Acts and Compromises
Proposed as an amendment to a bill to negotiate peace with Mexico in 1846, this measure sought to ban slavery in territories gained from Mexico.
What is the Wilmot Proviso?
This slave unsuccessfully sued for his freedom, resulting in a landmark Supreme Court case in 1857.
Who is Dred Scott?
This senator from Kentucky was known as the "Great Compromiser" for his efforts to ease sectional tensions.
Who is Henry Clay?
This Republican Party nominee was elected President in 1860, prompting the first wave of Southern secession.
Who is Abraham Lincoln?
Abolitionist author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Who is Harriet Beecher Stowe?
This short-lived political party opposed the expansion of slavery into western territories and nominated Martin Van Buren as their candidate in 1848.
What is the Free-Soil Party?
He was the Chief Justice who, in the Dred Scott case, ruled that African Americans were not citizens and therefore had no rights.
Who is Roger B. Taney?
This general from the Mexican-American War became the Whig candidate won the presidential election of 1848.
Who is Zachary Taylor?
Southern states formed this breakaway government in 1861.
What is the Confederate States of America?
Radical pro-slavery Southerners who favored seccession over compromise and whose goal was an independepent Southern nation.
Who are the Fire-Eaters?
A package of laws proposed by Henry Clay aimed to settle disputes between North and South over slavery in the western territories after the Mexican-American War.
What is the Compromise of 1850?
The decision in the Dred Scott case declared that the Federal government had no Constitutional power to limit people’s right to property (slaves) in new territories, thus ruling this former agreement unconstitutional.
What is the Missouri Compromise of 1820
This South Carolina politician and author of the Doctrine of Nullification famously defended slavery as a "positive good" and Threatened secession.
Who is John C. Calhoun?
When the Democratic Party split in 1860, this candidate represented the Southern Democrats who distrusted Stephen Douglas’ commitment to slavery.
Who is John Breckinridge?
This attack on 5 pro-slavery “Border Ruffians” was in retaliation for the Sack of Lawrence and resulted in their violent deaths.
What is the Pottawatomie Massacre?
This 1854 act effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise by allowing popular sovereignty in two new territories.
What is the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
The principle that people of a territory should decide the status of slavery themselves.
What is Popular Sovereignty?
This Illinois politician authored Popular Sovereignty, the Kansas-Nebraska Act and Freeport Doctrine and famously debated Lincoln in a series of famous debates during his successful campaign for Illinois Senator in 1858.
Who is Stephen Douglas?
This former Whig and moderate was the Constitutional Union Party’s candidate in 1860 and won the fewest votes of the four candidates.
Who is John Bell?
This pro-slavery constitution was passed by the Kansas Constitutional Convention, but was heavily disputed due to the fact that abolitionists boycotted it.
What is the Lecompton Constitution?
Part of the Compromise of 1850, this law required citizens to assist in the capture of runaway slaves.
What is the Fugitive-Slave Act?
This doctrine, formulated by Stephen Douglas during debates with Lincoln, argued that territories could still exclude slavery, despite the Supreme Court, by refusing to pass slave codes.
What is the Freeport Doctrine?
After President Taylor’s death, this Vice President supported the Compromise of 1850 as the new president.
Who is Millard Fillmore?
President of the Confederacy during the Civil War.
Who is Jefferson Davis?
This anti-slavery raid at Harpers Ferry was led by this militant abolitionist and intended to start a slave uprising.
Who is John Brown?