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Period: to
The American Antebellum
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Manifest Destiny
a cultural belief that in the United States, that American settlers were destined to expand their territory across North America. The ideology inspired a variety of measures designed to remove or destroy the Native population. The true reason for Manifest Destiny was the extensive belief in American cultural and racial supremacy. https://americanexperience.si.edu/historical-eras/expansion/pair-westward-apotheosis/ -
The Underground Railroad
the railroad was a network of both whites and free blacks that worked to help runaway slaves from slave-holding states and moving them to states in the North and to Canada where slavery was illegal. Harriet Tubman, after escaping slavery, she made 13 missions and rescued approximately 70 enslaved people, which included her family and friends. The Underground Railroad was found to be the heart of the abolitionist movement https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/underground-railroad/ -
The Compromise of 1850
California wanted to enter the Union as a free state, but this would upset the balance of slave and free states that was created during the Missouri Compromise.Stephen Douglas came up with a proposal that admitted California,Utah,and New Mexico as territories that could decide for themselves whether to permit slavery or not.This event amended the Fugitive Slave Act was and slavery was abolished in Washington DC https://www.history.com/news/civil-war-causes-issues#the-fugitive-slave-act -
Fugitive Slave Act
A law that allowed governments to capture and return escaped slaves to their owners. Citizens were allowed to assist in the seizing of escaped slaves which denied them the rights to a jury trial and increasing the penalty for anyone who tries to avoid their capture. https://www.history.com/news/civil-war-causes-issues#the-fugitive-slave-act -
Harriot Beacher Stowe and "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
a book written about the horror of slavery, to convince people that what they are doing is wrong. Stowe was still grieving over the loss of her 18 month old son to cholera when she wrote to the publisher of Washington D.C. abolitionist newspaper, offering to write a fictional story about the cruelty and inhumane ways of slavery. When Stowe visited the White House in 1862, President Lincoln asked " So this is the little lady who made this big war" said by Britannica.com -
"Bleeding Kansas"
In Kansas there were 3 main political groups: Pro-slavery, Free-Staters, and abolitionists. This caused violence to break out between these opposing components and continued until 1861, when Kansas was announced a part of the Union as a free state. President Lincoln recognized that "Bleeding Kansas" had been a battleground for the approach of popular sovereignty to slavery. https://www.history.com/news/civil-war-causes-issues#the-fugitive-slave-act -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
a piece of legislation that promoted a " transcontinental railroad that would pass through Chicago". Said route had to pass through Nebraska territory, where slavery is prohibited. Senator Douglas offered a deal that would allow settlers in these territories to decide if they want slavery or not. Once the law was passed by Congress, "It re-opened that land to the expansion of slavery, and destroyed a long established political compromise on slavery in the west" said by Senate.gov -
The Dred Scott Decision
the Supreme Court case, Dred Scott vs. Stanford, was a significant decision that eventually decided that the U.S. Constitution did not include African- Americans were not included in the American citizenship rights. The case was brought to the Supreme Court because a Missouri bill stated that "any person, black or white, held in wrongful enslavement could sue for freedom." https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/africanamerican/scott/scott -
Harper Ferry's (John Brown)
a raid led by John Brown in Harper's Ferry, Virginia with an armed band of abolitionists. The raid was the first step in a complex plan to establish an independent stronghold of freed slaves in the mountains of Maryland and Virginia. John Brown chose Harper's Ferry because of its' arsenal and because its' location was convenient as a gateway to the South.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Harpers-Ferry-Raid