APUSH Chapter 19
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Definition: An 1852 novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe documenting the fictional, though realistically inspired, account of a family of slaves in the deep south, criticizing the wickedness of slavery by demonstrating its terrible inhumanity through the eyes of its most common and deeply affected victims. Significance: The novel had an extremely deep significance in entrenching the spirit of abolitionism within Northern ideology, with thousands of readers censuring the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law and decrying all who enforced it. Its influence extended over the Atlantic as well, with both Britain and France infected with the contagious "Tommania".
Dred Scott v. Stanford
Definition: A controversial decision related by the Supreme Court on March 6, 1857 that became one of the major causes of the civil disunity leading to the Civil War. In the case, Dred Scott, a black slave, having lived with his master for five years in Illinois and Wisconsin Territory, sued for freedom on the grounds that he had resided long on what was technically free soil. The court unsurprisingly riled that Dred Scott was a black slave and not a citizen, and hence could not sue in federal courts. However, the court went further by decreeing that because a slave was private property, he or she could be taken into any territory and legally held there in slavery, using the fifth amendment as backing to prevent the government from depriving citizens of their property. Finally, the court ruled that the Compromise of 1820 was actually unconstitutional, and that congress had no power to ban slavery from the territories, regardless even of what the territorial legislatures themselves might want. Significance: While this victory delighted southerners, it flew in the face of popular sovereignty and infuriated abolitionists by making their most constant goal an impossibility.
Lecompton Constitution
Definition: A document drafted by proslavery forces in 1857 to act as both a suitable constitution for the ascending territory of Kansas and a sly ploy for guaranteeing the existence of slavery within that state. It ostensibly provided for popular sovereignty by allowing the public to vote for it "with or without slavery", but ultimately failed to truly provide such power as the remaining provisions of the paper would allow for the protection of slaveowners in Texas regardless of the ultimate word of the public. Significance: While the reigning president Franklin Pierce attempted to support the Constitution due to great persuasion by southern diplomats, the allowance of such trickery was ultimately disallowed by the senator Stephen A. Douglas, a staunch supporter of popular sovereignty, who decried the Constitution as failing to truly provide for its function, destroying his support in the South.
Confederate States of America
Definition: A loosely united confederate government founded in Montgomery, Alabama in February 1861 that consisted of southern states choosing to secede from the union. Namely, the nation consisted of South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, with its president being former cabinet member and West Point graduate Jefferson Davis. He was considered fit due to his wide military and administrative experience, though these advantages were somewhat lessened by chronic ill health and frustrated strategic ambition. Significance: The secession of multiple southern states and their confederation into a separate nation had incredibly wide-ranging implications for the nation as a whole, with none more important than the Civil War, the incredibly bloody and violent conflict attempting to seize these rebellious areas and force them to reintegration into the union. As such, the creation of the Confederate States of America is indirectly responsible for the deadliest war fought on American soil, causing it to be an incredibly pertinent topic of continued debate among historians.
Constitutional Union Party
Definition: A moderate party organizing after certain conflicts such as the disaster at Harpers Ferry caused great fears for the fate of the union. Criticized as the "Do Nothing" or, "Old Gentlemen's party, it consisted primarily of former Whigs and members of the Know-Nothing Party, a veritable gathering of graybeards. It nominated John Bell of Tennessee for the presidential election of 1860, waving hand bells for reconciliation and "The Union, the Constitution, and the Enforcement of the Laws." Significance: While the party failed both in the election and in its desired goal of preserving the Union, it did receive a respectable 12.6% of the popular vote, and its ideals proved most prudent at a time when America was inching nearer and nearer to the great chasm of war.
Crittenden Amendments
Definition: A series of amendments sponsored by Senator John Jordan Crittenden of Kentucky as a desperate measure of compromise at a time when the Union seemed to be beyond repair. Its many measures were primarily designed to appease the South. It proposed that slavery be banned in all territories north of the 36 30' line, though be given protection South of that line both in current states and in any states yet to be annexed below that latitude, such as Cuba or New Mexico, boosting the future of slavery as a function of Manifest Destiny. It also absolutely allowed slavery in any non-state territory, regardless of the wishes expressed by the people through popular sovereignty, allowing slavery to prosper even in territories where it might be considered morally abhorrent. Significance: While president-elect Lincoln flatly rejected the scheme, likely on the grounds that it failed to produce the promises he had made during his presidential election, a valiant effort to preserve and rebind the union after the tears caused by bleeding Kansas and other sectional conflicts was made. Were this bill to be successful, the Union possibly could have been preserved.
