Chapter 14 - Troubled Times the Tumultuous 1850s Flashcards
(10 cards)
What were the main components of the Compromise of 1850?
California entered as a free state; stronger Fugitive Slave Act passed; slave trade banned in D.C.; territories of Utah and New Mexico used popular sovereignty to decide slavery.
What was the Fugitive Slave Act and why was it controversial?
It required citizens to assist in capturing escaped slaves and denied alleged fugitives a jury trial, alarming many in the North.
Who was Harriet Tubman?
An escaped slave who helped lead others to freedom via the Underground Railroad and returned to the South many times to rescue enslaved people.
What did the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 do?
It allowed territories to decide on slavery via popular sovereignty and repealed the Missouri Compromise line, intensifying sectional conflict.
What was “Bleeding Kansas”?
A period of violent conflict between pro- and anti-slavery settlers in Kansas following the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
What was the Dred Scott decision?
A Supreme Court ruling that African Americans were not citizens and that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories.
What incident involved the beating of Charles Sumner in the Senate?
Preston Brooks attacked Sumner with a cane after Sumner’s anti-slavery speech, highlighting deep sectional tensions.
Who was John Brown and what did he do?
A radical abolitionist who led a raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 in an attempt to start a slave rebellion.
What new political party formed in the 1850s, opposing the expansion of slavery?
The Republican Party, founded in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
What effect did the election of 1860 have on the United States?
Abraham Lincoln’s victory led Southern states to secede, starting with South Carolina, and ultimately triggered the Civil War.
