APUSH Chapter 16 Key Terms and People

black belt (mid 1800s)

region of the Deep South with the highest concentration of slaves; the "Black belt" emerged in the nineteenth century as cotton production became more profitable and slavery expanded south and west

Nat Turner's rebellion (1831)

Virginia slave revolt that resulted in the death of sixty whites and raised fears among white Southerners of further uprisings

Amistad (1839)

Spanish slave ship dramatically seized off the coast of Cuba by the enslaved Africans aboard; the ship was driven ashore in Long Island and the slaves were put on trial; former president John Quincy Adams aruged their case before the Supreme Court, securing their eventual release

American Colonization Society (1817)

reflecting the focus of early abolitionists on transporting freed blacks back to Africa, the organization established Liberia, a West-African settlement inteded as a haven for emancipated slaves

Liberia (1822)

West-African nation founded as a haven for freed blacks, fifteen thousand of whom made their way back across the Atlantic by the 1860s

The Liberator (1831-1865)

Antislavery newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison, who called for immediate emancipation of all slaves

American Anti-Slavery Society (1833-1870)

Abolitionist society founded by William Loyd Garrison, who advocated the immediate abolition of slavery; by 1838, the organization had more than 250,000 members across 1,350 chapters

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845)

vivid autobiography of the escaped slave and renowed abolitionist Frederick Douglass

Mason-Dixon line (1820s)

originally drawn by surveyors to resolve the boundaries between Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia in the 1760s, it came to symbolize the North-South divide over slavery

Gag resolution (1836)

prohibited debate or action on antislavery appeals; driven throught eh House by pro-slavery Southerners, the gag resoultion passed every year for eight years, eventually overturned with the help of John Quincy Adams

Nat Turner (1831)

visionary black preacher who led a slave rebellion in Virginia, killing sixty Virginians

William Wilberforce (1833)

member of Parilament and an evenagelical Christan reformer who unchained the slaves in the West Indies

Theodore Dwight Weld (1830s)

abolitionist who appeadled with a special power and directness in his rural audiences of untutored farmers; preached antislavery goespel, assembled a propaganda pamphlet, "American Slavery as It Is" in (1839)

William Lloyd Garrison (1831-1850s)

most conspicious and most vilified of the abolitionists, published "The Liberator" in Boston, helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society; favored Northern secession and renounced politics

Sojourner Truth (1840s)

freed black woman in New York who fought tirelessly for black emancipation and women's rights

Martin Delany (1859)

one of the few black leaders to take seriously the notion of mass recolinization of Africa; visited West Africa's Niger Valley seeking a suitable site for relocation

Frederick Douglass (late 1830s-1840s)

born a slave but escaped to the North and became a prominent black abolitionist; gifted orator, writer, and editor; published "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass"