Causes of the Civil War

Question 1

Manifest Destiny

Answer 1

Concept that became popularized in the 1840s stating that it was the God-given mission of the United States to expand westward

Question 2

Mexican-American War

Answer 2

War fought over possession of Texas, which was claimed by both Mexico and the United States; the settlement ending this war gave the United States the northern part of the Texas territory and the territories of New Mexico and California

Question 3

Compromise of 1850

Answer 3

• Admit California as a free state.
• Settle the Texas boundary.
• Grant territorial status to New Mexico.
• Place Federal officers at disposal of slaveholders seeking fugitives.
• Abolish the slave trade in the District of Columbia.

Question 4

Fugitive Slave Act

Answer 4

• Part of the Compromise of 1850.
• Required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state.
• Commissioners were given more $ if the accused was found to be a runaway than if they were not.

Question 5

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Answer 5

Compromise that allowed settlers in Kansas and Nebraska to vote to decide if they would enter the Union as free states or slave states. A lot of violence and confusion took place in Kansas as various types of “settlers” moved into this territory in the months before the vote in an attempt to influence it

Question 6

Dred Scott case

Answer 6

Critical Supreme Court ruling that stated that slaves were property and not people; as a result they could not seek a ruling from any court. The ruling also stated that Congress had no legal right to ban slavery in any territory

Question 7

Prigg vs. Pennsylvania (1842)

Answer 7

Supreme Court case that rules in favor of Prigg (the man sent to recapture Margaret Morgan, a fugitive slave) because states cannot override federal law. However, the ruling also renders the Fugitive Slave Law useless because a federal official has to be the one to capture a fugitive slave

Question 8

George Latimer Case

Answer 8

• George Latimer was a runaway slave who was arrested in Massachusetts
• Protests in both The Liberator and outside the courthouse released him from prison
• Massachusetts went on to pass one of the first Personal Liberty Acts

Question 9

Wilmot Proviso

Answer 9

David Wilmot, a congressmen from Pennsylvania, proposes that no new state should be a slave state, aligning with Pennsylvania’s law for eventual abolition of slavery. This proposal passes through the House of Representatives, but not the Senate

Question 10

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Answer 10

• Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Details the horrors of slavery
• However, it’s depictions of African Americans are still horrendous
• Divides the country even further, with the South condemning it and it being very popular in the North

Question 11

Caning of Charles Sumner

Answer 11

Charles Sumner antagonizes Butler in a speech and Preston Brooks, Butler’s cousin, and beats with his cane to the point that SUmner is left with partial blindness

Question 12

Bleeding Kansas

Answer 12

Thousands of people move to Kansas so they can sway the vote (slavery vs. anti slavery) leading to widespread violence

Question 13

‘Lager-Beer’ Riots

Answer 13

Stricter laws against alcoholism are passed, upsetting the lower class primarily and causing them to riot with over 12 people killed

Question 14

Lecompton Constitution

Answer 14

• Turning point in the causes of the Civil War
• Included measures to protect the rights of slaveholders in Kansas and was supported by President Buchanan.
• This splits the Democratic Party in two: Northern Democrats and Southern Democrats

Question 15

Panic of 1857

Answer 15

Economic panic caused by England’s desire for only gold instead of bank notes and the SS Central America’s sinking of 30,000 lbs of gold into the Caribbean Sea because of a hurricane

Question 16

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Answer 16

Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln both ran for Senator of Illinois in 1858 and toured the state discussing issues of the 1850s, including slavery. These debates become famous across the country and have big turnouts

Question 17

John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry

Answer 17

On October 16, 1859, John Brown and his army attempt to overtake the arsenal in Harpers Ferry so that they could lead an armed slave rebellion. John Brown was very focused on only punishing the slaveholders for harming slaves, not those caught in the crossroads

Question 18

Know-Nothings

Answer 18

Political party that supported the Temperance Movement but was very centered in their nativism/anti-immigrant beliefs