Key Events/Terms/Concepts
Name some of the effects of the Mexican American War? Name at least 2
-It leads to increased sectional conflict between the north and the south as it causes the question of free vs. slave states
-Wilmot Proviso that proposes a ban on slavery in territory gained from Mexico
-Whigs are formed because they do not like Andrew Jackson
Who is the Candidate for the Free Soil party and about how many votes did he get in the Election of 1848?
-Martin Van Buren is the candidate for the Free Soil Party
-He got about 10% showing slavery is a big deal
True or false: The North had an economy based on industry and trade
True
How did U.S. expansion after the Mexican-American War lead to later conflicts over slavery in new territories?
New land forced the nation to decide whether slavery would spread, creating battles like the Compromise of 1850 and Bleeding Kansas, which pushed the country closer to war.
What was the Civil War?
Taney’s Dred Scott decision mattered because it made compromise impossible by declaring Congress could not stop slavery pushing the nation toward this major conflict.
What is the party that is formed as a result of the Election of 1848? What is there motto?
-Free Soil Party forms as it is antislavery
-Motto: "Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men"
In the Kansas-Nebraska Act, who divided the territory into 2 states making popular sovereignty to decide?
Stephan Douglas
Was the north or the south pro-tariff, pro-immigrant, and pro-bank?
North
How did violent events like Bleeding Kansas foreshadow the later violence of the Civil War?
Bleeding Kansas showed that Americans were already willing to kill over the slavery issue, previewing the nationwide violence that would erupt in 1861.
What was violent conflict instead of peaceful compromise?
The actions of anti-slavery settlers and pro-slavery forces in Bleeding Kansas mattered because they proved that popular sovereignty would lead to this result.
Name 2 of the 4 main outcomes of the Compromise of 1850?
-California is a free state (north)
-Popular Sovereignty (people will vote on it) will be used to decide Utah and New Mexico
-Slave trade, but not slavery, ended in DC (Compromise)
-New Fugitive Slave Law passed (stricter punishments)
Who was Dred Scott?
This enslaved man sued for his freedom, leading to a Supreme Court decision denying rights to African Americans.
Name three things that make the south the south.
-farm economy/view slave labor as essential
-rural, few large cities
-anti-tariff
-anti-bank
-rich vs. poor
-anti-immigrant
-pro-slavery
How did debates over states’ rights in the 1850s lead directly to later Southern secession?
Southern leaders claimed states had the right to protect slavery and leave the Union, and this argument became the basis for their decision to secede after Lincoln was elected.
What is a moral and human-rights issue?
Frederick Douglass’s speeches and writings mattered because they helped Americans view slavery not just as a political issue but as this type of issue.
How did Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854 lead to Bleeding Kansas?
-Stephan Douglas divided the territory into 2 states and popular sovereignty will decide.
-Both northerners and southerners move to Kansas
-2 governments establish in Kansas with both wanting to be a state, 2 capitols, and more
-The two sides attacked leading to Bleeding Kansas
Who is Charles Sumner and what happened that led to sectionalism?
-He is someone who disagreed about slavery and wrote a speech about it.
-
What is the law the south enforced and describe it?
The south liked the Fugitive Slave Act.
-This states that slaves that escaped from to the north states had to be returned to the south.
How did the failure of earlier compromises about slavery lead to the crisis of the 1850s?
Earlier compromises only delayed conflict, so by the 1850s the issue of slavery’s expansion exploded again, showing that compromise no longer worked and pushing the nation toward war.
What was the collapse of democracy leading to war?
The caning of Charles Sumner mattered because it showed how political violence was becoming normal, foreshadowing this much larger national breakdown.
What was decided for the Dred Scott case? Name 2.
-Enslaved people and their descendants are property, not citizens of the US, and can't sue in courts
-Missouri Compromise is unconstitutional because Congress can't deprive an "owner" of his property.
Who was John Brown?
His raid on Harpers Ferry tried to start a slave rebellion, and terrified, the South and the North saw him as a hero.
What is the Christiana Riot?
-Northerners refuse to help the fugitive slave agents/"owners" of the slaves that moved to the north.
What were the civil rights and voting rights movements?
Popular sovereignty in the Kansas–Nebraska Act connected forward to later debates about democracy and voter power, including these 20th-century expansions of voting rights.
Why did this lead to the Civil War?
-There was so much conflict between both sides of the north and south.
-This caused there to be division as the two sides fought against each other.