History Essay 1 Terms
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott v. Stanford was a Supreme Court case decided on March 6, 1857. Scott was a black slave who sued for his freedom on basis that he had been living for a long time on free soil in Illinois and Wisconsin Territory. However, the Supreme Court ruled that Scott was a slave, not a citizen, and therefore couldn't sue in federal courts. They also decreed that a slave was private property and could be taken anywhere and still be held in slavery. Court also ruled Compromise of 1820 unconstitutional, saying that Congress had no power to ban slavery from the territories. This is significant because aroused northerners to a fighting pitch. It undermined the Missouri Compromise and heightened tensions between slave owners and abolitionists.
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter was a fort in Charleston, South Carolina, that still belonged to Union after the South had seceded. It had less than 100 men stationed there and was at risk of being taken over if supplies weren't sent, but if Lincoln sent supplies, it would seem as if they were preparing for battle. The South regarded Lincoln's Union naval force as aggressive when he sent them. South Carolinians opened fire on the fort with cannons on April 12, 1861, and the garrison was forced to surrender, although there were no casualties. This was significant because the attack provoked North to fight back - Lincoln called for 75000 militiamen to join the war effort against the South and there were many volunteers. It was the start of the CW.
Brown's Raid
From October 16-18, 1859, John Brown and his supporters went to the town of Harpers Ferry and raided them by capturing prominent citizens and seizing the federal armory. Brown hoped that the local slave population would rise up and join the raid, but they didn't. The US Marines arrived and captured Brown. He was sentenced to death.
Popular Sovereignty
General Lewis Cass, a veteran of War of 1812, is considered the father of popular sovereignty. However, its main champion is Senator Stephen A. Douglas. It was a doctrine that stated that people living in a territory should determine themselves whether or not they wanted slavery. The idea was popular in the 1850s. Popular sovereignty was invoked in the Compromise of 1850 and later in the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854). The tragic events in "Bleeding Kansas" exposed the doctrine's shortcomings, as pro- and anti-slavery forces battled each other to effect the outcome they wished.
Cotton Gin
Invented by Eli Whitney in 1793. Made it possible to produce cotton very quickly. After 1840, cotton accounted for half the value of all American exports. It benefited both the North and South because the North was about to transport and manufacture stuff from cotton. Southern planters bought slaves and land to grow more cotton, so they could buy more slaves and land. Cotton cultivation exploded and transformed the southern economy. This was significant because slavery was a dying institution until the cotton gin. Gave America an economic edge over the rest of the world.
Manifest Destiny
Americans believed in this doctrine throughout the 1840s and 50s. They thought that it was their destiny under God to spread democracy over the world. Land greed and ideals - "empire" and "liberty" - were thus conveniently conjoined. Significant because it was the main reason that U.S spread West, made expansion of slavery an issue.
Caning of Sumner
Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was an abolitionist who made a speech entitled "The Crime Against Kansas," where he insulted South Carolina and its senator. Congressman Preston S. Brooks approached Sumner at his desk on May 22, 1856 and beat him with a cane until it broke. Brooks was put in the wrong but was reelected after resignation. He also had many Southern admirers. However, the North was angered by "Bully" Brooks and sold Sumner's speech by tens of thousands. This is significant because Sumner's speech might otherwise have been obscure and instead incited thousands of Northerners. The South was angered because the speech was celebrated in North. The fight showed that emotion was displacing thought, North and South were highly antagonistic towards each other and tension was crackling.
Freeport Doctrine
The Freeport Doctrine was formulated by Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois in the Lincoln-Douglas debates. He said that no matter how the Supreme Court ruled, popular sovereignty ruled. Only the territories could determine whether they are a slave state or a free state, contrary to the Supreme Court ruling in Dred Scott v. Stanford. It was mentioned on 8/27/1858 and is significant because his statements split his party, the Democrats, because he defended PS instead of adhering to the Supreme Court decision and opposed the Lecompton Constitution. Southern Democrats would rather break up the party and the Union rather than accept Douglas. It weakened his power in the Senate and lost him the election of 1860.
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
The Lincoln-Douglas debates were between Republican nominee from Senate, Abraham Lincoln, and Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. It was a series of seven debates, the most famous of which was at Freeport, Illinois, where Lincoln asked Douglas: If people in a territory voted against slavery (Douglas was supporter of PS), and the Supreme Court said that they couldn't get rid of slavery, then who wins? The Court or popular sovereignty? Douglas answered with Freeport Doctrine. The debates occurred between August to October of 1858 and was significant because Douglas was forced to defend PS in relation to slavery. It also brought Lincoln into the spotlight, which led to him winning the election of 1860.
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a part compromise by Congress to appease both the Northern free states and the Southern slave-holding states. In 1829, Missouri requested to become part of the United States as a slave state, which would upset the balance of slave vs non-slave states in the U.S. To balance it out, Congress also admitted Maine as a free state. This was significant because Congress established an imaginary line - 36 degrees 60' - which was a boundary that limited the spread of slave states.
Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 was a financial crisis that was caused by inflation from Californian gold. Land speculation and railroad had damaged the economy and there was widespread unemployment. The North was hit the hardest, especially agriculture, while South held onto wealth with cotton production. This was significant because it made Southerners overconfident that "cotton was king" and that its economic kingdom was stronger than the North. It brought them closer to a shooting showdown and also caused the Tariff of 1857.
