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Unit 1 Part 1 Study Guide: Slavery, Sectionalism, and Political Crisis, 1793-1860

Terms in this set (47)

American System
the policy of promoting industry in the U.S. by adoption of a high protective tariff and of developing internal improvements by the federal government (as advocated by Henry Clay from 1816 to 1828)
Missouri Compromise
A settlement of a dispute between slave and free states, contained in several laws passed during 1820 and 1821. Northern legislators had tried to prohibit slavery in Missouri, which was then applying for statehood.
sovereignty
the authority of a state to govern itself or another state.
Nat Turner
Leader of a slave rebellion in 1831 in Virginia. Revolt led to the deaths of 20 whites and 40 blacks and led to the "gag rule' outlawing any discussion of slavery in the House of Representatives
nullification crisis
confrontation between the state of South Carolina and the federal government in 1832-33 over the former's attempt to declare null and void within the state the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832.
Vesey conspiracy
An unsuccessful 1822 plot to burn Charleston, South Carolina, and initiate a general slave revolt, led by a free African American, Denmark Vesey.
Underground Railroad
a system of secret routes used by escaping slaves to reach freedom in the North or in Canada
"King Cotton"
used to describe the plantation economy of the slavery states in the Deep South. It is important to understand that cotton was one of the world's first luxury commodities, after sugar and tobacco.
cotton gin
A machine for cleaning the seeds from cotton fibers, invented by Eli Whitney in 1793
Manifest Destiny
A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific.
Mexican-American War
(1846-1848) The war between the United States and Mexico in which the United States acquired one half of the Mexican territory.
American Colonization Society
A Society that thought slavery was bad. They would buy land in Africa and get free blacks to move there. One of these such colonies was made into what now is Liberia. Most sponsors just wanted to get blacks out of their country.
William Lloyd Garrison
1805-1879. Prominent American abolitionist, journalist and social reformer. Editor of radical abolitionist newspaper "The Liberator", and one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society.
American Anti-Slavery Society
Founded in 1833 by William Lloyd Garrison and other abolitionists. Garrison burned the Constitution as a proslavery document. Argued for "no Union with slaveholders" until they repented for their sins by freeing their slaves.
Theodore Weld
American abolitionist whose pamphlet Slavery As It Is (1839) inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Grimké sisters
Angelina and Sarah Grimke wrote and lectured vigorously on reform causes such as prison reform, the temperance movement, and the abolitionist movement.
Elijah Lovejoy
American Presbyterian minister, journalist, and news paper editor who was murdered by a mob for his abolitionist views
Frederick Douglass
(1817-1895) American abolitionist and writer, he escaped slavery and became a leading African American spokesman and writer. He published his biography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and founded the abolitionist newspaper, the North Star.
Walker's Appeal
David Walker's Appeal, arguably the most radical of all anti-slavery documents, caused a great stir when it was published in September of 1829 with its call for slaves to revolt against their masters.
Helperism
A way of thinking that believed that slavery was bad for the economy, so it should be eliminated. Since most farmers in the south were poor, the could not afford slaves. Helper though that since people couldn't afford slaves, why have slavery? (Anti-slave)
Wilmot Proviso
1846 proposal that outlawed slavery in any territory gained from the War with Mexico
popular sovereignty
A government in which the people rule by their own consent.
Free-Soil Party
Formed in 1847 - 1848, dedicated to opposing slavery in newly acquired territories such as Oregon and ceded Mexican territory.
Compromise of 1850
Includes California admitted as a free state, the Fugitive Slave Act, Made popular sovereignty in most other states from Mexican- American War
Fugitive Slave Law
Enacted by Congress in 1793 and 1850, these laws provided for the return of escaped slaves to their owners. The North was lax about enforcing the 1793 law, with irritated the South no end. The 1850 law was tougher and was aimed at eliminating the underground railroad.
personal liberty laws
pre-Civil War laws passed by Northern state governments to counteract the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Acts and to protect escaped slaves and free blacks settled in the North, by giving them the right to a jury trial.
Stephen Douglas
Senator from Illinois who ran for president against Abraham Lincoln. Wrote the Kansas-Nebreaska Act and the Freeport Doctrine
Kansas-Nebraska Act
a law that allowed voters in Kansas and Nebraska to choose whether to allow slavery
Republicans
sectional political party that morally protested slavery, it became the second major political party
Ostend Manifesto
A declaration (1854) issued from Ostend, Belgium, by the U.S. ministers to England, France, and Spain, stating that the U.S. would be justified in seizing Cuba if Spain did not sell it to the U.S.
Bleeding Kansas
A sequence of violent events involving abolitionists and pro-Slavery elements that took place in Kansas-Nebraska Territory. The dispute further strained the relations of the North and South, making civil war imminent.
Election of 1856
In this presidential election, Democrat James Buchanan defeated Republican candidate John C. Fremont. He won the general election by denouncing the abolitionists, promising not to allow any interference with the Compromise of 1850, and supporting the principle of noninterference by Congress with slavery in the territories.
Uncle Tom's Cabin / Harriet Beecher Stowe
A novel, first published serially, by Harriet Beecher Stowe; it paints a grim picture of life under slavery. The title character is a pious, passive slave, who is eventually beaten to death by the overseer Simon Legree.
Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
Court ruled that Scott was the property of Sanford and, as a slave, was prohibited from suing in court. Chief Justice Taney gives his opinion that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. Decision adds to sectionalism between North and South that will lead to the Civil War.
Lecompton Constitution
supported the existence of slavery in the proposed state and protected rights of slaveholders. It was rejected by Kansas, making Kansas an eventual free state.
Lincoln-Douglas debates
During the race to become Senator Lincoln asked to have multiple debates with Douglas; certain topics of these debates were slavery, how to deal with slavery, and where slavery should be allowed; although Lincoln lost the election to Douglas, he was known throughout the country because of the debates
Harper's Ferry / John Brown
Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery.
Election of 1860
Lincoln, the Republican candidate, won because the Democratic party was split over slavery. As a result, the South no longer felt like it has a voice in politics and a number of states seceded from the Union.
secession
Formal withdrawal of states or regions from a nation
How and why did slavery become so important to the South?
Slavery started when 20 or so blacks came to the British Colony of Virginia.
What were the conditions of US slavery? The results of those conditions?
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What impact did abolitionism have on slavery? On public opinion about slavery in the north? In the south?
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During the antebellum period, how and why did the West become so economically tied to the North?
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Describe and explain the evolution of political parties from 1800 to 1840
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How did addition of territory after the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) affect sectionalism?
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Explain how the Republican Party rose and took the presidency and Congress in just six years.
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What events during the 1850s increase sectionalism? Why?
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THIS SET IS OFTEN IN FOLDERS WITH...