U.S History Civil War Test

The Missouri Compromise

A compromise fashioned in 1820 by Representative Henry Clay of Kentucky after Congress and the Senate reached an impasse on the admission of Missouri to the Union. The compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, which maintained the balance between slave and free states. Congress also drew an imaginary line across the Louisiana Purchase at 36°30' with slavery being banned north of this line and permitted south of it. The exception was Missouri, which did allow slavery. However, both sides were unhappy with the compromise and many predicted that the rift between the north and the south over slavery would continue.

Ostend Manifesto

A message sent to the Secretary of State by 3 American diplomats meeting in Ostend, Belgium in 1854. President Franklin Pierce was attempting to purchase Cuba from Spain but Spain had refused. This manifesto urged the U.S. government to seize Cuba by force if Spain would not sell it. The message was leaked to the public and angry northerners believed that Pierce wanted Cuba in order to make it another slave state.

Republican Party

A new party formed by anti-slavery activists, including free soilers and members of the Whig party. The party nominated Abraham Lincoln as the Senator for the State of Illinois. Republicans believed that no man could own another man, that slavery should be prohibited in the territories, and that the rights of colored citizens should be protected. In a famous speech Lincoln states, "A house divided cannot stand." He went on to say that "I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half-slave, half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other." His opponent Stephen Douglas believed that the Union could remain divided on the issue of slavery but remain united. Slavery was the focus of debates between Lincoln and his opponent Stephen Douglas. Douglas believed that the Dred Scott decision put the issue of slavery to rest but Lincoln argued that slavery was a moral issue, not a legal one. Lincoln lost the election but the debates, which were widely reported, brought to focus the issues of slavery and morality and made Lincoln a national figure.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

A novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe that brought attention to the horrors of slavery. In the book, a saintly slave by the name of Uncle Tom who is whipped to death by his master, Simon Legree. Another character, Eliza, risked death by running away rather than being sold and separated from her child. No other work had ever aroused such powerful emotions about slavery. The book made millions of people even angrier about slavery.

Fugitive

A person who flees or tries to escape (for instance from slavery). Northerners would assist fugitive slaves, which Southerners saw as stealing their property. Southerners wanted a fugitive slave act passed to help them recapture their property.

The Second Great Awakening

A religious revival movement in the early 1800's that saw the abolition of slavery as God's work. This movement helped to unravel the Missouri Compromise.

Secession

After Lincoln won the presidency in 1860 South Carolina and six other southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. South Carolina was the first on December 20, 1860 with the six other states following shortly after. In February of 1861 was when the Confederate States of America was formed.

A Nation Divided Over Slavery

Between 1820 and 1850 Americans tried to work out a compromise on slavery. But for many Americans, slavery was a moral issue, which could not be worked out through a compromise. Abraham Lincoln, who was elected president in 1860 believed that slavery was morally wrong.

Dred Scott Decision

Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857), also known simply as the Dred Scott case, was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on US labor law and constitutional law. Dred Scott sued for his freedom, arguing that his stay in the free state of Wisconsin on a trip with his owner had made him a free man. There were 4 justices from the North and 4 justices from the south on the court and the Chief Justice was from the State of Maryland, which was a border state that permitted slavery. Chief Justice Taney had publicly come out against slavery and had freed his own slaves. Nevertheless, in a 7 to 2 vote the court held that "a negro, whose ancestors were imported into the U.S., and sold as slaves",whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court,and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States. *The ruling found that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because the 5th Amendment provided that the government could not take away property without just compensation and slaves were property* so slaves could not be taken away from slaveowners moving to the territories with their slaves. As a result, slavery was allowed in all territories. The decision was met with outrage from northern abolitionists.

The Gag Rule

During the 1830s, abolitionists flooded Congress with anti-slavery petitions. But Congress maintained that it did not have the power to end slavery in the states. But abolitionists also wondered whether they did have the power to end it in Washington, DC. In 1836, Congress voted to table (set aside) all anti-slavery petitions. Abolitionists called it the "gag rule" because it silenced all debate on slavery. In 1839 this rule prevented debate on an anti-slavery amendment to the Constitution presented by representative John Quincy Adams. The amendment stated that no one born after 1842 could be born into slavery. But abolitionists continued to attack slavery in the press and in books. Southerners resented these attacks on their way of life.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Enacted by Congress, this ordinance provided the way that new states could be admitted to the United States. It also *banned slavery north of the Ohio River.* This resulted in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois becoming free states. With Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Mississippi allowing slavery.