Pottawatomie Massacre
The Pottawatomie Massacre was led by radical abolitionist John Brown on May 24, 1856. He believed that he was called by God to undo the satanic institution of slavery. Brown led a group of 7 others into a proslavery town called Pottawatomie Creek and killed 5 people. This is significant because it led to "Bleeding Kansas", a brutal guerrilla war. It brought vicious retaliation from the proslavery forces and besmirched the free-soil cause.
Republican Party Forms
The Republican Party formed on March 20, 1854 in a meeting held in Wisconsin. It consisted of former Whig party members that met to oppose the spread of slavery into the Western territories. Republicans were the party of free working white men; they were opposed to the spread of slavery because they did not want to compete against unpaid labor in the lands opening in the West. They were no particular friends of the blacks, slave or free. Further, the Republicans were purely a sectional party; they did not attempt to run candidates in the slave states. Their plan was to gain complete political control in the North; if they did, they would have sufficient electoral strength to elect a president. Lincoln was a member.
Tariff of 1857
The Tariff of 1857 was enacted by Congress as a response to the Panic of 1857. It reduced duties to 20 percent on dutiable goods. Northern manufacturers blamed the low tariff for their financial woes, but the South benefited from this because they could get more materials for less money, so the North now made less profit from the South's "cottonocracy". This is significant because it gave Republicans talking points for economic issues itn eh election of 1860; it also increased sectional friction between North and South.
Defeat of the Whigs
The Whig Party started deteriorating from 1852 to 1854 because they were split; the Northern and Southern Whigs couldn't find a presidential nominee to stand behind. They ended up nominating General Winfield Scott, but the Northern Whigs hated his endorsement of the Fugitive Slave Law, while Southern Whigs doubted Scott's loyalty to his platform (they liked his platform but hated him). This is significant because the election of 1852 marked the end of the disorganized Whigs. The end of the Whig party broke another political bond between North and South because it was one of the few remaining national parties - now the government was run by purely sectional parties.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The act was introduced by Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. He wanted to split Territory of Nebraska into Kansas and Nebraska. Both would be decided by popular sovereignty. This was supported by President Pierce and passed by Congress on May 30, 1854. It is significant because it directly contradicted the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which forbade slavery north of 36 degree 30' line in Nebraska Territory. Ruined delicate balance of the compromise and led to CW.
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
The law was passed by Congress on September 18, 1850, and stated that fleeing slaves couldn't testify on their own behalf. Those who tried to aid slaves were subject to fines and jail sentences. This is significant because it horrified Northerners and moderates and converted many northerners to anti-slavery view. Made North and South antagonistic towards each other because North didn't like law and South was angry North didn't enforce it. 1850s gave North time to gather spirit to resist Southern secession.
Election of 1860
The presidential election of 1860 included major candidates from the Democratic and Republican parties; Senator Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, respectively. Lincoln won because he had the more populous states of the North and NOrthwest and because the Dems were split, disorganizied and thus couldn't support Douglas. Lincoln was elected November of 1860 and went in office in March of 1861. This was significant because the election of Lincoln as president led to the secession of 11 Southern states, who formed the Confederate States of America.
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in 1852. It described slavery's inhumanity and its cruel splitting of families. It became an international phenomenon and inspired many Northerners to join the anti-slavery cause. Many promised to ignore the Fugitive Slave Act. It is significant because of its huge social impact and its political force because of its depiction of slavery as an evil, immoral institution.
The Liberator (Newspaper)
Was a militant, antislavery newspaper first published in 1831 by white abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison in Boston, MA. Significant because it started conversation about slavery, also he was a white abolitionist and "in a sense fired one of the opening barrages of the CW"
Lecompton Constitution
It was a constitution for Kansas proposed in 1857. It said that people couldn't vote for or against the whole constitution, but voted either "slavery" or "no slavery". If they voted against slavery, then a part of the constitution would protect the owners of slaves already in Kansas. So no mater what, there would still be slavery in Kansas. Free-soils were angry and boycotted the polls, so slavery was allowed in Kansas in 1857. President James Buchanan was under southern influence and supported Lecompton Constitution. Senator Douglas (champion of PS) got angry at this trick and submitted the entire constitution to a popular vote and Kansas was made free. Kansas was then made state in 1861. This was significant because Buchanan angered the Democrats in North and divided the Democratic party. It was the last national party after the Whig's defeat, thus breaking one of the last political connections between North and South.
Compromise of 1850
Senator Henry Clay, a member of the Whig party, introduced a series of resolutions on January 29, 1850. The Compromise of 1850 would allow the North to admit California as a free state, but New Mexico and Utah would determine their slave status based on popular sovereignty. There would be no slavery in DC, but a new, harsher Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 would replace the one made in 1793. It was significant because it temporarily defused sectional tensions in the United States, postponing the secession crisis and the American Civil War. The Compromise dropped the Wilmot Proviso, which never became law but would have banned slavery in territory acquired from Mexico. Instead the Compromise further endorsed the doctrine of "Popular Sovereignty" for the Territory of New Mexico and the Territory of Utah. The various compromises lessened political contention for four years, until the relative lull was shattered by the divisive Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Bleeding Kansas
Term refers to the civil war in Kansas that erupted in 1856 and continued intermittently until it merged with the U.S Civil War. Destroyed millions of dollars' wroth of property, paralyzed agriculture in certain areas, and cost scores of lives.
Border States
The Border States consisted of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia, which had illegally broken off from Virginia, which had seceded from the Union. These states were doubtful Southern states on the verge of seceding - they held an incredible amount of power because the contained a white population of more than half of the entire Confederacy. If they were to leave, the South would gain much more power. It was significant because their neutrality and loyalty to the Union deprived the South of manpower and resources and allowed the North to gain a strategic advantage.