Charles Sumner
Definition: A staunch and leading abolitionist and member of the United States Senate, his cold, humorless, and egotistical personality, combined with a haughty and insulting speech defending popular sovereignty in Kansas and deriding all southerners who supported the Lecompton Constitution, caused him to be viciously beaten by the hot - tempered southern congressman Preston S. Brooks. Significance: This famed caning caused Brooks both great shame within the Senate and great praise in the South, with Brooks resigning and triumphantly being reelected. Sumner suffered serious damage to his cranial and nervous systems, causing him to temporarily suspend his seat at Congress in order to travel to Europe for costly, painful medicinal repair. Most importantly, however, the caning ominously portended the inherently violent conflict that was to follow in the resolution of the dispute over the status of slavery within America, culminating in the horrendous Civil War.
Tariff of 1857
Definition: A tariff passed by a Congress embarrassed by the large Treasury surplus it possessed, reducing duties to about 20 percent on dutiable goods--the lowest point since the War of 1812. Significance: The Panic of 1857 that quickly and suspiciously followed the application of the Tariff caused frustrated northern industrialists to demand a higher duty, a manifestation of the innate desire for increased protection, and creating a new platform for the Republican Party in the election of 1860.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Definition: A wisp of a woman and the mother of six children, she was the author of the pivotal and heartrending novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Significance: Her work in the creation of the incendiary furor surrounding the novel caused her great approbations in the north, while earning her horrible vilification in the South. Her crucial role in exacerbating sectional conflicts was commented upon by Abraham Lincoln, who immortalized her by saying: "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war."
Panic of 1857
Definition: An economic crisis exacerbating the already tense atmosphere surrounding the Dred Scott decision. While not as economically ruinous as the panic of 1837, it was psychologically the worst of the nineteenth century. IT was caused by the inflation of the currency by the inpour of California gold, the demands of the Crimean War in Russia overstimulating the growing of grain, and feverish overspeculations in land and railroads. Significance: In the North, the region most affected by the crisis, clamor for free farms of 160 acres from the public domain and an increased tariff arose more loudly and the distress and disgruntlement experienced by the North as a culture became more pertinent.
Freeport Doctrine
Definition: An idea regarding the status of slavery espoused by Stephen Douglas and certain other southerners. It was mainly formulated in response to the question of how slavery would be allowed or forbidden in a territory including popular sovereignty, as the absolute defense of slavery in the face of such opposition was guaranteed by the Dred Scott decision. It stated that, no matter how the supreme court ruled, slavery would be forbidden if the people wished it so, and thus, any law protecting slavery would have to pass by the territorial legislatures. Significance: This doctrine absolutely protected the ability of popular sovereignty to determine important political issues in the western territories, and Douglas espoused its ideals in protecting the people's right to meaningful democracy when vigorously opposing the Lecompton Constitution, even in the face of southern republican disillusionment and censure.
The Impending Crisis of the South
Definition: An incendiary book written by Hinton R. Helper in 1857 that used statistics to prove that the vast number of nonslaveholding whites suffered most from the logical evils of slavery. As Helper was unable to find a publisher in the South willing to print such a work, he looked to the North and found a publisher willing to allow it on the presses. Significance: While the poorer whites of the South, to whom the proof was addressed, largely failed to take notice of Helper's work, whites in more elite echelons certainly took note, decrying the book for its "dirty allusions" and banning it, even burning its pages at book-burning parties.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Definition: Seven famed meetings from August to October 1858 between the two Illinois congressmen Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. The Well-groomed and polished Douglas provided great contrast to the lanky Lincoln, with baggy clothes and unshined shoes. While Lincoln's piercing, high-pitched voice and lack of ease caused him difficulties at first, once he began to throw himself into an argument, grow in height, and use the tactics of reliance on logic rather emotional appeal to convince the masses. Significance: It was during these debates that the answer to the Freeport Question was most famously mentioned and it had great implications for the fate of the United States through the philosophical contrasts between these two individuals.
