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Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad-Organized system to help slaves escape their owners and move north to gain their freedom
-People donated money and resources to the slaves so they could make the journey north a successful one
-Slaves had to be very careful as to not get caught by police or officials
-Harriet Tubman was a major leader in this who made 19 trips to the south and freed 300 slaves
-Important to Civil War: Southern states could not stop all of the slaves and lost a ton of money because of it
-Important to civil -
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Mexican American War
Mexican American War-James Polk sent Zachary Taylor and American troops across the Nueces River and onto Mexican territory
- Mexico attacked the group and America declared war
- Taylor's troops defeated Mexico at Palo Alto and at Resaca de la Palma
- Declared California Independant in 1846 and renamed it the Bear Flag Republic
-The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848 -
Wilmot Proviso
Wilmot ProvisoDavid Wilmot proposed an addition to a war appropriations bill
- Proposed that in any territory the United States gained form Mexico "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist"
-Senate refused to vote on it
-South threatened to suceed if the bill was passed
- Influence on Civil War= South was threatening to suceed if slavery was abolished in the new territories -
Fugitive Slave Act
Fugitive Slave Act-Law said that any Marshall who did not arrest an allegedrunaway slave would be fined $1000
-People suspected of being a runaway slave could be arrested without warrant and turned over their owner on nothing more than his sworn testimony of ownership
-A slave could not have a jury trial or testify for himself
-Why it led to the civiol war? Slavery was a big issue and the north wanted to get rid of this law -
Compromise of 1850
Compromise of 1850-Fugitive Slave act was ammended and slave trade in Washingtron D.C. was abolished
-California entered the union as a free state
- New Mexico and Utah became slave states
-Boundary dispute was settled at the mexican border -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin-anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
-helped lay the groundwork for the civil war]
-Forever changed how America looked at slavery
-demanded that America deliver freedom and equality to all people
-a novel about a slave family trying to escape slavery and the conditions they had to go through to reach freedom -
Kansas- Nebraska Act
Kansas- Nebraska Act-allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to choose for themselves as to allow slavery in their borders
-Influence on Civil War: South liked it but north was infuriated because the Missouri compromise was supposed to be a binding contract
-pro-slavery people fled to Kansas and Nebraska to populate the area with slavery so the state would become a slave state
-anti-slavery pople eventually won, but not without some fighting (Bleeding Kansas)
-Kansas became a free state -
Ostend Manifesto
Ostend Manifesto-Southerners wanted a policy with spanish ruled Cuba to make it a slave state
-Pierce wrote a letter to Spain saying that it was only right that America gets Cuba because it is closer. Once the letter became public, Pierce was embarrassed about what he wrote
-Influence on the Civil War: Northerners were angry about this and thought it was ridiculous that the South was willing to go to war just to gain more slave states -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas-North and South raced to the Kansas-Nebraska territory because they wanted to influence whether or not the state would be slave or free
-many battles were fought in Kansas over debates of slavery and this eventually led to the civil war
-Was a big reason America had a civil war
-more than 200 people were killed -
Caning of Sumner
Caninf of Sumner-House of representative, Preston Brooks beat Senator Charles Sumner with a cane that was usually used to beat unruly dogs
-Sumner gave a speech about the cruelty of slavery and said some things about Senator Andrew Butler and Brooks thought he went too far, so he beat him almost to death
-Brooks was given a fine and resigned from his representative seat, but the South continued to praise him for what he did
-Influence of Civil War: The fights for and against slavery were getting more brutal -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott Decision-Dred Scott was a slave who lived with his Master as a free slave in Wisconsin for a long time
-His master moved back South and then died.
-Scott wanted to be a free slave in the South because he was a free slave in the north for so long.
-Scott appealed all the way to the Supreme court where they said that no African American can be a US citizen and only us citizens could have a say in court
-Influence on Civil War: Slaves were inraged by the decision and abolitionists wanted slavery gone more -
John Brown's Raid
John Brown's Raid-John Brown led a raid of 21 men accross the Potomac River to capture a cache of weapons
-Brown's ultimate goal was to destroy slavery in the South
-The guns were to shoot the slavemasters and to capture the slaves and bring them into free territory
-Brown was tried of treason and hung in December of 1859
-This raid hardened the lines between the North and South
-Brown said that "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood."
