U.S. History: Test of Antebellum Period, 1840-1860
"Slaveocracy"
Society organized around slavery; slaveholders have power.
John C. Calhoun & "nullification"
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Why did southerners fight so strongly to expand slavery to the West? Why did northerners oppose it so violently?
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Why did the KS-NB Act (1854) "reopen" the slavery controversy? What parts of the Missouri Compromise did it overrule?
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Why did the Lower South secede when Lincoln was elected? Why did the Upper South wait? What was Lincoln's position on succession?
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Gag Rule
1835 - Law passed by Southern representatives in congress which made it illegal to talk of abolition or anti-slavery arguments in Congress. John Quincy Adams fought this as a violation of the 1st amendment until it was repealed in 1844. Quakers want to end slavery in DC but congressional leaders say "please send us your petitions but we won't talk about it."
Liberty Party
1844 - A former political party in the United States; formed in 1839 to oppose the practice of slavery; merged with the Free Soil Party in 1848. First abolitionist party in American history, and the last.
Wilmot Provisio
1846 - An amendment proposed by David Wilmot that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any territory gained from Mexico. Free Soil ideology.
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty *** (not on test)
1850 - Treaty between U.S. and Great Britain agreeing that neither country would try to obtain exclusive rights to a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. Ends tensions between Britain and America over Nicaragua. Abrogated by the U.S. in 1881.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
1854 - This act repealed the Missouri Compromise and established that popular sovereignty (vote of the people) would determine whether Kansas and Nebraska would be slave or free states.
Crittenden Compromise
1860 - Attempt to prevent Civil War by Senator Crittenden 1. Offered a Constitutional amendment stating states north of the old Missouri Compromise line could come into the Union with or without slavery (depending on what they chose) but below that line, there would always be slavery... draw all the way to the Pacific Ocean 2. 13th Amendment: makes slavery LEGAL forever.
Secession Crisis
1860-1861: Sequence of events that led to the creation of "Confederate States of America" • Reaction to election of Republican Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860. • South Carolina was the first to secede, 20 December 1860. • SC's action triggered quick secession of 6 more states: MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, TX.
Dred Scott Decision
A Missouri slave sued for his freedom, claiming that his four year stay in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territory made free land by the Missouri Compromise had made him a free man. The U.S. Supreme Court decided he couldn't sue in federal court because he was property, not a citizen.
The Impending Crisis of the South
A controversial book that argued that the non-slaveholding whites were the ones suffering from slavery through several statistics. It was banned in the south, but the Republican Party used it as campaign literature in the North. He says the whites should abolish it for themselves not because he likes blacks.
Fugitive Slave Act
A law that made it a crime to help runaway slaves; allowed for the arrest of escaped slaves in areas where slavery was illegal and required their return to slaveholders. A cash prize was incentive for slaves to be stolen as runaways.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
A series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas on the issue of slavery in the territories. Lincoln asks Douglas,
Uncle Tom's Cabin
An 1852 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe written to show the evils of slavery and the injustice of the Fugitive Slave Act.
Panic of 1857
Broke out due to California gold inflating the currency, over-growth of grain (demands of the Crimean War), and over-speculation in land and railroads.
Why, by the late 1830s, had the slavery issue become so controversial?
By the late 1830s the United States had begun to expand their territories West (Louisiana Purchase). The issue of slavery became so controversial because these new lands had to be decided upon while still maintaining a balance in the Senate. Slavery became a hot topic when the United States began to buy into "mainfest destiny". 1. The country is starting to expand rapidly: roads, canals, railroads, etc. And after the Mexican War we have all this land.
Roger Taney & Dred Scott
Chief Justice of Supreme Court that delivers Dred Scott decision. Taney writes the decision himself.
2nd Party System
Composed of the Democratic party led by Andrew Jackson and the Whig party led by Henry Clay assembled from the National Republicans and opponents of Jackson.
