Wilmot Proviso
Bill that would ban slavery in the territories acquired after the War with Mexico
Secession
Decision by a state to leave the Union
Compromise of 1850
Series of measures that were intended to settle the disagreements between free states and slave states
Popular Sovereignty
Idea that people living in a territory should make their own decisions, especially the decision to admit slavery
Stephen A. Douglas
Senator from Illinois who worked to pass the Compromise of 1850
Millard Fillmore
13th president
Fugitive Slave Act
Law that provided for harsh treatment for escaped slaves and for those who helped them
Personal Liberty Laws
Laws passed by Northern states forbidding the imprisonment of escaped slaves
Underground Railroad
Secret network of people who hid fugitive slaves who went north to freedom
Harriet Tubman
Famous "conductor" on the Underground Railroad
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Author of the antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Antislavery novel
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Law that split Nebraska into the territories of Nebraska and Kansas and allowed for popular sovereignty there
John Brown
Fierce opponent of slavery who led a raid that killed five proslavery people
Bleeding Kansas
Nickname given to the Kansas Territory because of the bloody violence there
