Pre civil war study for test Flashcards
Abolition
The call to out law slavery
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
a novel written by Harriet Beecher stow that exposed the harsh truth about slavery
Story was about Eliza and Gregor who were slaves and escaped from their owner to Canada but Uncle Tom stayed behind and was whipped to death by his final slave owner
North= increased their protests
South= framed Stowe as a liar/ denied the book
Underground Railroad
a network of white aboltionist and free blacks that risked their lives to help free slaves from the south
They would provide clothes and disguise for the runaway slaves
gag rule
passed by southerners that silenced northern abolitionists protests to end slavery
Antebellum
pre civil war
Frederick Douglas
former slave who wrote his own anti slavery newspaper to expose the truth about slavery
- was the most photographed man
personal liberty laws
ensures that fugitives have a jury trial and forbade the imprisonment of fugitives
Fugitive slave laws
stated that fugitives did not have the right to a jury trial or to even testify on their behalf and that they were to be returned to their slave owners
Kansas Nebraska act
proposed by Stephen A. Douglas/ wanted to use popular sovierngty to decide wether Kansas would be a free or a slave state because he already assumed that Nebraska would be a free state
- act repealed the Missouri compromise line because both Kansas and Nebraska were above the line thus making them both legally free states
Bleeding Kansas
pro slavery and anti slavery groups in Kansas fought against each other to be the majority in order to vote whether Kansas would be a free or a slave state
Popular soviergnty
The power of residents in an area to vote for or against slavery
Comprmise of 1850
Proposed by Douglas/ admitted California as a free state and made the fugitive slave laws stricter inoder to maintain the balance of free vs slave states in congress
Harriet Tubman
was a succeful conductor of the Underground Railroad who visited the south 19 times to free over 300 slaves
Harriet Beecher Stowe
white aboltionist who wrote uncle tom’s cabin to expose the truth about slavery
Nativism
The favoring of native born Americans over immigrants
Nat Turner/ his rebellion
an enslaved black man who was a gifted preacher that led a bloody rebellion against plantations which regulated in the death of 60 white people mostly children and woman
- his actions caused the white to fight back and led to the death of around 200 black people
- Nat turner was caught and hanged for his crimes
William Lloyd garrison
White aboltionist editor who wrote the Liberator with the message to free slaves
The liberator
An anti slavery news paper written by William Lloyd garrison with the message to free slaves
Emancipation
The freeing of enslaved people without any payment to slave owners
Dred Scott
Was a slave who sued for his freedom after living in free states for years
Dred Scott v. Standford
a court case presented to the Supreme Court that questioned slavery
- Dred Scott is a slave that sued for his freedom after the death of his owner because he argued that since he had been living in free states for years his should be a free man
- the court ruled that Scott was still a slave because slaves didnt have the rights of citizens and that the 5th amendment protected the property of slaveholders no matter what state they moved to, and that the Missouri comprise was unconstitutional because congress couldnt forbid slavery
Sacking of Lawrence
Anti slavery settlers founded the town of Lawrence
Pro slavery grand jury deemed that settlers in Lawrence were traitors and were to be arrested
- pro slavery group burnt down anti slavery headquarters, looted homes, stores, and destroyed newspaper printing presses in Lawrence
Know nothing party
A party formed as an alternative to the Whig party and its members (mainly middle class Protestants) belived in nativism and despised new immigrants and Catholics because they belived that they conspired with the pope to overthrow the democracy
- used secret handshakes/ responded with “i know nothing” when asked questions
- split over the issue of slavery
- northern nothings edged twoard the Republican Party
- southern nothing looked for alternatives to the democrats
Republican Party
a party that was created by a group of northern Whigs, anti slavery democrats, and free soilers
- party opposed the Kansas Nebraska act/ wanted to halt the externsion of slavery in territories
- main competition was the know nothing party because they targeted the same group of voters
- they had party organizations mainly in the north but lacked a national organization