Term | Definition |
Free-Soil Party | Anti-Slavery political party of the mid 1800s. |
Popular Sovereignty | Principal in which the people are the only source of government power. |
Secede | To formally withdraw membership in a group or an organization. |
Henry Clay | American politician who was instrumental in the development of the Compromise of 1850 |
Fugitive Slave Act | Law that required all citizens to aid in apprehending runaway slaves. |
Underground Railroad | System that existed before the Civil War, in which black and white abolitionists helped escaped slaves travel to safe areas, especially Canada. |
Harriet Tubman | Fugitive slave that led hundreds of slaves out of bondage in the south through the underground railroad. |
Harriet Beecher Stowe | Published Uncle Tom's Cabin, a powerful novel condemning slavery. |
Kansas-Nebraska Act | 1854 law that divided the Nebraska Territory into Kansas and Nebraska giving each territory the right to decide whether or not to allow slavery. |
John Brown | A New York abolitionist who carried out a midnight execution of five proslavery settlers near Lawrence, Kansas. |
"Bleeding Kansas" | Term used to describe the 1854-1856 violence between proslavery and antislavery supporters in Kansas. |
Dred Scott vs. Sanford | Supreme court case that ruled against abolitionists and declared that slaves were property to their owners and therefore were not entitled to sue in court. |
Abraham Lincoln | Winner of the 1860 election making him the 16th president of the United States and the leader of the Union during the Civil War. |
Stephen A Douglas | Political rival of Abraham Lincoln that supported popular sovereignty as the solution to regional tensions. |
Harpers Ferry | Town in Virginia (present day West Virginia) where abolitionist John Brown raided a federal arsenal in 1859. |
Compromise of 1850 | Political Agreement that allowed California to be admitted as a free state by allowing popular sovereignty in the territories and enacting a stricter fugitive slave law. |
Jefferson Davis | American solider, politician, and slave owner who served as the President of the Confederacy during the Civil War. |
Fort Sumter | Federal fort located in Charleston, South Carolina, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. |
Abolitionist Movement | Nineteenth century movement that sought an end to slavery. |
Election of 1860 | Presidential election won by Abraham Lincoln that resulted in seven states seceding from the U.S. to form the Confederate States of America. |
Confederate States of America | Government of 11 states that seceded from the United States and fought against the Union in the Civil War. |