APUSH - Chapter 13 pt2

Harper's Ferry raid

18. Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery. Word of the raid spread, and by morning Brown and his men were surrounded. Ten of his men were killed, including two of his sons. The wounded Brown was tried by the state of Virginia for treason and murder, and he was found guilty. Although the raid failed, it inflamed sectional tensions and raised the stakes for the 1860 presidential election. Brown's raid helped make any further accommodation between North and South nearly impossible and thus became an important impetus of the Civil War. This raid was led by radical abolitionist John Brown and his group of insurrectionists. Brown sought to take weapons from the federal armory and arm slaves. The raid was unsuccessful. The raid took place in 1859.

House-divided Speech

Abraham Lincoln gave the famous "house-divided" speech. At the Illinois Republican Convention, Lincoln kicked off his bid for the Senate with his great speech. Lincoln believed that the recent Supreme Court decision on the Dred Scott case was part of a Democratic conspiracy that would lead to the legalization of slavery in all states. Regardless, he believed that slavery would need to stay for good or leave forever, America could not and would not last as a nation divided.

Brooks-Sumner Caning

In this act of violence, a member of the House of Representatives walked into the Senate and beat a Senator unconscious. Senator Sumner insulted Senator Butler in dehumanizing manner, especially as the latter was not present to defend himself. Representative Brooks was the kinsman of Senator Butler, and would've challenged Sumner to a duel had he thought he was a gentleman; instead, he grabbed a cane used to beat dogs and attacked Sumner. Both men became heroes in their respective regions.

Stephen A. Douglas

Douglas was a politician from Illinois. He created the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act. He beat Abraham Lincoln in the race for the Senate, but in their debates, Lincoln gained the popularity needed to secure the presidential election in 1860. His debates with Lincoln were well-known and famous; furthermore, Douglas was a strong believer in popular sovereignty.

Dred Scott v. Sanford

In this monumental court case, the Supreme Court decided that Americans of African American descent were not American citizens. It did not matter if they were free for slaves. As a result, African Americans could not sue in court. The court also decreed that the rights of slaveowners were constitutionally protected under the 5th amendment as slaves were categorized as property. 13. Dred Scott was a slave whose owner is in the army. He moves from a slave to free to slave and back to a free state. Scotts argument was that when he moved to a free state he became a free man. The Courts decision was that he is still property. This supports that Congress is in favor of slavery. According to Taney, Dred Scott was the property of his owner, and property could not be taken from a person without due process of law.

John Brown

John Brown was an extreme abolitionist. Brown believed in the violent overthrow of slavery as a quick and good solution to the problem. In the Bleeding Kansas conflict, he and his sons led attacks on pro-slavery residents. In 1859, Brown and his group of insurrectionists led an unsuccessful raid on a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry in an attempt to arm slaves.

Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln was America's 16th president, the victor of the election of 1860. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, freeing all slaves in the United States of America. Lincoln was the son of a western Kentucky frontiersman, and worked hard to survive. He saw secession as illegal, and would use force as needed to preserve, protect, and defend the union. He guided the civil war as a fight to keep the great nation together. Abraham Lincoln overcame several more prominent contenders to win the Republican Party's nomination for president in 1860. His election pushed several Southern states to secede by the time of his inauguration in March 1861, and the Civil War began barely a month later. Lincoln proved to be a military strategist and a leader during what became the costliest conflict ever fought on American soil. His Emancipation Proclamation, issued in 1863, freed all slaves in the rebellious states and paved the way for slavery's eventual abolition, while his Gettysburg Address later that year stands as one of the most famous and influential pieces of oratory in American history. In April 1865, with the Union on the brink of victory, Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed by the Confederate John Wilkes Booth.

Popular Sovereignty

Popular Sovereignty was a pre-Civil War doctrine asserting the right of the people living in a newly organized territory to decide by vote of their territorial legislature whether or not slavery would be permitted there. The concept that political power rests with the people who can create, alter, and abolish government. People express themselves through voting and free participation in government. Douglas thought the settlers should vote on their status early in territorial development. Other supporters adopted a somewhat different stance, arguing that the status should be determined by a vote taken when the territory was fully prepared for statehood. Popular sovereignty is simply rule by the people. It is a principle that holds that the authority and power of a government is created and upheld by the people. This mainly applied to settlers of federal lands who felt that they should be the ones to decide whether the territory was free or for slavery. Popular sovereignty was used in the Compromise of 1850 and later in the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854).

Freeport Doctrine

The Freeport Doctrine came up in the second Lincoln-Douglas Debate. At Freeport, Lincoln asked Douglas whether the people of a territory could lawfully exclude slavery prior to the creation of a state constitution. Douglas' response would become known as the Freeport Doctrine. The doctrines stated that the exclusion of slavery in a territory could be determined by voter refusal to pass any laws that would protect slave property. This statement helped Lincoln clinch the win in the elections of 1860.

