Chapter 12: Road To The Civil War

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JOHN BROWN

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a passionate abolitionists who believed God had chosen him to end slavery: he was enraged by the attack on Lawrence and vowed to “strike terror in the hearts of the pro slavery people.” In 1856, he led four of his sons and two others to Pottawatomie Creek and killed five slavery supporters. In 1859, he led 18 men on a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia and an arsenal of weapons and ammunition, hoping to start a rebellion against slaveholders by arming the enslaved. He was convicted of treason and murder and was hung.

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PRESTON BROOKS

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a representative and relative of pro slavery senator Andrew P. Butler of South Carolina. He hit Senator Charles Sumner in the head and shoulders until he fell unconscious, because Sumner was insulting his relative Butler.

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SOJOURNER TRUTH

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a slave in Ulster County, New York who lived in the cellar of a slaveholder’s house and was known as Isabella Baumfree or “Belle.” She escaped in 1826 and gained freedom in 1827 when New York banned slavery. Quakers helped her recover one of her sons who had been sold as a slave and she settled in New York City with her two youngest children. She dedicated her life to abolition and women’s rights.

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WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON

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an abolitionist in Massachusetts. He worked for an antislavery newspaper in Baltimore and in 1831 started The Liberator in Boston. He was the first white abolitionist to call for “immediate and complete emancipation.” He started the New England Antislavery Society in 1832 and the American Antislavery society in 1833. By 1838, there were more than 1,000 chapters. He was outraged that people could be bought and sold like objects.

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN

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the Republican senator of Illinois. He was born in Kentucky and moved to Indiana, then Illinois and worked as a successful lawyer. He challenged Senator Douglas to debates and questioned him on his views of popular sovereignty. He believed every slave had an equal right to what they earned, equal to himself and his opponent. He was nominated as the Republican candidate in 1860 and won the election in a decisive victory. He promised to allow slavery where it already existed. He would not permit secession and would hold federal property in the South, but pleaded the South to reunite and resolve their issues. He asked for volunteers to sign up to fight for the Union after the battle at Fort Sumter.

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GRIMKÉ SISTERS

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among the first women to speak out publicly against slavery. They were born in South Carolina to a wealthy slave-holding family, but moved to Philadelphia and lectured and wrote against slavery. They freed most of their parents’ slaves and wrote American Slavery As It Is, a collection of firsthand accounts of life under slavery with Theodore Weld.

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HARRIET TUBMAN

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a slave from Maryland who worked on a plantation until she was 30 before escaping to Philadelphia with the help of the Underground Railroad. She made 19 trips back to the South during the 1850s to help others escape. She helped 300 people including her parents and became the most successful conductor on the Underground Railroad. She was known as the “Moses of her people” for leading slaves to freedom in the North.

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FREDERICK DOUGLASS

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a slave in Maryland who taught himself to read and write and escaped to Massachusetts, than New York. he joined the Massachusetts Antislavery Society and addressed abolitionist meetings where he moved the audience to tears with his message. He edited the antislavery newspaper the North Star and traveled abroad to speak to antislavery audiences in London and the West Indies. He returned to the U.S. because he believed slavery must be fought at its source and insisted the African Americans receive equal rights. He purchased his freedom in 1847, nine years after his escape.

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HENRY CLAY

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the Speaker of the House from Kentucky in 1820. He helped pass the Missouri Compromise. He wrote a compromise to change the borders and restrictions on slavery that eventually became the Compromise of 1850.

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AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY

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the first large-scale antislavery effort, formed by a group of Virginians. It aimed to buy the freedom of enslaved African Americans and resettle them in Africa or the Caribbean. they received money from private donors, Congress, and a few state legislatures. They created the colony and, later, state of Liberia, Latin for “place of freedom.” Many of the slaves regarded America as their home and had lived there for several generations.

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JAMES BUCHANAN

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the Democratic candidate for president in the election of 1856. He was a former diplomat and member of Congress. he won the election and every Southern state but Maryland. He told Congress that the Southern states had no right to secede but he had no power to stop them from doing so.

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ROGER B TANEY

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Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1846. He ruled that Dred Scott was still a slave, not a citizen, and had no right to bring a lawsuit. He said a slave was property and Congress could not take them away without due process. He also said that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery and the Missouri Compromise and popular sovereignty were unconstitutional. Voters couldn’t vote to prohibit slavery.

