popular sovereignty
(in the context of the slavery debate) Notion that the sovereign people of a given territory should decide whether to allow slavery. Seemingly a compromise, it was largely opposed by Northern abolitionists who feared it would promote the spread of slavery to the territories
Free Soil Party
Antislavery party in the 1848 and 1852 elections that opposed the extension of slavery into the territories, arguing that the presence of slavery would limit opportunities for free laborers.
Underground Railroad
Informal network of volunteers that helped runaway slaves escape from the South and reach free-soil Canada. Seeking to halt the flow of runaway slaves to the North, Southern planters and congressmen pushed for a stronger fugitive slave law.
Compromise of 1850
Admitted California as a free state, opened New Mexico and Utah to popular sovereignty, ended the slave trade (but not slavery itself) in Washington D.C., and introduced a more stringent fugitive slave law. Widely opposed in both the North and South, it did little to settle the escalating dispute over slavery
Fugitive Slave Law
Passed as part of the Compromise of 1850, it set high penalties for anyone who aided escaped slaves and compelled all law enforcement officers to participate in retrieving runaways. Strengthened the antislavery cause in the North
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty:
Signed by Great Britain and the United States, it provided that the two nations would jointly protect the neutrality of Central America and that neither power would seek to fortify or exclusively control any future isthmian waterway. Later revoked by the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1901, which gave the United States control of the Panama Canal.
Ostend Manifesto:
Secret Franklin Pierce administration proposal to purchase or, that failing, to wrest militarily Cuba from Spain. Once leaked, it was quickly abandoned due to vehement opposition from the North
Kansas-Nebraska Act:
Proposed that the issue of slavery be decided by popular sovereignty in the Kansas and Nebraska territories, thus revoking the 1820 Missouri Compromise. Introduced by Stephen Douglass in an effort to bring Nebraska into the Union and pave the way for a northern transcontinental railroad.
Impending Crisis of the South
Antislavery tract, written by white Southerner Hinton R. Helper, arguing that non slave holding whites actually suffered most in a slave economy.
New England Emigrant Aid Company:
Organization created to facilitate the migration of free laborers to Kansas in order to prevent the establishment of slavery in the territory.
Lecompton Constitution:
Proposed Kansas constitution, whose ratification was unfairly rigged so as to guarantee slavery in the territory. Initially ratified by proslavery forces, it was later voted down when Congress required that the entire constitution be put up for a vote
Bleeding Kansas:
Civil war in Kansas over the issue of slavery in the territory, fought intermittently until 1861, when it merged with the wider national Civil War.
Dred Scott v. Sanford:
Supreme Court decision that extended federal protection to slavery by ruling that Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in any territory. Also declared that slaves, as property, were not citizens of the United States.
Panic of 1857:
Financial crash brought on by gold-fueled inflation, overspeculation, and excess grain production. Raised calls in the North for higher tariffs and for free homesteads on western public lands.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates:
Series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglass during the U.S. Senate race in Illinois. Douglass won the election but Lincoln gained national prominence and emerged as the leading candidate for the 1860 Republican nomination
Freeport Doctrine:
Declared that since slavery could not exist without laws to protect it, territorial legislatures, not the Supreme Court, would have the final say on the slavery question. First argued by Stephen Douglass in 1858 in response to Abraham Lincoln’s “Freeport Question”.
Harpers Ferry:
Federal arsenal in Virginia seized by abolitionist John Brown in 1859. Though Brown was later captured and executed, his raid alarmed Southerners who believed that Northerners shared in Brown’s extremism.
Constitutional Union Party:
Formed by moderate Whigs and Know-Nothings in an effort to elect a compromise candidate and avert a sectional crisis
Confederate States of America:
Government established after seven Southern states seceded from the Union. Later joined by four more states from the Upper South
Crittenden Amendments:
Proposed in an attempt to appease the South, the failed Constitutional amendments would have given federal protection for slavery in all territories south of 36°30’ where slavery was supported by popular sovereignty.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin:
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s widely read novel that dramatized the horrors of slavery. It heightened Northern support for abolition and escalated the sectional conflict
Know-Nothing Party:
Nativist political party, also known as the American party, which emerged in response to an influx of immigrants, particularly Irish Catholics.