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Chapter 1: The Origins of the Civil War, 1820-61

Terms in this set (36)

A system that appoints the president and vice president. The voting count in a presidential election in each state determines how that state's representatives will vote in the electoral college.
Electoral College
To reject a decision or proposal. The president can use the right to veto to stop a bill passed by Congress from becoming a law, but this can be overruled if 2/3 of both Houses wish to.
Veto
The highest court in the United States, which had the constitutional right to annul any law passed by either Congress or a state legislature which it felt went against the principles of the US Constitution.
Supreme Court
Southern politicians began referring to slavery as the given phrase in the 1830s to imply that it was unique to the South.
What was meant by "Our Peculiar Institution?"
An imaginary line that served as the dividing line between free states and slave states.
The Mason-Dixon Line
Someone who argued that slavery should be banned and slaves should be freed, usually for moral or religious reasons. Became a rising force 1850s America.
Abolitionist
The addition of new slave states and territories allowed the slave population to increase.
The new states were also well-suited to the rapid development of cotton production.
The shortage of slave labour in the new states made slavery more important.
Why did slavery increase with westward expansion?
Any attempt to either end or expand slavery created the difference in the balance and the issue itself was now symbolic.
How did slavery contribute to the imbalance between the North and the South?
Tariffs on imported goods, a national bank, public investments, and the power of the federal government, albeit slavery was the principle issue dividing the two sections.
What are other issues that faced the of sectional interests?
They could regain slaves that escaped to free states and take their slaves to any other state, as personal property.

They could have certain states identified as slave states so the slave states weren't outnumbered as expansion took place.

Secession, or becoming an independent country.
What were some ways that defenders opted to preserve slavery?
Some believed that new lands would allow for the expansion of slavery and therefore, the formation of more slave states.
Others believed that the diffusion of the slave population would lead to gradual emancipation; emancipating few slaves in many states would be easier to achieve than emancipating many slaves in a few states.
What were the two opinions on the expansion of slavery for Southerners?
Peaceful emancipation, through the agreement of key bodies (uncertainty of where compensation would come from or if any compensation would come at all).

Military emancipation, emancipation as a strategy to defeat a rebellion in context of the civil war (international laws of war were not the same as the national laws of peacetime).

Violent emancipation, slavery could be abolished by force like in a revolution led by slaves.
How did abolitionists believe they could get rid of slavery?
A limitation to be imposed on another item.
Proviso
An attempt to prohibit slavery in lands expected to be acquired from Mexico.
Wilmot Proviso
It ended the Mexican-American war and saw the the incorporation of Mexican northern provinces into the United States.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Economic, social, and political factors pushed people to leave Europe like the Irish Potato Famine, and failed revolutions. Immigrants were attracted to greater political freedom, economic opportunities (jobs and cheap land), and the California Gold Rush.
Why did European immigration to the United States increase rapidly?
A political movement to favour those born in the United States over those who migrated there.
Nativism
The annual value of a country's products and services (excluding overseas investments).
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
National wealth increased by a huge amount and that can be credited to many factors, albeit the most important was increased cotton production.
How was slavery important in the 60 years from 1790 to 1850?
The South had fewer immigrants and a more established white population which had had the chance to accumulate wealth. The North held more people who owned only what they had which wasn't much at all.
How did immigration cause relative northern poverty and relative southern wealth?
Admitted Missouri as a slave state without any restrictions on slavery, Maine would be admitted as a free state, and with the exception of Missouri, there would be no slavery in US lands gained via the Lousiana Purchase.
The Missouri Compromise of 1820
Democrats: Believed the US was a rural, agricultural society and believed in the importance of states' rights with little government interference.

Whigs: Wanted to develop the industrial power via tariffs, national support, and re-establishing a national bank.
Difference between the Democrats and the Whigs
The admission of California as a free state.
The state of Utah and New Mexico would be decided via popular sovereignty.
The slave trade would be abolished in D.C. but selling them for transfer was allowed.
The disputed boundary in Texas was adjusted and the US paid off public debts that Texas had acquired when independent
The Fugitive Slave Act
Compromise of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Act strengthened the powers of those wanting the return of their slaves who, after running away, had been recaptured in another state.

Personal Liberty Laws counteracted the Fugitive Slave Act to protect escaped slaves and prevent their kidnapping.
Fugitive Slave Act v. Personal Liberty Laws
A slave-owner's claim that a slave was a fugitive was sufficient for the slave to be arrested, Fugitive slaves could not ask for trial by jury or represent themselves in court, and any federal official who failed to arrest a known fugitive slave in any state would be fined $1000.
How did the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 differ from the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793?
Repealed the Missouri Compromise and created new territories to be decided by popular sovereignty.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
Violent uprisings waged from the opposition of pro-slavery and anti-slavery activists.
What was Bleeding Kansas?
Tension over the Nebraska Bill provoked an upheaval and slavery was becoming a national issue. This inevitably split the Whig party who either joined the American party (the Native American Party), the new Republican party, or left politics altogether.
Why did the Whig party disappear?
Dred Scott, born into slavery, tried to sue for his freedom because living in the state of Illinois freed him. However, the Supreme Court ruled that an African American could not be an American citizen, Dred Scott had no right to bring his case to court, Slave-owners could take their slaves anywhere governed by US federal law, and Congress had no authority to restrict the rights given by the constitution.
What was the significance of the Dred Scott case, 1857?
The court ruling allowed every state government the ability to decide on slavery without federal intervention, slavery could now expand across the USA into the new territories and eventually the North.
How did the Dred Scott decision increase tensions between North and South?
John Brown formed a militia to take control of the armory, lead a slave revolt, arm the slaves, and overthrow the slave power. John Brown and others were injured, and Brown was sentenced to death. Slavery was well established and very well supported in the South and slave rebellions were unlikely, but in the North he was hailed as a hero.
What was the outcome of the raid on the Harper's Ferry?
An attempt to preserve the union and prevent secession. Involved the restoration of the Missouri Compromise, the protection of slavery in existing slave states, etc. It would be rejected by President Lincoln
The Crittenden Compromise, 1861
The Corwin Amendment was proposed to ensure that institutions established in individual states were protected from abolition. A 'Peace Conference' was held in an effort to keep the union together.
The Corwin Amendment and the Peace Conference, 1861
Once South Carolina had seceded from the Union, a struggle ensued about who controlled the fort. Federal forces had been withdrawn to the fortification, but South Carolina quickly built up its forces and surrounded it. Jefferson Davis and the Confederates called for a surrender, none was given, and the South opened fire. This was effectively the start of the Civil War.
Why was Fort Sumter significant?
Lincoln wanted to defeat a rebellion to win the Civil War. Davis wanted to turn a rebellion into a War for Southern Independence.
What were the aims of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis?
Preservation of the Union.
What were Lincoln's intentions when becoming president?
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