BJU American Republic Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Storm Clouds over the Nation

Fort Sumter

fort that American troops were staying at ordered by Lincoln

Robert Anderson

Union general at Fort Sumter

West Virginia

separated from Virginia and entered the union in 1863

Uncle Tom's Cabin

a novel published by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 which portrayed slavery as brutal and immoral

Harriet Beecher Stowe

(1811-1896) American author and daughter of Lyman Beecher, she was an abolitionist and author of the famous antislavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Stephen Douglas

Senator from Illinois who ran for president against Abraham Lincoln. Wrote the Kansas-Nebraska Act. (Northern Democrat)

Popular Sovereignty

where new states would take a vote and decide if they wanted to be a slave state or a free state

Kansas-Nebraska Act

a law that allowed voters in Kansas and Nebraska to choose whether to allow slavery

Republican Party

Antislavery political party that formed in 1854 from the Conscience Whigs, Northern Democrats, and the Free Soil parties.

James Buchanan

The 15th President of the United States (1857-1861). He tried to maintain a balance between the north and the south. During his lame duck period, he decided to let Abraham Lincoln deal with South Carolina's succession.

Charles Sumner

Abolitionist senator whose verbal attack on the South provoked a physical assault that severely injured him

Preston Brooks

Responsible for beating radical republican Charles Sumner with his cane

Dred Scott

United States slave who sued for liberty after living in a non-slave state but the Supreme Court didn't rule in his favor

Roger B. Taney

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court during the Dred Scott decision

John Brown

Abolitionist who was hanged after leading an unsuccessful raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (1800-1858)

Robert E. Lee

Confederate general who had opposed secession but did not believe the Union should be held together by force

Fire-eaters

Southern political leaders who held extreme pro-slavery views.

Seccession

The act of leaving the Union

John C. Breckinridge

Buchanan's vice president who was nominated for president. He supported the expansion of slavery.

Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the United States saved the Union during the Civil War. He tried to keep Fort Sumter and said it was the government's property even though it was in South Carolina during the succession.

John Bell

Presidential candidate of the Constitutional Union Party. He drew votes away from the Democrats, helping Lincoln win.

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

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

Jefferson Davis

President of the Confederate States of America (Confederacy)

Alexander Stephens

Vice President of the Confederacy

Antebellum

before the civil war

Wage Slaves

factory workers in the North who worked long hours, received low wages, and worked in undesirable conditions

Article 6 of the Constitution

Supremacy Clause - clearly states that national law will be supreme over state law

Amendment 10 of the Constitution

Any powers not given to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved to the states.

Middle Passage

A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies

Overseers

people who watch over and direct the work of slaves

Gang System

A method of organizing enslaved labor in which workers worked for a certain amount of time.

Task System

A method of organizing enslaved labor in which workers were given specific set of jobs to accomplish every day, after which they were allowed to spend their time as they chose

Underground Railroad

A system that helped enslaved African Americans follow a network of escape routes through conductors out of the South to freedom in the North

Frederick Douglass

United States abolitionist who escaped from slavery and became an influential writer and lecturer in the North (1817-1895)

Abolitionist

A person who wanted to end slavery in the United States

Harriet Tubman

Former slave who helped slaves escape on the Underground Railroad

William Lloyd Garrison

United States abolitionist who published an anti-slavery journal (1805-1879)

Horace Greeley

Abolitionist newspaper publisher, one of the founders of the Republican Party.

Spirituals

Religious folk songs that blended biblical themes with the realities of slavery