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A House Divided
Chapter 13 A House Divided
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Wilmot Proviso | David Wilmot, Democrat, proposed that the US prohibit slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico. The South did not like thisestablished Southern view of the status of slavery in the territories. |
| Calhoun Resolutions | common possession of the states and not the Federal government. |
| Popular sovereignty | residence of a territory decide on the status of slavery |
| Zachery Taylor | hero of Mexican war, nominated by the Whigs; ran for president and won |
| Free-soilers | those who favored leaving slavery alone in the South where it already existed but opposed its extension into the territories |
| Free soil party | made by the free-soilers. Slogan free soil, free speech, free labor, free men. Supported the Wilmot proviso |
| California gold rush | Gold Fever seized sensible men and sent them to California to look for gold |
| 49ers | the first wave of gold hunters which came to California in 1849 |
| Compromise of 1850 | proposed by Henry Clay. California be admitted as a free state; slave trade but not slavery be abolished in DC; offered fugitive slave act which put the government behind the return of runaway slaves; protection of slaver in DC;New Mexico and Utah be orga |
| Franklin Pierce | Democrat nominee who was solidly behind the compromise and he won the presidential race |
| Fugitive Slave Law | Law that ordered the Return of runaway slaves. Also called “The Bloodhound Law” |
| Uncle Tom's Cabin | published in 1852. Most influential piece of propaganda since Thomas Payne’s “Common Sense” |
| Fire-eater | The most radical Southerners, extremist who advocated the South leaving the Union as the only way to preserve the Southern way of life |
| Underground rail road | the escape route for fugitive slaves through the Northern states. |
| Stephen Douglas | envisioned the construction of a trans-continental railroad |
| Kansas-Nebraska act | proposed by Douglas for two territories; Kansas west of Missouri and Nebraska west of Iowa; returned to the idea of popular sovereignty |
| Know-nothings | members who were asked about the secret order and replied that they knew nothing |
| Republican Party | the real successor to the Whig party; anti-slavery |
| John C Fremont | the pathfinder of the West and hero of the Mexican War; ran under the Republican party for president but lost to Buchanan |
| James Buchanan | from PA; sympathetic to the South; ran for president as a Democrat; was minister to Great Britain since 1853 |
| Bleeding Kansas | the bloody fighting between anti-slavery and pro-slavery and the dissension torn territory became known as “bleeding Kansas” |
| Sack of Lawrence | May 21st 1853 an army of border ruffians sacked the town of Lawrence, Kansas; the citizens all left so they burned, looted and destroyed the town. This enraged free supporters |
| Brooks-Sumner episode | Brooks attacked Summer with his cane while he sat in his seat because Summer had given a passion speech about the sacking of Lawrence. confirmed the prejudice that Southern leaders where violent brutes |
| John Brown | a fanatical abolitionist from Connecticut who had come to Kansas to help win the territory for the anti-slavery forces. |
| Pottawatomie Massacre | the butchering of 5 pro-slavery settlers with razor sharp swords by Brown’s men |
| Dred Scott vs Sandford | revealed that even the Supreme Court could not solve the problems of the nations. Dred Scott was a slave. His master Emerson died and he sought to become free on the grounds of entering free territory. |
| Roger Taney | Chief Justice whose view was that black had no rights that white men should respect |
| Freeport Doctrine | a territory could prohibit slavery by refusing to adopt laws establishing and protecting it proposed by Douglas |
| Abraham Lincoln | challenged Douglas in the election of 1858; born to a family of poor farmers; nicknamed “honest Abe” |
| Lincoln Douglas debates | debates between Lincoln and Douglas for the presidency |
| Secret Six | group of Brown’s supporters which included prominent clergy and abolitionists in the North East. Backed the plan to attack Harper’s Ferry |
| Harpers Ferry | John Brown wanted to capture the arsenal to supply a slave revolt with weapons on Oct 16, 1859 but failed |
| John C. Breckinridge | from Kentucky ;nominated by Southern Democrats as Buchanan’s vice president; |
| Constitutional Union Party | collection of conservative Southerners and Northerners who nominated John Bell for president |
| John Bell | nominated by Constitutional Union Party for president but Lincoln won the election |
| Secede | the act of leaving the Union |
| Ordinance of secession | South Carolina’s declaration of independence from the Union |
| Jefferson Davis | former senator from Missippi and secretary of war under Pierce; elected the first president of the Confederacy |
| John J Crittenden | proposed amendments that would have extended the Missouri compromise; made noble effort to save the union but failed; one son became general in Union the other in the Confederacy |
| Fort Sumter | first attack and spark needed to start the civil war. Was a Northern controlled fort in the South. |