History Test T2

Fugitive Slave Act

A law that was included in the Compromise of 1850 (negotiated by Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas) to help attract southern support for the legislative package. Its strict provisions for capturing runaway slaves provoked outrage in the North and intensified antislavery sentiment in the region. This was historically significant because it brought slavery conflict into the North because they now had to help enforce the law and deal with slavery on a day to day basis. Additionally, this also caused fear for blacks in the North because they thought that they could be accused of being runaway slaves, even though they were not, and taken back to slavery.

Lincoln-Douglas debates

A series of seven debates on the issue of slavery and freedom between Democrat Stephen A. Douglas and Republican Abraham Lincoln, held as a part of the 1858 Illinois senatorial race and the Dred Scott decision was featured heavily. Douglas won the election, but the debates helped put Lincoln in the national spotlight. It was because of these debates that Lincoln gave him famous "A house divided cannot stand" speech. Lincoln tried to get Douglas to square his views of popular sovereignty with his support of the Dred Scott decision. Douglas alienated Southern Democrats with his Freeport Doctrine: states could still decide whether or not to have slavery, despite Scott decision. Significant because it launched Lincoln's national popularity which helped him win the presidency in 1860.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

An 1854 law authored by Stephen A. Douglas that divided Indian territory into Kansas and Nebraska, repealed the Missouri Compromise, and left the new territories to use popular sovereignty to decide the issue of slavery. The law led to bloody fights in Kansas. This happened because Congress wanted to create a transcontinental railroad that connected California to the east coast and in order to facilitate the development of the railroad, Douglas created a bill that would organize the remaining portions of the Louisiana Purchase that were still unorganized (Kansas and Nebraska). Douglas wanted the railroad to go through Chicago because he was from Illinois and the only way to do that was to please the southerners was to allow popular sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska, allowing the possibility of slavery. This led to Bleeding Kansas and took the fight of slavery or not to a whole new violent level and allowed for the possibility of new slave states.

Dred Scott Decision

An 1857 Supreme Court decision that ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. The Court ruled against slave, Dred Scott, who claimed his travels with his master into Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory (above the Missouri Compromise line) in the 1830s made him and his family free. The decision also denied the federal government the right to exclude slavery in the territories and declared that African Americans were not citizens and therefore could not sue. Additionally, the residence of Scott in free territory did not make him free. This was historically significant because This meant that the Missouri Compromise and the idea of popular sovereignty were both unconstitutional and cut the legs out from under the Republican party and also strengthened the northern suspicion of a Slave Power conspiracy.

Republican Party

Antislavery party formed in 1854 from the antislavery faction of the Whig Party (which had collapsed) following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (Stephen A. Douglas). The Republicans attempted to unite all those who opposed the extension of slavery into any territory of the United States. Absorbed the Free Soil Party and drew into its ranks members of the Know-Nothing Party (anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic political party concentrated in the Northeast). Republicans built their party on a broad coalition which is why they were so successful. Historically significant because their strong performance in the 1856 election as a young party showed that they were a serious rival to the Democratic party.

Free labor

Free labor refers to the work conducted free from constraint and according to the laborer's own inclinations and will. This ideal of free labor lay at the heart of the North's argument that slavery should not be extended into the western territories. This is historically significant because it raised the debate if free labor was a form of slavery because of the low wages, long hours, and less autonomy over time, but supporters said that it promoted hard work, reliance, and acceptance of the new manufacturing-based economy.

Confederate States of America

Government formed by the Lower South states (TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, and FL) on February 7, 1861, following their secession from the Union. Secessionists argued that the election of a Republican to the presidency put slavery in danger and the South no longer had political protection within the Union. This was called "Secession Winter" because these secessions all occurred after Lincoln was elected president, but had not yet stepped into office or given his inaugural speech. They elected Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis as president and Alexander Stephens of Georgia as vice president and their government's cornerstone was that "the negro is not equal to the white man". Historically significant because this increased tension because of the secession led to the Civil War and was the first big internal conflict that was so violent and consumed all of the country.

Compromise of 1850

Laws passed in 1850 negotiated by senators Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas that was meant to resolve the dispute over the spread of slavery in the territories. Key elements included the admission of California as a free state and the Fugitive Slave Act. This compromise soon unraveled because it only delayed sectional conflict, it was unclear how popular sovereignty was supposed to work on the ground, and the Fugitive Slave Act was very problematic. This was historically significant because this compromise tipped the scale in favor of the free states/the North (16 free to 15 slave). Additionally, the New Mexico and the Utah territories would now use popular sovereignty, this compromise strengthened the Fugitive Slave Law, and the slave trade was abolished in DC.

Wilmot Proviso

Proposal put forward by Representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania in August of 1846 to ban slavery in the territory acquired by the Mexican American War. The proviso enjoyed widespread support in the North, but Southerners saw it as an attack on their interests and beliefs. Northerners supported this because they were anti-south, the opportunity to preserve the west for free labor, and some wanted this new land for themselves. This was historically significant because it brought slavery onto the national stage, and allowed for it to become a heavily debated issue, also was the start of a major issue between free soil or slavery.

Bleeding Kansas

Term for the bloody struggle between pro-slavery and antislavery factions in Kansas following its organization in the fall of 1854. Corrupt election tactics led to a pro-slavery victory, but free soil Kansans established a rival territorial government, and violence quickly ensued. This began because the use of slavery in Kansas would be determined by popular sovereignty, groups on either side of the slavery debate sent settlers to Kansas. During these elections, thousands of Missourians who were pro-slavery went to Kansas and fraudulently cast votes. This was historically significant because it gave the new Republican Party new ammunition for its battle against the Slave Power.

Popular Sovereignty

The idea that government is subject to the will of the people. Applied to the territories, popular sovereignty meant that the residents of a territory should determine, through their legislatures, whether to allow slavery. This was historically significant because this idea of letting the people who lived in the territories decide if they wanted to have slavery or not gave hope to both sides to achieve a free state majority or slave state majority. This was caused by the ambiguity of the doctrine and the open interpretation of when the people could vote on to have slavery or not.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

This was an enormously popular anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe (Lyman Beecher's daughter) and was published in 1852. This helped to solidify northern sentiment against slavery and to confirm white Southerners' sense that no sympathy remained for them in the free states. This novel was about how slave trade broke up slave families and the tragedy that follows losing your family. This is historically significant because people believe that this laid the groundwork for the Civil War because it sensationalized the horrors of slavery and made northerners more aware of slavery and heightened sectional conflict because the southerners attacked this novel.