U.S. History I - Road to Civil War

Missouri Compromise of 1820 (Henry Clay)

~ HENRY CLAY, a leading congressman, played a crucial role in brokering the two-part solution ~ after Missouri's 1819 request for admission to the Union as a slave state the delicate balance between slave states and free states began to break ~ to keep the peace, Congress orchestrated a two-part compromise, granting Missouri's request but also admitting Maine as a free state ~ also passed an amendment that drew an imaginary line across the former Louisiana Territory, establishing a boundary between free and slave regions that remained the law of the land until it was negated by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854

John C. Calhoun

~ Leading American politician and political theorist during the first half of the 19th century ~ 7th Vice President of the U.S. under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson ~ became a greater proponent of states' rights, limited government, nullification and free trade; as he saw these means as the only way to preserve the Union ~ a longtime South Carolina senator, he opposed the Mexican-American War and the admission of California as a free state, and was renowned as a leading voice for those seeking to secure the institution of slavery ~ One of the "Great Triumvirate" or the "Immortal Trio" of Congressional leaders, along with his Congressional colleagues Daniel Webster and Henry Clay

Bleeding Sumner

~ May 22, 1856, in the United States Congress, Representative Preston Brooks attacked Senator Charles Sumner with his walking cane in retaliation for a speech given by Sumner two days earlier where Sumner referred to Brooks' cousin as a "pimp for slavery". ~ nearly killed Sumner and drew a sharply polarized response from the American public on the subject of the expansion of slavery in the United States ~ revealed the polarization in America, as Sumner became a martyr in the North and Brooks a hero in the South ~ played a major role in the coming of the Civil War

Sack of Lawrence

~ Spring of 1856: helped ratchet up the guerrilla war in Kansas Territory that became known as Bleeding Kansas ~ Republicans introduced bills to bring Kansas into the Union under the free state government, while Democrats introduced bills to bring in Kansas as a slave state ~ To increase readership, Republican newspapers exploited the situation in Kansas ~ the attack galvanized the northern states like nothing before - it was a direct act of violent aggression by slave-owning southern "FIRE EATERS."

James Buchanan

~ The 15th President of the United States; serving immediately prior to the American Civil War. ~ He represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives and later the Senate ~ tried to maintain peace between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the government, but tensions only escalated.

free-labor

~ The labor of freemen, as distinguished from that of slave (which is an assured labor) ~ A person who is free doesn't have to do any work at all if they choose not to

Democratic Party

~ The modern Democratic Party was founded around 1828, making it the oldest political party in the world that is still in existence ~

William H. Seward

~ United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and also served as Governor of New York and United States Senator. ~ A determined opponent of the spread of slavery in the years leading up to the American Civil War, he was a dominant figure in the Republican Party in its formative years. ~ regarded as the leading contender for the party's presidential nomination in 1860, he was defeated by Abraham Lincoln.

Harper's Ferry

~ Was an attempt by the white abolitionist John Brown to start an armed slave revolt in 1859 by seizing a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia ~ Brown's raid, accompanied by 20 men in his party, was defeated by a detachment of U.S. Marines led by Col. Robert E. Lee ~ Intended to be the first stage in an elaborate plan to establish an independent stronghold of freed slaves in the mountains of Maryland and Virginia ~ Brown was captured during the raid and later convicted of treason and hanged ~ The raid inflamed white Southern fears of slave rebellions and increased the mounting tension between Northern and Southern states before the American Civil War

Lincoln-Douglas debates

~ a series of seven debates in towns throughout Ilinois during the 1858 senitorial election ~ Lincoln, the republican party candidate for the U.S. Senate of Illinois, supported the "free soil" argument" that slavery should not be extended into the new territory and regarded slavery as a moral, socil and political evil ~ Stephen Douglas, the Democratic party candidate for the U.S. senate from Illinois, supported the theory that people in a territory should decide for themselves on the issure of slavery and ignore the moral question of slavery ~ Steven Douglas won 54 - 46

Henry Clay (the "Great Compromiser")

