Unit 10 Quiz causes of civil war

Sectionalism:

Loyalty to a state or section, rather than to the country as a whole

Civil War

A war between people of the same country

Uncle Tom's Cabin:

Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe; showed the evils of slavery and the injustice of the Fugitive Slave La

Compromise of 1850

Agreement over slavery that admitted California to the U.S. as a free state, allowed popular sovereignty in New Mexico and Utah, banned the slave trade in Washington D.C., and passed a strict fugitive slave law

Henry Clay:

Senator (and former Speaker of the House), Author of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850:

Law that required all citizens to help catch runaway slaves; fined or jailed citizens that let slaves escape

Fugitive:

Runaway, such as an escaped slave in the 1800s

Border Ruffians:

People from Missouri who flooded into Kansas to intimidate the people of Kansas into voting to be a slave state, often illegally cast votes themselves for slavery (even though they didn’t live in Kansas)

Bleeding Kansas:

Nickname given to the Kansas Territory because of the repeated outbreaks of violence between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces resulting in the deaths of 55 people from 1855-1859.

Kansas-Nebraska Act:

(1854) law that divided the Nebraska territory into two territories. Provided for the question of slavery in the territories to be decided by popular sovereignty

Popular Sovereignty:

Control by the people; voters in a new territory would decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery in a territory

Dred Scott Decision:

Supreme Court decision in 1857 that stated that slaves were property, not citizens, and could be taken to any state or territory in the United States. It nullified the Missouri Compromise of 1820.

Republican Party:

Formed in 1854 by Free Soilers, Democrats, and antislavery Whigs; their main goal was to keep slavery out of the west and combat the Kansas-Nebraska act

Arsenal:

A place where ammunition and weapons are stored; also known as an armory

John Brown:

Abolitionist who attacked pro-slavery people at Pottawatomie Creek in Kansas and started the raid at Harper’s Ferry. Became a martyr for the Abolitionist movement.

Martyr:

A person who dies for a cause

Harpers Ferry:

The Federal arsenal that John Brown and others raided on October 16, 1858 to try and get the weapons to start a slave rebellion. They failed.

Abolitionist:

A person who wanted to end slavery

Underground Railroad:

A network of escape routes that provided protection and transportation for slaves fleeing north to freedom

Free Soil Party:

A short lived political party founded in 1848 their goal was to keep slavery out of the western territories

States’ rights:

The belief in the right of the states to overrule the rights of the federal government

Confederate States of America:

Nation formed by the states that seceded from the Union in 1860 and 1861

Secede:

To formally leave or separate from the Union

Abraham Lincoln:

Republican who was elected the 16th President of the United States in 1860. His election led the South to secede.

Jefferson Davis:

President of the Confederate States of America

Fort Sumter:

Fort in South Carolina that the Confederate soldiers shelled until the Union commander surrendered it; marked the beginning of the Civil War