Missouri Compromise
Compromise made by Henry Clay in 1820: allowed Missouri to enter the union as a slave state, Maine to enter the union as a free state, and prohibited slavery north of latitude 36˚ 30' within the Louisiana Territory (1820).
3rd Party System
Democrats and Republicans
Eli Whitney & the cotton gin
Eli Whitney was the inventor of the cotton gin and the first to use the system of interchangeable parts. Cotton gin cleaned cotton of its seed. It fastened slavery to the south. Apparently he was ironic because he invented something that helped slavery but also something that helped industrialism which helped end slavery by starting the civil war.
Fort Sumter
Federal fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina; the confederate attack on the fort marked the start of the Civil War. Union troops stay in SC after SC succeed and Lincoln refused to remove them, ultimately the confederates fire causing the Upper South to leave.
Free Soil Party
Formed in 1847 - 1848, dedicated to opposing slavery in newly acquired territories such as Oregon and ceded Mexican territory. Nominated MVB.
Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy
Former MS Senator was elected the first president of the CSA.
Political Realignment/Second Party System
Free soilers --> R b/c R take their ideas Know Nothings (nativist) --> Republicans Democrats --> ND and SD b/c issue of expansion of slavery. Constitutional Unionist = do nothing.
Freeport Doctrine
Freeport, Illinois: "If the people of a territory voted slavery down, despite the Supreme Court saying that they could not do so (point #2 of the Dred Scott decision), which side would you support, the people or the Supreme Court?" Douglas repsonds that no matter how the Supreme Court ruled, slavery would stay down if the people voted it down; since power was held by the people. Douglas = Mr. Popular Sovereignty.
William Llyod Garrison & The Liberator
His idea was that opponents of slavery should not talk about the bad affects it had on Whites but the bad affects it had on the Blacks. He wanted imediate abolishment of slavery and to give the freed slave American rights that whites had.
What led to the formation of the third Party System?
Political realignment:
Brown's Raid
In 1859, the militant abolitionist John Brown seized the U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry. He planned to end slavery by to invade the South secretly with a handful of followers, call upon the slaves to rise, give the slaves weapons, and establish a black free state as a sanctuary. He was captured and executed.
William Walker & Nicaragua
Installed himself as the President of Nicaragua in 1856. He legalized slavery and instructed southern planters to take Nicaraguan farms, but was overthrown by surrounding Central American countries (Honduras) and killed in 1860.
Stephen Douglas and KS-NB Act
Introduced by Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, the Kansas-Nebraska Act stipulated that the issue of slavery would be decided by the residents of each territory, a concept known as popular sovereignty.
John C. Fremont & Election of 1856
John C. Fremont is first candidate of new Republican Party, organized largely around the crusade against the expansion of slavery. He was defeated by the Democrat James Buchanan. * There's a new party called the Republicans, they don't win but do better than people thought.
Third Parties
Liberty (1844) Free Soil (1848) --> Republicans Know Nothings (1856)
Candidates of 1860: Lincoln, Douglas, John C. Breckinridge, John Bell
Lincoln (R): No expansion but slavery can stay in South. Lincoln believes that if expansion is stopped the slavery in the South will eventually die out and all men will be free. WINS with only 40% of vote. Douglas (ND): Popular sovereignty, Freeport Doctrine (power is in the people). Breckinridge (SD): 1. Guarantee slavery by adding an amendment to the Constitution. 2. Dred Scott (1857) John Bell (Const-Union): Didn't do sheit. Just wanted the Union to stay together.
Preston Brooks & Caning Sumner
Made Brooks a hero in much of the South.
"Young America" Movement
Manifest Destiny: Movement in the Democratic party in the mid 19th century. It advocated free trade, social reform, expansion southward into the territories, and support for republican, anti-aristocratic movements abroad.
Ritchie Letter
Martin Van Buren argued political divisions would help keep slavery out of the limelight. He is afraid slavery will divide the country. Thought that we should find about everything but slavery and that will keep us from falling apart.
