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.