APUSH Unit 6, Civil War

“King Cotton”

Southern economy built on cotton and slave labor, creating a slave society

abolitionists

William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, etc

John Brown

Participated in Bleeding Kansas against proslavery forces and tried to arm enslaved people at Harpers Ferry

William Lloyd Garrison

White outspoken abolitionist that wrote The Liberator

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Abolitionist that wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, encouraging many people to become aboltionist

Missouri Compromise

States admitted in pairs, slavery banned above the 36°36’ line

popular sovereingty

The people vote to decide if the state will allow slavery or not

The Gag Rule

Congress ignores petitions concerning slavery by “tabling” them, angering petitioners

Texas Annexation

Gained from the U.S.-Mexico War through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo as a slave state

Wilmot Proviso

Democrat congressman David Proviso’s proposal to ban slavery in land gained from the U.S.-Mexico War

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

Gain Texas, California, and land in the Mexican cession for $15 million

Free Soil Party

Party focused on prohibiting the expansion of slavery

Compromise of 1850

California admitted as a free state, slave trade banned in Washington D.C., Mexican cession would be divided into New Mexico and Utah territories where slavery would be decided based on popular sovereignty, and a stricter Fugitive Slave Law is made

Fugitive Slave Law

Strengthened federal aid in helping to recapture runaway slaves to appease southerners, and a judge that ruled that someone was a slave would be paid more

Kansas-Nebrasks Act

In an effort to get a railroad through the north, slavery would be decided on popular sovereignty, repealed the Slave Act, and Nebraska Territory separated into two states Nebraska and Kansas

Bleeding Kansas

People migrated to Kansas to cast votes for popular sovereignty to determine slavery, creating conflict and violence between abolitionists and pro-slavery

Charles Sumner

Congressman that got beaten by a cane by speaking out on the floor against pro-slavery congressmen, seen as a hero by abolitionists

Preston Brooks

Nephew of congressman Andrew Butler who was called out by Charles Sumner on the floor, attacking Sumner

Republican Party

Anti-slavery

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Lincoln argued that Douglas can’t support popular sovereignty if the Supreme Court ruled against slavery being regulated by Congress or territorial legislatures, while Douglas noted the change in Lincoln’s campaign depending on where he is in the country

Abraham Lincoln

President during the Civil War who knows how to play the political game and only supports abolition when he realizes he needs to to end the war

Stephen Douglas

Created the Kansas-Nebraska Act thinking it would ease tensional conflicts

John Brown’s Raid

An attempt to arm enslaved people in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, that ultimately failed, but caused fear among southerners that the abolition movement was growing

The Election of 1860

Lincoln wins because votes for split four ways, and Republicans voted on a completely anti-slavery campaign, southerners couldn’t even vote for Lincoln since he wasn‘t on the ballot

secession

Leaving the Union, although Lincoln sees it as illegal, and South Carolina was the first to leave due to the amount of pro-slavery people in the state and declaring that northern states did not fulfill their constitutional obligations, such as following federal law and returning property

Dred Scott

Enslaved man who was brought to free territory and tried to go to court to become free, but was ruled against by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott Decision, where Africansn weren’t citizens and had no rights, the Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional, and Congress and territorial legislatures didn’t have the power to regulate slavery, essentially saying that slavery was allowed in all states

Ex Parte Merriman

Federal court case during the Civil War to test the limits of executive power and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus

Confederacy

The states that seceded during the Civil War that were pro-slavery

Union

The states that remained loyal to the Constitution and the United States of America

Copperheads

Northern democrats who opposed the Civil War and wanted peace with the Confederacy

Ft. Sumter

First battle of the Civil War, started by the Confederacy as Lincoln was trying to resupply soldiers

Anaconda Plan

Winfield Scott proposes plan to defeat the Confederacy with a naval blockade and controlling the Mississippi River, splitting the Confederacy in half

Antietam

Deadliest day in U.S. history, used victory to release the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, strength of Union convinced Britain and France not to aid Confederacy

Emancipation Proclamation

Slaves in rebelling states were free, making the war about slavery instead of secession

Gettysburg

Turning point of the Civil War as Confederate armies were always on the defense after this, Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address where he designates the fighting area as a military cemetery and saying that the war is a “new birth of freedom” to fulfill the Declaration of Independence, where all men are created equal

Sherman’s March to the Sea

Sherman goes through Georgia using scorched earth tactics, total war where everything is destroyed to try to bring the war to a quicker end