Key Figures and Events in U.S. Civil War and Slavery History

Abraham Lincoln

16th U.S. president; opposed the spread of slavery; led the Union during the Civil War.

Jefferson Davis

President of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War.

John Crittenden

Senator who proposed the Crittenden Compromise to try to stop Southern secession by protecting slavery in the South.

Dred Scott decision

1857 Supreme Court case ruling that enslaved people were property, not citizens, and Congress couldn't ban slavery in territories.

Lecompton Constitution

Pro-slavery constitution proposed for Kansas; caused major conflict and was rejected.

Bleeding Kansas

Violent clashes in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in the 1850s.

American (Know-Nothing) Party

Political party that opposed immigration and Catholic influence in politics.

Lincoln-Douglas debates

1858 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas over slavery in the territories.

Freeport Doctrine

Idea by Stephen Douglas that local governments could keep slavery out despite the Dred Scott ruling.

Harpers Ferry raid

1859 attack by abolitionist John Brown to start a slave rebellion; failed but increased North-South tension.

Constitutional Union Party

1860 political party that wanted to avoid secession and focus on preserving the Union.

Crittenden Compromise

Last attempt to prevent the Civil War by protecting slavery south of the 36°30′ line; rejected by Lincoln.

Millard Fillmore

13th U.S. president; supported the Compromise of 1850.

Popular sovereignty

Idea that people in each U.S. territory should vote to decide whether to allow slavery.

Filibustering

Unofficial military expeditions by Americans trying to take over foreign lands (often to expand slavery).

Free Soil Party

Political party that opposed the expansion of slavery into western territories.

Fugitive Slave Law

Required citizens to help capture and return escaped enslaved people to their owners.

Compromise of 1850

Series of laws admitting California as a free state and strengthening the Fugitive Slave Law.

Fire-eaters

Southern extremists who strongly supported secession and slavery.

Ostend Manifesto

Secret plan by U.S. diplomats to buy or seize Cuba from Spain to expand slavery.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854 law letting settlers decide on slavery by popular sovereignty; led to 'Bleeding Kansas.'

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, which exposed the cruelty of slavery.

John Brown

Radical abolitionist who used violence against slavery, including in 'Bleeding Kansas' and Harpers Ferry.

James Buchanan

15th U.S. president; failed to stop the nation from dividing over slavery.

Charles Sumner

Abolitionist senator beaten in Congress after criticizing pro-slavery lawmakers.

John C. Frémont

First Republican presidential candidate (1856); opposed slavery's expansion.

Dred Scott

Enslaved man who sued for freedom; his case led to the Dred Scott decision.

Cotton Kingdom

Term describing the South's economy based on cotton and slavery.

The Liberator

Abolitionist newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison.

Peculiar institution

Euphemism Southerners used to describe slavery.

Gag resolution

Rule in Congress that blocked discussion of anti-slavery petitions (1836-1844).

The Impending Crisis of the South

Book by Hinton R. Helper arguing slavery hurt poor white Southerners.

Sectionalism

Loyalty to one's region (North or South) rather than the nation as a whole.

Stephen A. Douglas

Illinois senator who supported popular sovereignty and debated Lincoln.

Franklin Pierce

14th U.S. president; supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act, worsening sectional tensions.

Missouri Compromise

1820 agreement allowing Missouri as a slave state, Maine as a free state, and banning slavery north of 36°30′.

Harriet Tubman

Former enslaved woman who led hundreds to freedom through the Underground Railroad.

William H. Seward

Anti-slavery senator and Lincoln's secretary of state.

Wilmot Proviso

Proposed law to ban slavery in land won from Mexico; never passed but fueled debate.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

1852 novel showing the cruelty of slavery; increased Northern opposition to it.

William Lloyd Garrison

Leading abolitionist who published The Liberator and called for immediate emancipation.

Denmark Vesey

Enslaved man who planned a large slave revolt in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1822 (plot discovered).

Nat Turner

Led a major slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831; killed many whites before being stopped.

Sojourner Truth

Former enslaved woman, abolitionist, and women's rights activist; famous for 'Ain't I a Woman?' speech.

Abolitionism

Movement to end slavery in the United States.

Frederick Douglass

Former enslaved man; powerful speaker and writer for the abolition movement.

Elijah P. Lovejoy

Abolitionist newspaper editor killed by a mob defending his press.

Underground Railroad

Secret network that helped enslaved people escape to freedom in the North.