Causes of the Civil War and the Election of 1860

Vocabulary flashcards covering key events, legislative acts, Supreme Court decisions, and political developments leading up to the Civil War.

Fugitive Slave Act

The most controversial component of the Compromise of 1850, which legally mandated that escaped enslaved people be returned to their enslavers, even if they had reached free states.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

An act that opened the Kansas and Nebraska territories to slavery debates through popular sovereignty, heightening sectional conflict over issues including the route of the transcontinental railroad.

Popular Sovereignty

The principle that settlers living in a territory hold the authority to vote and decide whether slavery should be permitted.

Republican Party

A political party established in 1854 that was united in opposition to the expansion of slavery into western territories.

1850s Slave Power Conspiracy Theory

The belief that a secretive group of Southern slaveholders was actively working to expand slavery across the entire nation and take control of the federal government.

Election of 1856

The presidential contest won by Democrat James Buchanan, in which Republican candidate John C. Frémont finished in second place, demonstrating the growing strength of the Republican Party.

Bleeding Kansas

A period of violent clashes between proslavery and antislavery settlers in Kansas that ensued after proslavery voters from Missouri crossed borders to illegally cast ballots and establish a proslavery government.

Dred Scott Decision

A Supreme Court ruling involving Dred Scott, an enslaved man suing for freedom, which held that Black people were not U.S. citizens and that Congress lacked the authority to ban slavery in the territories.

Joshua Giddings

An Ohio Congressman who authored a text supporting enslaved individuals fighting for their freedom and foretelling that a rebellion against slavery would lead to its abolition.

John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry

An 1859 raid on a federal arsenal led by John Brown aiming to incite an armed rebellion against slavery; it ended in Brown's execution and escalated Southern anxieties regarding antislavery violence.

Constitutional Union Party

A political party formed during the splintering of the Democratic Party with the goals of preserving the Union and avoiding national division over the question of slavery.

Election of 1860

The presidential election won by Abraham Lincoln without securing any Southern electoral votes, prompting Southern states to begin seceding due to fears that he would halt slavery's expansion.

Fort Sumter

A federal fortification located in South Carolina where Confederate forces launched an attack on April 12, 1861, marking the start of the Civil War.