Chapter 19 Flashcards
Dred Scott Decision
Supreme Court decision that extended federal protection to slavery by ruling that Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in any territory. Also declared that slaves, as property, were not citizens of the United States.
Bleeding Kansas
Civil war in Kansas over the issue of slavery in the territory, fought intermittently until 1861, when it merged with the wider national Civil War.
Confederate States of America
Government established after seven Southern states seceded from the Union. Later joined by four more states from the Upper South.
Crittenden amendments
Proposed in an attempt to appease the South, the failed Constitutional amendments would have given federal protection for slavery in all territories south of 36°30’ where slavery was supported by popular sovereignty.
Freeport Doctrine
Declared that since slavery could not exist without laws to protect it, territorial legislatures, not the Supreme Court, would have the final say on the slavery question. First argued by Stephen Douglass in 1858 in response to Abraham Lincoln’s “Freeport Question”.
Harpers Ferry
Federal arsenal in Virginia seized by abolitionist John Brown in 1859. Though Brown was later captured and executed, his raid alarmed Southerners who believed that Northerners shared in Brown’s extremism.
Lecompton Constitution
Proposed Kansas constitution, whose ratification was unfairly rigged so as to guarantee slavery in the territory. Initially ratified by proslavery forces, it was later voted down when Congress required that the entire constitution be put up for a vote.
Lincoln-Douglas debates
Series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglass during the U.S. Senate race in Illinois. Douglass won the election but Lincoln gained national prominence and emerged as the leading candidate for the 1860 Republican nomination
New England Emigrant Aid Company
Organization created to facilitate the migration of free laborers to Kansas in order to prevent the establishment of slavery in the territory.
panic of 1857
Financial crash brought on by gold-fueled inflation, overspeculation, and excess grain production. Raised calls in the North for higher tariffs and for free homesteads on western public lands.
The Impending Crisis of the South
Antislavery tract, written by white Southerner Hinton R. Helper, arguing that nonslaveholding whites actually suffered most in a slave economy.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s widely read novel that dramatized the horrors of slavery. It heightened Northern support for abolition and escalated the sectional conflict.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
novelist. wrote uncle tom’s cabin, a book about a slave who is treated badly, in 1852. the book persuaded more people, particularly northerners, to become anti-slavery.
the impending crisis of the south
trouble-brewing book written in 1857 by Hinton R. Helper, attempting to prove that slavery hurt non-slaveholding whites the most, used statistics
John Brown
violent abolitionist who murdered slaveholders in Kansas and Missouri (1856-1858) before his raid at Harper’s Ferry (1859), hoping to incite a slave rebellion; he failed and was executed, but his martyrdom by northern abolitionists frightened the South.
Pottawatomie Creek
Pottawatomie Creek massacre In reaction to the sacking of Lawrence by pro-slavery forces, John Brown and a band of abolitionist settlers killed five pro-slavery settlers in Kansas
James Buchanan
15th President of the United States. He tried to maintain a balance between proslavery and antislavery factions, but his moderate views angered radicals in both North and South, and he was unable to forestall the secession of South Carolina on December 20, 1860.
Charles Sumner
harsh and militant opponent of slavery, beaten with a cane by Preston Brooks after speech, collapsed unconscious and couldn’t return to senate for 3.5 years (seat kept open), symbol throughout the north.
Preston Brooks
A hot tempered Congressman of South Carolina took vengeance in his own hands. He beat Sumner with a cane until he was restrained by other Senators. He later resigned from his position, but was soon reelected.
Election of 1856
election of 1856 Democrats nominated Buchanan, Republicans nominated Fremont, and Know-Nothings chose Fillmore. Buchanan won due to his support of popular sovereignty
John C. Fremont
John C. Fremont an American military officer, explorer, the first candidate of the Republican Party for the office of President of the United States, and the first presidential candidate of a major party to run on a platform in opposition to slavery.
Know Nothing Party
aka the American Party; major political force from 1854-1855; objective: to extend period of naturalization, undercut immigrant voting strengths, and keep aliens in their place
Roger B. Taney
U.S. 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 unconstitutional
Stephen Douglas
When: 1813-1861 Who: Illlinois Senator What: Created the Nebraska-Kansas Act, ran for president against Lincoln, Wanted to expand westward and give Chicago the upperhand of having the railroad Significance: He destroyed the Compromise of 1850 and The Missouri Compromise of 1820, indirectly created the Republican Party, with his Nebraska-Kansas act. Which furhter sectionalized the north and south territories.
