Slavery Divides the Nation
a proposed, but rejected, 1846 bill that would have banned slavery in the territory won from Mexico during the Mexican War
what was the Wilmot Proviso?
the laws enacted by northern states to counteract the Fugitive Slave Act by granting rights to escaped slaves and free African Americans
what were personal liberty laws?
an American abolitionist best known for leading a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in 1859.
who was John Brown?
the first large battle of the Civil War that occurred in Virginia, close to Washington, DC
what is Bull Run or Manassas?
a military strategy in which an army attacks not only enemy troops but also the economic and civilian resources that support them
what is total war?
an antislavery political party in the mid-1800s
what was the Free-Soil Party?
In 1851, a small group of free African Americans gathered in a farmhouse; a white slaveowner is killed, kicking off a riot
what was the Christiana Riot?
during the Civil War, a state that allowed slavery but remained in the Union: Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri
what were the border states?
a 1862 Civil War battle in southwestern Tennessee where the Union won a victory but nearly 25,000 Union and Confederate troops were killed or wounded
what is Shiloh?
the 1865 constitutional amendment that abolished slavery in the United States
what is the 13th amendment?
a principle in which the people are the only source of government power; a political policy that permitted the residents of federal territories to decide on whether to enter the Union as free or slave states
what is popular sovereignty?
a system that existed before the Civil War in which African American and white abolitionists helped escaped slaves travel to safe areas in the North and in Canada
what was the Underground Railroad?
an 1861 proposed constitutional amendment that attempted to prevent secession of the southern states by allowing slavery in all territories south of the Missouri Compromise line
what was the Crittenden Compromise?
a Confederate stronghold along the Mississippi River, the site of a siege by Union forces that lasted more than a month in 1863 and ended in a Union victory, splitting the Confederacy
what is Vicksburg?
a 1862 law that made money available to states to establish universities that taught agriculture and mechanical engineering
what is the Land Grant College Act?
a political agreement that admitted California to the Union as a free state while permitting popular sovereignty in the territories and enacting a stricter fugitive slave law
what was the Compromise of 1850?
antislavery novel published in 1852
what is Uncle Tom's Cabin?
a federal fort located in Charleston, South Carolina, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired
what is Fort Sumter?
the site of a Civil War battle fought on Union territory, July 1-3, 1863 resulting in a Union victory that forced Confederate forces to retreat to the South
what is Gettysburg?
The place where, on April 9, 1865, Lee formally surrendered to Grant.
what is Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia?
a law that required all citizens to aid in apprehending runaway slaves; a part of the Compromise of 1850
what was the Fugitive Slave Act?
a 1854 law that divided the Nebraska Territory into Kansas and Nebraska, giving each territory the right to decide whether or not to allow slavery
what is the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
a northern Civil War strategy to starve the South by blockading seaports and controlling the Mississippi River
what was the Anaconda Plan?
a speech by President Lincoln in which he dedicated a national cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and reaffirmed the ideas for which the Union was fighting the Civil War; delivered November 19, 1863
what is the Gettysburg Address?
John Wilkes Booth (1838–1865) was an American actor and Confederate sympathizer who shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865.
who was John Wilkes Booth?