Chapter 19: Drifting Towards Disunion (1854-1861) Flashcards
1
Q
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
A
- dismayed by the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law
- Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote this novel
- illustrate the inhumanity of slavery, especially the splitting of families
- a huge success
- it had a profound effect on northerners, many of whom who would go on to fight in the Civil War.
2
Q
The Impending Crisis of the South
A
- Written by Hinton R. Helper
- it attemped to prove that non-slaveholding whites suffered the most from slavery
- fueled the fears of southern slaveholders that the non-slaveholding majority would not support them.
3
Q
New England Emigrant Aid Company
A
- Antislavery organization which sent about 2,000 people into Kansas territory in order to prevent it from turning into a slave territory
- under the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the issue of slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty
- this angered southerners, who sent in their own groups of well-armed slave-owners.
4
Q
Lecompton Constitution
A
- Constitution for statehood devised by proslavery forces in Kansas
- only allowed people to vote for the constitution with slavery or without, not for against the constitution as a whole
- if they voted against slavery, a provision of the constitution protected slaveowners already in Kansas
- free-soilers boycotted the polls and the constitution was approved with slavery
- although supported by President Buchanan, Senator Douglass fought for a compromise that submitted the constitution for a revote.
5
Q
Bleeding Kansas
A
- A sequence of violent events involving free-soilers and pro-Slavery elements that took place in Kansas-Nebraska Territory
- The dispute further strained the relations of the North and South, making civil war imminent.
- Kansas was being disputed for free or slave soil during 1854-1857, by popular sovereignty
- In 1857, there were enough free-soilers to overrule the slave-soilers
- So many people were feuding that disagreements eventually led to killing in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces.
6
Q
Dred Scott vs. Stanford
A
- Supreme Court case in which a black slave sued for freedom based on his residence on free soil, as he had lived with his master for five years on Illinois and Wisconsin territory
- the court ruled that as he was a slave and not a citizen, he could not sue in federal court
- the court then went further and ruled that because a slave was property, he or she could be taken into any territory and help legally
- stated that Congress had no power to ban slavery in the territories.
7
Q
Panic of 1857
A
- Economic downturn caused by overspeculation of western lands, railroads, Crimean War, gold in California, grain
- Mostly affected northerners, who called for higher tariffs and free homesteads
- The California gold rush increased inflation
- speculation in land and railroads “ripped economic fabric”
- hit the North harder than South because the South had cotton as a staple source of income
- the North wanted free land from the government;
- drove Southerners closer to a showdown
- caused an increase in tariffs
- gave Republicans an issue for the election of 1860.
8
Q
Tariff of 1857
A
- a major tax reduction in the United States, creating a mid-century lowpoint for tariffs.
- It amended the Walker Tariff of 1846 by lowering rates to around 17% on average.
- The Tariff of 1857’s cuts lasted only three years, though.
- In 1861 the country changed course under the heavily protectionist Morrill Tariff of 1861.
9
Q
Lincoln-Douglas debates
A
- 1858 Senate Debate, Lincoln forced Stephen Douglas to debate the issue of slavery to a series of 7 debates.
- Though Douglas won the senate seat, these debates gave Lincoln fame and helped him to later on win the presidency.
- These debates were a foreshadowing of the Civil War.
- Douglas supported pop-sovereignty, Lincoln asserted that slavery should not spread to territories, Lincoln emerged as strong Republican candidate
10
Q
Freeport Question
A
- Said by Lincoln
- People can vote slavery down? Supreme court said people can’t vote slavery down…people or court?
- Raised during Lincoln-Douglass debates, asked whether the court or people should decide the future of slavery in territories
11
Q
Freeport Doctrine
A
- Doctrine developed by Stephen Douglas that said the exclusion of slavery in a territory could be determined by the refusal of the voters to enact any laws that would protect slave property.
- It was unpopular with Southerners, and thus cost him the election.
- slavery could not exist in a community if the local citizens did not pass and enforce laws for maintaining it (Douglas).
- idea authored by stephen douglas that claimed slavery could only exist when popular sovereignty said so
12
Q
Harper’s Ferry
A
- Occurred in October of 1859.
- John Brown of Kansas attempted to create a major revolt among the slaves.
- He wanted to ride down the river and provide the slaves with arms from the North, but he failed to get the slaves organized.
