American Sectionalism and Legislation (1800-1861)

Vocabulary flashcards covering major legislative acts, court decisions, and political developments in the United States leading up to the Civil War.

Sectionalism

The increasing divide between the Northern and Southern United States from $1800$ to $1861$ driven by major legislation, court decisions, and the institution of slavery.

Missouri Compromise of 1820

A three-part compromise engineered by Henry Clay where Missouri joined as a slave state, Maine joined as a free state, and slavery was prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase north of the latitude line $36^\circ 30^\prime$.

Henry Clay

Known as the engineer of the Missouri Compromise of $1820$ and the Compromise Tariff of $1833$; a member of the 'Great Triumvirate' representing 'the Compromise'.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1793

A federal law authorizing local governments to seize and return escaped enslaved people to their owners and imposing penalties on those who aided their flight.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

A stricter revision of the $1793$ act that added more provisions regarding runaways and levied harsher punishments for interference; it was a major catalyst for the Civil War and inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'.

Personal liberty laws

Laws passed in Northern states designed to ignore or obstruct the Fugitive Slave Acts.

Franklin Pierce

The only president from New Hampshire ($1853$-$1857$); a Northern Democrat with Southern sympathies who signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and sought to acquire Cuba.

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Legislation introduced by Stephen Douglas that established 'popular sovereignty' in the Kansas and Nebraska Territories, effectively revoking the Missouri Compromise of $1820$.

Popular Sovereignty

The principle that allowed settlers in new territories to decide for themselves whether or not to permit slavery.

Bleeding Kansas

A period of violence and fraudulent elections in the Kansas Territory resulting from conflict between pro-slavery forces and anti-slavery 'Free-staters'.

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

A landmark Supreme Court case ruling that enslaved people were not U.S. citizens, had no standing to sue in federal court, and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in U.S. territories.

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney

The Supreme Court Justice who delivered the $7$-$2$ majority decision in the Dred Scott case.

Alabama's Role (1819-1861)

Admitted to the Union in $1819$, the state relied heavily on slave labor for cotton production and formally seceded in $1861$, with Montgomery serving as the first capital of the Confederacy.

James Buchanan

The $15$th President ($1857$-$1861$) who co-authored the Ostend Manifesto and sympathized with Southern interests, though he personally disliked slavery.

Ostend Manifesto

A document co-authored by James Buchanan that strongly pushed for the annexation of Cuba as a state to provide more votes for the South.

John Brown

An abolitionist who led a raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia, on October $16$, $1859$, in an attempt to establish an abolitionist republic.

Wilmot Proviso

A proposal stating that there should be no slavery in the land acquired during the Mexican Cession; it marked a turning point where westward expansion became explicitly about slavery.

Manifest Destiny vs. Slave Power

The conflict between the patriotic ideal of expansion and Northern fears that the South would control the Senate.

Tariff of 1828

Also known as the 'Tariff of Abominations,' it reached rates of nearly $50\%$ for some items and led to the Nullification Crisis in South Carolina.

Nullification Crisis

A conflict where South Carolina declared the Tariffs of $1828$ and $1832$ null and void, threatening to secede if the federal government used force to collect duties.

The Great Triumvirate

The three influential statesmen of the era: Daniel Webster (representing the Union), John C. Calhoun (representing the states), and Henry Clay (representing the Compromise).

Republican Party

Formed in $1854$ (with a convention in Jackson, Michigan) primarily to oppose the expansion of slavery into Western territories; its motto was 'Free Labor, Free Land, Free Men'.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

A series of seven debates in $1858$ for the Illinois Senate seat that gained Abraham Lincoln national prominence.

Freeport Doctrine

Stephen Douglas's argument that settlers could prevent slavery by refusing to pass laws that legalized it, which alienated Southern voters and hurt his $1860$ presidential prospects.

John C. Breckinridge

The Southern Democrat candidate in the $1860$ election who supported a federal slave code to protect slavery in all territories.

John Bell

The Constitutional Union candidate in $1860$ who ran on the platform of preserving the Union and the Constitution while largely ignoring the slavery issue.

Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

Delivered on March $4$, $1861$, it declared secession legally void and pledged to preserve the Union while avoiding war unless forced.