APUSH Chp 19
Reasons for secession
(1) alarmed by the tipping of the political balance against them (2) triumph of the republican party seemed to threaten their rights as a slaveholding minority (3) disliked free-soil criticism, abolitionist nagging, and northern interference (4) believed their departure would be unopposed; confident that the north would not/could not fight (5) opportunity to develop its own banking and shipping; trade directly with Europe (6) principle of self-determination; had voluntarily entered the union and were now voluntarily withdrawing from it
Stephen Douglas
Senator from Illinois who ran for president against Abraham Lincoln. Wrote the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Freeport Doctrine
Senator Charles Sumner, Congressman Preston S. Brooks, Caning in the senate
Senator from Massachusetts and was attacked by Preston Brooks with a cane over the issue of slavery
Dred Scott v. Sanford, Roger B Taney
Supreme Court case that decided US Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in federal territories and slaves, as private property, could not be taken away without due process - basically slaves would remain slaves in non-slave states and slaves could not sue because they were not citizens. Roger Taney was chief justice
Abraham Lincoln
16th President of the United States saved the Union during the Civil War and emancipated the slaves; was assassinated by Booth (1809-1865)
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
1858 Senate Debate, Lincoln forced Douglas to debate issue of slavery, Douglas supported pop-sovereignty, Lincoln asserted that slavery should not spread to territories. Douglas won.
John Brown; Pottawatomie Creek
Was against slavery. On the night of May 24, 1856, John Brown and his company of Free State volunteers murdered five men settled along the Pottawatomie Creek in southeastern Kansas. The victims were prominently associated with the pro-slavery Law and Order Party, but were not themselves slave owners.
Secession, Confederate States of America
A republic formed in February of 1861 and composed of the eleven Southern states that seceded from the United States
Bleeding Kansas
A sequence of violent events in 1856 involving abolitionists and pro-Slavery elements that took place in Kansas-Nebraska Territory. The dispute further strained the relations of the North and South, making civil war imminent.
Hinton R. Helper, Impending Crisis of the South
Book of nonfiction that attacked slavery using statistics to demonstrate to fellow southerners (he was from NC) that slavery had a negative impact on the South's economy; Southern states banned the book but used by the North
Election of 1856
Democrats nominated Buchanan, Republicans nominated Fremont, and Know-Nothings chose Fillmore. Buchanan won due to his support of popular sovereignty
Know-Nothing Party
Group of prejudice people who formed a political party during the time when the KKK grew. Anti-Catholics and anti-foreign. Nominated Fillmore for the election of 1856
Freeport Doctrine
Idea authored by Stephen Douglas that claimed slavery could only exist when popular sovereignty said so
Harper's Ferry Raid, John Brown
John Brown plans to start a slave uprising, so he steals weapons at Harpers Ferry and is stopped by U.S. Marines where he is captured and eventually hung.
Election of 1860, Lincoln, Douglas, Breckenridge, Bell
Lincoln, the Republican candidate, won because the Democratic party was split over slavery. As a result, the South no longer felt like it has a voice in politics and a number of states seceded from the Union.
Jefferson Davis
An American statesman and politician who served as President of the Confederate States of America for its entire history from 1861 to 1865
Kansas, "Beecher Bibles", "Border Ruffians"
During the Kansas border war, the New England Emigrant Aid Society sent rifles at the instigation of fervid abolitionists like the preacher Henry Beecher. These rifles became known as "Beecher's Bibles". Border ruffians were southerners who wanted to convince Kansas to become a slave state.
Panic of 1857
Economic downturn caused by overspeculation of western lands, railroads, gold in California, grain. Mostly affected northerners, who called for higher tariffs and free homesteads
Crittenden Amendments
These amendements to the Constitution were designed to appease the south by prohibiting slavery north of 36, 30' but allowed protection south of this line. It also allowed future states to enter with or without slavery regardless of their position north or south.