Civil War Causes

Terms	Definitions
Kansas-Nebraska Act	1854
Bleeding Kansas	1856
Dred Scott Decision	1857
Lincoln-Douglas Debates	1858
Southern Secession	1860
Fugitive Slave Act	The law that allowed slave owners to hunt down escaped slaves and take them back from the Northern states/territories. They often took back free slaves as well because the free slaves could not verify not being a slave in front of a judge. (The judges mainly sided with the "slave's" owners.)
Uncle Tom's Cabin	Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1853 that highly influenced the Northern state' views on the American Deep South and slavery. The Novel promoted abolition and intensified sectional conflict between the North and the South.
Frederick Douglas	Famous black abolitionist that escaped from slavery who would later right a narrative of his own life that described his life. He promoted the abolitionist cause and drew the line where evil must be denounced.
Border Ruffians	Pro-slavery people who traveled in armed groups to vote and crash the polls in Kansas's election during the mid-1850's.
John Brown	A white abolitionist who was hanged after leading an unsuccessful raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (1800-1858).
Compromise Of 1850	1850
Melting Pot	The blending of diverse cultures and traditions in America.
Harriet Tubman	United States abolitionist born a slave on a plantation in Maryland and became a famous conductor on the Underground Railroad leading other slaves to freedom in the North (1820-1913).
Elizabeth Cady Stanton	A member of the women's right's movement in 1840. She was a mother of seven, and she shocked other feminists by advocating suffrage for women at the first Women's Right's Convention in Seneca, New York 1848. Stanton read a "Declaration of Sentiments" which declared "all men and women are created equal."
Election of 1860	1860
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).