Unit 5 APUSH

Black belt

Region in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana with rich dark soil that nurtured cotton cultivation and had the highest concentration of slaves.

Breakers

Strong-willed slaves sent to be brutally 'broken' by slave drivers using lashes.

Denmark Vesey

A free black who led an unsuccessful rebellion in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1822.

Nat Turner

A semiliterate black preacher who led a violent uprising that killed about sixty white Virginians.

Amistad

Spanish slave ship where enslaved Africans rebelled, later seizing the ship and arguing their case before the Supreme Court.

American Colonization Society

Founded to transport freed blacks back to Africa, establishing Liberia as a settlement.

Liberia

West African nation founded in 1822 as a haven for freed blacks.

David Walker’s An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World

Incendiary abolitionist pamphlet advocating for the violent overthrow of slavery.

William Lloyd Garrison’s The Liberator

Militantly antislavery newspaper calling for immediate emancipation of all slaves.

American Anti-Slavery Society

Abolitionist organization founded by Garrison in 1833, advocating for immediate abolition of slavery.

Sojourner Truth

A freed black woman in New York who advocated for black emancipation and women's rights.

Frederick Douglass

Renowned black abolitionist, escaped slavery in 1838, known for his powerful speeches and writings.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Autobiography depicting Douglass's life, struggles and eventual escape from slavery.

Liberty Party (1840)

Political party backed by Douglass to end slavery.

Free Soil Party (1848)

Political party supported by Douglass aimed at abolishing slavery.

Mason-Dixon Line

Boundary that originally separated southern Pennsylvania and came to symbolize the North-South divide over slavery.

Gag Resolution

Prohibited debate or action on antislavery appeals in Congress, passed annually for eight years.

Slave Narratives

Written or oral accounts by former slaves detailing the brutality of slavery and their experiences.

Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave

A slave narrative providing insight into the violence and degradation of the South's slave labor system.

Popular sovereignty

Stated that the sovereign people of a territory should determine the status of slavery; a notion before the Civil War, opposed by northern abolitionists who feared it would promote slavery's spread.

Free Soil Party

Antislavery party organized by northern men that opposed the extension of slavery into territories, advocating for federal aid for improvements and free government homesteads for settlers.

Conscience Whigs

A faction of the Whig Party influenced by abolitionism, condemning slavery on moral grounds.

Underground Railroad

An informal network of volunteers helping runaway slaves escape to Canada, comprising a chain of antislavery 'stations' for 'passengers' to seek freedom.

Harriet Tubman

An illiterate runaway slave who, during nineteen missions, rescued over 300 slaves, including her parents, earning her the title 'Moses.'

Compromise of 1850

Legislation that admitted California as a free state, opened New Mexico and Utah to popular sovereignty, ended the slave trade in D.C., and introduced a stricter fugitive slave law.

Fugitive Slave Act

Part of the Compromise of 1850, it set high penalties for aiding escaped slaves, denied fleeing slaves the right to testify, and compelled law enforcement to retrieve runaways.

Ostend Manifesto

A secret proposal by the Franklin Pierce administration to purchase or militarily seize Cuba from Spain, which was abandoned after being leaked.

Opium War

Conflict between Britain and China over trading rights, particularly the sale of opium, leading to a trade agreement that encouraged American concessions from China.

Treaty of Wanghia (1844)

First formal diplomatic agreement between the U.S. and China, granting the U.S. similar trading concessions as other powers, expanding trade with China.

Most Favored Nation

A trading status offered to the U.S. ensuring any and all trading terms granted to other powers.

Extraterritoriality

Provision for trying Americans accused of crimes in China before American officials instead of Chinese courts.

Tokugawa Shogunate

The long-ruling dynasty in Japan that maintained strict insularity and prohibited foreign sailors from remaining.

Commodore Matthew Perry

Commander of a fleet sent to Japan in 1852 to establish relations, the brother of a hero of the Battle of Lake Erie.

Treaty of Kanagawa (1854)

Agreement that ended Japan’s isolation, providing for the treatment of shipwrecked sailors and establishing American coaling rights and consular relations.

Gadsden Purchase (1853)

Acquisition of land from Mexico for $10 million to facilitate the construction of a southern transcontinental railroad.

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Proposed that slavery be decided by popular sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska, revoking the Missouri Compromise and introduced by Stephen Douglas.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom’s Cabin)

Author of the influential anti-slavery novel that depicted the harsh realities of slavery in America, contributing to the abolitionist movement.

The Impending Crisis of the South:

A book written by Hinton Rowan Helper that argued against slavery and its detrimental effects on the South's economy, advocating for its abolition.

New England Emigrant Aid Company

An organization that aimed to promote anti-slavery settlement in Kansas by sending free-state settlers to the territory.

Beecher’s Bibles

A term used to describe the rifles sent by the New England Emigrant Aid Company to anti-slavery settlers in Kansas during the Bleeding Kansas conflict.

Border Ruffians

Pro-slavery activists from Missouri who crossed into Kansas to intimidate free-state settlers and influence the outcome of the territorial elections.

John Brown

An abolitionist who believed in using violence to achieve his goals, he led attacks against pro-slavery settlers in Kansas and is best known for his raid on Harpers Ferry.

Lecompton Constitution

A pro-slavery constitution proposed for Kansas in 1857 that was ultimately rejected by Congress, leading to further tensions over the issue of slavery in the territories.

Sumner-Brooks Caning

A violent incident in 1856 where Congressman Preston Brooks attacked Senator Charles Sumner with a cane on the Senate floor, highlighting the intense sectional conflict over slavery.

Know Nothing Party

A political party in the 1850s that was anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic, advocating for nativist policies and the restriction of immigration.

Dred Scott V. Sanford (1857)

A landmark Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that African Americans were not citizens and had no standing to sue, and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the territories. This decision effectively nullified the Missouri Compromise and increased tensions leading up to the Civil War.

Roger Taney

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who delivered the majority opinion in the Dred Scott v. Sanford case, asserting that African Americans were not citizens. He played a crucial role in shaping the legal framework of slavery and its expansion in the United States.

Panic of 1857

An economic crisis characterized by a sudden collapse in the economy, leading to widespread bank failures and unemployment, exacerbated by declining international trade and the overextension of railroads.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)

A series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas during the Illinois Senate race, focusing on issues such as slavery, popular sovereignty, and the moral implications of the expansion of slavery into the territories.

Freeport Doctrine

A principle articulated by Stephen A. Douglas during the Lincoln-Douglas debates, stating that territories could effectively exclude slavery by not adopting laws to protect it, regardless of the Supreme Court's decisions.

Harpers Ferry

A raid led by John Brown in 1859 aimed at initiating an armed slave revolt by seizing a federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

John C. Breckinridge

A Southern politician and Confederate general who was the Democratic candidate for president in 1860, advocating for the extension of slavery into the territories.

Constitutional Union Party

A political party formed in 1860 that sought to preserve the Union by avoiding the issue of slavery, primarily representing moderate and former Whig members.

Confederate States of America

The group of 11 Southern states that seceded from the United States in 1860 and 1861, forming their own government during the Civil War.

Jefferson Davis

President of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, he was a former U.S. Senator and Secretary of War.