Studied by 46 people
King Cotton
Southern term emphasizing Southern cotton industry's economic dominance over North, belieiving North needed South's cotton and going against it would be like going against a king
West Africa Squadron
British Royal navy force enforcing slave trade's abolition (1807), intercepting hundreds of slave ships and freed 1000s of Africans.
Breakers
Slave punishers specializing in common whipping punishment to break slave's will/well-being while also keeping their "value" as "investments" intact
Black Belt
Deep South region with highest slave concentration that emerged with profitable cotton production and slavery expanded south and west.
Responsorial
Call and response style of preaching that melded Christian and African traditions. Practiced by African slaves in the South.
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Rebellion led by Nat Turner where he and his followers attacked 4 plantations and killed around 60 pro-slavery people; he later gets sentenced to death for this
Amistad
Rebelling African slaves captured this Spanish ship and attempted to sail to Africa but ended up in Long Island. John Quincy Adams fights for their freedom and later acquires it.
Abolition
Act of getting rid of slavery practice entirely (slavery no longer existing)
Emancipation
Immediate freeing of enslaved slave/slaves
American Colonization Society
Founded to transport slaves back to Africa and Liberia, but many didn't want to go back because they were already settled native-born Americans.
Liberia
A West African nation founded by the American Colonization Society to serve as a homeland for free blacks to settle
The Liberator
Anti-slavery newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison uncompromisingly declaring anti-slavery beliefs and instigating radical conflict
American Anti-Slavery Association
Abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison advocating the immediate abolition of slavery
The North Star
Anti-slavery newspaper published by ex-slave Frederick Douglass
Mason-Dixon Line
Originally drawn to resolve Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia boundary (1760s), it later symbolizied North-South divide over slavery
Slave codes
Laws that defined status of enslaved person and rights of their owners, controlling and restricting slaves of their rights.
"Happy slave" Myth
Southern propoganda to convince others (mainly North) that slavery was a good thing allowed by God and Bible
Gag Resolution
South's repeal to all Northern protests and petitions to end slavery, tabling all discussion in Congress
Popular sovereignty
Lewis Cass' doctrine stating that the sovereign people of a territory, under Constitution, could decide the status of slavery in their own territory, appealing to self-determination and compromise.
Free-Soil Party
Anti-slavery party formed out of distrust for Taylor/Cass and silence of Whigs/Dems and firmly stood for Wilmot Provisio against slavery and appeals for internal improvements and homesteads for settlers.
Foreshadowed Republic Party.
The California Gold Rush
Period when many reckless pioneers hoped to strike rich in California with gold. Few actually found god riches while struggling with outrageous prices for personal services which many grew a sustaining income with.
"Forty-niners"
Term for California Gold Rush miners who struggled for gold recklessly around 1849
Underground Railroad
Informal system of routes of "stations" (anti-slavery homes) with "passengers" (slaves) led by "conductors" (white/black abolitionists) to the free Canada
Seventh of March Speech
Daniel Webster's attempted compromise speech towards angry South, urging South that Mexico-cession land can't successfully harbor plantation slave economy because God passed Wilmot Provisio.
Compromise of 1850
Attempted agreement to ease slavery tensions, though didn't work well:
California admitted as Free State
Slave sales in DC banned but slaves can still exist here
New Fugitive Slave Act
Popular Sovereignity used Mexican Cession land because slavery not directly banned yet
Texas gives $10 million for ceded land
New Fugitive Slave Act
Part of Compromise of 1850: prohibits slaves from testifying on their own behalf, denying jury trial, instead allowing slave owner to file for return and bribing judges to determine if slave is a runaway. Fines/jail time enforced if you help an escaped slave.
Personal Liberty Laws
Northern laws fighting back against South's New Fugitive Slave Act, guaranteeing trial for slaves and not letting federal authority use jails to hold runaway slaves.
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
Signed between US and Britain agreeing to protect Central American neutrality with no exclusive istmian waterway control.
Ostend Manifesto
Secret Franklin Pierce administration proposal to purcase/wrest militarily Cuba from Spain; quickly abandoned after leak caused huge North opposition
Transcontinental Railroad
Upgraded one way railroad for US transporting major economic goods (one way so recipient gets better economic stuff). South fights super hard for this because of Gadsden Purchase land and economic perks, but North disagrees and enrages South.
Gadsden Purchase
Allowed claim to New Mexico from Santa Anna and solidified borders, South used this as a bargaining chip to get Transcontinental Railraod to end on their side
Kansas Nebraska Act
Stephen Douglas' attempted proposal to allow slave issue to be decided by popular sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska territory (Nebraska = Free, Kansas = Slave)
Republican Party
Forms in opposition to Kansas-Nebraska Act (Whigs, Free-Soilers, Know-Nothings) and was opposed to spread/expand slavery into new territories (not to get rid of slavery entirely)
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Radical novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, rallying North by showing the brutal truths/horrors of slavery that ripped families apart, urging others to not support the Fugitive Slave Law.
The Impending Crisis in the South
Written by Hinton R. Helper using statistics to prove why non-slaveholding whites suffered most from slavery and the Blacks Helper hated so much
New England Aid Company
Northern group in Kansas fighting South for anti-slavery there while also making profit
Pottawatomie Massacre
John Brown leads followers to Pottawatomie Creek and kills 5 pro-slavery people ruthlessly at night.
Bleeding Kansas
Civil war in Kansas over slavery issue in territory until 1861 when it merged with national Civil War
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Decision by court on slave living in free territory, Dred Scott, which gave federal protection to slavery and asserting slaves as private property that cannot be taken away from the people, regardless of where. It also enforced Missouri Compromise as unconstitutional (can't ban slavery in any territory)
Panic of 1857
Financial crash due to gold-fueled inflation, over speculation, and excess grain production that raished Northern calls for higher tariffs and free homesteads on public lands
Hurt North more than overconfident Southern plantation economy
Tariff of 1857
Lowered duties on imports due to high Treasury surplus and pressure by Southern farmers
North enraged because they felt this Southern tariff was hurting their economy
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Series of debates for senate seat between renown debator Stephen Douglas vs. challenger Abraham Lincoln consisting of Freeport Question and Freeport Doctrine.
This propelled Lincon's moral popularity for future Rep. president in 1860
John Brown's Raid
To get weapons to arm slaves, John Brown and followers raid federal arsonal but fail, getting surrounded, captured, and sentenced to death. North sees him as a martyr/hero while South sees as a brutal killer.
Constitutional Union Party
"Compromise" desiring party of Election of 1860 filled with Whigs/Know-Nothings who feared for Union: elected Dem. inclined John Bell
Secession
Act of formally withdrawing from a membership or federal body (ex: Southern states withdrawing from Union)
Confederate States of America
Republic composed of 11 seceded Southern states after election of Rep. Pres. Lincoln led by Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
Crittenden Amendments
Last ditch effort by senator John Crittenden to stop secession:
Slavery prohibited North 36'30 but allowed in South
Slavery has federal protection in current/future territories south of 36'30
Future states north/south of 36'30 (ex: Cuba) can come into union w/ or w/o slavery (pop. sov)
Fails because Lincoln rejects out of Rep. moral principle
Election of 1848
Dem. Lewis Cass (Polk doesn't run) vs. Whig Zachary Taylor (Clay too many enemies) vs. Free Soil former Pres. Martin Van Buren
Lewis Cass doesn't speak on slavery --> popular sovereignty Zachary Taylor doesn't speak on it but owns slaves
Taylor wins because of warhero persona (Buren hurts Cass' chances)
Election of 1852
Taylor dies midterm and succeeded by Whig Millard Fillmore, but he doesn't rerun:
Whig Whinfield Scott vs. Dem. Franklin Pierce vs. American Party John Hale
Franklin Pierce (pro-Southern northerner supporting Fugitive Slave Act and Comp. of 1850) wins because Hale pulls votes from Scott
Election of 1856
Dem. James Buchanan (Pierce too many enemies) vs. Rep. John C. Fremont (Whigs dead) vs. American Party Millard Fillmore
Buchanan wins because Fremont seen as untrustworthy (secession threat)
Republicans grow substantially
Election of 1860
Northern Dem. Stephen Douglas vs. Rep. Lincoln vs. South Dem. Breckenridge vs. Const. Union Party Bell
Rep. Lincoln wins because Democrats are divided among the 3 candidates, splitting up votes and chances.
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Flashcard