Unit 11 Notgrass Exploring America

Discovery of gold

1848 event in California that heightened the debate over slavery in the territories

Ostend Manifesto

An expression of U.S. interest in buying Cuba

Popular sovereignty

Letting settlers in a territory decide for themselves whether or not to admit slavery.

Sectionalism

The tendency of people in different parts of the country to have different and often conflicting views.

Gag Rule

The forbidding in the House of Representatives of petitions regarding the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia

Nashville Convention

Called for the right to take slaves into all the territories

Wilmot Proviso

A proposed ban on slavery in territory acquired from Mexico.

Kansas Territory

Battleground for proslavery and antislavery forces.

Compromise of 1850

A collection of provisions organized by Henry Clay to avoid disunion

Fugitive Slave Law

Part of the Compromise of 1850 to which many northerners objected

James Buchanan

Democrat elected President in 1856

John Brown

Led raid against Harper’s Ferry arsenal

John C. Calhoun

Senator from South Carolina, defended slavery

Henry Clay

The “Great Compromiser,” senator from Kentucky

Stephen Douglas

Senator from Illinois, debated Lincoln

Millard Fillmore

Became President after Taylor’s death, supported the Compromise of 1850.

John C. Fremont

Republican presidential candidate in 1856

Dred Scott

Slave who lost a Supreme Court decision

Charles Sumner

Made vicious speech against slave interests

Daniel Webster

Gifted orator, senator from Massachusetts