Pelicular Institution- the system of a highly regulated institution of slavery limited tot eh south- it flagrantly violated the principle of individual freedom that served as the basis of the declaration of Independence- slavery became a powerful engine of economic development for Southern cotton and New England Industry
Mulattoes- people of mixed racial ancestry- in the free black population a huge portion were mulattoes, they occupied a status between that of blacks and that of whites. Some built substantial fortunes and even became slaveholders
Gabriel Prosser- a slave on a plantation near Richmond who in 1800 hatched a plot involving 1,000 others to seize key points in the city and start a general slaughter of whites- he was betrayed before the plan got underway and 25 conspirators were executed and 10 were deported
Denmark Vesey- 1822- he created a plan of free blacks to assault the white population, seize ships in the harbor, and burn Charleston and head for Santo Domingo- he was betrayed before it could happen. 25 supposed slave rebels were executed, 24 were deported and Charleston responded by curtailing the rights of free blacks who at that time outnumbered whites
Nat Turner- 1831- the only slave rebellion that got beyond the planning stage, occurred in Southampton County, Virginia, Turner, a black overseer, was also a self- anointed religious exhorter who professed a divine mission in leading a slave rebellion. A small number of slaves killed the adults and children in Turner's master's household and set off down the road, repeating the process at other farmhouses, where other slaves joined in, the Virginia militia killed large numbers of slaves indiscriminately in the process of putting down the rebels
American Colonization Society- organized in 1816 to encourage the colonization of free blacks to Africa, West African nation of Liberia was founded in 1822 to serve as a homeland for them. They believed that whites and blacks couldn't live peacefully in society together
Liberia- a West African nation founded in 1822 by the American Colonization Society to serve as a homeland for free blacks to settle
William Lloyd Garrison- publisher o the anti-slavery newspaper " The Liberator", and founder of the New England Anti-Slavery Society in 1831, he had grown impatient with the strategy of moderation in the slavery issue, his militancy elicited outrage retorts from slaveholders, garrison opposed the use of force to free slaves
American Anti-Slavery Society- a national abolitionist organization founded in 1833 by New York philanthropists Arthur and Lewis Tappan, propagandist Theodore Dwight Weld, and others, They hoped to exploit the publicity generated whent eh British anti-slavery movement won, they went beyond the issue of emancipation to argue that blacks should have all the same rights as whites
Sarah and Angelina Grimke- daughters of a prominent South Carolina slave owning family, they broke apart from their parents and moved north to embrace Quakerism, antislavery, feminism, and other reforms, they were greatly criticized for speaking publically in the antislavery movement
Frederick Douglass- a former slave and ardent abolitionist and writer of his "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" in 1845. He became recognized as one of America's first great black speakers
Harriet Tubman- a part of the Underground Railroad, the most celebrated black refugee that ventured back to the South 19 times to help free others
Sojourner Truth- an articulate black female abolitionist who crisscrossed the country during the 1840's and 1850's preaching the sins of slavery, exhorting audiences about abolitionism and women's rights
Elijah Lovejoy- an anti-slavery editor who in 1837 was killed by a mob in Alton, Illinois, giving the movement a martyr to both abolition and freedom of press
Gag Rule- in 1836- the House adopted a rule to lay abolition petitions automatically on the table, in effect ignoring them, Adams fought this as a violation of the 1st amendment until it was repealed in 1844
| 56761349 | Wilmot Proviso | Proposal to prohibit slaver in any land acquired in the Mexican War, but southern senators led by John C. Calhoun of South Carolina defeated the measure in 1846 and 1847, it brought the slavery issue back into the spot light | |
| 56761350 | Calhoun Resolutions | In making the proslavery response to the Wilmot Proviso, Senator John C. Calhoun argued that barring slavery in Mexican acquisitions would violate the 5th Amendment tot eh Constitution by depriving slaveholding settlers of their property- it became an established Southern dogma | |
| 56761351 | Popular Sovereignty | allowed settlers in a disputed territory to decide the slavery issue for themselves- supported by Stephen Douglass a prominent democrat | |
| 56761352 | Lewis Cass | won the presidential nomination at the Democratic convention but the party refused to endorse his popular sovereignty plan | |
| 56761353 | Free Soil Coalition | made up of rebellious northern Democrats, anti slavery Whigs, and members of the Liberty Party, it centered in New York for the Democrats, and MA for Conscience Whigs, they nominated Martin van Buren for president and endorse the Wilmot Proviso, it helped split votes but received very little for Van Buren | |
