Unit 5b: Sectional Conflict Intensifies (1850s)

Popular Sovereignty

Rule by the people; also refers to the idea that new states to the US would decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery

Free Soil Party

a political party formed in 1848 to oppose the extension of slavery into U.S. territories

Election of 1848

Zachary Taylor - Whig
Lewis Cass - Democrat
Martin Van Buren - Free Soil Party

Taylor side-stepped the issue of slavery and allowed his military reputation to gain him victory. Cass advocated states' rights in the slavery issue. Free Soil Party wanted no slavery in Oregon.

Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, Free Men

slogan of the Free Soil Party

forty-niners (49ers)

Settlers/people who came rushing to California in 1849 to mine gold for money. Most of them were Americans, but some of them came from Mexico, Europe, South America, Australia, and China.

John Sutter

Owner of the mill where gold was discovered that helped start the California Gold Rush

James Marshall

Discovered gold in California while building a sawmill for John Sutter

California Statehood

1850; resulting from the enormous population boom of the Gold Rush

California Gold Rush

Mass migration to California following the discovery of gold in 1848

Compromise of 1850

Includes California admitted as a free state and a stronger Fugitive Slave Act; popular sovereignty to decide slavery question in most other territories gained from Mexican- American War

Zachary Taylor (1849-1850)

Whig

Domestic Affairs:
Pushed for Compromise of 1850
Hard stance on secession
Gold Rush
Died of food poisoning after party

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Gave federal government authority in cases involving runaway slaves; aroused considerable opposition in the North.

Underground Railroad

a system of secret routes used by escaping slaves to reach freedom in the North or in Canada

Harriet Tubman

American abolitionist. Born a slave on a Maryland plantation, she escaped to the North in 1849 and became the most renowned conductor on the Underground Railroad, leading more than 300 slaves to freedom; called the "Moses of Her People"

Harriet Beecher Stowe

(1811-1896) American author and daughter of Lyman Beecher; abolitionist and author of the famous antislavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, further dividing the North and South on the issue of slavery

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Created Nebraska and Kansas as states & gave the people in those territories the right to chose to be either a free or slave state through popular sovereignty.; repealed Missouri Compromise; destroyed Whig party & led to emergence of Republican party

Bleeding Kansas

(1856) a series of violent fights between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in Kansas who had moved to Kansas to try to influence the decision of whether or not Kansas would a slave state or a free state.

Sumner-Brooks Incident

1856 - Charles Sumner gave a two day speech on the Senate floor. He denounced the South for crimes against Kansas and singled out Senator Andrew Brooks of South Carolina for extra abuse. Brooks beat Sumner over the head with his cane, severely crippling him.

Millard Fillmore

13th POTUS; took office upon the death of Z. Taylor; did little to calm the crisis of slavery

Franklin Pierce

14th President

Republican Party (1854)

organized in 1854 by antislavery Whigs, Democrats, and Free Soilers in response to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act; nominated John C. Frémont for president in 1856 and Abraham Lincoln in 1860

Election of 1856

John Fremont- Republican candidate
James Buchanan- Democrat winner

James Buchanan

The 15th President of the United States (1857-1861). He tried to maintain a balance between pro-slavery and antislavery factions, but his moderate views angered radicals in both North and South, and he was unable to forestall the secession of South Carolina on December 20, 1860.

Dred Scott v. Sanford

Supreme Court case that decided US Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in federal territories and slaves, as private property, could not be taken away without due process - basically slaves would remain slaves in non-slave states and slaves could not sue because they were not citizens

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

series of famous debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas over the issue of slavery

Abraham Lincoln

first Republican POTUS; elected in 1860; his election caused the secession of South Carolina, then others; served as POTUS during the Civil War

John Brown's Raid

In 1859, the militant abolitionist John Brown seized the U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry. He planned to end slavery by massacering slave owners and freeing their slaves. He was captured and executed.

Confederate States of America

A republic formed in February of 1861 and composed of the eleven Southern states that seceded from the United States

Jefferson Davis

First and only president of the Confederate States of America

Fort Sumter, SC

Site of the first shots of the Civil War when Confederate troops fired on the Union fort.

Border States

Union slave states; did not secede from the Union