Missouri Compromise
Missouri: slave state Maine: free state 36' 30' parallel: boundary for future sates in the Louisiana Purchase (north of the line free and south of the line slave)
Henry Clay
Proposed the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 Known as "The Great Compromiser"
Compromise of 1850
California admitted as a free state Mexican Cession divided into Utah Territory and New Mexico Territory: slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty Slave trade abolished in the capital New, stricter fugitive slave law Texas received $10 million to pay off debt and accepted a new boundary that created the TX Panhandle
Popular Sovereignty
People have authority
Fugitive Slave Law
Threatened even free blacks Northern resentment led to more support for the Underground Railroad Ineffective enforcement angered Southerners Northern states passed personal liberty laws
Personal Liberty Laws
Passed by state legislatures for bidding people to not help capture and return runaway slaves
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe Told story of Uncle Tom, a kindly old slave, and Eva and how they were mistreated by a cruel master Influenced Northerners to become abolitionists Made Southerners angry
Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854
Created two new territories: Kansas and Nebraska Slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty Overturned part of the Missouri Compromise
Bleeding Kansas
Refers to the widespread destruction of property and bloodshed as a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Free Soilers
Anti-slavery settlers who rushed into Kansas to prevent it from becoming slave territory
Dred Scott Decision
A slave was not a citizen and could not bring suit in the nation's courts Living in a free territory did not make a slave free Citizens could take their property (including slaves) anywhere in the U.S. The Missouri Compromise (which prohibited slavery) was declared unconstitutional
Sumner/Brooks Incident
Charles Sumner was a northern senator Andrew Butler was a southern senator who owned slaves Preston Brooks was a member of the U.S. House and Butler's nephew Sumner made vicious remarks about Butler and Brooks beat him with a walking stick
John Brown's Raid
Brown and others attacked Harper's Ferry, Virginia He planned to take over the arsenal and give the guns to slaves for a revolt Was later captured and hanged Became a martyr to the cause of abolition
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
1858 Senate Debate, Lincoln forced Douglas to debate issue of slavery, Douglas supported pop-sovereignty, Lincoln asserted that slavery should not spread to territories. Douglas became Senator but Lincoln emerged as stronger Presidential candidate
Know Nothing Party
"American Party" Anti-negro, anti-foreigner, anti-catholic Main purpose to sabotage other parties
Republican Party
Northern party that opposed the spread of slavery in the territories
Southern States
Southern states vowed that if a Republican candidate was elected president they would secede from the Union Thought the Republican party would try to abolish slavery
Election of 1860
Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln was elected and Southern states began to secede (first was South Carolina)
Fort Sumter
Federal fort on Charleston Harbor Attacked by Confederates in April 1861
Robert E. Lee
Became military commander of Confederate (Southern) forces
Ironclads
Wooden ships covered in sheets of metal
Ulysses S. Grant
Commander of Union (Northern) troops
First Battle of Bull Run
First important battle of the Civil War Won by Confederates
Emancipation Proclamation
Abraham Lincoln's proclamation that slaves in Southern states that seceded would be set free
The Monitor
Union ironclad ship
The Merrimack
Confederate ironclad ship
Fort Henry and Fort Donelson
Two forts captured by Ulysses S. Grant that were crucial to the Union effort
Battle of Shiloh
Second major Civil War battle; resulted in greater Union control over the Mississippi River Valley. Extremely bloody battle (23,000 casualties)
Vicksburg
Siege that gave Union control of entire Mississippi River Turning point of war
Battle of Antietam
Civil War battle in which the North suceedeed in halting Lee's Confederate forces in Maryland. Gave Lincoln the opportunity for the Emancipation Proclamation
Battle of Gettysburg
Union Civil War victory that turned the tide against the Confederates at Gettysburg, Pennslyvania, resulted in the loss of 50,000 soldiers
Gettysburg Address
Address by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War at the dedication of a national cemetery on the site of the Battle of Gettysburg
Chattanooga
Union victory leading to Northern control of important railroad port
Sherman's March to the Sea
General Sherman led troops on a march across Georgia burning cities and destroying everything in his path; killed civilians, destroyed crops. Sherman believed in total war
Appomattox
Lee surrenders, Grant offers the Confederacy good surrender terms to try to reunify the country
Clara Barton
Founded the American Red Cross
Fighting 54th
Black soldiers who fought for the Union
Walt Whitman
Civil War nurse known for American/Civil War poetry
Copperheads
Northern Democrats who opposed the Civil War and sympathized with the South
13th Amendment
Abolished slavery in the U.S.
14th Amendment
Granted citizenship to former slaves
15th Amendment
Gave suffrage to black male citizens
Freedmen's Bureau
Bureau of Refuges, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands Provided food and shelter for needy people: poor whites and freed slaves Assisted freedmen with employment contracts and economic matters Provided medical care and set up schools Minimal redistribution of land
Black Codes
Laws passed by Southern legislatures that restricted the rights of blacks
Radical Republicans
Political faction in Congress determined to see the South punished for causing the Civil War Thought Lincoln's plan was too quick and easy
Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner
Leaders of the Radical Republicans
Carpetbaggers
Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War to help freed slaves or to seek economic political opportunity
Scalawags
Southerners who cooperated with Northern authorities during reconstruction
Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan (10% Plan)
A state could draw up a new constitution, elect new officials, and return to the Union when at least 10% of voters took an oath of allegiance
Wade-Davis Bill
Proposed by Radical Republicans as a much stricter plan than Lincoln's 10% Plan Vetoed by Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth
Assassinated President Lincoln a few days after the end of the war
Andrew Johnson
Vice President of Lincoln Became president after Lincoln's assassination Clashed with Radical Republicans over reconstruction
Ironclad Oath
Southerners had to swear that they had never given aid of any kind to the confederacy or its army to be eligible to vote or hold office
Command of the Army Act
President had to get approval from the top general when giving orders to the military
Tenure of Office Act
President could not fire a member of his cabinet
Johnson's Impeachment
Charged with violations of the Command of the Army Act and the Tenure of Office Act Acquitted by one vote
Military Reconstruction
Imposed by Congress in 1867 Former Confederate states divided into 5 military districts Military governors appointed for each district to oversee reconstruction Federal troops sent to enforce the laws Bitterness increases among white southerners
Disputed Election of 1876
3 Southern states send in two sets of electoral ballots-one Republican and one Democrat Congress appoints a Commission to settle the issue The Commission awards all disputed votes to the Republican candidate, by a partisan vote of 8-7 Outraged Democrats demand concessions resulting in the Compromise of 1877
Compromise of 1877
"Betrayal of the Negro" Republicans win the election (Hayes becomes President), agree to withdraw federal troops from the South and end Reconstruction Democrats drop opposition to Hays and pledge to respect African American rights
Solid South
When troops leave, Democrats take control in Southern states once again African Americans are systematically disfranchised and segregated South votes Democratic for decades