Antebellum people list

Franklin Pierce

Franklin Pierce

President who signed Kansas-Nebraska Act and enforced Fugitive Slave Act

David Atchison

Missouri politician and leader of pro-slavery supporters during Bleeding Kansas

John Brown

Raided Harper's Ferry, intensifying Southern fears of slave uprisings

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Author of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', a novel that exposed the reality of slavery

Charles Sumner

Senator who was physically assaulted on the Senate floor

James Buchanan

15th President of the United States, unable to prevent South Carolina's secession

Charles Finney

Influential evangelist during the Second Great Awakening

Theodore Weld

Co-founder of the anti-slavery society

Arthur Tappan

Co-founder of the anti-slavery society

Lewis Tappan

Co-founder of the anti-slavery society

John C. Frémont

Republican opponent in free states during Buchanan's presidency

Millard Fillmore

Opponent in slave states during Buchanan's presidency

Republican Party

Emerging political party challenging Democratic dominance

Know-Nothings

Declined after Buchanan's win, contributing to their end

Whig Party

19th-century American political party opposing executive power concentration

Angelina Grimke

Married Theodore Weld and gave a speech at the annual antislavery convention

William Lloyd Garrison

Prominent American abolitionist and editor of 'The Liberator'

John Quincy Adams

6th US President and defender of free speech and antislavery activism

Elijah Parish Lovejoy

Killed by a pro-slavery mob, strengthening the cause for abolition

Harriet Tubman

Famous abolitionist and Underground Railroad operator

David Walker

Influential abolitionist whose appeal faced bans

David Ruggles

Abolitionist who fought slavery and operated the first Black lending library

Mary Ann Shadd Cary

Black abolitionist, educator, and newspaper founder

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Author of the Seneca Falls Declaration, demanding equal rights for women

John Gast

Painter of the Manifest Destiny painting

John L. O'Sullivan

Coined the term 'Manifest Destiny'

Stephen Austin

Established a settlement in Texas

Antonio López de Santa Anna

Formed a new Catholic, centralist, conservative government in Mexico

Andrew Jackson

President who recognized the Republic of Texas on his last day in office

Zachary Taylor

President and hero of the Mexican War

Winfield Scott

General nicknamed 'Old Fuss and Feathers'

Abraham Lincoln

US president during the civil war. Emphasied slavery as a moral issue

Stephen Douglas

Politician known as the 'Little Giant'

Frederick Douglass

Ex-slave and popular abolitionist, editor of the North Star

David Wilmot

Introduced legislation declaring neither slavery nor involuntary servitude is allowed in territory gained from Mexican Cession

Henry Clay

Politician known as the 'Great Compromiser'

John Calhoun

Southern politician who argued for the Fugitive Slave Law

Daniel Webster

Northern politician who lost support after agreeing with fugitive slave laws

Anthony Burns

Escaped slave forced to return to slavery, sparking outrage

Davy Crockett

Representative from Tennessee and hero of the Texas Revolution