road to civil war Flashcards
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Cottonocracy
Slavery in the US is based on race, unlike the rest of the world. Children can be born into slavery, unlike the rest of the world. Cotton is nearly 50% off US exports.
Actual group: “Cottonocracy”
The rich, powerful, land-owning elite
Due to the demand for cotton and the Cotton Gin that was invented, southern plantation owners become very rich
Yeoman Farmers
owned small amounts of land and occasionally worked with their slaves. Used slaves to help with work, and be able to feed themselves.
Eli Whitney cotton gin
A machine that could do the work much faster than the slaves, but still required maintenance from the slaves. The cotton gin resulted in a boom in the cotton biz.
Slave codes
Slave Codes: laws designed to keep slaves from rebelling or running away
Forbidden from gathering in groups of more than three.
Could not own guns.
Could not leave owner’s land without a written pass.
Could not learn how to read or write.
Nat Turner’s rebellion
Nat Turner’s Rebellion:
In 1831, Nat Turner was a literate, enslaved preacher in Virginia who claimed God had personally given him a mission. When trying his mission, it resulted in the deaths of 57 slave-owning Whites & many innocent enslaved African Americans
VA & other Southern states passed even stricter laws for enslaved people
The event frightened many Whites into believing that slavery was the only way to control the African American population!
Abolitionists
Someone who believed in the abolition of slavery.
Frederick Douglass
One of the most well-known & impactful abolitionists in 1850s-1860s
Escaped slave from MD
Self-educated & excellent speaker & writer (anti-slavery newspaper The North Star)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. (1845)
Helped White Northerners begin to see slavery - and enslaved African-Americans - from a different perspective.
Missouri Compromise(1819)
Big question: After the Louisiana Purchase, the U.S. gained new states & territories - but what to do about slavery in these lands?
At the time, there were 11 slave states & 11 free states (22 states total)
But: what about Missouri Territory?
Solution:
Missouri = slave state
Maine (formerly a part of MA) = free state
Keeps power balance between slave-holders & abolitionists
Missouri Compromise Line: No slavery north of this line (except MO)
Compromise of 1850
Debate: John C. Calhoun (Southern Democrat) VS. Henry Clay (Republican)
Calhoun = pro-slavery& anti-abolition
Argued that the South had the right to secede (if slavery was abolished)
Demanded that all runaway slaves in the North be returned
But: Calhoun dies during the debate
Clay = “The Great Compromiser”
We wanted to keep North & South together.
They did not want a civil war!
Once Calhoun died, Clay was able to create a compromise with the Southerners
Compromise of 1850: Determined what the U.S. gov’t was going to do about the status of slavery in new states/territories
-California = free state
-Popular sovereignty (popular vote) would determine slavery in New Mexico and Utah territories.
-Ended the slave trade in D.C. (but slavery still allowed).
-Created a strict Fugitive Slave Act
Henry Clay
Clay = “The Great Compromiser”
Wanted to keep North & South together.
Did not want a civil war!
Once Calhoun died, Clay was able to create a compromise with the Southerners
the compromise was the Compromise of 1850
John C. Calhoun
defender for South in compromise of 1850
Calhoun = pro-slavery& anti-abolition
Argued that the South had the right to secede (if slavery was abolished)
Demanded that all runaway slaves in the north be returned
But: Calhoun dies during debate
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Kansas-Nebraska Act: Created two new territories & opened land up for white settlers.
Law said that the question of slavery would be solved by popular sovereignty:
Meaning: local citizens would vote on whether each territory would adopt or abolish slavery
Problem: pro-slavery & anti-slavery activists poured into Kansas to influence the vote
Result: Violence breaks out when pro-slavery forces attack a hotel in Kansas
background:
When the Compromise of 1850 passed, all of the land west of Iowa & Missouri was meant to be set aside for indigenous people who had been forced off their native lands, but White settlers & oil/gold companies wanted to mine/settle this land, so the U.S. gov’t creates Kansas-Nebraska Act (1852)
Bleeding Kansas
In response to pro-slavery attacks, John Brown attacks pro-slavery town:
Brown was an extreme abolitionist who believed it was his mission from God to eradicate slavery
he led a surprise attack in Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas → murdered five proslavery settlers.
A guerilla war of revenge begins, resulting in the deaths of 200 people by 1857
John Brown escapes into the mountains of West Virginia without being caught
John Brown
Brown = extreme abolitionist who believed it was his mission from God to eradicate slavery
Led surprise attack in Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas → murdered five proslavery settlers.
A guerilla war of revenge begins, resulting in the deaths of 200 people by 1857
John Brown escapes into mountains of West Virginia without being caught
Dred Scott decision
Southern Democrats try to create legal protection for slavery.
They looked to the Supreme Court to support this idea of protecting - constitutionally - slavery
Dred Scott: A Missouri man who was enslaved to a U.S. Army officer
The army officer & Scott moved several times - including to Illinois & Wisconsin (both free soil territories)
Because he had lived in several free territories, Scott sued for his freedom
In 1857, after several years, Dred Scott v. Sandford finally reached the Supreme Court
Scott was denied his freedom
Chief Justice Roger Taney argued that slaves were property (not citizens) & U.S. Constitution protects property
Taney argued that the government has no right to make a law restricting what people do with their “property.”
takeaway:
U.S. Congress could not restrict the spread of slavery into Western territories or Northern states
and the Supreme Court effectively declared slavery was constitutional.