- Brown was captured.
- The effects of Harper’s Ferry Raid were as such: the South saw the act as one of treason and were encouraged to separate from the North, and Brown became a martyr to the northern abolitionist cause.
13
Q
Constitutional Union Party
A
- also known as the “do-nothings” or “Old Gentlemen’s” party
- 1860 election; it was a middle of the road group that feared for the Union => consisted mostly of Whigs and Know-Nothings
- met in Baltimore and nominated John Bell from Tennessee as candidate for presidency
- the slogan for this candidate was “The Union, the Constitution, and the Enforcement of the laws.”
14
Q
Confederate States of America
A
- a republic formed in February of 1861 and composed of the eleven Southern states that seceded from the United States
- Following the election of Abraham Lincoln, the seven seceding states met in Alabama in 1861 to create a new government, with Jefferson Davis as president.
15
Q
Crittenden Amendments
A
- designed to appease South
- said slavery was prohibited north of the 36 degree 30’ line
- south of that slavery was given federal protection
- President Lincoln rejected these amendments
- Last ditch attempt to restore status quo at thirty-six thirty
16
Q
Harriet Beecher Stowe
A
- 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.
17
Q
Henry Ward Beecher
A
- This New York minister sent Beecher’s Bibles, nice guns, with followers to Kansas to support abolitionism.
- His sister was Harriet Beecher Stowe
18
Q
James Buchanan
A
- The 15th President of the United States (1857-1861).
- He tried to maintain a balance between proslavery and antislavery factions
- his moderate views angered radicals in both North and South
- he was unable to forestall the secession of South Carolina on December 20, 1860.
19
Q
Charles Summer
A
- an abolitionist, attacked the Democratic administration in his “Crime Against Kansas” speech
- His remarks included attacks on SC Senator Andrew Butler
- Butler’s distant cousin, Representative Preston Brooks, defends his relative’s honor by caning Sumner
20
Q
Preston S. Brooks
A
- representative of South Carolina who avenged the honor of his uncle by beating Sumner senseless with a cane
21
Q
Dred Scott
A
- a black slave
- had lived with his master for 5 years in Illinois & Wisconsin Territory
- Backed by interested abolitionists, he sued for freedom based on the basis of his long residence on free soil
22
Q
Roger B. Taney
A
- Proslavery Supreme Court Justice during the Dred Scott case
- wrote the decision referring to slaves as property.
- The fifth Chief Justice.
- In the Dred Scott decision (1857) he ruled that slaves and their descendants had no rights as citizens
- said Constitution applied to white men only
- conservative Supreme Court Chief Justice who issued the Dred Scott decision
23
Q
Stephen A. Douglass
A
- Senator and champion of popular sovereignty
- main supporter of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill
- disputed the Lecompton Constitution, forcing a revote
- participated in a series of debates with Lincoln for the Senate seat, in which he put forth his Freeport Doctrine
- during the election of 1860, the Democratic party split over the presidential nomination, with both him and Breckinridge running
- both lost to Lincoln.
24
Q
Abraham Lincoln
A
- Came to office during the secession crisis
- his rejection of the Crittenden amendment diminished any hope of compromise
- from an impoverished frontier family, he was mostly self-educated
- married into an influential family
- known for his honesty and his policy of following his conscience.
25
Q
John Brown
A
- a militant abolitionist that took radical extremes to make his views clear.
- In May of 1856, led a group of his followers to Pottawattamie Creek and launched a bloody attack against pro-slavery men killing five people.
- This began violent retaliation against him and his followers.
- This violent attack against slavery helped give Kansas its nick name, “bleeding Kansas”.
26
Q
John C. Brecklnridge
A
- the vice-president elected in 1856.
- nominated for the presidential election of 1860 for the Southern Democrats.
- After Democrats split, the Northern Democrats would no longer support him.
- favored the extension of slavery, but was not a Disunionist.
- wanted to keep the Union together, but when the polls started he couldn’t even get the votes of his own party.
27
Q
John Jordan Critteneden
A
- A Senator of Kentucky, that fathered two sons:
- one became a general in the Union Army, the other a general in the Confederate Army.
- He is responsible for the Crittenden Compromise.
- This augments the fact that the war was often between families, and its absurdity.
