Preston Brooks
American congressman, he assaulted and beat Senator Charles Sumner for his antislavery speeches and for insulting a pro-slavery relative. He was nicknamed Bully Brooks by northerners.
James Buchanan
American politician and fifteenth president of the United States, he was chosen as the Democratic nominee for president in 1854 for being politically experienced and not offensive to slave states
Republican Party
a political party formed in the 1850s to stop the spread of slavery in the West
Dred Scott
Enslaed African who filed suit for his freedom stating that his time living in a free state made him a free man; the Supreme Court ruling known as the Dred Scott decision upheld slavery and found the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional
John C. Fremont
American explorer, army officer, and politician, he was chosen as the first Republican candidate for president. He was against the spread of slavery and he was rejected by all but the free states as a single issue candidate in the election of 1856
Abraham Lincoln
Sixteenth president of the United States, he promoted equa rights for African Americans in the famed Lincoln-Douglas debates. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation and set in motion the Civil War, but he as determined to preserve the Union. He was assassinated in 1865
Roger Taney
US Supreme Court Chief Justice, he wrote the majority opinion in the Dred Scott decision, stating that African Americans were not citizens and that the Missouri Compromise was unconsitutional
Lincoln-Douglas debates
a series of debates between Republican Abraham Lincoln and Democrat Stephen Douglas during the 1858 U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois
Freeport Doctrine
a statement made by Stephen Douglas during the Lincoln-Douglas debates that pointed out how people could use popular soverignty to determine if their state or territory should permit slavery
John Brown’s raid
an incident in which abolitionist John Brown and 21 other men captured a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in hopes of starting a slave rebellion
Constitutional Union Party
a political party formed in the 1860 by a group of northerners and southerners who supported the Union, its laws, and the Constitution
John Bell
Senator from Tennessee, he supported the Union over slavery and helped found the Constitutional Union Party
John C Breckinridge
Vice president under James Buchanan, he was also a senator from Kentucky. He later served as a general in the Confederate army
John J Crittenden
Kentucky senator, he attempted to save the Union by reconciling differences between northern and southern states in the Senate proposal known as Crittendon’s Compromise
Confederate States of America
The nation formed by the southern states when they seceded from the Union; also known as the Confederacy
Jefferson Davis
First and only president of the Confederate States of America after the election of President Abraham Lincoln in 1860 led to the secession of many southern states
