Compromises and Expansion Study Guide

Missouri Compromise

Allowed Missouri to enter as a slave state and Maine as a free state; banned slavery north of the 36 30’ line (except Missouri).

Compromise of 1850

California became a free state, strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act, banned slave trade in DC, allowed popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Let Kansas and Nebraska decide on slavery using popular sovereignty; repealed the Missouri Compromise.

Underground Railroad

A secret network of safe houses and routes to help enslaved people escape to freedom, mainly north or to Canada.

Stephen Douglas

Senator from Illinois, author of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, believed in popular sovereignty, and was a key figure in the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Abraham Lincoln

16th US president, elected in 1860, against the spread of slavery, led to Southern secession and the Civil War.

Frederick Douglass

An escaped slave, powerful speaker, abolitionist, and writer who advised Lincoln and fought for black soldiers’ rights.

William Garrison

A white abolitionist and newspaper editor who published The Liberator, calling for the immediate end to slavery.

Dred Scott

A slave who sued for freedom; the Supreme Court ruled he had no right to sue because he was not a citizen.