Final Flashcards
(18 cards)
Wilmot Proviso
Definition: 1846 proposal by Democratic congressman David Wilmot of Pennsylvania to outlaw slavery in all territory acquired from Mexico. The proposal was defeated, but the fight over its adoption foreshadowed the sectional conflicts of the 1850s.
Significance: Intended to prevent the expansion of slavery into any territory that would be acquired from Mexico following the war.
Free-Soil Party
Definition: Party founded by political abolitionists in 1848 to expand the appeal of the Liberty Party by focusing less on the moral wrongs of slavery and more on the benefits of providing economic opportunities for northern white people in western territories.
Significance: The Free Soil Party was a key part of the growing anti-slavery movement that culminated in the Republican Party capturing the presidency in 1860.
Fugitive Slave Act of 1793
Definition: Act that ensured the right of slaveholders to capture enslaved people who had fled by mandating that local government seize and return them. However, the act was largely ignored by northerners.
Significance: Required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state.
Compromise of 1850
Definition: Series of acts following California’s application for admission as a free state. Meant to ease sectional tensions over slavery by providing something for all sides, the act ended up fueling more conflicts.
Significance: Permitted slavery in Washington, D.C., but outlawed the slave trade. Added California to the Union as a “free state” Established Utah and New Mexico as territories that could decide via popular sovereignty if they would permit slavery.
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
Definition: Act strengthening earlier fugitive slave laws, passed as part of the Compromise of 1850. The act provoked widespread anger in the North and intensified sectional tensions.
Significance: The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 made the hunting down of escaped slaves, even in free states, fully legal. To abolitionists, this represented a huge blow to their efforts. Not only had the federal government endorsed slavery, but it had also committed to preserving the institution indefinitely.
Underground Railroad
Definition: A series of routes from southern plantation areas to northern free states and Canada along which abolitionist supporters, known as conductors, provided hiding places, transportation, and resources to enslaved people seeking freedom.
Significance: Used by African-American slaves to escape into free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Definition: Tells the story of Uncle Tom, an enslaved person, depicted as saintly and dignified, noble and steadfast in his beliefs.
Significance: Stowe’s vivid characters and portrayal of their struggles opened the reader’s eyes to the realities of slavery and the humanity of enslaved people. Stowe hoped the novel would build empathy for the characters and, in turn, for enslaved individuals
transcontinental railroad
Definition: A railroad linking the East and West Coasts of North America. Completed in 1869, the transcontinental railroad facilitated the flow of migrants and the development of economic connections between the West and the East.
Significance: It brought products of eastern industry to the growing populace beyond the Mississippi.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Definition: 1854 act creating the territories of Kansas and Nebraska out of what was then American Indian land. The act stipulated that the issue of slavery would be settled by a popular referendum in each territory.
Significance: The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opening new lands for settlement, and had the effect of repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by allowing white male settlers in those territories to determine through popular sovereignty whether they would allow slavery.
American Party (aka Know-Nothing Party
Also known as the Know-Nothing Party, a political party that arose in the Northeast, during the 1840s. The party was anti-Catholic and anti-immigration. It also supported workers’ rights against business owners, who were perceived to support immigration as a way to keep wages low.
Significance: The best known of these nativist groups came to be called the American Party, and its adherents as Know-Nothings. The aim of the Know-Nothing movement was to combat foreign influences and to uphold and promote traditional American ways.
Republican Party
Definition: The Republican Party is a political party in the United States founded in the 1850s, primarily to oppose the expansion of slavery into the territories.
Significance: The party emerged as a response to the failures of existing political compromises and grew in prominence during significant events such as the election of 1860, which ultimately led to the secession of several Southern states. Over time, it has evolved to address various social, economic, and political issues throughout American history.
Bleeding Kansas
Definition: The Kansas Territory during a period of violent conflicts over the fate of slavery in the mid-1859s. This violence intensified the sectional division over slavery.
Significance: Murder, mayhem, destruction and psychological warfare became a code of conduct in Eastern Kansas and Western Missouri.
Dred Scott case
Definition: 1857 Supreme Court case centered on the status of Dred Scott and his family. In its ruling, the Court denied the claim that black men had any rights and blocked Congress from excluding slavery from any territory.
Significance: Missouri’s Dred Scott Case, 1846-1857. In its 1857 decision that stunned the nation, the United States Supreme Court upheld slavery in United States territories, denied the legality of black citizenship in America, and declared the Missouri Compromise to be unconstitutional.
Lincoln-Douglas debates
Definition: Series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas during the 1859 Illinois Senate race that mainly focused on the expansion of slavery.
Significance: Douglas may have won the Senate seat, giving him a short-term victory over Lincoln. In the long term, however, these debates were a definite win for Lincoln. They played a significant role in his rise to prominence and paved the way for his election as president. Just two years later, Lincoln and Douglas would compete once more, this time for the presidency. Douglas would come in fourth place, while Lincoln would win the oval office. The American public clearly favored Lincoln in these debates.
John Brown’s raid
Definition: 1859 attack on the Federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, led by John Brown, who hoped to inspire a slave uprising and arm enslaved African Americans with the weapons taken from the arsenal. No uprising happened and Brown was captured and eventually executed for treason.
Significance: Further polarized North and South and made a resolution of the slavery issue the center of national debate.
Confederate States of America
Definition: Name of the government that seceded from the Union after the election of President Lincoln in 1860.
Significance: Southern states seceded from the union in order to protect their states’ rights, the institution of slavery, and disagreements over tariffs. Southern states believed that a Republican government would dissolve the institution of slavery, would not honor states’ rights, and promote tariff laws.
Election of 1860
Definition: The Election of 1860 was a pivotal presidential election in the United States that showcased deep national divisions primarily over the issue of slavery.
Significance: The election resulted in the victory of Abraham Lincoln, which triggered a series of events leading to the secession of Southern states and ultimately the Civil War. The election highlighted the increasing sectional conflict between the North and South, setting the stage for transformative changes in American society.
Crittenden Plan
Definition: A political compromise over slavery, which failed after seven southern states seceded from the Union in early 1861. It would have protected slavery from federal interference where it already existed and extended the Missouri Compromise line to California.
Significance: The Crittenden Compromise was an effort to prevent secession and the Civil War over the issue of slavery. It contained a series of constitutional amendments that would establish clear boundaries for slavery.