~ Distinguished senator from Kentucky, who ran for president five times until his death in 1852 ~ A strong supporter of the American System, a war hawk for the War of 1812, Speaker of the House of Representatives ~ Responsible for the Missouri Compromise ~ Outlined the Compromise of 1850 with five main points; died before it was passed however ~ Established: 1.The 2nd National Bank 2. good transportation system/ internal improvements 3. high protective tariff

Roger B. Taney

~ Fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court ~ Eleventh United States Attorney General ~ Most remembered for delivering the infamous majority opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford ~ One of Andrew Jackson's closest advisers, assisting Jackson in his populist crusade against the powerful Bank of the United States ~ Personally administered the oath of office to Lincoln, his most prominent critic

Confederate States of America

~ Formed in February 1861 ~ a republic composed of eleven Southern states that seceded from the Union in order to preserve slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites ~ conservative government, with Mississippian Jefferson Davis as president, sought a peaceful separation, but the U.S. refused to acquiesce in the secession

Goals of Organized Abolitionist

1. End slavery 2. Free slaves that they could (Underground RR) 3. Pressure Congress to end slavery 4. PRESSURE THE PUBLIC with aggressive media coverage

Harriet Beecher Stowe

~ An American abolitionist and author ~ Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) was a depiction of life for African Americans under slavery; energized anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South

Uncle Tom's Cabin

~ An anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe ~ Published in 1852 ~ Depicts the reality of slavery while also asserting that Christian love can overcome something as destructive as enslavement of fellow human beings ~ Credited with helping fuel the abolitionist cause in the 1850s ~ Helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War

Wilmot Proviso (David Wilmot)

Designed to eliminate slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican War (1846-48). Soon after the war began, President James K. Polk sought the appropriation of $2 million as part of a bill to negotiate the terms of a treaty.

Compromise of 1850 (Henry Clay)

NORTH Gets: ~California admitted as a free state ~Slave trade prohibited in Washington D.C. ~Texas loses boundary dispute with New Mexico SOUTH Gets: ~No slavery restrictions in Utah or New Mexico territories ~Slaveholding permitted in Washington D.C. ~Texas gets $10 million ~Fugitive Slave Law

Stephan A. Douglas

~ American politician from Brandon, Vermont and the designer of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. ~ He was a U.S. Representative, a U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee for President in the 1860 election, losing to Republican Abraham Lincoln. ~ nicknamed the "Little Giant" because he was short in physical stature, but a forceful and dominant figure in politics.

"House Divided" speech

~ An address given by Abraham Lincoln on June 16, 1858 upon accepting the Illinois Republican Party's nomination as that state's United States senator ~ Created an image of the danger of slavery-based disunion, and it rallied Republicans across the North ~ Goals with this speech (1) differentiate himself from Douglas, the incumbent; and (2) to publicly voice a prophecy for the future ~ Became one of the best-known speeches of his career

Jefferson Davis

~ American soldier and politician who was the President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War (1861-1865) ~ He took personal charge of the Confederate war plans but was unable to find a strategy to defeat the more populous and industrialized Union. ~ Captured in 1865, he was accused of treason but was not tried and was released after two years. ~ Wrote a memoir entitled The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, which he completed in 1881.

underground railroad

a network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century enslaved people of African descent in the United States in efforts to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause

Gradual Abolitionist

~ (Theodore Weld) - favored gradual erasure by Southern Legislators - some suggested financial compensation to the owners - gradual emancipation necessary to avoid major social problems

Militant Abolitionist

~ (William Lloyd Garrison) - argued that no compromise with the evil of slavery was possible - demanded immediate emancipation without compensation - attacked the governement's collusion with the institution (The Liberator)

Abraham Lincoln

~ 16th President of the U.S. in the time of the Civil War ~ Fought for the idea of a Union; Abolish Slavery; and create a Constitution, a Representative Democracy (Government by the people, for the people) ~ Most significant acts as president: -Commander & Chief of the Civil War -Wrote the Emancipation Proclamation -Presented the Gettysburg Address ~ Shot in the head by the famous actor John Wilkes Booth, who was a VERY strong southerner

