Key Vocabulary from Dred Scott, Secession, Lincoln-Douglas Debates, and Harpers Ferry (Notes 1–4)

Vocabulary flashcards covering the main terms and concepts from the notes on Dred Scott, secession, Lincoln-Douglas debates, and Harpers Ferry.

Dred Scott decision

1857 Supreme Court ruling by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney that enslaved people are property, not citizens; Congress cannot ban slavery in territories, and the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.

Roger B. Taney

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who delivered the Dred Scott decision; appointed by Andrew Jackson.

Slaves are property

A key holding of the Dred Scott decision—enslaved people are legally considered property under the Constitution.

Slaves are not citizens

The Dred Scott ruling stated that Black people, whether free or enslaved, could not be citizens and had no guaranteed rights.

Congress cannot forbid slavery in territories

A conclusion of the Dred Scott decision stating that the federal government has no authority to ban slavery in new territories.

Missouri Compromise

An 1820 agreement regulating slavery in western territories; later challenged in federal courts and tied to broader debates over federal power and slavery.

Secession

The act of southern states leaving the United States to form a separate Confederacy.

Confederate States of America

The coalition of southern states that seceded from the Union to form their own nation.

Union

The United States as a single nation (the federal government and the Northern states) during the Civil War era.

Abolitionists

People who sought to end slavery in the United States.

Test case

A legal case used to test a broader principle; abolitionists used Dred Scott as a test case to challenge slavery in free territories.

Free territories

Territories where slavery was illegal, central to debates about slavery’s expansion.

Lincoln-Douglas debates

A series of debates in 1858 between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas over slavery and political issues in Illinois.

Abraham Lincoln

Republican politician who opposed the spread of slavery; rose as a national figure and became the 16th President after the debates.

Stephen A. Douglas

Democratic Senator from Illinois; champion of popular sovereignty and broker of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Popular sovereignty

The principle that residents of a territory should decide whether slavery would be legal there.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854 law allowing Kansas and Nebraska to determine slavery by popular sovereignty; helped spark Bleeding Kansas.

Bleeding Kansas

The violent conflict in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the 1850s.

Harpers Ferry

1859 raid led by John Brown to seize the federal arsenal to incite a slave revolt; ended with federal assault and Brown’s execution.

John Brown

Militant abolitionist who led the Harpers Ferry raid; viewed by some as a martyr and by others as an extremist.

Arsenal

A storage facility for weapons; Harpers Ferry Arsenal was the target of Brown’s raid.

Engine House

The building at Harpers Ferry where Brown and his men were ultimately cornered and captured.

Robert E. Lee

U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who commanded Marines to suppress the Harpers Ferry raid.

West Virginia

The state where Harpers Ferry is located; in 1860s it was part of Virginia but is today West Virginia.

1860 election

Presidential election that led to Lincoln’s nomination and the rise of the Republican Party amid growing sectional tensions.