A.P US History CH. 19

Freeport Doctrine

First argued by Stephen Douglas in 1858 in response to Abraham Lincoln's "Freeport Question." It declared that since slavery could not exist without laws to protect it, territorial legislatures would have the final say on the slavery question, not the Supreme Court.

Constitutional Union Party

Formed by moderate Whigs and Know-Nothings in an effort to elect a compromise candidate and avert a sectional crisis.

The Impending Crisis of the South

An antislavery tract written by Hinton R. Helper arguing that non-slaveholding whites suffered most in a slave economy.

Crittenden Amendments

An attempt to appease the South. The failed amendments proposed federal protection for slavery in all territories south of 36° 30' where slavery was supported by popular sovereignty.

New England Emigrant Aid Company

An organization created to facilitate the migration of free laborers to Kansas in order to prevent the establishment of slavery in the territory.

Harpers Ferry

At this place, John Brown seized the federal arsenal in Virginia in 1859. Brown was later captured and executed, but his raid alarmed Southerners who believed that Northerners shared in Brown's extremism.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Author of the famed novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

James Buchanan

The President of the United States from 1791-1868. He was under heavy southern influence and hopelessly divided the once-powerful Democratic party by antagonizing the Douglas Democrats in the North.

Abraham Lincoln

The President of the United States from 1809-1865, a low-born and self-educated Kentuckian who rose up to the presidency. He was often referred to as "Honest Abe."

John C. Breckenridge

The leader of southern Democrats, favoring the extension of slavery into the territories and the annexation of slave-populated Cuba.

Roger B. Taney

A Chief Justice form the slave state of Maryland. Under his leadership, the Supreme Court ruled that a slave could be taken into any territory and be legally held in slavery because he or she was private property.

Dred Scott v. Sanford

A Supreme Court decision that extended federal protection to slavery by ruling that Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in any territory. It declared that slaves were property, not citizens.

Stephen A. Douglas

A United States senator famous for his Lincoln-Douglas debates with Abraham Lincoln. He won the senate seat, but hurt his own chances of becoming president.

Dred Scott

A black slave who attempted to sue for his freedom on the basis of his long residence on free soil. The Supreme Court ruled that he had no rights to sue because he was not a citizen.

Bleeding Kansas

A civil war in Kansas over the issue of slavery in the territory. It was fought intermittently until 1861, when it merged with the wider national Civil War.

Panic of 1857

A financial crash brought on by gold-fueled inflation, over-speculation, and excess grain production. It raised calls in the North for higher tariffs and for free homesteads on western public lands.

Confederate States of America

A government established after seven Southern states seceded from the Union. It was later joined by four more states from the Upper South.

Preston S. Brooks

A hot-tempered pro-slavery congressman who took vengeance into his own hands by pounding the heavily disliked abolitionist Charles Sumner with an eleven-ounce cane on May 22,1856.

John Brown

A man famous for his daring but failed scheme to secretly invade the South at Harpers Ferry in attempt to establish a back free state as a sanctuary.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

A novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe that dramatized the horrors of slavery. It heightened Northern support for abolition and escalated the sectional conflict.

Lecompton Constitution

A proposed Kansas constitution whose ratification was unfairly rigged so as to guarantee slavery in the territory. It was initially ratified by pro-slavery forces, but later voted down when Congress required that the entire constitution be put up for a vote.

Freeport Question

A question raised during one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates by Abraham Lincoln, who asked whether the Court or the people should decide the future of slavery in the territories.

Henry Ward Beecher

A reverend who helped raise money for the purchase of breech-loading Sharps rifles nicknamed "Beecher's Bibles." He was Harriet Beecher Stowe's brother.

Charles Sumner

A senator of Massachusetts abolitionist who suffered severe injuries from a heavy beating by Preston S. Brooks for his harsh insults against the pro-slavery South.

John Jordan Crittenden

A senator who proposed the failed Crittenden Amendments designed to appease the South.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

A series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas during the U.S. Senate race in Illinois. Douglas won the election, but Lincoln gained national prominence and became the leading candidate for the 1860 Republican nomination.

Tariff of 1857

Lowered duties on imports in response to a high Treasury surplus and pressure from Southern farmers.