Presidential Candidates and Platforms
This presidential candidate aimed to "reannex" Texas and "reoccupy" Oregon.
Who was James K. Polk?
This abolitionist murdered five proslavery settlers in May of 1856.
Who was John Brown?
What is California?
Though this party did not completely sever after the Kansas-Nebraska Act became law, it split into two in the 1860 when the convention adopted a platform reaffirming popular sovereignty
What was the Democratic Party?
This collection of provisions included admitting California to the Union as a free state, the abolishment of the slave trade in Washington D.C., a new law regarding the reclamation of runaway slaves, and the idea of popular sovereignty.
What was the Compromise of 1850?
This presidential candidate endorsed popular sovereignty as the only viable solution to the debate about slavery.
Who was James Buchanan?
This group of white abolitionists lead the raid at Harpers Ferry.
Who were the Secret Six?
The first shot of the Civil War was shot at this location in the harbour of Charleston, South Carolina by the South.
What is Fort Sumter?
This sectional party was formed with the goal of preventing the further expansion of slavery.
This law allowed special federal commissioners to determine the fate of fugitives without jury trial or testimony.
What was the Fugitive Slave Act?
This presidential candidate deemed the Dred Scott ruling as invalid, spoke against the expansion of slavery, and offered economic benefits (to attract the northerners).
Who was Abraham Lincoln?
This Black antislavery activist used legal precedents to show that all free individuals born in the United States, regardless of race, must be citizens of the country.
Who was James McCune Smith?
The federal arsenal in this Virginian town was raided by a group of abolitionists in 1859.
What is Harpers Ferry?
This party, originally formed in opposition to Jacksonian Democracy, collapsed two years after the Kansas-Nebraska Act became law.
What was the Whig Party?
This bill aimed to establish the principle of popular sovereignty in two yet-to-be states acquired from the Louisiana Purchase.
What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
This presidential candidate's platform proposed the idea of popular sovereignty before it became official in the Compromise of 1850.
Who was Martin Van Buren?
This Justice from Ohio cast one of the two votes against the final Dred Scott ruling, as he believed that individuals born in the U.S. had the rights of citizenship, regardless of race.
Who was Justice John McLean?
The treaty that concluded the Mexican-American War was signed in this town.
What was Guadalupe Hidalgo?
This party championed the concept of Nativism, believing that political office shoudl be reserved for native-born Americans.
What was the Know-Nothing Party/American Party?
This proposed measure would prohibit slavery from all territory acquired from Mexico.
What was the Wilmot Proviso?
This presidential candidate had one pledge on his platform, which was to preserve the Constitution with slavery and return the Union to one without sectional discord.
Who was John Bell?
This abolitionist editor recorded the arrival of over 200 fugitives through the Underground Railroad in a notebook.
Who was Sydney Howard Gay?
After the battle in this town, Mexico's ruler, General Antonio López de Santa Anna, was forced to recognize Texas's independence.
What is San Jacinto?
This party opposed the expansion of slavery and believed the decision to allow slavery in future states should be left to the settlers in those territories.
What was the Free Soil Party?
This decision stated that only white individuals could be U.S. citizens.
What was the Dred Scott decision?