Chapter 13: The Union in Peril 1848-1861 Flashcards
Free Soil Party
Sought 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
~Adopted the slogan: “free soil, free labor, and free men”
~Advocated free homesteads (public land grants to small farmers) and internal improvements
Popular Sovereignty
A proposed compromise by Lewis Cass of Michigan
~Suggested that the matter be determined by a vote of the people who settled the territory
Zachary Taylor
Whig nomination for president in 1848, 12th president of the United States
~Prior to 1848, had never been involved in politics
~Narrowly defeated Democrat’s candidate: Cass
~Was a Mexican-American War hero
Compromise of 1850
Given by Henry Clay on the California Territory problem included
~Admit California to the Union as a free state
~Divide the rest of Mexican Cession into two territories-Utah and New Mexico- and allow settlers in these territories to decide the slavery by popular sovereignty
~Give the land in dispute between Texas and the New Mexico territory to the new territories in return for the federal government assuming Texas’ public debt of $10 million
~Ban the slave trade in DC
~Adopt a new Fugitive Slave Law and enforce it rigorously
William Seward
Senator from New York who argued against slavery
~Thought that there was a higher law than the Constitution
Fugitive Slave Law
Persuaded many Southerners to accept the loss of California to the abolitionists and free soilers
~Purpose was to track down runaway/fugitive slaves who escaped to a Northern state, capture them, and return them to their Southern owners
~The law placed fugitive slave cases under exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government
~Citizens who attempted to hide a runaway or obstruct enforcement of the law were subject to heavy penalties
Underground Railroad
Helped escaped slaves reach freedom in the North or in Canada
~Neither well organized nor dominated by white abolitionists
~Both Northern free blacks and escaped slaves led other blacks to freedom
~Escaped slave Harriet Tubman made at least 19 trips South to help around 300 slaves escape
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
Most influential book of its day written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
~A novel about the conflict between a slave named Tom and the brutal white slave owner Simon Legree
~Moved a generation of Northerners and many Europeans to believe that all slave owners as monstrously cruel and inhuman
~Southerners condemned the “untruths” in the novel and looked upon it as one more proof of the North’s incurable prejudice against the Southern way of life
“The Impending Crisis of the South”
Hinton R. Helper’s nonfiction book which attacked the South/slavery from a different angle
~Native of North Carolina used statistics to show fellow Southerners that slavery had a negative impact on the South’s economy
~Southern states banned the book
~However, widely distributed in the North by anti-slavery and Free Soil leaders
George Fitzhugh
Boldest and best known pro-slavery authors
~Questioned the principle of equal rights for “unequal” men
~Attacked capitalist wage system as worse than slavery
~”Sociology for the South” (1854) and “Cannibals All!” (1857)
Franklin Pierce
Democratic nominee for president in the Election of 1852
~14th President of the United States from New Hampshire
~Acceptable to Southerners because of his support for the fugitive slave law
~Won electoral vote in all but 4 states
Stephan Douglas
Senator from Illinois who devised a plan for building a railroad and promoting Western settlement (While simultaneously increasing his property values in Chicago)
~Needed Southern approval for his plan to build a transcontinental railroad through the Central portion of the US with a major terminal in Chicago
~Won approval by passing a bill on another subject: Kansas-Nebraska Act
~Proposed that the Nebraska Territory be divided into the Kansas and Nebraska Territory and the inhabitants had popular sovereignty
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Proposed by Senator Stephan Douglas in 1854
~Proposed that the Nebraska Territory be divided into the Kansas and Nebraska Territory
~Inhabitants had popular sovereignty
Know-Nothing Party
Nativist hostilities created this party (AKA: American Party)
~Party members commonly responded “I don’t know nuthin” to questions
~Drew support from the Whigs after Election of 1852
~Burning issue was opposition to Catholics and immigrants
~Know-Nothings never amounted to anything significant
Republican Party
Founded in Wisconsin as a direct reaction to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
~A coalition of Free Soilers, anti-slavery Whigs, and anti-slavery Democrats made up its ranks
~Its first platform was the repeal of both the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Fugitive Slave Law
~All united against slavery in the TERRITORIES! (were okay with slavery continuing in the SOUTH ONLY!)
Millard Fillmore
The Know-Nothing’s nominee for president in the Election of 1856
~Former 13th president
James Buchanan
The Democrat’s nominee for president in the Election of 1856
~15th president of the United States
~Won majority and defeated Republican nominee John C. Frémont
“Bleeding Kansas”
Fighting which broke out between pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups in Kansas
~Both pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups sought the Kansas Territory for a free/slave state
~Both groups sent many people to live in Kansas so popular sovereignty moved in their favor
~This tactic broke out into fighting
John Brown
Anti-slavery activist who brutally murdered 5 pro-slavery settlers
~Believed that this was what had to be done to preserve Kansas
“Border Ruffians”
Another name for pro-slavery Missourians
~Mocking name created by anti-slavery-ites
~Crossed the border into Missouri to create pro-slavery legislature in Kansas
Brooks-Sumner Incident
An incident where Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner was beaten within an inch of his life by Congressman Preston Brooks
~Sumner verbally attacked the Democratic administration
~Named “the Crime Against Kansas”
~His remarks included personal charges against South Carolinan Senator Andrew Butler
~Brooks (Butler’s nephew) stormed into Senate chamber and beat Sumner with a cane to defend his absent uncle’s honor
~Brooks=hero in South
~Sumner=hero in North
Lecompton Constitution
A constitution written by “Border Ruffians” objectifying a pro-slavery ideal
~Submitted to President Buchanan, and although it was obvious that the majority did not agree with it, he pushed it through to Congress
~Congress rejected it
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
A case brought before the Supreme Court by a slave from Missouri, who had lived in Wisconsin (a free state) for two years and argued that he was therefore a free citizen
~Ruled against Scott because:
1. He had no right to sue in a federal court because the Framers of the Constitution did not intend for Africans to be citizens
2. Congress could not exclude slavery from any federal territory, for it was a violation of the 4th Amendment
3. The Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because it violated the 4th Amendment
~Southern Democrats delighted at this ruling while Northern Republicans were shocked
~Supreme Court declared that all Western Territory was open to slavery
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Lincoln questioned how Douglas could reconcile popular sovereignty with the Dred Scott decision
~Led to Freeport Doctrine
Freeport Doctrine
Douglas’ response to Lincoln in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate
~Douglas responded that slavery could not exist in a community if the local citizens did not pass/enforce laws (slave codes) for maintaining it
~Angered Southern Democrats
~They didn’t believe that he went far enough in supporting the implications of the Dred Scott case
Harper’s Ferry
John Brown’s attempt to start a slave revolt in Virginia
~John Brown led a small band of followers in an attack on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry
~His impractical plan was to use guns from the arsenal to arm Virginia’s slaves
~Federal troops caught them after a 2 day siege
Constitutional Union Party
A fourth party created out of fear of a Republican victory in the Election of 1860
~Nominated John Bell of Tennessee
~Platform pledged enforcement of the laws and Constitution and preserving the Union
Confederate States of America
The country created by the States that seceded from the Union]
~South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas
~Constitution was similar to the United States Constitution
~Difference was that the Confederacy placed limits on the government’s power to impose tariffs and restrict slavery
~President: Jefferson Davis
~V.P.: Alexander Stephens
Crittenden Compromise
The last effort to appease the South
~A proposed Constitutional amendment which guaranteed the right to hold slaves in all the territories South of the 36°30’
~Lincoln said that he could not accept this compromise because it violated the Republican position against extension of slavery into the territories