Missouri and Alabama seek statehood

In 1819 Alabama and Missouri applied to become states. There was no debate in Congress about admitting Alabama because for years there was an unspoken rule that there should be an equal number of slave and free states. Allowing Alabama (a slave state) to become a state made the number of free and slave states equal. But Missouri was west of the Mississippi River and wanted to be admitted as a slave state even though slavery was banned east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio River. There was a concern that if Missouri was added as a slave state that all the states added in the west would want slavery.

Wilmot Proviso

In 1846 when President James Polk asked Congress for funds for a war with Mexico, Representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania proposed an amendment to prohibit slavery in the territory gained as a result of the Mexican-American War. Southerners opposed this proviso. It passed in the House but not in the Senate. For the next 3 years, Congress debated over the land acquired in the war and whether slavery should be prohibited.

The Compromise of 1850

In 1849 California requested permission to enter the Union as a free state, potentially upsetting the balance between the free and slave states in the U.S. Senate. Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions on January 29, 1850, in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South. As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended (requiring northerners to return runaway slaves to their owners under penalty of law) and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished. California was admitted to the Union as the 16th free state. In exchange, the south was guaranteed that no federal restrictions on slavery would be placed on Utah or New Mexico. Texas lost its boundary claims in New Mexico, but the Congress compensated Texas with $10 million.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

In 1854, prior to the Ostend Manifesto, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois introduced a bill to organize the Great Plains into the Nebraska territory and open it to settlers. He did this to promote a project to build a railroad all the way to California. The bill did not address the issue of slavery in the territory, which lay north of the Missouri Compromise (meaning that newly admitted states in the territory would not be slave states). Southerners agreed to support the bill only with a compromise - that the Missouri Compromise be abolished and that the two new territories created, Kansas and Nebraska, be permitted to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery. Douglas called this policy "*popular sovereignty*" or rule by the people. Northerners were outraged and Douglas tried to calm their fears by arguing that the territories were not suited to slave labor. Northerners believed they were being lied to.

Fort Sumter

In April 1861 Confederate troops fired on *Fort Sumter,* in South Carolina marking the beginning of the Civil War. The fort surrendered to the Confederates but Northerners now believed that the only way to keep the Union together was by force.

Lincoln's Inauguration

In March of 1861 Lincoln was inaugurated and gave a speech stating the secession was both wrong and unconstitutional. He asked that seceding states to return in peace.

John Brown's Raid at Harpers Ferry

John Brown planned a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia in order to seize the weapons there to support an armed slave rebellion. The raid was unsuccessful and Brown was tried for treason, convicted, and hung. In a note he left before his execution, Brown stated his belief that the only way for slavery to be abolished was through bloodshed. Southerners were in fear of this but to many Northerners Brown was a hero.

Nat Turner

Nat Turner led a slave rebellion in 1831. After this rebellion, Southern states passed new laws to control the movement of their slaves. Many states tried to keep abolitionist writings from reaching slaves, with Mississippi even offering a reward for the arrest and conviction of anyone publishing or speaking abolitionist arguments. After the rebellion, escaped slaves became fugitives and fled to the North.

The Election of 1860

Republicans united behind Lincoln. Northern and Southern Democrats split, with Northern Democrats nominating Stephen Douglas and Southern Democrats nominating John Breckinridge of Kentucky. Another party, the Constitutional Union Party, nominated John Bell of Tennessee. Because of the divided opposition, Lincoln won easily. But he only had 40% of the votes, with none of the votes from the south, where he was not even on the ballot in 10 of those states. Southerners realized that their influence over national politics had weakened and were afraid that slavery would be abolished. However, Lincoln made it clear that he would not support abolishing slavery in the south and that he would enforce the Fugitive Slave Act but he would not support allowing slavery in the territories, stating there could be no compromise on that issue. On the same day that Lincoln said this, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860.

