APUSH chapter 16 vocab

John C. Calhoun

(1830s-40s) Leader of the Fugitive Slave Law, which forced the cooperation of Northern states in returning escaped slaves to the south. He also argued on the floor of the senate that slavery was needed in the south. He argued on the grounds that society is supposed to have an upper ruling class that enjoys the profit of a working lower class.

Gadsden Purchase

(1853) Thirty thousand square miles in present-day Arizona and New Mexico bought by Congress from Mexico primarily for the Southern Pacific Railroad's transcontinental route.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

(1854) Law sponsored by Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas to allow settlers in newly organized territories north of the Missouri border to decide the slavery issue for themselves; fury over the resulting nullification of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 led to violence in Kansas and to the formation of the Republican party.

Sack of Lawrence

1856 beginning to Bleeding Kansas; proslavery raiders shot up and burned part of Lawrence

Crittenden Compromise

A series of amendments and resolutions. proposed by senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, that allowed for slavery in the territories south of 36 30_and guaranteed to maintain slavery where it already existed.

Ordinance of Secession

After the 1860 election, South Carolina held a special election to choose delegates to a convention. In Charleston on December 20, 1860, the convention unanimously endorsed an Ordinance of Secession, declaring the state's ratification of the Constitution repealed and the union with other states dissolved.

popular sovereignty

Allowed settlers in a disputed territory to decide the slavery issue for themselves.

Harriett Beecher Stowe

Author of a book called Uncle Tom's Cabin. It was a novel that vividly described slavery. It was a best seller and caused a big stir. People think it was a big contribution to the Civil War

Roger B. Taney

Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court during the ruling on the Dred Scott case.

transcontinental railroad

Completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah, it linked the eastern railroad system with California's railroad system, revolutionizing transportation in the west

Compromise of 1850

Complex compromise mediated by Senator Henry Clay that headed off southern secession over California statehood; to appease the South it included a stronger fugitive slave law and delayed determination of the slave status of the New Mexico and Utah territories.

"bleeding" Kansas

Conflict between pro- and anti- slavery supporters during the settlement of the Kansas territory.

Lecompton constitution

Controversial constitution drawn up in 1857 by proslavery Kansas delegates seeking statehood; rejected in 1858 by an overwhelmingly antislavery electorate.

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

Court decision ruling that a slave who had escaped to a free state enjoyed no rights as a citizen and that Congress had no authority to ban slavery in the territories.

Stephen A. Douglas

Democratic senator from Illinois, who debated Abraham Lincoln during his run for senator in the Lincoln-Douglas debates. He was an avid supporter of the Compromise of 1850.

Freeport Doctrine

Doctrine developed by Stephen Douglas that said the exclusion of slavery in a territory could be determined by the refusal of the voters to enact any laws that would protect slave property. It was unpopular with Southerners, and thus cost him the election.

James Buchanan

Fifteenth president of the United States. He first served as a congressman and senator from the state of Pennsylvania.

Free Soil party

Formed in 1848 to oppose slavery in the territory acquired in the Mexican War; nominated Martin Van Buren for president in 1848, but by 1854 most of the party's members had joined the Republican party.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Gave federal government authority in cases involving runaway slaves; so much more punitive and prejudiced in favor of slaveholders than the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act had been that Harriet Beecher Stowe was inspired to write Uncle Tom's Cabin in protest; the new law was part of the Compromise of 1850, included to appease the South over the admission of California as a free state.

Calhoun Resolutions

In making the proslavery response to the Wilmot Proviso, Senator John C. Calhoun argued that barring slavery in Mexican acquisitions would violate the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution by depriving slaveholding settlers of their property.

John Brown

Kansas settler and 'free-state' supporter who led the Pottawatomie Massacre in retaliation for the sacking of Lawrence. And then went on to raid federal arsenal in Harper's Ferry, Virginia with about 20 men. Upon capture Brown was tried and convicted of treason and conspiracy to incite insurrection, and was hanged.

Charles Sumner

Massachusetts senator and unyielding foe of slavery. He was physically attacked by senator Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina in retaliation for a two-day speech made denouncing the proslavery Missourians who had crossed into Kansas, and the proslavery senators who supported them.

Pottawatomie Massacre

Murder of five proslavery settlers in eastern Kansas led by abolitionist John Brown on May 24-25, 1856.

"Cotton" Whigs

Northern Whigs who supported and voted with the Southern Whigs because they were linked to Northern cloth manufacturers who needed Southern cotton.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This anti-slavery appeal included a combination of unlikely saints and sinners, stereotypes, and melodramatic escapades-and was a smashing commercial success.

gold rush

On January 24, 1848, gold was discovered in the California territory. During 1849 some 80,000 gold seekers reached California, half of them Americans, and by 1854, the number would top 300,000. The "Forty-niners" included people from every social class and from every state and territory, as well as slaves brought by their owners. Most went overland.

Republican party

Organized in 1854 by antislavery Whigs, Democrats, and Free Soilers in response to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act; nominated John C. Fremont for president in 1856 and Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

Wilmot Proviso

Proposal to prohibit slavery in any land acquired in the Mexican War, but southern senators, led by John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, defeated the measure in 1846 and 1847.

Lincoln-Douglas debates

Series of senatorial campaign debates in 1858 focusing on the issue of slavery in the territories; held in Illinois between Republican Abraham Lincoln, who made a national reputation for himself, and incumbent Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas, who managed to hold onto his seat.

Harper's Ferry, Virginia

Site of abolitionist John Brown's failed raid on the federal arsenal, October 16-17, 1859; he intended to arm the slaves, but ten of his compatriots were killed, and Brown became a martyr to his cause after his capture and execution.

Abraham Lincoln

Sixteenth president of the United States, including during the Civil War.

Jefferson Davis

Southern Civil War leader and president of the Confederate States of America.

Millard Fillmore

Thirteenth president of the United States. Largely self-educated, he had made his own way in the profession of law and the rough-and-tumble world of New York politics.

Preston Brooks

Was a Congressman from South Carolina, notorious for brutally assaulting senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the United States Senate.

Zachary Taylor

Whig president who was a Southern slave holder, and war hero (mexican-american war). won the 1848 election. surprisingly did not address the issue of slavery at all on his platform. he died during his term and his vice president was millard fillmore.

Presidential Election of 1860

a presidential election that pitted Abraham Lincoln (Republican) against Stephen A. Douglas (Northern Democrat), John Breckinridge (Southern Democrat), and John Bell (Constitutional Union Party); the main issue of the election was the debate over the expansion of slavery; Lincoln won and South Carolina seceded

Franklin Pierce

an American politician and the fourteenth President of the United States. Pierce's popularity in the North declined sharply after he came out in favor of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, repealing the Missouri Compromise and reopening the question of the expansion of slavery in the West.