Module 17: A Divided Nation

Popular Sovereignty

the idea that political authority belongs to the people

Wilmot Proviso

a proposal to outlaw slavery in the territory added to the United States by the Mexican Cession; passed in the House of Representatives but was defeated in the Senate

Sectionalism

A devotion to the interests of one geographic region over the interests of the country as a whole

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

Zachary Taylor

Winner of the Election of 1848

Secede

To formally withdraw from the union

South

Region of the nation that wanted to secede

Compromise of 1850

Henry Clay's proposed agreement that allowed California to enter the Union as a free state and divided the rest of the Mexican Cession into two territories where slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty

Became illegal in Washington, D.C.

Slave trade but not slavery altogether

Fugitive Slave Act

A law that made it a crime to help runaway slaves; allowed for the arrest of escaped slaves in areas where slavery was illegal and required their return to slaveholders

Canada

Place where many slaves wanted to escape to after the Fugitive Slave Act

Anthony Burns

Enslaved African American, he ran away and was arrested in Boston. His arrest became the center of violent protests by northern opponents of the Fugitive Slave Act.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

an antislavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe that showed northerners the violent reality of slavery and drew many people to the abolitionists' cause

Harriet Beecher Stowe

American author and daughter of Lyman Beecher, she was an abolitionist and author of the famous antislavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Franklin Pierce

Democratic candidate for President in 1852 and the fourteenth president of the US. He made the Gadsden Purchase, which opened the Northwest for settlement, and passed the unpopular Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Stephen Douglas

American politician and pro-slavery nominee for president; he debated Abraham Lincoln about slavery during the Illinois senatorial race. He proposed the unpopular Kansas-Nebraska Act, and he established the Freeport Doctrine, upholding the idea of popular sovereignty.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

a law that allowed voters in Kansas and Nebraska to choose whether to allow slavery

Missouri Compromise

Eliminated after the Kansas-Nebraska Act

Greatly increased

The impact of the Kansas-Nebraska Act on amount of possible slave territory

John Brown

An abolitionist who attempted to lead a slave revolt by capturing Armories in southern territory and giving weapons to slaves, was hung in Harpers Ferry after capturing an Armory

Pottawatomie Massacre

an incident in which abolitionist John Brown and seven other men murdered pro-slavery Kansans

Charles Sumner

A senator from Massachusetts, he was attacked by Preston Brooks with a cane over the issue of slavery

Preston Brooks

American congressman, he assaulted and beat Senator Charles Sumner for his antislavery speeches and for insulting a pro-slavery relative. He was nicknamed Bully Brooks by northerners

Bleeding Kansas

A sequence of violent events involving abolitionists and pro-Slavery elements that took place in Kansas-Nebraska Territory. The dispute further strained the relations of the North and South, making civil war imminent.

Lawrence, Kansas

1855 - Where the pro-slavery /anti-slavery war in Kansas began ("Bleeding Kansas or Kansas Border War).