The Crime Against Kansas Speech

Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts had suspected the Stephen Douglas had wanted Kansas to become a slave state. In a speech that became know as "The Crime Against Kansas" Sumner described the violence in Kansas as a violent assault on an innocent territory compelling toward slavery. He hurled insults at Douglas and at Andrew Butler, the senator from South Carolina, as well as other Southerners. Two days after the speech, Preston Brooks, a relative of Butler's, attacked Sumner in the Senate, beating him with a metal tipped cane until it broke in half. By the time other senators stopped the attack, Sumner was bloody and unconscious. Northerners saw the attack as an example of southern brutality while Southerners saw Brooks' actions as laudable for defending his family and the south. Thus, *Bleeding Congress* became part of the conflict.

Bloodshed in Kansas

Some settlers moved to Kansas to support or oppose slavery. Southerners sent young men there to settle it as a slave state and Northerners sent weapons to arm abolitionists there. Soon there were two competing governments in the territory, one pro-slave and one anti-slave. On May 21, 1856 pro-slavery settlers and "border ruffians" from the neighboring slave state of Missouri invaded Lawrence, Kansas , home of the anti-slavery government. They burned a hotel, looted some homes, and tossed an abolitionist printing press into the river. The attack outraged Northerners and more *"free soilers" moved into Kansas in the hopes of establishing a free state. In revenge, abolitionist John Brown and his followers invaded the pro-slavery town of Pottawatomie, Kansas. They dragged five men suspected of being pro-slavery from their homes and hacked them to death with swords. *Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas or the Border War* was the series of violent political confrontations in the United States involving anti-slavery "*Free-Staters*" and pro-slavery "*Border Ruffian*", or "southern" elements in Kansas. This military conflict happened between 1854 and 1861, including "*Bleeding Congress*"

Union

The United States as one nation united under a single government. During the Civil War, "the Union" came to mean the government and the armies of the North.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1793

The first of two Fugitive Slave Acts passed by Congress in 1793 that provided for the seizure and return of runaway slaves who escaped from one state into another or into a federal territory. The 1793 law enforced Article IV, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution in authorizing any federal district judge or circuit court judge, or any state magistrate, to decide finally and without a jury trial the status of an alleged fugitive slave. Runaway slaves arrested under the act had almost no legal rights. Southerners did not think that the Act of 1793 went far enough to ensure the return of their "property." Northerners did not like the provisions outlawing any assistance to fugitive slaves and the possibility of prosecution for refusing to assist slave catchers. Northerners' refusal to enforce the act angered slaveowners and also made the Act almost impossible to enforce.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (Part of the Compromise of 1850)

The second Fugitive Slave Act was enacted by Congress in 1850 as part of *the compromise of 1850*. Under this law fugitives could not testify on their own behalf, nor were they permitted a trial by jury. Heavy penalties were imposed upon federal marshals who refused to enforce the law or from whom a fugitive escaped; penalties were also imposed on individuals who helped slaves to escape. Finally, under the 1850 act, special commissioners were to have concurrent jurisdiction with the U.S. courts in enforcing the law. *The severity of the 1850 measure led to abuses and defeated its purpose. The number of abolitionists increased, the operations of the Underground Railroad became more efficient, and new personal-liberty laws were enacted in many Northern states.* These state laws were among the grievances officially referred to by South Carolina in December 1860 as justification for its secession from the Union. Attempts to carry into effect the law of 1850 aroused much bitterness and probably had as much to do with inciting sectional hostility as did the controversy over slavery in the territories.

The Tallmadge Amendment

When the bill to admit Missouri came before the Senate, Senator Tallmadge of New York proposed an amendment that Missouri could only be admitted as a free state. Southern senators objected to this and argued that each state should be able to decide whether to permit slavery. Southerners were concerned that if Congress was permitted to decide whether a state admitted to the Union would be a slave state that Congress might later argue that it could outlaw slavery in states where it was permitted. The North already had more votes in the House of Representatives but by keeping the number of slave states and free states equal, each side would have the same number of votes in the Senate and thus they could prevent the abolition of slavery. The House voted to approve the Tallmadge Amendment by the Senate defeated it. Congress adjourned the 1819 session. When it resumed in 1820, Maine also wanted to be admitted as a free state. But Congress was still deadlocked over Missouri and the Tallmadge Amendment. *This is when southerners began to speak of secession and civil war.*