John Marshall
Fourth Chief Justice of the United States, appointed by John Adams in 1801. Judged Marbury v. Madison and McCullough v. Maryland. Largely responsible for establishing Supreme Court's role in federal government.
McCullough v. Maryland
Supreme Court Judge John Marshall. Regarded the expansion of federal power and involved the power of Congress to charter a bank, which sparked the issue of the division of powers between state and federal government.
Missouri Compromise
(1820) Devised by President Henry Clay and passed by Senate on March 2. An effort to maintain a balance of power between slaveholding and free states in order to have equal representation in the House of Representatives.
Andrew Jackson
7th President of the United States from 1829-1837. Major general in War of 1812 when he defeated the British at New Orleans. Founded the Democratic Party, destroyed the Second Bank, and is known for supporting individual liberty
John C. Calhoun
Appointed Secretary of War by President James Monroe. Elected Vice President under President John Quincy Adams and re-elected under Andrew Jackson. Supported slavery and states' rights.
Nullification
Legal theory that a state has the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal law the state has deemed unconstitutional. This idea has never been legally upheld by federal courts.
Specie Circular
(1836) A presidential executive order issued by Andrew Jackson. Required payment for government land to be paid in gold and silver.
Prigg v. Pennsylvania
(1842) United Supreme Court case in which the court held that the Fugitive Slave Act precluded a Pennsylvania state law that prohibited blacks from being taken out of Pennsylvania into slavery.
John Tyler
10th President of the United States. Represented the Whig Party, and was the first Vice President to become President due to the death of his predecessor (President William Henry Harrison).
Gag Rule
(1836) Strict rule passed by pro-southern Congressmen to prohibit all discussion of slavery in the House of Representatives
William Lloyd Garrison
An American journalistic crusader who helped lead the successful abolitionist campaign against slavery. In 1830, he started The Liberator, an abolitionist paper.
Liberty Party
(1840) First anti-slavery party. Sought to achieve abolitionist goals through political means.
Nat Turner
(1831) Leader of a violent slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia. Was hanged which ended the emancipation movement in that region and led to even harsher laws against slaves.
Liberia
(1822) West-African nation founded as a haven for freed blacks. Some 15,000 freed blacks were transported over the next 4 decades.
Free Soil Party
(1848-1852) Northern anti-slavery politicians who rejected radical abolitionism but sought to prohibit the expansion of slavery in the western territories.
James K. Polk
11th President of the United States, known for his territorial expansion of the nation through the Mexican-American War. Annexed Texas.
Manifest Destiny
Belief in the 19th century that the U.S. was destined to secure the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Drove the acquisition of territory westward.
Wilmot Proviso
Proposed an American law to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican War. One of the major events leading to the American Civil War.
Santa Anna
"Napoleon of the West" Mexican politician and general who greatly influenced early Mexican politics and government. First opposed movement for Mexican independence, but then fought to support it. Defeated by Americans in Mexican-American War and lost half of Mexico's territory.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin which greatly influence American minds on slavery. Anti-slavery.
Zachary Taylor
12th President of the United States. American military war hero. Took part in Mexican War.
Lecompton Constitution
Second of four constitutions proposed for the state of Kansas. Written in response to the anti-slavery position of the 1855 Topeka Constitution.
Millard Fillmore
Vice President under Zachary Taylor, 13th President of the United States after Taylor's death. Responsible for forcing open Japan to trade with the Treaty of Kanagawa.
Stephen A. Douglas
Supported idea of popular sovereignty, where localized regions could decide slaveholding policies. Created Freeport Doctrine.
Henry Clay
Secretary of State under President John Quincy Adams. Pushed for the Compromise of 1850, with overall conflicting stances on race and slavery.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Allowed people in territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. Repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
Officially entitled the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits and Settlement between the United States and the Mexican Republic. Ended Mexican-American War.
Preston Brooks
Democratic Representative from South Carolina. Fervent advocate of slavery and states' rights.
John Brown
Abolitionist who worked with the Underground Railroad. Believed in using violent means to end slavery. Led an unsuccessful raid on Harpers Ferry federal armory.
Dred Scott
An enslaved African American man in the United States who unsuccessfully sued for his freedom, and that of his wife and 2 daughters in Dred Scott v. Sandford. Claimed he should be granted freedom because he and his family had lived in Illinois and Wisconsin Territory for four years, where slavery was illegal.
Abraham Lincoln
16th President of the United States. Preserved the Union during the U.S. Civil War and brought about the emancipation of slaves.
Jefferson Davis
U.S. Senator and Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce. Elected as President of the secessionist Confederate States of America.
John J. Crittenden
Politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. Served on the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.
National Draft Law
"Enrollment Act". Passed during the American Civil War to provide fresh man power for the Union Army. Required enrollment of every male citizen and those immigrants who had filed for citizen ship between the ages of 20-45.
Fort Sumter
Sea fort in Charleston, South Carolina, notable for 2 battles of the American Civil War.
Writ of Habeas Corpus
A recourse in law whereby a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment before a court.
Pierre G. T. Beauregard
Joined Confederate Army and served as a full general during the American Civil War.
First Manassas
"First Battle of Bull Run". First major battle of the American Civil War.
Thaddeus Stevens
Member of House of Representatives during Abraham Lincoln's presidency. Fought to abolish slaver and helped draft the 14th Amendment during Reconstruction.
George B. McClellan
A major general for the Union during the American Civil War and served a Governor of New Jersey. Organized the Army of the Potomac.
Ulysses S. Grant
18th President of the United States and served as U.S. general and commander of the Union armies during the American Civil War.
Robert E. Lee
Confederate General during the U.S. Civil War. Considered a heroic figure in the South.
Conscription Act
Commonly known as "the draft". Men were drafted to fill vacancies in the armed forces which could not be filled through voluntary means.
Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg fought July 1-3, July 1863, by Union and Confederate forces during the Civil War. Involved the largest number of casualties and is often described as the turning point of the war. Army of the Potomac defeated the Confederates, led by Robert E. Lee. Gettysburg Address is a speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War on November 19, 1863.
John Wilkes Booth
Attempted to kidnap President Abraham Lincoln but failed in March 1865. Assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford Theater on April 14, 1865.
Emancipation Proclamation
Issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. Declared "that all persons held as slaves... within the rebellious states... are, and henceforward shall be free." Only applied to states that had seceded from the Union.
Reconstruction Acts
(March 2, 1867) "An act to provide for the more efficient government of the Rebel States". Fulfillment of the requirements of the Acts was necessary for former Confederate States to be admitted to the Union.
Freedmen's Bureau
A U.S. federal government agency established by Abraham Lincoln in 1865 to aid freedmen (freed slaves) in the South during the Reconstruction era of the United States, which attempted to change society in the former Confederacy.
Civil Rights Act of 1866
(April 9, 1866) First United States federal law to define U.S. citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally protected by the law. Mainly intended to protect to protect the civil rights of Africans born in or brought to America, during the American Civil War.
Fifteenth Amendment
(Ratified February 3, 1870) Prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Fourteenth Amendment
Addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws. Southern states were forced to ratify in order to regain representation in Congress.
Thirteenth Amendment
(April 8, 1864) Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime.
Ten Percent Plan
(December 8, 1863) Stated that a Southern State could be readmitted into the Union once 10 percent of its voters swore and oath of allegiance (loyalty) to the Union.
Ku Klux Klan
Sought to overthrow the Republican State governments in the South during the Reconstruction Era. Especially used violence against African American leaders. Suppressed around 1871 through federal enforcement.
Rutherford B. Hayes
19th President of the United States. Oversaw the end of rebuilding efforts of the Reconstruction.
Nathan Bedford Forrest
One of the greatest cavalrymen of the Civil War. Associated with the Ku Klux Klan after the Civil War.
Black Codes
(1865-1866) Laws passed by Southern States after the Civil War. Had the intent and the effect of restricting African Americans' freedom, and of compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt. Tried to suppress the new freedom of emancipated African American slaves.