Freeport Doctrine
The Freeport Doctrine occurred in Freeport, Illinois during the debates of Lincoln and Douglas for senator. This was a question that Lincoln asked Douglas that made Douglas answer in such a way that the South would know that he was not truly supporting them.
Harper's Ferry Raid
Occurred in October of 1859. John Brown of Kansas attempted to create a major revolt among the slaves. He wanted to ride down the river and provide the slaves with arms from the North, but he failed to get the slaves organized. Brown was captured. The effects of Harper's Ferry Raid were as such: the South saw the act as one of treason and were encouraged to separate from the North, and Brown became a martyr to the northern abolitionist cause.
Constitutional Union Party
also known as the "do-nothings" or "Old Gentlemen's" party; 1860 election; it was a middle of the road group that feared for the Union- consisted mostly of Whigs and Know-Nothings, met in Baltimore and nominated John Bell from Tennessee as candidate for presidency-the slogan for this candidate was "The Union, the Constitution, and the Enforcement of the laws."
American Know Nothing Party
Developed from the order of the Star Spangled Banner and was made up of nativists. This party was organized due to its secretiveness and in 1865 nominated the ex-president Fillmore. These super-patriots were antiforeign and anti-Catholic and adopted the slogan "American's must rule America!" Remaining members of the Whig party also backed Fillmore for President.
Panic of 1857
The California gold rush increased inflation; speculation in land and railroads "ripped economic fabric"; hit the North harder than South because the South had cotton as a staple source of income; the North wanted free land from the government; drove Southerners closer to a showdown; caused an increase in tariffs; gave Republicans an issue for the election of 1860.
Lincoln-Douglas Debate 1858
Lincoln challenged Stephen Douglas to a series of 7 debates. Though Douglas won the senate seat, these debates gave Lincoln fame and helped him to later on win the presidency. These debates were a foreshadowing of the Civil War.
The Impending Crisis of the South
A book written by Hinton Helper. Helper hated both slavery and blacks and used this book to try to prove that non-slave owning whites were the ones who suffered the most from slavery. The non-aristocrat from N.C. had to go to the North to find a publisher that would publish his book.
Bleeding Kansas
Kansas was being disputed for free or slave soil during 1854-1857, by popular sovereignty. In 1857, there were enough free-soilers to overrule the slave-soilers. So many people were feuding that disagreements eventually led to killing in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces.
Roger Taney
He was Chief Justice for the Dred Scott case. A decision was made on March 6, 1857. Roger Taney ruled against Dred Scott. Scott was suing for freedom because of his long residence in free territory. He was denied freedom because he was property and his owner could take him into any territory and legally hold him as a slave. This court ruling was major cause in starting the Civil War.
John Breckinridge
John Breckinridge was the vice-president elected in 1856. Breckinridge was nominated for the presidential election of 1860 for the Southern Democrats. After Democrats split, the Northern Democrats would no longer support him. Breckenridge favored the extension of slavery, but was not a Disunionist. Breckinridge also wanted to keep the Union together, but when the polls started he couldn't even get the votes of his own party.
John Bell
Nominated for presidency in 1860 by the Constitutional Union Party, which formed a split in the Union. He was a compromise candidate.
Abraham Lincoln
nicknamed "Old Abe" and "Honest Abe"; born in Kentucky to impoverished parents and mainly self-educated; a Springfield lawyer. Republicans chose him to run against Senator Douglas (a Democrat) in the senatorial elections of 1858. Although he loss victory to senatorship that year, Lincoln came to be one of the most prominent northern politicians and emerged as a Republican nominee for president. Although he won the presidential elections of 1860, he was a minority and sectional president (he was not allowed on the ballot in ten southern states).
John Crittenden
A Senator of Kentucky, that fathered two sons: one became a general in the Union Army, the other a general in the Confederate Army. He is responsible for the Crittenden Compromise. This augments the fact that the war was often between families, and its absurdity. Kentucky and other states were split up between the Union and Confederacy, and both in the North and South sent people to the other side. This makes it clear that the war is primarily over slavery.
Hinton Helper 1875
book entitled 'Impending Crisis of the South' that stirred trouble. Attempted to prove that indirectly the non-slave holding whites were the ones who suffered the most from slavery; the book was banned in the South but countless copies were distributed as campaign material for republicans
John Brown
John Brown was a militant abolitionist that took radical extremes to make his views clear. In May of 1856, Brown led a group of his followers to Pottawattamie Creek and launched a bloody attack against pro-slavery men killing five people. This began violent retaliation against Brown and his followers. This violent attack against slavery helped give Kansas its nick name, "bleeding Kansas".
Charles Sumner
He was an unpopular senator from Mass., and a leading abolitionist. In 1856, he made an assault in the pro-slavery of South Carolina and the South in his coarse speech, "The Crime Against Kansas." The insult angered Congressmen Brooks of South Carolina. Brooks walked up to Sumner's desk and beat him unconscious. This violent incident helped touch off the war between the North and the South.
Dred Scott
Scott was a black slave who had lived with his master for five years in Illinois and Wisconsin territory. He sued for his freedom on the basis of his long residence in free territory. The Dred Scott court decision was handed down by the Supreme Court on March 6,1857. The Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott was a black slave and not a citizen. Hence, he could not sue in a federal court.