| 56761354 | Conscience Whigs | rejected the slave holding nominee of their party- Zachary Taylor, they centered in MA, part of the Free Soil Coalition, supported anti-slavery | |
| 56761355 | Forty-Niners | speculators who went to northern California following the discovery of gold in 1849, the first several years of large scale migration was 1849, it included people of every social class and state including slaves, it helped populate California really quickly | |
| 56761356 | Compromise of 1850 | Complex compromise mediated by Senator Henry Clay that headed off southern secession over California statehood, to appease the South it included the Fugitive Slave Act and delayed determination of slave status of New Mexico and Utah territories, it had five parts: 1) California as a free slave which was a northern victory, 2) Texas-New Mexico Act set the boundary and made New Mexico Territory which left the slavery issue for a later date, 3) Utah became a territory, 4) Fugitive Slave Act which was a southern victory, 5) the Slave trade was abolished in DC which was a north victory | |
| 56761357 | March 7th Speech | a speech given by Webster, a supreme gesture of conciliation during the compromise of 1850, given to the Senate, spoke about the preservation of the Union, brought a storm upon his head from both sides | |
| 56761358 | Seward's "Higher Law" | Whig senator from NY gave an anti-slavery reply to Webster's speech on March 11th, he said that there was a higher law than the constitution that demanded the abolition of slaver | |
| 56761359 | Millard Fillmore | became the 13th president when Taylor died. He was largely self-educated, he had made his own way in the profession of a law and the rough-and-tumble world of NY politics, he was ready to make peace and used extreme caution, he support the Compromise of 1850 and helped it pass | |
| 56761360 | Stephen A. Douglass | a Democratic Senator from Illinois who debated Abraham Lincoln during his run for Senator in the Lincoln-Douglass Debates. He was an avid supporter of the Compromise of 1850, supported popular sovereignty, he rescued Clay's faltering compromise, he divided the compromise into 5 parts to he could mobilize a majority for each issue separately | |
| 56761361 | Fugitive Slave Act | 1850- gave the federal government authority in cases involving runaway slaves, part of the Compromise of 1850; so much more punitive and prejudiced in favor of slave holders than the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act, caused "Uncle Tom's Cabin" to be written, it was included in the compromise to appease the South over the admission of California as a free state, it pushed many neutral parties to the anti-slavery side | |
| 56761362 | Uncle Tom's Cabin | written by Harriet Breecher Stowe in response to the Fugitive Slave Act, this anti-slavery appeal included a combination of unlike saints and sinners, stereotypes, and melodramatic escapades and was a smashing commercial success. Many used this to say that they hadn't known about the issue to now but now that they did they would join the anti-slavery side | |
| 56761363 | Franklin Pierce | a democrat presidential candidate in the 1852 election. His platform fledged to abide by the Compromise of 1850, he rallied both Southern right's advocates and Van Burenite (Coalition) Democrats, he was trying to please everyone and as a result pleased no one- a Northern man with southern principles | |
| 56761364 | Ostend Manifesto | Memorandum written in 1854 from Ostend, Belgium, by the US ministers to England, France and Spain recommending the purchase or seizure of Cuba to increase the US's slaveholding territory, claimed it was because Spain was too weak to protect it, it wasn't going to hold any weight but then newspapers got a hold of it and it convinced northerners of the slave-o-cracy | |
| 56761365 | Matthew Perry | entrusted with a special Japanese expedition by President Fillmore, in 1853 he arrived in Tokyo, negotiations led to the Treaty of Kanagawa (1854) in which Japan agreed to allowed a US consulate, promised to treat castaways cordially, and permitted US ships to enter certain ports for supplies and repairs, it opened up Japan's relations with the US | |
| 56761366 | Gadsden Purchase | 1853- 30,000 square miles in present-day Arizona and NM bought by Congress from Mexico primarily for the Southern Pacific Railroad's transcontinental route, favored by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis | |
| 56761367 | Anthony Burns | a fugitive slave, who escaped several captured attempts in Boston before being marched to a ship and returned to the South in June 1854, the last southern slave to be returned from Boston, Northerners blamed Pierce for Fugitive Slave Act and for Burn's recapture | |
| 56761368 | Kansas-Nebraska Act | 1854- a Law sponsored by Illinois senator Stephen Douglass to allow settlers in newly organized territories north of the Missouri border to decide the slavery issue for themselves, fury over the resulting nullification of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 led to violence in Kansas over slaver and the formation of the Republican party, he was motivated by his desire to use the land for a transcontinental railroad in the north and needed to get the land from the Indians | |
