Untitled Flashcards Set

Wilmot Proviso

1846 proposal that outlawed slavery in any territory gained from the War with Mexico.

James Polk

11th President of the United States from Tennessee; committed to westward expansion; led the country during the Mexican War.

Zachary Taylor

Whig president (1849-1850) who was a Southern slave holder and war hero; won the election of 1848.

Lewis Cass

Democratic senator who proposed popular sovereignty to settle the slavery question in the territories.

Martin Van Buren

Third Party candidate in the Election of 1848; founder of the Free Soil Party.

Henry Clay

United States politician responsible for the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850.

Stephen Douglas

A moderate who introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 and popularized the idea of popular sovereignty.

John Brown

Abolitionist hanged after leading an unsuccessful raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia.

Frederick Douglass

American abolitionist and writer; escaped slavery and became a leading African American spokesman.

Harriet Tubman

Abolitionist and conductor of the Underground Railroad who led other slaves to freedom.

James Buchanan

15th President of the United States (1857-1861) who tried to balance proslavery and antislavery factions.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

American author of the antislavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Grimke Sisters

19th-century American Quakers, educators and writers who advocated for abolitionism and women's rights.

William Lloyd Garrison

Prominent American abolitionist and editor of radical abolitionist newspaper 'The Liberator'.

Roger Taney

Chief Justice for the Dred Scott case.

Abraham Lincoln

Republican representative from Illinois who debated Stephen Douglas for an IL senate seat.

Free Soil Party

Political party formed in 1847-1848 dedicated to opposing slavery in newly acquired territories.

Popular Sovereignty

The concept that the people of a territory should decide on the issue of slavery.

36-30 line

Line drawn as part of the Missouri Compromise dividing free and slave states.

Primary Election

Nominating election to choose party candidates for the general election.

Abolitionism

Movement to end slavery immediately and without question.

Compromise of 1850

Series of measures aimed at resolving territorial and slavery controversies.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Law that allowed the arrest of runaway slaves and required Northerners to assist in their capture.

Priggs v. Pennsylvania

SCOTUS case that solidified the supremacy of federal law over state law regarding fugitive slaves.

Bleeding Kansas

Violent conflict between abolitionists and pro-slavery factions in the Kansas-Nebraska Territory.

Harper's Ferry Raid

John Brown's failed attempt to start a slave revolt by seizing a federal arsenal.

Know-Nothing Party

Political party of the 1850s that was anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant.

Nativism

Policy favoring native-born individuals over foreign-born ones.

5th Amendment

Protects against deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

Lecompton Constitution

Constitution supported slavery; rejected by Kansas, contributing to it being a free state.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

A novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe promoting abolition and intensifying sectional conflict.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

1857 Supreme Court decision declaring that slaves were not citizens and the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.