7th-Chapter 15: A Divided Nation

popular sovereignty

the idea that political power belongs to the people

Wilmot Proviso

a document stating that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of the territory"

sectionalism

favoring the interests of one region over the interests of the entire country

Free-Soil Party

a political party formed in 1848 by antislavery northerners who left the Whig and Democratic parties because neither addressed the slavery issue

secede

formally withdraw-from the Union

Compromise of 1850

California was able to enter the Union as a free state. The rest of the Mexican Cession was divided into two territories- Utah and New Mexico- where the question of whether to allow slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty

Fugitive Slave Act

an act that made it a crime to help runaway slaves and allowed officials to arrest those slaves in free areas.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

an antislavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Kansas-Nebraska Act

a plan that would divide the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase into two territories- Kansas and Nebraska- and allow the people in each territory to decide on the question of slavery

Pottawatomie Massacre

in Kansas, abolitionist John Brown and his men killed 5 pro-slavery men

implications

things that are inferred or deduced

Republican Party

a political party united against the spread of slavery in the West

complex

difficult, not simple

Lincoln-Douglas debates

a series of debates between Republican Abraham Lincoln and Democrat Stephen Douglas during the 1858 U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois

Freeport Doctrine

a statement made by Stephen Douglas during the Lincoln-Douglas debates that pointed out how people could use popular sovereignty to determine if their state or territory should permit slavery

John Brown's raid

began when John Brown and his men took over the arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in hopes of starting a slave rebellion

Constitutional Union Party

recognized "no political principles other than the Constitution of the country, the Union of the states, and the enforcement of the laws"

Confederate States of America

The nation formed by the southern states when they seceded from the Union; also known as the Confederacy