Chapter 11: Sectional Conflict and Antislavery Movement

Slave Labor

south

Free Labor

north

Missouri Compromise of 1821

An agreement that aimed to maintain the balance between free and slave states.

Henry Clay

The person who came up with the Missouri Compromise.

Wilmot Proviso

An amendment to a bill to finance the Mexican War that sought to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico.

Compromise of 1850

A package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress to defuse a political confrontation between slave and free states.

California Admission

California was admitted as a free state, which outnumbered slave states in the Senate.

William Lloyd Garrison

Published a newspaper, The Liberator, to support the abolitionist movement.

Frederick Douglass

A former slave and abolitionist known for his powerful oratory and writings.

Harriet Tubman

A former slave known as the 'Moses of Her People' for freeing more than 300 slaves.

Underground Railroad

An organized resistance movement that secretly transported slaves to free states and Canada.

Conductors

Individuals who went into slave territory to help slaves escape.

Stations

Houses, barns, or other places used to hide and feed fugitive slaves.

William Still

A historian in Pennsylvania who documented the lives and escapes of fugitive slaves.

Night Travel

The time most fugitive slaves traveled because it was safer.

Thomas Garrett

An iron merchant who hosted the last major stop for runaway slaves in Wilmington, Delaware.

Fugitive Slave Law Consequences

Individuals who refused the new Fugitive Slave Law could be jailed or fined.

Henry Boxbrown

A slave who boxed himself up and shipped to Philadelphia.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

A book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe that described slave life and sold over 500,000 copies.

John Brown

Led a small army that seized control of the armory at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

A 1854 act that divided the Kansas area into two territories: Kansas and Nebraska, allowing voters to decide on issues through popular sovereignty.

Popular Sovereignty

The principle that the voters living in a territory would decide on issues, such as whether to allow slavery.

Republican Party

A political party formed in 1854, primarily composed of Northerners who were anti-slavery and supported a strong federal government.

Democratic Party

A political party formed in 1836 that was pro-slavery and favored states' rights and strong state power.

Bleeding Kansas

A term describing the violent conflicts in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions.

Border Ruffians

A group of southern men who moved to Missouri to vote in favor of a pro-slavery government and terrorized anti-slavery supporters.

John Brown

An abolitionist who led guerilla raids against pro-slavery supporters in Kansas, known for his violent methods.

Dred Scott Case

A landmark Supreme Court case in 1857 where the court ruled that Dred Scott, a former slave, must remain a slave and that blacks had no right to sue.

U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Dred Scott

The ruling declared that Scott must remain a slave (7-2 decision) and that slavery was now opened to all new territories.

Lecompton Constitution

The Kansas constitution written by the newly elected Kansas legislature that was rejected by the House with a Northern majority.

Election of 1860

An election where Abraham Lincoln won the presidency with only 39% of the popular vote, leading to Southern states deciding to secede.

Abram Lincoln

A Republican candidate from Illinois who believed that slavery should not spread.

Stephen A. Douglas

A Northern Democrat from Illinois who believed that the people should decide on slavery through popular sovereignty.

John C. Breckinridge

The Southern Democrat candidate in the Election of 1860, who was the vice president from Kentucky.

John Bell

The candidate from the Constitutional Union Party in the Election of 1860, from Tennessee.

Civil War

A conflict that began when rebel forces fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, after Southern states decided to secede.

Fort Sumter

A government fort located in Charleston, South Carolina, whose firing marked the beginning of the Civil War.

Missouri Compromise

An agreement that aimed to maintain the balance between slave and free states, rendered meaningless by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

James Buchanan

The president who won the election of 1856 by a narrow margin and accepted the Lecompton Constitution to avoid upsetting Southern Democrats.

Violence in Congress

An incident where Senator Brooks beat Senator Sumner with a cane over pro-slavery criticisms, resulting in Sumner taking three years to recover.

Federal Troops in Kansas

Troops sent to Kansas to end the fighting during the violent conflicts, resulting in at least 200 deaths.

Antislavery Retaliation

Actions taken by anti-slavery supporters, including violent raids led by John Brown against pro-slavery factions.

Dishonest Elections

Elections in the Kansas Territory that were marred by violence and intimidation, particularly by Border Ruffians.

Southern Democrats

Members of the Democratic Party from the South who supported slavery and sought to expand cotton land in new territories.

Northerners' Opposition

The stance taken by Northerners against the spread of slavery into new territories, believing it would harm free labor.

Kansas Statehood

The status that Kansas was denied due to the rejection of the Lecompton Constitution by the House.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

A series of debates in 1858 where Lincoln challenged Douglas, focusing on the issue of slavery's expansion.

supported fugitive slave law

south

opposed fugitive slave law

north

expanded farming

south

expanded industry

north

supported slavery in territories

south

opposed slavery in territories

north

slave state admitted

Missouri

free state admitted

Maine

southerners view of compromise

grew distrustful of northerners and feared legislation against slavery, prohibited slavery in territories in land west of Mississippi river