Vocab 1

Question 1

Mason-Dixon Line

Answer 1

boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, taken as the northern limit of the slave-owning states before the abolition of slavery

Question 2

Abolitionist

Answer 2

favored the abolition of slavery

Question 3

Manifest Destiny

Answer 3

The 19th century belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable

Question 4

Republic of Texas

Answer 4

Annexed from Mexico and became its own country from 1836 till it agreed to join the US in 1845; one of the causes of the Mexican American War

Question 5

Mexican Cession

Answer 5

territtory which ceded from Mexico to the US in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 after the Mexican American War

Question 6

Wilmot Proviso

Answer 6

congressional proposal in the 1840s designed to prohibit slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican war

Question 7

Frederick Douglass

Answer 7

efforts to end slavery, consultant to President Abraham Lincoln; helped convince him that slaves should serve in Union forces+ abolishing slavery should be the goal of the war

Question 8

Missouri Compromise of 1820

Answer 8

lasted 30 years, that admitted Missouri as a slave state, Maine as a free state, established a dividing line regarding slavery for the remainder of the Louisiana’s Territory but was repealed by the Kansas Nebraska Act, increasing tensions between North and South

Question 9

States rights

Answer 9

during the civil war, the right of states to have slaves and own them as property (rather than the federal governments decisions)

Question 10

Henry Clay

Answer 10

forged the Compromise of 1850 to maintain Union, known as “The Great Compromiser” for trying to avoid civil war

Question 11

James Monroe

Answer 11

5th president of the US, established Monroe Doctrine, policy opposing European colonialism in the Americas

Question 12

Liberty Party

Answer 12

formed in 1840 and wanted to work within the political system to abolish slavery, also garned national support for abolition

Question 13

Native American Party

Answer 13

Later known as the “Know Nothings”; the party were strong anti-immigrant and anti- catholic beliefs, influencing the economy and railroads

Question 14

Free Soil Party

Answer 14

minor but influential political party in the pre- Civil War period; opposed the extension of slavery into the western territories

Question 15

Compromise of 1850

Answer 15

composed of 5 bills in attempt to resolve disputes over slavery in new territories after the Mexican American War/ California a free state/salve trade outlawed in Washington DC/Fugitive Slave Act/Utah and New Mexico to decide whether to be a free or slave state/new boundary between Texas and New Mexico

Question 16

Stephen Douglass

Answer 16

leader of the Democratic Party, believed that the issue of slavery in state territories rested in the hands of popular sovereignty

Question 17

Popular Sovereignty

Answer 17

idea that people in new states should choose whether they would be a slave or free state, introduced by Stephen Douglass, increased tensions, led to Bleeding Kansas violence

Question 18

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Answer 18

American author and abolitionist best known for writing “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” which sent a message around the world that slavery was bad, sympathy towards slaves, incited civil war

Question 19

Abraham Lincoln

Answer 19

Anti slavery republican whose election caused southern states to secede from the union, led the nation through the civil war and abolished slavery

Question 20

Fugitive Slave Act 1850

Answer 20

required slaves to be returned to their owners, made the government and northerners responsible for returning slaves, angering them

Question 21

Underground Railways

Answer 21

A network of secret routes and safe houses established in the US during the early mid 19th century. Used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada

Question 22

William Parker 1851

Answer 22

escaped slave in the Christiana incident and court case; brought attention to enforce the fugitive slave law and helped other slaves in the Underground Railway

Question 23

Jerry Rescue 1851

Answer 23

when an escaped slave was seized at work by five US marshals in syracuse new york, but freed by abolitionist who broke into the police station

Question 24

Boston Slave Riot 1854

Answer 24

unsuccessful attempt by African American abolitionist, led by Lewis Hayden, to rescue captured fugitive slave Anthony Burns from the courthouse, increased opposition to slavery in the North

Question 25

Harriet Tubman

Answer 25

American abolitionist and political activist , born into slavery, she escaped and rescued enslaved people using the Underground Railroads