Chapter 11 The Road To War Flashcards
Dred Scott v. Standford
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that enslaved persons were not U.S. citizens and therefore could not sue for their freedom and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the western territories
colored convention movement
A series of political meetings held by African Americans, both free and enslaved, at the local, state, and national levels from the 1830s until after the Civil War to organize against slavery and racisms and to advance equality in education, suffrage, labor, and health care.
Telegraph
The system of electronic communication invented by Samual F.B Morse that could be transmitted instantaneously across great distances. First used in the 1840s, it revolutionized the spread of news and other information
Walden
Henry David Thoreau’s 1854 account of his time living in the woods near Walden Pond, which challenged the increasingly fast pace of American life
Oregon Trail
The difficult route west from Missouri to the Oregon Territory that was traveled by hundreds of American migrants
Spot Resolutions
The unsuccessful attempt but Abraham Lincoln to protest the war with Mexico by challenging the war’s supporters, principally President James K. Polk, to identify the exact spot where American blood was first shed in the war
Mexican-American war
After Congress approved the annexation of Mexican-controlled Texas in 1845, and President James K. Polk sent U.S. troops into the disputed territory, Congress declared war on Mexico in spite of protests
Wilmont Proviso
A failed 1846 proposal to prohibit slavery in any land acquired during the Mexican-American War
civil disobedience
A nonvioletn form of resistance supported by Henry David Thoreau and later figures including Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
Frederick Douglass
Born into slavery, Douglass escaped and became a leading abolitionsist voice. His autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, was published in 1845 and furthered his anti slavery advocacy.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The treaty between the United States and Mexico that ended the Mexican-American War in 1848; under its terms, Mexico ceded large swaths of land including present-day California, nevada, Utah, and New Mexico.
Women in the Nineteenth Century
Margaret Fuller’s 1845 book that argued for the full equality of women and reflected the broader movement for women’s rights.
Free-Soil Party
A political coalition created in 1848 that opposed the expansion of slavery into the new western territories
Cotton Kingdom
The cotton producing region, relying predominantly on slave labor, that extended from North Carolina west to Louisianna and reached as far north as southern Illinois.
Declaration of Sentiments
A statement based on the Declaration of Independence that called for gender equality; written primarily by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and signed by Seneca Falls Convention delegates in 1848
