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Missouri Compromise of 1820
Definition: a congressional agreement that regulated the extension of Slavery in the United States for the next 30 years. Missouri Compromise of 1820 Significamce: It settled the concern between slave states and free states by allowing Missouri to become a slave state and Maine to become a free state -
Tariff of Abominations
Definition: a name given to the bill passed by the U.S. Congress levying high taxes on the imported goods from other countries, by the southerners. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/tariff-of-abominations.html Significance: A way to make Pres. Jackson look like a protectionist of the North and a free trader of the South, http://www.buyandhold.com/bh/en/education/history/2003/tariff_of_abominations.html -
Dred Scott Decision
Definition; a black slave whose suit for freedom (1857) was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court (Dred Scott Decision) on the grounds that a slave was not a citizen and therefore could not sue in a federal court http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dred+scott+decision Significance; Stated slaves were property, not citizens of America http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4i3090.html -
Wilmot Proviso
Definition: a bold attempt by opponents of slavery to prevent its introduction in the territories purchased from Mexico following the Mexican War. http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Wilmot+Proviso Significance: To ban slavery in any territory to be acquired from Mexico in the Mexican-American war http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmot_Proviso -
Free-Soil Party
Definition: a former US political party opposing slavery from 1848 until 1854 when it merged with the Republican party http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Free+Soil+Party Significance: To oppose slavery (Notes) -
Compromise of 1850
Definition:A set of laws, passed in the midst of fierce wrangling between groups favoring slavery and groups opposing it, that attempted to give something to both sides http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/compromise+of+1850 Significance: To have common ground for supporters of pro-slavery and those that are anti-slavery -
Fugitive Slave Act
Definition: mandated that states to which escaped slaves fled were obligated to return them to their masters upon their discovery and subjected persons who helped runaway slaves to criminal sanctions. http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Fugitive+Slave+Act+of+1850 Significance; To track fugitive slaves in other states https://causesofthecivilwar.wikispaces.com/The+Fugitive+Slave+Act+1850 -
Differing Economies of North and South
Definitions; The North dominated most products, even farming, when it came to the economy. The South hsd less population and products, therefore, the North had more money (Notes) Significance; The North dominated the south economically (Notes) -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Definition; an antislavery novel (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/uncle+tom's+cabin Significance; To expose the ills of slavery http://www.helium.com/items/1128258-the-literary-significance-of-uncle-toms-cabin -
Republican Party
<a href='http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Republican+Party' >Republican Party</a> Definition; founded in 1854 by a group of renegade Democrats, Whigs, and political independents who opposed the expansion of Slavery into new U.S. territories and states Significance; To oppose slavery -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Definition; the act of Congress in 1854 annulling the Missouri Compromise, providing for the organization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and permitting these territories self-determination on the question of slavery http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kansas-nebraska+act Significance; For Kansa and Nebraska territories to open up to slavery http://www.ushistory.org/us/31a.asp -
Know-Nothing Party
<a href='http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Know-Nothing+Party' >Know-Nothing Party</a> Definition; a former political party in the United States; active in the 1850s to keep power out of the hands of immigrants and Roman Catholics Significance: Outgrowth of the strong anti-immigrant and anti-Roman Catholic sentiment that started to manifest itself during the 1840s http://www.britannica.com/presidents/article-9045808 -
Sack of Lawrence
Definition: occurred when tensions mounted in Kansas between free-state and proslavery forces after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401802332.html Significance: Pro-Slaver (Notes) -
Brooks/Sumner Senate Caning
Definition: charles sumner gave a two day speech on the senate floor. he denounced the south for crimes against kansas and singled out senator andrew brooks of south carolina for extra abuse. brooks beat sumner over the head with his cane, severely crippling him. sumner was the first republican martyr http://quizlet.com/dictionary/brooks-sumner/ Significance: Dispute over slavery -
Pottawatomie Massacre (Bleeding Kansas)
Definition: the murder by free-state men of five proslavery settlers near Dutch Henry's Crossing at Pottawatomie Creek, Franklin County, and Kansas http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401803353.html Significance: Whether Kansas would be a free state or slave state http://causesofthecivilwar.wikispaces.com/%E2%80%9CThe+Pottawatomie+Massacre%E2%80%9D+1856 -
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Definition; A series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lincoln-douglas+debates Significance: Right's of slave states, slavery http://www.history.com/topics/lincoln-douglas-debates -
Freeport Doctrine
Definition: Stephen Douglas's doctrine that, in spite of the Dred Scott decision, slavery could be excluded from territories of the United States by local legislation http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401801612.html Significance: Exclude slavery from certain territories http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h241.html -
Harpers Ferry Incident
Definition: A locality of extreme northeast West Virginia. It was the scene of John Brown's rebellion, in which he briefly seized the U.S. arsenal here. The town changed hands a number of times during the Civil War http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Harpers+Ferry Significance: Abolish slavery http://www.wvculture.org/history/jnobrown.html http://www.wvculture.org/history/jnobrown.html -
The Election of 1860
Definition: The Election of 1860 demonstrated the divisions within the United States just before the Civil War http://www.polk-fl.net/staff/teachers/tah/documents/turningpoints/lessons/d-Electionof1860-MILLER.pdf Significance: Different thoughts and ideas on slavery http://www.tulane.edu/~latner/Background/BackgroundElection.html -
South Carolina Secession
Definition: Secession occurs when persons in a country or state declare their independence from the ruling government. When a dissatisfied group secedes, it creates its own form of government in place of the former ruling government. <a href='http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/secession' >secession</a> Significance;: SC wanted to leave the Union (Notes) -
Formation of the Confederate States of America
Definition: A republic formed in February, 1861, and composed of the 11 Southern states that seceded from the United States in order to preserve slavery and states' rights. It was dissolved in 1865 after being defeated in the American Civil War http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Confederate+States+of+America Significance: To form a new union (Notes)
Significance: To form a new unuion -
Fort Sumter
Definition: a fort in SE South Carolina, in the harbor of Charleston: its bombardment by the Confederates opened the Civil War http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fort+sumter Significance: First battle of the Civil War http://www.angelfire.com/planet/fortsumter/
