Section 1: Slavery and Western Expansion

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and figures from the notes on Slavery and Western Expansion.

Wilmot Proviso

1846 proposal to ban slavery in territories acquired from Mexico.

David Wilmot

Pennsylvania Democrat who proposed the Wilmot Proviso.

Popular sovereignty

Idea that the people of a territory should decide the slavery question for themselves.

Lewis Cass

Michigan senator who advocated popular sovereignty as a solution to the slavery issue.

Conscience Whigs

Northern Whigs who opposed slavery’s expansion and split from the party.

Cotton Whigs

Northern Whigs aligned with Northern manufacturers who benefited from Southern cotton; supported Taylor.

Free-Soil Party

Political creation opposing slavery in western territories and advocating free soil.

Forty-Niners

Thousands of gold seekers who migrated to California in 1849.

California Gold Rush

Mass migration to California after the discovery of gold in 1848.

Compromise of 1850

Package of measures to resolve sectional conflicts, including California as a free state, popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico, Texas debt, abolition of slave trade in DC, and a Fugitive Slave Act.

Fugitive Slave Act

Law enforcing the return of escaped enslaved people and denying many rights to them; part of the Compromise of 1850.

Henry Clay

Kentucky senator nicknamed 'The Great Compromiser' who proposed the eight-resolution package to resolve the crisis.

Daniel Webster

Massachusetts senator who supported Clay’s compromise and urged national unity.

John C. Calhoun

South Carolina senator who defended slavery and warned that secession could be the only safe option if rights were not protected.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

1848 treaty ending the Mexican-American War and adding vast territories to the United States.