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Period: to
underground railroad (harriet Tubman)
definition: A secret network for helping slaves escape from the South to the North and to Canada in the years before the Civil War Significant: to help the slaves escape -
Missouri Compromise
defenition: an act of Congress by which Missouri was admitted as a slave state, Maine as a free state, and slavery was prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36°30′N, except for Missouri. Significants: kept a balance of free and slave states -
Tariff of Abominations
Defenition: was a protective tariff passed by the Congress of the United States on May 19, 1828 designed to protect industry in the northern United States Significant:This was a political scheme by John Randolph to make Jackson look like a free trader to the South and a protectionist to the North. He was done in order to get him elected -
Wilmot Proviso
Definition: Proposal brought forward by Pennsylvania Congressman David Wilmot that stipulated that none of the Mexican Cession territory would be allowed to permit slavery. Out of the arguments for this proviso came the Compromise of 1850. Significant: it helped to make the North and the South more angry at each other at the time of the Mexican American War. It did so by helping to cast the war... -
Free-Soil Party
definition: The Free soil party was a party that opposed the extension of slavery to territories that werent yet admitted to statehood. They opposed slavery and were made of up Northern whigs, democrats, and Liberty Party. Significance: this party was another example of the difference in opinion in America at the time. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Defenition: A law passed as part of the Compromise of 1850, which provided southern slaveholders with legal weapons to capture slaves who had escaped to the free states. The law was highly unpopular in the North and helped to convert many previously indifferent northerners to antislavery. Significant: -
Compromise of 1850
A set of laws, passed in the midst of fierce wrangling between defintion:groups favoring slavery and groups opposing it, that attempted to give something to both sides. The compromise admitted California to the United States as a “free” state but allowed some newly acquired territories to decide on slavery for themselves. Significant: The Compromise of 1850 shows how difficult it was to accommodate the two sides of the slavery question. It failed to prevent the Civil War, which broke out just o -
Know-Nothing Party
definition: The Know Nothing Party was an anti immigrant party who thought the German immigrants served as a threat to economic stability. Significance:showed how so Americans felt about the immigrants coming in to America for our jobs. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
definition: anti slavery act novel Significant: help lay the groundwork for the civil war -
Republican Party
definition: The party formed from a meeting of the free soil party, northern whigs, and others against the kansas and nebraska act. Significance: it is still a major party in the US today. -
Kansas - Nebraska Act
defenition: the act of Congress in 1854 annulling the Missouri Compromise, providing for the organization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and permitting these territories self-determination on the question of slavery. Significant: created the kansas nebraska territiories -
Brooks/Summer Senate Caning
definition: Without warning Senator Brooks attacked Senator Sumner with a heavy cane until he collapsed. Sumner had directed vicious remarks to Butler of South Carolina, and he didnt take kindly to his actions. Significance: it signified how violence over Kansas had spread to Congress. -
Sack of Lawrence
defenition: helped ratchet up the guerrilla war in Kansas Territory that became known as Bleeding Kansas. Significant: destroyed many home buisness -
The Election Of 1856
Defenition: The election of 1856 was an extremely close election that led to the election of president James Buchanan. Franklin Pierce was not nominated from his party because of his efforts after the Kansas and Nebraska act. Significant:a new president had to come in to deal with the problems after the Kansas and Nebraska Act. -
Dred Scott Decision
Definition: Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom with the argument that by living where slavery was illegal he had become free. Southeners of course agreed with this decision, and northerners did not. Significance:northerners feared that slavery could now not be banned in any territory. -
Freeport Doctrine
Definition: The freeport doctrine stated that states or territories could decide if they wanted slavery by popular soveriengnty. The significance of the freeport doctrine is that it was an option for states to decide whether they wanted to be slave states or free states. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Definition: The Debates were a series of seven public meetings where Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debated the issues of their Senate Campaign. Lincoln spoke with calmness, and logic. Douglas spoke with great flair. The significance was that they put Lincoln on the political scene even though he didnt win the seat. -
Bleeding Kansas
definition: John Brown a radical abolitionist, organized a antislavery militia, and they sought bloody revenge for what happened in Lawrence. He and his followers drug five proslavery members out and killed them. The significance of this is that it helped ignite a civil war in Kansas.
Significant: john brown and his pary killed slaves -
Harpers Ferry Incident
Definition: Abolitionist John Brown and several followers seized the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. The actions of Brown's men brought national attention to the emotional divisions concerning slavery. -
The Election Of 1860
definition: The election of 1860 was the year Abraham Lincoln was elected. He was on the political scene after the Douglas debates. After he was elected president South Carolina seceeded from the union. The significance was that this election caused South Carolina to be the first Confederate state. -
South Carolina Secession
Definition: Addresses to the Southern States and to the world have been issued and published; their length precludes their publication here. Three Commissioners- Messrs. Adams, Orr, and Barnwell- have been appointed to treat with the United States Government. Nothing has been done with regard to the commercial relations of the new nation: the United States Collector continues to issue clearances and to collect duties. -
Formation Of The Confederate States Of America
definition: Representatives met from the seven states to form the Conferderate States of America. They did not think their secession was illegal and wanted to do it in a peaceful manner. Significance: It started the Civil War in America. -
Fort Sumter
Definition: Confederates open fire on a Union fort, and the fort was then surrendered the next day. significance:the first battle of the civil war.
