Chapter 17-18 Unit 5 Flashcards
What were the Fire-Eaters?
Southern politicians who strongly supported slavery and even wanted the South to break away from the U.S.
What is Popular Sovereignty?
The idea that people in a territory should vote on whether to allow slavery.
What was the Free Soil Party?
A political party that wanted to stop the spread of slavery into new territories.
What was the California Gold Rush?
A rush of people to California in 1849 to find gold, which increased the population and caused debates over slavery.
What was the Underground Railroad?
A secret network that helped enslaved people escape to free states or Canada.
What was the Compromise of 1850?
A set of laws to settle slavery disputes, including letting California join as a free state and passing a strict Fugitive Slave Law.
What was the Fugitive Slave Law?
A law that forced people in the North to help return escaped enslaved people to the South.
What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
A law that let Kansas and Nebraska decide on slavery by popular sovereignty, leading to violence in Kansas.
What was Uncle Tom’s Cabin?
A famous book by Harriet Beecher Stowe that showed the horrors of slavery and increased anti-slavery feelings in the North.
What was Bleeding Kansas?
Violent fights between pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups in Kansas over whether it would allow slavery.
What was Dred Scott v. Sanford?
A Supreme Court case that said African Americans weren’t citizens and Congress couldn’t stop slavery in territories.
What were the Lincoln-Douglas Debates?
Debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas about slavery and popular sovereignty.
What was the Freeport Doctrine?
Stephen Douglas’s idea that people could stop slavery in a territory by refusing to pass laws to support it.
What was Harpers Ferry?
An attack by abolitionist John Brown to start a slave rebellion. It failed, and Brown was executed.
What were the Crittenden Amendments?
A last-minute attempt to avoid the Civil War by protecting slavery in the South. It failed.
Who was Harriet Tubman?
A leader of the Underground Railroad who helped many enslaved people escape to freedom.
Who was Abraham Lincoln?
The 16th U.S. president who opposed slavery and led the country during the Civil War.
Who was John Brown?
An abolitionist who tried to start a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry.
Who was Stephen A. Douglas?
A senator who supported popular sovereignty and debated Lincoln in 1858.
Who was Harriet Beecher Stowe?
The author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which helped grow the anti-slavery movement.
Who was Roger B. Taney?
The Supreme Court judge who wrote the decision in the Dred Scott case.
Who was James Buchanan?
The U.S. president before Lincoln who failed to stop the tensions that led to the Civil War
Who was Zachary Taylor?
A U.S. president and general who opposed the Compromise of 1850 but died in office
Who was Franklin Pierce?
A U.S. president who supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which caused violence.
Who was John C. Breckenridge?
A pro-slavery candidate in the 1860 election who ran against Lincoln.