Dred Scot Decision

~ A landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court which stated that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, could not be American citizens 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 ~ Case brought by an enslaved African American man who had been taken by his owners to free states and territories, attempted to sue for his freedom ~ In a 7-2 decision, the Court denied his request ~ The decision proved to be an indirect catalyst for the American Civil War

John Brown

~ A white American abolitionist who believed armed insurrection was the only way to overthrow the institution of slavery in the United States ~ First gained attention when he led small groups of volunteers during the Bleeding Kansas crisis ~ in 1859, led an unsuccessful raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry that ended with his capture ~ Trial resulted in his conviction and a sentence of death by hanging ~ Played a major role in the start of the Civil War

Eli Whitney

~ American inventor best known for inventing the cotton gin ~ Made upland short cotton into a profitable crop, which strengthened the economic foundation of slavery in the United States ~ Turned his attention into securing contracts with the government in the manufacture of muskets for the newly formed United States Army ~ He continued making arms and inventing until his death in 1825

Free-Soil Party

~ a short-lived political party in the United States, active in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections, and in some state elections ~ founded in Buffalo, New York, it was a third party and a single-issue party that largely appealed to and drew its greatest strength from New York State ~ the party leadership consisted of former anti-slavery members of the Whig Party and the Democratic Party ~ main purpose was opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories, arguing that free men on free soil comprised a morally and economically superior system to slavery ~ opposed slavery in the new territories (agreeing with the Wilmot Proviso) and sometimes worked to remove existing laws that discriminated against freed African Americans in states such as Ohio ~ party membership was largely absorbed by the Republican Party in 1854-1856, by way of the Anti-Nebraska movement

Frederick Douglass

~ an African-American social reformer, abolitionist orator, writer, and statesman. ~ escaped from slavery, became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing ~ stood as a living counter-example to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens ~ wrote several autobiographies, including My Bondage and My Freedom (1855)

Lucretia Mott

~ an American Quaker, abolitionist, a women's rights activist, and a social reformer ~ helped write the Declaration of Sentiments during the Seneca Falls Convention ~ founded the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society

Charles Sumner

~ an American politician and senator from Massachusetts ~ Leader of the antislavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the United States Senate during the American Civil War working to destroy the Confederacy, free all the slaves and keep on good terms with Europe. ~ Was nearly killed by a South Carolina Congressman, Preston Brooks, on the Senate floor two days after Sumner delivered an intensely anti-slavery speech called "The Crime Against Kansas". In the speech, Sumner characterized the attacker's cousin,"a pimp for slavery." -The episode played a major role in the coming of the Civil War.

Joseph Smith Jr.

~ an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism ~ at twenty-four, published the Book of Mormon ~ attracted tens of thousands of followers and founded a religion and religious culture that continues to the present

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

~ an American suffragist, social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early women's rights movement ~ Her Declaration of Sentiments, presented at the Seneca Falls Convention (which she helped organize) held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, is often credited with initiating the first organized women's rights and women's suffrage movements in the United States ~ was president of the National Woman Suffrage Association from 1892 until 1900. ~ authored both The Woman's Bible and her autobiography Eighty Years and More, along with many articles and pamphlets concerning female suffrage and women's rights.

James Henry Hammond

~ an attorney, politician and planter from South Carolina ~ served as a United States Representative from 1835 to 1836 ~ 60th Governor of South Carolina from 1842 to 1844 ~ United States Senator from 1857 to 1860 ~ considered one of the major spokesmen in favor of slavery in the years before the American Civil War ~ popularized the phrase that "Cotton is King" in his March 4, 1858, speech to the US Senate

Republican Party

~ commonly referred to as the GOP (abbreviation for Grand Old Party) ~ Founded by anti-slavery activists in 1854 by former members of the Whig Party who wanted to establish a new party to oppose the spread of slavery into the western territories ~ By February 1854, anti-slavery Whigs had begun meeting in the upper midwestern states to discuss the formation of a new party - One such meeting is generally remembered as the founding meeting of the Republican Party ~ the first Republican US president was Abraham Lincoln ~ platform is generally based on American conservatism