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner led a slave rebellion in Virginia, attacked many whites, prompted non-slaveholding Virginians to consider emancipation. "Necessary Evil" //// "Positive Good"
Compromise of 1850
Originally the "omnibus bill" by Henry Clay, split up by Stephen Douglas: 1) California as a free state. 2) Utah and New Mexico "popular sovereignty" 3) DC slave trade banned 4) Texas gave up lands that it claimed in present day New Mexico and received $10 million to pay its debt to Mexico. 5) Fugitive Slave Act
Bleeding Sumner
Preston Brooks (SC) beat the antislavery senator Charles Sumner (MA) unconscious, after his speech called "The Crime Against Kansas" that spoke out against supporters of slavery in a derisive way and insulted S.C. Senator to A. P. Butler in his speech.
LeCompton Constitution
Pro-slavery constitution that stated that the Constitution could have slavery, or no slavery with protected slaveholders (one of the remaining provisions of the Constitution would protect the owners of slaves already in Kansas.) * Blows Democrats apart because Southern Democrats start to think Douglas is an abolitionist leaving Nothern Democrats as Douglas' only supporters.
Sack of Lawrence & the Pottawatomie Massacre
Pro-slavery men were sent to arrest antislavery leaders in Lawrence, Kansas (abolitionist headquarters) and in the process, they (the pro-slavery men) burned the town, robbed many buildings, and destroyed printing presses used to print abolitionist newspapers. John Brown led a band of followers to Pottawatomie Creek in May of 1856 and hacked to death five presumable pro-slaveryites.
Border States
Slave states--Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri--that remained loyal to the Union and did not succeed.
Why did the Whigs and many northerners oppose the "annexation" of Texas (1845) and the Mexican War (1846-1848)?
Slavery --> hate these two things because they think Texas will be either a) a populated slave state or b) going to be cut up into many slave states. And think War is fought for expansion of slavery.
Nullification Crisis
South was mad about the Tariff of Abominations. John C. Calhoun supported States' Rights and said they had a right to nullify a law. In 1832 the tariff was lowered. South Carolina passed the Nullification Act, and threatened to secede; Jackson was furious, so he passed the Force Bill which said that Jackson can use the army to enforce the tariff. * This is when the trouble really started.
Gadsden Purchase
Strip of land in present-day Arizona and New Mexico for which the United States paid Mexico $10 million in 1853 acquired to facilitate the construction of a southern transcontinental railroad.
"Conscience" vs. "Cotton Whigs"
The "Conscience" Whigs in the state of Massachusetts were noted for their moral opposition to slavery. The Southern "Cotton" Whigs supported slavery and wished to expand it into the territories.
Know Nothings
The American Party; anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic.
Democratic Convention of 1860
The Democrats think they can have one candidate nominated but they can't decide so they split into two: 1. North: Douglas 2. South: Breckinridge
What was the basic "platform" of the Republican Party? Why did the Dred Scott decision threaten this platform?
The republican platform is don't let slavery expand into the territories. The Dred Scott decision says that Congress can't keep slavery out of the territories.
"Popular Sovereignty"
This principle of government states that political power rests with the people. This power is expressed by voting and free participation in government.
Ostend Manifesto
This was a confidential dispatch sent in 1854 to the U.S. State Department from U.S. ambassadors in Europe. It suggested that if Spain refused to sell Cuba to the United States for $20m, the United States would be justified in seizing the island. Northerners claimed it was a plot to expand slavery and the proposal was disavowed.
Secession
Upper South (VA, NC, AR, TN) leave following the succession of South Carolina. They leave because they do not want to fight against their southern brothers: after Fort Sumter Lincoln called for troops and the Upper South refused.
Mexican War
War declared in 1846 after Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande into Texas. Was ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which gave the U.S. Texas, New Mexico, and California in exchange for $15 million to Mexico.