Know-Nothing Party

The Know-Nothing Party is also known as the American Party and was prominent during the late 1840s and early 1850s. This party originated in 1849. The Know-Nothings were mainly middle-class and working class Americans who feared immigrants that took their jobs and Catholics. They were called this because when asked about it, the said they "knew nothing."

Lecompton Constitution

The Lecompton Constitution was a controversial and disputed legal document of the Kansas Territory that split the US over the issue of slavery in the decade before the Civil War. Though it is not widely remembered today, just the mention of "Lecompton" stirred deep emotions among Americans in the late 1850s.The controversy over the Lecompton Constitution reached the White House of James Buchanan and was heatedly debated on Capitol Hill. The issue of Lecompton, which included the issue of whether Kansas would be admitted to the Union as a slave state or free state, also influenced the political careers of Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. This was the second constitution drafted for Kansas. This one was created by proslavery supporters. Antislavery voters boycotted the constitutional convention because they felt they the electoral conditions supported those who were pro-slavery. As a result, slavery was made legal in this constitution. Democratic President Buchanan supported the Lecompton Constitution and urged Congress to admit Kansas as a slave state, however, Congress was split.

Election of 1860

The election of 1860 contested Abraham Lincoln, John Breckinridge, Stephen Douglas, and John Bell. Lincoln came out as the victor. Slavery and state rights were the biggest issues at the time of this election. Lincoln won both the popular and electoral college vote. 19. Issues such as slavery, tariffs, states' rights, and internal improvements were key to the division of political partied sin the 1860 election. The Democratic party split and northern democrats chose Senator Stephen Douglas while the south chose proslavery candidate, John C. Breckenridge who was vice president at the time. The constitutional union party, composed of collapsed Whig party, chose John Bell of Tennessee. The Republican Party chose Abraham Lincoln who opposed slavery but was happy to restrict it to slave sates rather than abolish it everywhere. None won with popular vote but Lincoln won with 180 electoral votes, making him the first republican president. It was a triumph for the north while the south was left discontent.

Free Soil Party

The free-soil party formed from the remnants of the Liberty Party in 1848. They adopted a slogan of "free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men,". They also opposed the spread of slavery into territories while supporting homesteads, cheap postage, and internal improvements. The party tried to widen its appeal by focusing less on outright abolition than on opposing the spread of slavery into the territories (the need to protect free soil and free labor). The republican party in 1850s attracted the greater number of antislavery voters. This party was established in 1848 and was short-lived. It was a third party based in New York, and most supporters of the Free Soil Party were in New York. It was formed from the supporters of the failed 1846 Wilmot Proviso. The party was active only in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections and some state elections.

Republican Party

The republican party was established in 1854 as a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. They arose out of the schism among Whigs. Northern Whigs combined with the Free Soil Party and the American Party to create the Republican Party. Abraham Lincoln, in 1860, became the first person from the Republican party to be elected president.

Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854

This act used the principle of popular sovereignty in regards to slavery across new territories. The act maintained that the settlers who inhabited a territory had the choice to decide whether the territory would allow slavery. The bill was proposed by Stephen A. Douglas and overturned the use of latitude to mark slave and free territories as in the Missouri Compromise. The conflicts that arose from this led to the period of violence known as, "Bleeding Kansas."

"Bleeding Kansas"

This term describes the period of violence that characterized the settling of Kansas. When the Kansas-Nebraska Act overturned the Missouri Compromise and stated that the people in the state would decide on slavery within, violence erupted. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions flooded Kansas in an attempt to win the state over. Violence marked the territory as the factions fought for control.

Fugitive Slave Law

This was a pair of laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves in the United States. What was special about this was that it could be applied in the North and it be used to incriminate anyone who helped the slaves escape. These laws were among the most controversial in the early 19th century. Northern states attempted to circumvent these laws with special legislation. Eventually, in 1864, the laws were repealed.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, this anti-slavery book was extremely influential for the abolitionist cause. Within 3 months, the book had already sold 300,000 copies. When President Abraham Lincoln met her, he famously told Stowe, "So this is the little lady who made this big war." While living in Cincinnati, Stowe encountered the Underground Railroad and fugitive slaves; she drew upon these experiences to write her successful novel that greatly affected the way the American public viewed slavery.

Young American Plan

Young America was the confident, manifest destiny spirit of the Americans in the 1840's and 50's. Expansionists began to think about transmitting the dynamic, democratic spirit of the US to other countries by aiding revolutionaries, opening up new markets, and annexing foreign lands. This term was first coined by Ralph Waldo Emerson. It believed in the young generation of Americans and their ability to expand the nation, progress it technologically, and ushering in a new era of commercial development. It was a political and cultural attitude in America before becoming a political organization in 1845. The Young American Plan was inspired by similar movements in Europe during the 1830s.