James Buchanan
Definition: The 15th president of the United States, he operated strongly under southern influence when governing after winning the election of 1856 against John C. Fremont, the republican candidate. Perhaps his most influential act within office was his vetoing of the Congressional Homestead Act, which would provide federal lands to all who could pay the nominal sum of twenty-five cents an acre. Significance: He did little but stall during his tenure as president, and thus, he is remembered by posterity as a president who neither reconciled nor resolved the tearing sectional conflicts threatening the nation at the time, and thus is considered to be one of the worst presidents.
Abraham Lincoln
Definition: The 16th president of the United States and the first Republican president, he is well - known even today for his innovative motions to aid civil liberties, skillful oratorial abilities, efforts to reconcile the Unionist conflicts, and sage leadership during the great and momentous conflict of the Civil War. He began to achieve notability during the famed Lincoln-Douglas debates, in which he fearlessly held his position toward the masses against Stephen A. Douglas, one of the nations' leading orators. His victories continued as his fortuitous nomination for the Republican political seat, concluding in his ultimate, though incredibly incendiary, victory during the Election of 1860. As president, he led the United States through the difficult tribulations of Civil War, culminating in his release of the Emancipation Proclamation, a crucial document guaranteeing the freedom of all Africans previously owned as slaves by Caucasians. Significance: His deft management of an extremely difficult political atmosphere and great speeches expounding on American virtues, causing him to be one of the most popular presidents of all time.
John Brown
Definition: The gaunt, grim, Kansan abolitionist who, after studying the revolutionary tactics of Toussaint L'Ouverture and Nat Turner, devised a daring scheme to invade the south and call upon the legions of slaves to rise against their masters. After seizing the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, he failed to move the slaves into furor and thus, was captured by federal marines, convicted of murder and treason, and sentenced to the death penalty, despite the fact that many friends and relatives pleaded him as insane. He enjoyed this opportunity to gain martyrdom well, and his inflexible and exalted poise during the execution plunged him into world fame. Significance: The effect of his actions war inflammatory, causing the south to label Brown as an apostle of treason and a murderer. Abolitionists and other ardent free - soilers were infuriated by his execution, and could not tolerate being within a country that punished earnest reformers working for a righteous cause, further entrenching his name forever in the annals of history.
Harpers Ferry
Definition: The scenic place where John Brown and his small mob of liberators seized the federal arsenal in October 1859, killing seven innocent people, including one free black, and injuring approximately ten more. The attack ultimately failed due to the failure of the African slaves to arise from their bondage, with the remnants of Brown and his violent band being captured by U.S. Marines under the command of Robert E. Lee. Significance: While the movement had very little political effect, the capture and subsequent martyrdom of John Brown became legendarily important in the abolitionist canon of greats, and thus Harpers Ferry is still remembered as the site of such a significance conflict as the one featuring a predominant, if brusque, abolitionist.
Bleeding Kansas
Definition: The series of conflicts scarring the nascent Kansas territory between 1856 and 1861 directly resulting from the issue of the possible abolition of slavery within that territory, facilitated through the popular sovereignty clause of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Significance: It destroyed millions of dollars' worth of property, paralyzed agriculture in certain areas, and cost scores of lives. The conflicts within Kansas also portended well the horrors of the Civil War, while predicting that the issue of slavery and that the fundamental discrepancy it caused between the North and the South could only be solved through violent strife.
Preston C. Brooks
Definition: The violent Southern Congressman hailing from South Carolina who took great vengeance upon Charles Sumner by caning him on the floor of the senate. His innate sense of southern honor might have moved him to challenge Sumner to a duel, had his monstrous words not demoted him to a status hardly better, in Sumner's eyes, than that of the lowest dog. Thus, the Brooks savagely attacked Sumner on May 22, 1856. He later resigned, though was subsequently reelected. Significance: His strong sense of southern honor and the violent consequences deriving from it served as prime examples of the South's willingness to preserve its own honor and independence-no matter the cost. Thus, this colorful episode of United States political discourse created a pessimistic portent for the outcome of relations between the North and the South to come.
