FINAL EXAM Flashcards
Chief Justice Robert Taney
He was in congress to defend slavery. He had no great love for it but instead he was simply committed to protecting Southern life and values. Wrote the Dred Scott ruling- 1857
William Lloyd Garrison:
In 1829 he started the first abolitionist newspaper. In the 1830’s he hosted non-violent rallies for abolitionists. Started the pamphlets sent to the south, leading to the prohibition of anti-slavery mailings. His goal was to show that the government was under control of the South, and that Slavery hurt the rights of all Americans (free pres
Dred Scott
Dred Scott was a slave of army surgeon John Emerson, who had taken him from Missouri to posts in Illinois and at Fort Snelling in the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase for several years in the 1830’s.
o At Fort Snelling Scott married a slave owned by Emerson.
o She gave birth to a daughter in territory made free by the Missouri compromise while Emerson was returning the Scotts to Missouri.
o After Emerson died and his widow inherited the Scotts, white friends of Dredd advised him to sue for freedom on grounds of prolonged residence in a free state and a free territory.
o Scott did so and this began a an eleven year saga that started as simple freedom suit and escalated into the most notorious cause celebre in American constitutional history.
o Scott first lost his suit but then won it in retrial in St. Louis county court in 1850.
John Brown
John Brown was an abolitionist who used violence as his way to get his anti-slavery point across. He is most famous for his attack on Harper’s Ferry, VA(?) in which he was portrayed a villain in the south and a hero in the north. Before this, he was active in Kansas, where he lead a group which executed pro-slavery settlers via sword.
Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner: In his speech the “crime against Kansas” shows that he is sick with the southerners
o He singles out Andrew Butler (senator from S.C.) who had a stroke so he didn’t speak well, and he mentioned how Butler had a reputation of raping his slaves
Kansas-Nebraska Act
“popular sovereignty” is an essential theme to remember for this act. Was drafted by Stephen Douglas because of the desire to construct a national railroad
OSTEND MANIFESTO
The Ostend Manifesto of 1854 was a scheme to start war with Spain. The thought was that we could get Cuba and chop it up into 3 southern states and therefore have 3 new slave states and give the South more power. The Manifesto was leaked, enraged the North, and embarrassed the Pierce Administration
Henry Clay
He was known as the great negotiator. In 1844 he had a good shot at the presidency as a whig candidate but he lost it when he lost New York because he waffled on the addition of Texas to the country.
Stephen Douglass
Proposed the Kansas- Nebraska Act/ Bill in 1854. The plan was to organize the Nebraska territory and build a railroad to Chicago to San Francisco. He proposed “popular sovereignty” which let the people in the territory to vote whether they want slaves or didn’t
Election of 1860
1860 was the year of the election of Lincoln. Lincoln wins with 39.8% of the popular vote. Important: Lincoln did not appear on the ballot in 9 States (all Southern) SO Before Lincoln takes office, South Carolina and 6 other Southern states dissociate from the US and they set up government in Montgomery Alabama. Once 4 more states join them, including VA, and they set up a capital in Richmond, in order to be closer to the Union capital at DC. Lol @ the irony of the Confederate constitution which says no one can seceed…
Preston Brooks
Brooks was a fervent advocate of slavery. He is primarily remembered for severely beating Senator Charles Sumner (Free Soil-Massachusetts), an abolitionist, with a cane on the floor of the United States Senate, on May 22, 1856. This was in retaliation for an anti-slavery speech by Sumner in which Sumner attacked Brooks’ uncle, Senator Andrew Butler (Democrat-South Carolina). Brooks’ action was applauded by many Southerners, and abhorred in the North.[1] Although an attempt to oust him from the House of Representatives was made, and he immediately resigned his seat, he received only token punishment and was re-elected by the people of South Carolina (but died before his next term began).[2]
Maifest Destiny
The idea, dubbed by an American Journalist in the early 19th century, that America had a divine right to expand its borders from “sea to shining sea.”
How did Chief justice John Marshall, more than any other jurist, mold and cast the federal dimension of the nation?
Marshall believed in reason over passion, welfare over parties, national government over the states, wise over the mob, property rights.
Marbury v. Madison (1803)-judicial review
McCulloch v. Maryland-states don’t have the power to tax or otherwise retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control, the operations of the Federal government, or its agencies.
Gibbons v. Ogden-Congress’ power of interstate commerce meant that a monopoly in NY could not be applied to commerce with New Jersey
wo countervailing forces exerted considerable tug and pull on the formation of the American nation-state. Enumerate how “nationalism” was forged through various events—the process of “nation building” to use a modern term—and contrast how sectionalism worked as an opposite force. Try to be as specific as possible in terms of leaders, laws, Supreme Court decisions, politics, and economics.
Madison’s bank, Monroe’s aspiration to one-party government, Jackson’s invasion of Florida, Adam’s assertive diplomacy. The Erie Canal-unites country economically. “The Erie Canal represented the first step in the transportation revolution that would turn an aggregate of local economies into a nationwide market economy” (118).
protective tariffs-Webster support. But nullification crisis-South Carolina attemping to nullify federal tariff duties.
expansion of the post office, internal improvements.
judicial review
Describe the convoluted divisive matter regarding the role of the federal government toward transportation development (roads, canals, railroads, etc). What were the competing visions?
John Quincy Adams celebrated benefits of improved transportation and communication. He proposed a federal version of the Erie Canal.
Madison vetoed the bonus bill under grounds that it was unconstitutional-neither the interstate commerce clause nor the general welfare clause could be extended to a allow for federal spending on roads and canals. Madison wanted an amendment to the Constitution to authorize federal aid to internal improvements.
When elected Monroe endorsed the improvements that his Jeffersonian predecessors supported such as roads and canals but he said “proceeding always with a constitutional sanction (so kind of repeats Madison’s argument)
Jackson’s Maysville Veto-admitted federal funding for nat’l schemes of internal improvement had long been practiced, but the constitutional issue never really resolved.
In short the competing visions were between political parties. Liberals, much like JQA, would always support federal funded internal improvements/construction. But conservatives, much like Madison or Monroe, couldn’t get past the fact that funding was not plainly approved in the constitution. So they never sponsored it.
