Unit 6: Reform Movements & Sectional Conflict

American Colonization Society

organized society in 1816 that encouraged colonization of free blacks to America; west African nation of Liberia founded in 1822 to serve as a homeland for them

William Llyod Garrison

radical abolitionist who favored immediate uncompensated emancipation of slaves. wrote "The Liberator"

Grimke sisters

abolitionists and suffragettes. The sisters came from South Carolina in an aristocratic family, with an Episcopalian judge who owned slaves father. Both sisters became abolitionists, and after converting to the Quaker faith, they joined Society of Friends. In 1835, Angela wrote an anti-slavery letter to Abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison, who published it in, The Liberator. They spoke at abolitionist meetings. In 1837, Angelina was invited to be the first woman to speak at the Massachusetts State Legislature. Sarah and Angelina Grimke wrote Letter on the Condition of Women and the Equality of the Sexes (1837) - objecting to male opposition to their anti-slavery activities.

Harriet Tubman

one of the leaders of the Underground Railroad, helped 300 slaves, advocate for women's rights

Soujourner Truth

slave who escaped in 1827. as a black abolitionist and women, she often met prejudice from anti-feminist white abolitionists who also expected free blacks to be quiet members of the movement

Dorothea Dix

an important figure in increasing the public's awareness of the public's awareness of the mentally ill. after a 2 year investigation of the treatment of the mentally ill in Massachusetts, she presented her findings and won the support of leading reformers. convinced 20 states to reform their treatment of the mentally ill

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

a key organizer of the Seneca Falls Convention (gathering on behalf of woman's rights in upstate New York)

Republican Party

the rise of the Republican party reflected underlying economic and social changes (example: the Market Revolution + the beginning of mass immigration from Europe) wanted to prevent further expansion of slavery

Know-Nothing party

a secretive, anti-immigrant political party which pushed for political action against immigrants.

"Bleeding Kansas"

violence between pro- and antislavery settlers in the Kansas Territory, 1856.

Dred Scott vs. Sandford Case

US Supreme Court decision that ruled that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the territories, on the grounds that such a prohibition would violate the 5th amendment rights of slaveholders, and that no black person could be a citizen of the United States

Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the United States, promoted equal rights for African Americans in the famed Lincoln-Douglas debate. he issued the Emancipation Proclamation + set in motion the Civil War, but he was determined to preserve the Union

Lincoln-Douglas debates

series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas over the issue of slavery

John Brown

a Northern abolitionist who moved about the country supporting antislavery causes, which included giving land to fugitive slaves + participating in the Underground Railroad

Harpers Ferry

John Brown's scheme to invade the South with armed slaves, backed by sponsoring, northern abolitionists; seized the federal arsenal; Brown and remnants were caught by Robert E. Lee and the US Marines; Brown was hanged

election of 1860

The election in which Abraham Lincoln was first elected President due to the schism of the Democrats. Caused a chain reaction of southern states to secede from the Union since they were afraid of Lincoln's policies.

Fort Sumter

First battle of the Civil War, in which the federal fort in Charleston (South Carolina) Harbor was captured by the Confederates on April 14, 1861, after two days of shelling.

Stephen Austin

founded 1st settlement of Americans in Texas. appointed commander of Texas army + led them to victory at San Jancito, president of Republican Texas

James K. Polk

13th president of the United States. a dark horse whose four long pronged approach to presidency was: reestablish the independent treasury system, reduce tariffs, acquire Oregon, and acquire California and New Mexico from Mexico

Mexican War

controversial war with Mexico for control of California and New Mexico, 1846-1848; the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo fixed the border at the Rio Grande and extended the United States to the Pacific coast, annexing more than a half-million square miles of Mexican territory.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

ended the Mexican-American war and made a clear boundary line between Texas and Mexico + greatly increased size of country

Manifest Destiny

term used in the 1840s by the Jacksonian Democrats describing the belief that the United States was "destined" to be spread from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. the idea was used to promote the annexation of most of the western United States + was the driving force behind the acquisition of territory. Manifest Destiny is regarded as a general notion rather than a formal policy

Wilmont Proviso

an amendment to an 1846 military appropriations bill, proposing that none of the territory acquired in the war with Mexico would be open to slavery.

free soil

political movement of the 1840s that opposed the expansion of slavery in order to allow white farmers to settle in western territories

1850 compromise

in 1850, California was admitted as a free state, the lands acquired from Mexico were dealt with and slave trade was abolished in DC

Zachary Taylor

general that was a military leader in Mexican-American War and 12th president of the United States. Sent by president Polk to lead the American Army against Mexico at Rio Grande, but defeated.

Fugitive Slave Act

established in 1850. compromise, the act enlisted federal magistrates in the task of returning runaway slaves. The Fugitive Slave Act, however, was resisted by many states who believed it enroached on their states rights and personal rights

Kansas-Nebraska Act

created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opened new lands, repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and allowed the settlers to decide whether or not to have slavery within those territories

Horace Mann

United States educator who introduced reforms that significantly altered the system of public education (1796-1859)

Second Great Awakening

A series of religious revivals starting in 1801, based on Methodism and Baptism. Stressed a religious philosophy of salvation through good deeds and tolerance for all Protestant sects. The revivals attracted women, Blacks, and Native Americans.

Baptists

Dissenters of the Church of England; focused on the power of local churches; stresses following in example; each person interprets the Bible the way the Holy Spirit tells them how; emphasis on New Testament; no Church creeds. It was very simple and appealed to rural people

Methodists

Members of a Protestant revival movement started by John Wesley, so called because they were so methodical in their devotion.

Transcendentalism

A philosophy pioneered by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 1830's and 1840's, in which each person has direct communication with God and Nature, and there is no need for organized churches. It incorporated the ideas that mind goes beyond matter, intuition is valuable, that each soul is part of the Great Spirit, and each person is part of a reality where only the invisible is truly real. Promoted individualism, self-reliance, and freedom from social constraints, and emphasized emotions.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

official name of the Mormon Church.

Nashoba

colony founded by fanny wright outside of Memphis that advocated for racial equality, free love, and atheism

Seneca Falls Convention

(1848) the first national women's rights convention at which the Declaration of Sentiments was written

Temperance

abstinence from alcoholic drink

Popular Sovereignty

A belief that ultimate power resides in the people.

Romanticism

19th century artistic movement that appealed to emotion rather than reason

Confederate States of America

A republic formed in February of 1861 and composed of the eleven Southern states that seceded from the United States

Ralph Waldo Emerson

American transcendentalist who was against slavery and stressed self-reliance, optimism, self-improvement, self-confidence, and freedom. He was a prime example of a transcendentalist and helped further the movement.

Charles Finney

A leading evangelist of the Second Great Awakening, he preached that each person had capacity for spiritual rebirth and salvation and that through individual effort could be saved. His concept of "utility of benevolence" proposed the reformation of society as well as of individuals.

Henry David Thoreau

American transcendentalist who was against a government that supported slavery. He wrote down his beliefs in Walden. He started the movement of civil-disobedience when he refused to pay the toll-tax to support him Mexican War.

Joseph Smith

religious leader who founded the Mormon Church in 1830 (1805-1844)

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin

Roger Taney

chief justice of the supreme court who wrote an opinion in the 1857 Dred Scott case that declared the Missouri compromise unconstitutional