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The Cotton Gin
-Invented by Eli Whitney
-Sped up the process of harvesting cotton
-Skyrocketed cotton profits
-Revitalized the Southern economy
-Increased importance of slavery in the South to meet demand from factories in the North
-Important: the cotton gin led to an increase of a dependency of slavery in the south, making the southerners more hesitant to abolition -
Missouri Compromise
Missouri was admitted to the United States as a slave state, but at the same time Maine became its own (non-slave) state. No future states above the 36° 30' line would be allowed slaves. -
William Lloyd Garrison and the Liberator
-Antislavery newspaper
-Published by William Lloyd Garrison
-Called for the immediate emancipation of ALL slaves
-Important: Although mostly attracted black population, still fairly widely read. Also angered some people aganist the newspapers and stirred up drama (eg. "involvement" with Nat Turner's rebellion) -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
-VA slave revolts
-Resulted in the deaths of 60 whites
-Raised fears among white Southerners of further uprisings
-Important: this event raised intensified tension between the North and the South. Although "unsuccessful" and suppressed, the idea of slaves revolting was enough to scare the proslaveryites. -
Annexation of Texas
The annexation of Texas (a slave state) was a central issue in the election campaign of 1844. J. K. Polk, the pro-annexation candidate, was the winner, and this was interpeted by the current president (Tyler) as a mandate to annex Texas, which he did. -
Wilmot Proviso
-Introduced by Representative David Wilmott
-Stated that slavery should not exist in the territory taken from Mexico
-Never passed into federal law, but became a symbol of the conflict on slavery.
-Important: this put slavery conflict between abolitionists and proslaveryites in a nutshell -
Period: to
Mexican-American War
-1st U.S. armed conflict fought on foreign soil
-Politically/militarily unstable Mexico v. U.S. + President James K. Polk
-Polk believed in US's "manifest destiny" to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean.
-Fighting started by Border skirmish along Rio Grande
-Santa Anna lost because of siesta and gave advantage to Americans
-Important: reestablished Texan border along Rio Grande -
Period: to
Free Soil Party
-Anti-slavery men in the north
-Democratic anti-Polk
-Against slavery in the new territories.
-Federal aid for internal improvements
-Urged free government homesteads for settlers
-Important: this leads to the prominent emergence of the Republican party. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
-Part of Compromise of 1850
-Set high penalties for anyone who aided escaped slaves
-Compelled all law enforcement officers to participate in retrieving runaways
-Strengthened antislavery cause in North
-Important: strengthened proslaveryite feeling in south and abolitionist feelings in the north -
The Compromise of 1850
-Admitted CA as a free state
-Opened New Mexico and Utah to popular sovereignty
-Ended the slave trade (but not actual slavery) in DC
-Introduced more rigid fugitive state law
-Important: Although ineffective in resolving hostilities between the North and the South, both parties at least tried to resolve their differences using compromise. The futility of their efforts would probably lead to an even larger hostility and a greater sense of impatience in both the North and the South. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
-Harriet Becher Stowe's widely read novel
-Dramatized the horrors of slavery
-Heightened Northern support for abolition and escalated the sectional conflict
-Important: the novel influenced many people and especially strengthened the abolitionist movement in the North -
Ostend Manifesto
-Pierce administration proposal to get Cuba from Spain, by either purchase or force
-Secret
-Leaked and almost immediately scrapped due to opposition (from the north).
-Important: the US was already in great conflict, namely, slavery-bsaed conflicts. This was adding salt on the wound and created tensions not only within the states but outside as well. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
-Broke the Missouri compromise by dictating that the slavery issue be solved by vote in both Kansas and Nebraska.
-Important: Tried to resolve the slavery issue in both Kansas and Nebraska and make both antislaveryites and abolitionists somewhat happy. However, this all leads to Bleeding Kansas. -
Republican Party
-Product of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
-Sprang up spontaneously in Middle West parts of US
-Heavily against the gains of slavery
-To secure freedom, gave franchise to secure citizenship of the people
-Believed strongly in citezen involvement in politics
-Important: This would evolve to a much larger political party affecting us even today. This diverges the party conflicts and adds on to the diverging beliefs of America -
Period: to
Bleeding Kansas
-Civil war in Kansas
-Foreshadows future civil war in rest of America
-Fought intermittently until 1861 and merged with national Civil War -
Caning of Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner, Massachusets senator/anti-slavery activist, insulted Preston S. Brooks and spoke out against slavery, which offended Brooks to the point that he beat Sumner with a cane. -
Pottawatomie Massacre
-Reaction to the sacking of Lawrence by pro-slavery forces
-John Brown and a band of abolitionist settlers killed five pro-slavery settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas
-Super important: This was part of "Bleeding Kansas", which was like a smaller-scale pre-Civil War in the State of Kansas before all the states entered war. -
Dred Scott Decision
-Supreme Court decision
-Extended federal protection to slavery
-Congress lacked power to prohibit slavery in any territory
-Declared that slaves were property, NOT citizens of the US
-Important: government was supporting Confederacy and going against the abolitionist cause in hopes of keeping the United States...united. They were caught between peace and war. -
Kansas: Lecompton Constitution
-Proposed Kansas constitution
-Unfairly rigged initially to guarantee slavery in the territory
-Many free-spoilers boycotted polls
-Later voted down when Congress required that the entire constitution be put up for a vote
-Important: The injustice of this poll gives the free-spoilers and abolitionists all the more reason to be upset and therefore creates a resentment towards the proslaveryites -
Lincoln-Douglass Debates
-Series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglass
-U.S. Senate race in Illinois.
-Douglass won the election, but Lincoln gained national prominence
-Lincoln emerged as the leading candidate for 1860 Republican nomination -
John Brown's Raid/Harper's Ferry
-Federal arsenal in Virginia seized by abolitionist John Brown
-Brown later captured and executed BUT alarmed Southerners who thought of Northerners as extremists like Brown
-Important: Heightened South's fear of the North. The South created a hugely negative "archetype" of the average Northern person which leads to greater hostility in both sides. -
The Election of 1860
-Lincoln: minority president with 40% of the popular vote
-SECTIONAL race: North gravitated to Lincoln, popular-sovereignty-land gravitated to Douglas.
-The Republicans did not control the House or the Senate, and the South still had a five-to-four majority in the Supreme Court, but the South still decided to secede.
-Important: This election is the final straw for the South, and the states start to secede and create the Confederacy, which will soon lead to the Civil War.
