Ch.16-17 Vocabulary

Question 1

British Royal Navy force formed to enforce the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. It intercepted hundreds of slave ships and freed thousands of Africans.

Answer 1

West African Squadron

Question 2

Slave drivers who employed the lash to brutally “break” the souls of strong-willed slaves.

Answer 2

Breakers

Question 3

Region of the Deep South with the highest concentration of slaves. The “Black Belt” emerged in the 19th century as cotton production became more profitable and slavery expanded south and west.

Answer 3

Black Belt

Question 4

Call and response style of preaching that melded Christian and African traditions. Practiced by African slaves of the South.

Answer 4

Responsorial

Question 5

Virginia slave revolt double resulted in the deaths of 60 whites and raised fears among white southerners of further uprisings.

Answer 5

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

Question 6

Spanish slave ship dramatically seized off the coast of Cuba by the enslaved Africans aboard. The ship was driven ashore in Long Island and the slaves were put on trial. Former president John Quincy Adams argued their case before the Supreme Court, securing their eventual release.

Answer 6

Amistad

Question 7

Reflecting the focus of early abolitionists on transporting freed blacks back to Africa, the organization established Liberia, a West African settlement intended as a haven for emancipated slaves.

Answer 7

American Colonization Society

Question 8

West African nation founded in 1822 a haven for freed blacks, fifteen thousand of whom made their way back across the Atlantic by the 1860s.

Answer 8

Liberia

Question 9

Antislavery newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison, who called for the immediate emancipation of all slaves.

Answer 9

The Liberator

Question 10

Abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison, who advocated the immediate abolition of slavery. By 1838, the organization had more than 250,000 members across 1,350 chapters.

Answer 10

American Anti-Slavery Society

Question 11

Incendiary abolitionist tract advocating the violent overthrow of slavery. Published by David Walker, a southern-born free black.

Answer 11

Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World

Question 12

Vivid autobiography of the escaped slave and renowned abolitionist Fredrick Douglass.

Answer 12

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Question 13

Originally drawn by surveyors to resolve the boundaries between Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia in the 1760s, it came to symbolize the North-South divide over slavery.

Answer 13

Mason-Dixon Line

Question 14

Prohibited debate or action on antislavery appeals. Driven through the House by proslavery southerns. Was passed every year for eight years and was eventually overturned with the help of John Quincy Adams.

Answer 14

Gag Resolution

Question 15

Protective measure passed by Congressional Whigs, raising tariffs to pre-compromise tariff of 1833 rates.

Answer 15

Tariff of 1842

Question 16

Diplomatic row between the United States and Britain. Developed after British troops set fire to an American steamer carrying supplies across the Niagara River to Canadian insurgents, during Canada’s short-lived insurrection.

Answer 16

Caroline

Question 17

American ship captured by a group of rebelling Virginia slaves. The slaves successfully sought asylum in the Bahamas, raising fears among southern planters that the British West Indies would become a safe haven for runaway slaves.

Answer 17

Creole

Question 18

Series of clashes between American and Canadian lumberjacks in the disputed territory of northern Maine, resolved when a permanent boundary was agreed upon in 1842.

Answer 18

Aroostook War

Question 19

Belief that the United States was destined by God to spread its “empire of liberty” across North America. Served as a justification for the mid-19th century expansionism.

Answer 19

Manifest Destiny

Question 20

Slogan adopted by the mid 19th century expansionists who advocated the occupation of the Oregon territory, jointly held by and the United States. The president Polk had pledged to seize all of Oregon, to 54* 40’, he settled on the 49th parallel as a compromise with the British.

Answer 20

“Fifty-Four forty or fight”

Question 21

Anti-slavery party that rent candidates in the 1840 and 1844 elections before merging with the Free Soil party. Supporters of the Liberty party sought the eventual abolition of slavery, but in the short term hoped to halt the expansion of slavery into the territories and abolish domestic slave trade.

Answer 21

Liberty Party

Question 22

Revenue-enhancing measure that lowered tariffs from 1842 levels, thereby fueling trade and increasing Treasury receipts.

Answer 22

Walker tariff

Question 23

Measures induced by Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln, questioning President James K. Polk’s justification for war with Mexico. Lincoln requested that Polk clarify precisely where Mexican forces had attacked American troops.

Answer 23

Spot resolutions

Question 24

Short-lived California republic, established Buy local American settlers who revolted against Mexico. Once news of the war with Mexico reached the Americans, they abandoned the republic in favor of joining the United States.

Answer 24

California Bear Flag Republic

Question 25

Key American victory against Mexican forces in the Mexican War. Elevated General Zachary Taylor to national prominence and helped secure his success in the 1848 presidential election.

Answer 25

Buena Vista

Question 26

Ended the war with Mexico. Mexico agreed to cede territory reaching northwest from Texas to Oregon in exchange for 18.25 million in cash and assumed debts.

Answer 26

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Question 27

Northern Whigs who opposed slavery on the moral grounds. Conscience Whigs sought to prevent the annexation of Texas as a slave state, fearing that the new slave territory would only serve to buttress the southern "slave power."

Answer 27

Conscience Whigs

Question 28

Amendment that sought to prohibit slavery from territories acquired from Mexico. Introduced by Pennsylvania congressman David Wilmot, the failed amendment ratcheted up tensions between the North and South over the issue of slavery.

Answer 28

Wilmot Proviso