Slavery History ch.10

Abolition

The fight to abolish/end slavery

Emancipation

The freeing of slaves without paying the slaveholders

The Liberator

Abolitionist newspaper by William Lloyd Gariison

Antebellum

Before war

Gag rule

Rule in Congress that said slavery was not going to be discussed

Fugitive Slave Act

Law passed during the Compromise of 1850

Sated that runaway slaves anywhere in America had to be returned to their masters

Made the north very angry

Personal liberty laws

Passed in opposition to the FSA by many northern states

Laws that prolonged the trials of formerly enslaved people so that they would be declared free

Underground railroad

A secret route of abolitionists that helped slaves escape from to south into the north/Canada

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Highlighted the evils of slavery through a dramatic retelling of a slaves’ story

Target audience: passive abolitionists in the north

Popular sovereignty

The idea that the residents of a state/territory decide whether they are a slave or free area

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Act passed by Stephen Douglas

Stated that Kansas and Nebraska were two seperate states that had popular sovereignty

Led to Bleeding Kansas

Bleeding Kansas

Period of violence that lasted 2 years after the KNA when proslavery and antislavery settlers raced to Kansas to make it a slave/free state

Almost 200 people died

Sacking of Lawrence

When a big group of proslavery settlers looted, burned, and attacked the antislavery town of Lawrence, Kansas

They did this because a corrupt, proslavery jury found that the settlers of the town were antislavery and deemed them traitors

Know Nothing Party

Political party that hated immigrants and catholics

They did not have a solid stance on slavery

Founded in 1854

Nativism

Prefering native-born citizens as opposed to immigrants

Free-Soil Party

Political party that wanted to stop the expansion of slavery because they were afraid that slave labor would compete with the wages of the blue-collar white man

Were very racist, pro-labor, mostly made up of northern factory workers

Founded in 1848

Republican Party

Political party that opposed the expansion of slavery in the territories

Made up of antislavery democrats, free soilers, former northern whigs

Founded in 1854

Dred Scott v. Sanford

SCOTUS case involving Dred Scott, a slave, suing for his freedom because he lived in a free territory, and his master’s wife, Sanford, who said it didn’t count because he was there on account of military business

SCOTUS ruled that: Blacks had no rights so they couldn’t sue in the first place, slaves were allowed to be reenslaved, and Congress did not have the right to outlaw slavery in any territory (MO compromise=unconstitutional)

Lecompton Constitution

Ilegal state consitution submitting by the false proslavery majority in Kansas

Buchanan approved it because he owed his presidency to the south, but Douglas was furious because it wasn’t following popular soveriegnty

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Debates between Lincoln and Douglas over slavery in Illinois during the senate race

Freeport Doctrine

Douglas’ reply during one of the debates where he basically said that the residents of a state could get around popular sovereignty

Harpers Ferry

Where John Brown tried to stage a slave uprising and storm a federal arsenal

It did not work and he was arrest, tried, and then hung for treason

Election of 1860

The election when Lincoln won presidency, the democratic party split into northern and southern factions, and many southern states seceded even before he went into office

Confederacy

After the south seceded, they called their new union the _________

They were for strong state governments and proslavery