| 56761369 | Republican Party | organized in 1854 by anti-slavery Whigs, Democrats and Free soilers in response to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act; they nominated John C. Fremont for president in 1856 and Abraham Lincoln in 1860 | |
| 56761370 | Border Ruffians | thousands of people who crossed over from Missouri to Kansas to illegally sweep the polls for pro-slavery forces and wanted to get rid of anti-slavery forces, they caused the governor to denounce the election but do nothing for fear of being killed, the legislature adopted a drastic slave code- led to tangled governments of Kansas | |
| 56761371 | Lawrence | May 1856 a pro-slavery mob entered the free state town of Lawrence, Kansas and destroyed newspaper presses, set fire to the free-state governor's home, stole property and demolished the free state hotel, it arouse the fanatic Free Soiler John Brown | |
| 56761372 | John Brown | Kansas settler and free state supporter who led the Pottawatomie Massacre in retaliation for the sacking of Lawrence. Then he went on to raid the federal arsenal in Harper's Ferry, Virginia with about 20 men. Upon capture Brown was tried and convicted of treason and conspiracy to incite insurrection and was hanged | |
| 56761373 | Pottawatomie Massacre | murder of 5 pro-slavery settlers in eastern Kansas, led by John Brown in May 1856, it set off guerilla war in the Kansas Territory that lasted through the fall | |
| 56761374 | Sumner Brooks Incident | Sumner was an MA senator and unyielding foe of slavery. He was physically attacked by Senator Brooks of SC in retaliation for a two-day speech made denouncing the proslavery Missourians who had crossed into Kansas and Brook's pro-slavery uncle who supported the Missourians- showed the split of the government | |
| 56761375 | Bleeding Kansas | May 1856- Conflict between pro and anti slavery supporters during the settlement of the Kansas territory after the Kansas Nebraska Act. | |
| 56761376 | James Buchanan | the 15th president, he first served as a congressman and senator from PA, he was the Democratic candidate in 1856, supported Pierce's policies | |
| 56761377 | Dred Scott Case | born a slave in VA, Scott filed suit in Missouri to claim his freedom. The case made its way all the way to the US Supreme Court, where it was ruled that Scott lacked legal standing because he lacked citizenship and that he remained a slave, it made the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional because it said taking a settler's property was wrong, it was ruled by Chief Justice Roger by Taney | |
| 56761378 | Alabama Platform | the southern Whig's position when the party spilt, they believe that you can't ban slavery in new states and territories | |
| 56761379 | Lecompton Convention | pro slavery constitutional convention in Kansas in 1858 even with an antislavery legislature. It drew up a controversial constitution drawn up in 1857 by proslavery Kansas delegates seeking statehood, it was rejected in 1858 by an overwhelming antislavery electorate, it passed Kansas would be a slave state but even if it didn't pass it claimed that slaves could stay | |
| 56761380 | Panic of 1857 | Economic depression lasting about 2 years and brought on by falling grain prices and weak financial systems, the south was largely unaffected due to the international demand for cotton | |
| 56761381 | Abraham Lincoln | the 16th president, including during the Civil War, he was an Illinois Republican who ran against Douglass for a seat in the senate and lost, he beat Douglass and others for the presidency, the first presidential candidate to win with support from only 1 region, caused southerners to secede | |
| 56761382 | Lincoln-Douglass Debates | a series of senatorial campaign debates in 1858 focusing on the issue of slavery in the territories, it was held in Illinois between Republican Lincoln who made a national reputation for himself, and democrat Senator Douglass who held his seat | |
| 56761383 | Freeport Doctrine | during the 2nd debate in the Lincoln-Douglass debates at Freeport, Abraham asked Douglass how he could reconcile popular sovereignty with the Dred Scott ruling that citizens had the right to carry slaves into any territory, Douglass's answer was that whatever the Supreme Court might say, slavery could not exist anywhere unless it is supported by the locals, slavery may be allowed but we won't help it | |
| 56761384 | Harper's Ferry | the site of abolitionist John Brown's failed raid on the federal arsenal, October 1859, he intended to arm the slaves but 10 of his compatriots were killed, and Brown became a martyr to his cause after his capture and execution- the South saw this as the Start of the War | |
| 56761385 | Election of 1860 | the Democrats are divided and therefore the Republicans win, the Democrats have Douglass in the North and Breckinridge in the South while Lincoln had the Republicans, John Bell held the Constitutional Union Party, Lincoln barely had a majority and is only voted for by Northerners, Southerners don't believe this represents the people so SC secedes claiming that Lincoln isn't their president | |
| 56761386 | Crittenden Compromise | a series of amendment and resolution proposed by Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky, that allowed for slavery in the territories south of 36 30 and guaranteed to maintain slavery where it existed, failed to win the support of either house of Congress |
