APUSH Unit 5

West Africa Squadron:

British naval force that stopped slave ships.

Breakers:

Harsh slave owners who used brutal punishment.

West Africa Squadron:

British naval force that stopped slave ships.

Breakers:

Harsh slave owners who used brutal punishment.

Black Belt:

Area in the Deep South with the highest slave population.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion:

1831 slave revolt in Virginia, led by Nat Turner.

Amistad:

Slave ship where enslaved Africans revolted in 1839.

American Colonization Society:

Group that wanted to send freed slaves to Africa.

Liberia:

African country founded for freed U.S. slaves.

The Liberator:

Anti-slavery newspaper by William Lloyd Garrison.

American Anti-Slavery Society:

Abolitionist group founded by Garrison in 1833.

Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World:

David Walker’s anti-slavery pamphlet.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass:

Douglass’s autobiography about slavery.

Mason-Dixon Line:

Boundary between free and slave states.

Gag Resolution:

Congressional rule that banned discussion of slavery.

William T. Johnson:

A freed black man who owned slaves in Mississippi.

Nat Turner:

Enslaved preacher who led a violent slave revolt.

William Wilberforce:

British abolitionist who helped end the slave trade.

Theodore Dwight Weld:

Abolitionist who wrote American Slavery As It Is.

William Lloyd Garrison:

Radical abolitionist and publisher of The Liberator.

David Walker:

Wrote Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World urging resistance to slavery.

Sojourner Truth:

Former slave and abolitionist known for her speeches.

Martin Delany:

Black nationalist who supported African colonization.

Frederick Douglass:

Former slave, abolitionist, and writer.                       

Tariff of 1842:

Raised U.S. tariffs to protect industries.

Caroline:

U.S. ship attacked by the British in 1837.

Creole:

U.S. slave ship taken over by rebellious slaves in 1841.

Aroostook War:

Border conflict between Maine and Canada.

Manifest Destiny:

Belief that the U.S. was destined to expand westward.

"Fifty-four forty or fight":

Slogan demanding Oregon territory from Britain.

Liberty Party:

Anti-slavery political party in the 1840s.

Walker Tariff:

1846 tariff that lowered rates to encourage trade.

Spot Resolutions:

Lincoln’s demand for proof of Mexican-American War justification.

California Bear Flag Republic:

Short-lived California independence during the war.

Battle of Buena Vista:

Key U.S. victory in the Mexican-American War.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo:

Ended the Mexican-American War, giving the U.S. land.

Conscience Whigs:

Anti-slavery Whigs who opposed the war with Mexico.

Wilmot Proviso:

Proposed law to ban slavery in land from Mexico.

John Tyler:

10th U.S. president, annexed Texas.

James K. Polk:

11th U.S. president, expanded the U.S. westward.

Stephen W. Kearny:

Led U.S. troops in the Mexican-American War.

John C. Frémont:

Led California’s revolt against Mexico.

Winfield Scott:

U.S. general who captured Mexico City.

Nicholas P. Trist:

Negotiated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

David Wilmot:

Proposed the Wilmot Proviso to ban slavery in new territories.

Popular Sovereignty:

Let states decide for themselves whether to allow slavery.

Free Soil Party:

Political party against slavery's expansion.

California Gold Rush:

1849 mass migration to California for gold.

Underground Railroad:

Secret network helping slaves escape to freedom.

Seventh of March Speech:

Daniel Webster’s speech supporting the Compromise of 1850.

Compromise of 1850:

Settled slavery issues, admitted California as a free state.

Fugitive Slave Law:

Required runaway slaves to be returned to owners.

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty:

U.S.-Britain agreement to avoid control over a future canal in Central America.

Ostend Manifesto:

U.S. plan to buy or take Cuba from Spain.

Opium War:

British-Chinese war over opium trade.

Treaty of Wanghia:

1844 U.S.-China trade agreement.

Treaty of Kanagawa:

Opened Japan to U.S. trade.

Gadsden Purchase:

U.S. bought land from Mexico for a railroad.

Kansas-Nebraska Act:

Allowed popular sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska.

Lewis Cass:

Politician who proposed popular sovereignty.

Zachary Taylor:

12th U.S. president, Mexican-American War hero.

Harriet Tubman:

Former slave who helped others escape via the Underground Railroad.

Millard Fillmore:

13th U.S. president, supported the Compromise of 1850.

Franklin Pierce:

14th U.S. president, supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

William Walker:

Tried to take over Nicaragua to expand slavery.

Caleb Cushing:

Negotiated the Treaty of Wanghia with China.

Matthew C. Perry:

Opened Japan to trade with the Treaty of Kanagawa.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin:

Anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

The Impending Crisis of the South:

Book arguing slavery hurt poor whites.

New England Emigrant Aid Company:

Helped anti-slavery settlers move to Kansas.

Lecompton Constitution:

Pro-slavery Kansas constitution rejected by Congress.

Bleeding Kansas:

Violent clashes over slavery in Kansas.

Dred Scott v. Sanford:

Supreme Court case ruling slaves weren’t citizens.

Panic of 1857:

Economic crisis that hit the North hardest.

Tariff of 1857:

Lowered tariffs, worsening economic issues.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates:

Debates between Lincoln and Douglas over slavery.

Freeport Question:

Lincoln’s question forcing Douglas to take a stance on slavery.

Freeport Doctrine:

Douglas’s belief that states could still limit slavery.

Harpers Ferry:

John Brown’s failed attempt to start a slave revolt.

Constitutional Union Party:

Tried to avoid secession by focusing on unity.

Crittenden Amendments:

Failed proposal to protect slavery south of 36°30′.

Confederate States of America:

Southern states that seceded from the U.S.

Harriet Beecher Stowe:

Wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, inspiring anti-slavery sentiment.

Roger B. Taney:

Supreme Court chief justice in Dred Scott v. Sanford.

Henry Ward Beecher:

Preacher who funded anti-slavery weapons (“Beecher’s Bibles”).

Stephen A. Douglas:

Senator who pushed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and debated Lincoln.

James Buchanan:

15th U.S. president, failed to prevent secession.

Abraham Lincoln:

16th U.S. president, led the U.S. during the Civil War.

Charles Sumner:

Senator beaten for his anti-slavery speech.

John Brown:

Abolitionist who led the Harpers Ferry raid.

Preston S. Brooks:

Southern congressman who beat Charles Sumner with a cane.

John C. Breckinridge:

Southern Democrat in the 1860 election, pro-slavery.

Dred Scott:

Slave who sued for freedom but lost in Dred Scott v. Sanford.

John Jordan Crittenden:

Proposed Crittenden Compromise to prevent Civil War.

Fort Sumter:

First battle of the Civil War, in South Carolina.

Border States:

Slave states that stayed in the Union.

West Virginia:

Broke away from Virginia to stay in the Union.

Trent Affair:

U.S. Navy stopped a British ship carrying Confederate diplomats.

Alabama:

Confederate warship built by Britain.

Laird Rams:

British warships designed for the Confederacy but never delivered.

Dominion of Canada:

Unified Canada to protect against possible U.S. invasion.

Writ of Habeas Corpus:

Right to a trial, suspended by Lincoln during the war.