Terms : Hide Images
| 428525599 | Wilmot Proviso (1846) | The amendment offered by Pennsylvania Democrat David Wilmot in 1846 which stipulated that "as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico...neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory." | 0 | |
| 428525600 | Compromise of 1850 | The four-step compromise which admitted California as a free state, allowed the residents of the New Mexico and Utah territories to decide the slavery issue for themselves, ended the slave trade in the District of Colombia, and passed a new fugitive slave law to enforce the constitutional provision stating that a slave escaping to a free state shall be delivered back to the owner. | 1 | |
| 428525601 | Election of 1852 | In this, the Democrats nominated Franklin Pierce, and the Whigs nominated Winfield Scott. Pierce won the presidency because he supported the Compromise of 1850. | 2 | |
| 428525602 | Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) | Law passed in 1854 creating the Kansas and Nebraska Territories but leaving the question of slavery open to residents, thereby repealing the Missouri Compromise. | 3 | |
| 428525603 | "Bleeding Kansas" | Violence between pro- and anti- slavery forces in the Kansas Territory after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. | 4 | |
| 428525604 | Election of 1856 | Democrats nominated Buchanan, Republicans nominated Fremont, and Know-Nothings chose Fillmore. Buchanan won due to his support of popular sovereignty | 5 | |
| 428525605 | Dred Scott Case/Decision | Supreme Court ruling, in a lawsuit brought by Dred Scott, a slave demanding his freedom based on his residence in a free state, that slaves could not be United States citizens and that Congress had no jurisdiction over slavery in the territories. | 6 | |
| 428525606 | Lecompton Constitution (1857) | Proslavery draft written in 1857 by Kansas territorial delegates elected under questionable circumstances; it was rejected by two governors, supported by President Buchanan, and decisively defeated by Congress. | 7 | |
| 428525607 | John Brown's Raid (1859) | New England abolitionist John Brown's ill-fated attempt to free Virginia's slaves with a raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in 1859. | 8 | |
| 428525608 | Election of 1860 | Lincoln, the Republican candidate, won because the Democratic party was split over slavery. As a result, the South no longer felt like it has a voice in politics and a number of states seceded from the Union. | 9 | |
| 428525609 | Fort Sumter | A fort located in Charleston, South Carolina, where President Lincoln attempted to provision federal troops in 1861, triggering a hostile response from on-shore Confederate forces, opening the Civil War. | 10 | |
| 428525610 | Republican Party | Party that emerged in the 1850's in the aftermath of the bitter controversy over the Kansas-Nebraska Act, consisting of former Whigs, some Northern Democrats, and many Know-Nothings. | 11 | |
| 428525611 | Know-Nothings | Anti-immigrant party formed from the wreckage of the Whig Party and some disaffected Northern Democrats in 1854. | 12 | |
| 428525612 | Popular Sovereignty | A solution to the slavery crisis suggested by Michigan senator Lewis Cass by which territorial residents, not Congress, would decide slavery's fate. | 13 | |
| 428525613 | Fugitive Slave Act | Law, part of the Compromise of 1850, that required the authorities in the North to assist Southern slave catchers and return runaway slaves to their owners. | 14 | |
| 428525614 | Panic of 1857 | Banking crisis that caused a credit crunch in the North; it was less severe in the South, where high cotton prices spurred a quick recovery. | 15 | |
| 428525615 | Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) | Series of debates in the 1858 Illinois senatorial campaign during which Douglas and Lincoln staked out their differing opinions on the issue of slavery. | 16 | |
| 428525616 | Constitutional Union Party | National party formed in 1860, mainly by former Whigs, that emphasized allegiance to the Union and strict enforcement of all national legislation. | 17 | |
| 428525617 | Confederate States of America | Nation proclaimed in Montgomery, Alabama, in February 1861, after the seven states of the Lower South seceded from the United States. | 18 | |
| 428525618 | Election of 1848 | The Free soilers named former President Martin Van Buren as their canidate. The democrats chose Lewis Cass. The Whigs chose Zachary Taylor. Slavery was concidered a very important topic at the time. Van Buren says no slavery. Cass says popular soverignty. Taylor did not speak about the issue. Conclusion Zachary Taylor won the election. | 19 |