Kansas-Nebraska Act

~ created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opening new lands for settlement ~ allowed white male settlers in those territories to determine through popular sovereignty whether they would allow slavery within each territory ~ designed by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois ~ initial purpose was to open up many thousands of new farms and make feasible a Midwestern Transcontinental Railroad ~ became a problem when popular sovereignty was written into the proposal so that the voters of the moment would decide whether slavery would be allowed or not ~ The result was that pro- and anti-slavery elements flooded into Kansas with the goal of voting slavery up or down ~ led to Bleeding Kansas

The Cotton Gin

~ invented in 1794 by U.S.-born inventor Eli Whitney ~ revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber, which caused the cotton industry in the south to explode ~ also had the by-product of increasing the number of slaves needed to pick the cotton thereby strengthening the arguments for continuing slavery even as more Americans supported its abolition ~ as a cash crop it became so important that it was known as King Cotton and affected politics up until the Civil War

John C. Brekinridge

~ lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky ~ represented the Commonwealth in both houses of Congress and in 1857 ~ the 14th and youngest-ever Vice President of the United States (President James Buchanan) ~ Serving in the U.S. Senate at the outbreak of the Civil War, he was expelled after joining the Confederate Army. ~ He remains the only Senator of the United States convicted of treason against the United States of America by the Senate ~ appointed Confederate Secretary of War late in the war.

Fugitive Slave Act

~ passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers; the most controversial part of the compromise ~ Required that all escaped slaves were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate in this law ~ Abolitionists nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Law" for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves

William Lloyd Garrison

~ prominent American abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer ~ best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, which he founded with Isaac Knapp in 1831 and published in Massachusetts until slavery was abolished by Constitutional amendment after the American Civil War ~ He was one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society. ~ promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United States and became a prominent voice for the woman suffrage movement.

Know-Nothing Party (anti-immigration)

~ started in 1849; also known as the American Party ~ members strongly opposed immigrants and followers of the Catholic Church ~ intended to prevent Catholics and immigrants from being elected to political offices ~ also hoped to deny these people jobs in the private sector, arguing that the nation's business owners needed to employ true Americans ~ majority of members came from middle and working-class backgrounds - these people feared competition for jobs from immigrants coming to the United States. ~ Critics of this party named it the Know-Nothing Party because it was a secret organization - Know-Nothings were to respond to questions about their beliefs with, "I know nothing."

Bleeding Kansas

~ term used to described the period of violence during the settling of the Kansas territory ~ Said to have been coined by Horace Greeley's New York Tribune, the label "Bleeding Kansas" ~ 1854: Kansas-Nebraksa Act overturned the Missouri Compromise's use of latitude as the boundary between slave and free territory ~ used the principle of popular sovereignty, which decreed that the residents would determine whether the area became a free state or a slave state ~ Proslavery and free-state settlers flooded into Kansas to try to influence the decision ~ Violence soon erupted as both factions fought for control ~ Abolitionist John Brown led anti-slavery fighters in Kansas before his famed raid on Harpers Ferry

popular sovereignty

~ the political doctrine that the people who lived in a region should determine for themselves the nature of their government ~ was applied to the idea that settlers of federal territorial lands should decide the terms under which they would join the Union, primarily applied to the status as free or slave ~ first proponent of the concept was Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan, who put the idea forward while opposing the Wilmot Proviso in 1846. ~ was widely popularized by Stephen A. Douglas who coined the term who coined the term, thought the settlers should vote on their status early in territorial development ~ was invoked in the Compromise of 1850 and later in the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Mary Todd Lincoln

~ the wife of the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and was First Lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865. ~ She supported her husband throughout his presidency and witnessed his fatal shooting when they were together in the President's Box at Ford's Theatre on Tenth Street in Washington