HIST Ch.13 (11 core)

Slave-Based Republic (South)

The Southern vision of the United States as a society built on slavery as its economic and social foundation (what), most prominent in the early to mid-19th century (when), across the Southern states (where), used by Southern leaders to justify expansion of slavery into new territories and defend political power tied to slaveholding interests (why).

Working Man’s Paradise (North)

The Northern belief that society should be based on free labor where individuals could work for wages and improve their status (what), developing in the early to mid-1800s (when), in the Northern United States (where), used to argue that slavery threatened economic opportunity for white workers and contradicted ideals of social mobility (why).

Missouri Compromise (1820)

A legislative agreement admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state while banning slavery north of the 36°30′ line in the Louisiana Territory (what), passed in 1820 (when), applying to U.S. territories west of the Mississippi River (where), created to maintain balance in Congress and temporarily reduce sectional conflict, though it exposed deep divisions over expansion of slavery (why).

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)

A novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe depicting the harsh realities of slavery and its moral consequences (what), published in 1852 (when), widely read in the North and condemned in the South (where), mobilized Northern public opinion against slavery by personalizing its brutality and increasing sectional hostility (why).

Wilmot Proviso (1846)

A proposal to ban slavery in territories acquired from Mexico (what), introduced in 1846 during the Mexican-American War (when), in U.S. Congress affecting western territories (where), intensified sectional conflict by raising the issue of whether new lands would allow slavery, despite failing to pass (why).

Compromise of 1850

A series of laws including California as a free state and the use of popular sovereignty in other territories, along with a stricter Fugitive Slave Law (what), passed in 1850 (when), affecting both Northern and Southern states and western territories (where), attempted to preserve the Union but instead deepened tensions by forcing Northerners to participate in enforcing slavery (why).

Fugitive Slave Law (1850)

A law requiring citizens and officials in free states to assist in capturing and returning escaped enslaved people (what), enacted in 1850 (when), across the United States, especially impacting the North (where), escalated conflict by making slavery a national issue and provoking resistance from Northern citizens who opposed enforcement (why).

Ellen and William Craft Escape

A famous escape where Ellen disguised herself as a white male slaveholder and fled with her husband William (what), in 1848 (when), from the South to the North (where), highlighted both the ingenuity of enslaved resistance and the increasing Northern defiance of fugitive slave laws (why).

Anthony Burns Case

The capture and return of an escaped enslaved man in Boston under the Fugitive Slave Law (what), in 1854 (when), in Boston, Massachusetts (where), demonstrated federal enforcement of slavery in free states and intensified Northern outrage through visible military intervention (why).

Popular Sovereignty

The principle that settlers in a territory should decide whether slavery would be allowed (what), used prominently in the 1850s (when), in western territories like Kansas and Nebraska (where), aimed to reduce conflict but instead led to violence as both pro- and anti-slavery groups competed for control (why).

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

A law that created Kansas and Nebraska territories and allowed slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty, repealing the Missouri Compromise (what), passed in 1854 (when), in the Great Plains territories (where), triggered sectional conflict by reopening the slavery question in areas previously closed to it (why).

Bleeding Kansas

Violent conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in Kansas (what), occurring in the mid-1850s after the Kansas-Nebraska Act (when), in Kansas Territory (where), showed that popular sovereignty failed by leading to armed conflict instead of democratic resolution (why).

Topeka Government (Kansas)

An anti-slavery government formed by Free-Soil settlers in Kansas (what), established in 1855 (when), in Topeka, Kansas (where), represented resistance to pro-slavery forces and competing claims of legitimate authority in the territory (why).

Sack of Lawrence / Free State Hotel Destruction

An attack by pro-slavery forces destroying an anti-slavery town and its institutions (what), in 1856 (when), in Lawrence, Kansas (where), escalated violence in “Bleeding Kansas” and symbolized the breakdown of political compromise (why).

Caning of Charles Sumner (1856)

A physical attack by Congressman Preston Brooks on Senator Charles Sumner after an anti-slavery speech (what), in 1856 (when), in the U.S. Senate (where), revealed the collapse of civil political discourse and heightened sectional tensions between North and South (why).

Stephen Douglas

A U.S. senator who promoted popular sovereignty and supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act (what), active in the 1850s (when), in national politics, especially tied to Illinois and western expansion (where), sought to facilitate economic development like railroads but instead intensified sectional divisions (why).

Dred Scott Decision (1857)

A Supreme Court ruling stating that African Americans were not citizens and that Congress could not ban slavery in territories (what), decided in 1857 (when), in the United States Supreme Court (where), invalidated the Missouri Compromise and strengthened pro-slavery positions, worsening sectional conflict (why).

Dred Scott Case Background

A lawsuit by an enslaved man claiming freedom after living in free territory (what), filed before 1857 (when), involving Missouri and Wisconsin Territory (where), raised key constitutional questions about citizenship, slavery, and federal authority (why).