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CHARLES SUMNER

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a senator from Massachusetts who favored abolition. he lashed out against proslavery forces in Kansas and criticized proslavery senators, including Andrew P. Butler of South Carolina in his speech, “The Crime Against Kansas.” He was beaten by Butler’s relative Preston Brooks and could not return to the Senate for several years.

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STEPHEN DOUGLAS

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a senator from Illinois. He divided Henry Clay’s plan into five parts so members of Congress would not have to support proposals they opposed. He proposed a bill where Kansas and Nebraska were separate territories where the people voted on whether or not to allow slavery. He became the senator of Illinois after a difficult political race against Abraham Lincoln. He believed people could exclude slavery by refusing to pass laws protecting slaveholders’ rights. He was nominated for president by the Northern Democrats. He won only Missouri and three of New Jersey’s seven electoral votes.

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HARRIET BEECHER STOWE

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the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a book that described slavery as a cruel and inhuman system.

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JOHN CRITTENDEN

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a senator from Kentucky. He proposed a series of amendments to the Constitution, including protecting slavery south of 36°30’N for every territory, even those that had not been acquired.

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JEFFERSON DAVIS

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a senator from Mississippi and the first president of the Confederacy. He ordered the attack of fort Sumter.

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BORDER RUFFIANS

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Missourians who traveled in armed groups to vote in Kansas’s election in the mid-1850s. They helped to elect a proslavery legislature.

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ARSENAL

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a storage place for weapons and ammunition. John Brown attacked Harpers Ferry, Virginia to take their weapons and arm African Americans for a rebellion.

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MARTYR

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a person who sacrifices his or her life for a principle or cause.Writer Ralph Waldo Emerson gave John Brown this distinction after he was accused of murder and hung.

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STATES’ RIGHTS

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rights and powers independent of the federal government that are reserved for the states by the Constitution; the belief that states’ rights supercede federal rights and law. The South believed the Constitution was a contract among independent states and now that the government had violated this contract, they were justified to leave.

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SECTIONALISM

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an exaggerated loyalty to a particular region of the country. The North and South began to divide over the issue of slavery.

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ABOLITIONISTS

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people who strongly favor doing away with slavery. They usually wrote pieces against slavery, buy slaves their freedom, or help slaves escape. Most were free African Americans living in the North.

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PROTECTIVE TARIFFS

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tariff that raises the price of goods from other countries. The South believed these tariffs were favoring the North. South Carolina nullified the law.

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MISSOURI COMPROMISE

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a bill that would admit Missouri as a slave state and Maine as free. It would also prohibit slavery in the Remainder of the Louisiana Purchase south of 36°30’N. It was passed in three separate parts. It was later deemed unconstitutional by Chief Justice Taney.

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COMPROMISE OF 1850

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a bill that would admit California as a free state, gave no restrictions to slavery in New Mexico, and settled the New Mexico-Texas border in favor of New Mexico. It also abolished the slave trade, but not slavery, in the District of Columbia and pushed a stronger fugitive slave law. It was divided into five parts that passed individually by Stephen Douglas.

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KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT

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a bill that organized Western lands into the Kansas and Nebraska Territories. The settlers of each territory would be able to decide whether or not slavery was allowed. Many Northerners opposed the bill because it would allow slavery in places that had been free for more than 30 years. Southerners knew slaveholders from Missouri would settle the territory and vote to keep slavery legal.

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WILMOT PROVISO

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a bill that said slavery should be prohibited in any lands acquired from Mexico. Southerners protested and believed no government had the authority to ban or regulate slavery. The bill didn’t pass.

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FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT

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required all citizens to help catch runaway slaves. Anyone who aided a fugitive could be fined or imprisoned. This law convinced more Northerners that slavery was evil. President Pierce wanted to enforce the law.

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BLEEDING KANSAS

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a reference to the armed bands that roamed Kansas. These bands were either for or against slavery and fought each other over what should be legal. It was seen as a civil war and did not stop until John Geary, the territorial governor, ordered 1,300 troops to suppress the guerilla forces.

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STATE SECESSION

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South Carolina was the first to secede in 1860 over the issue of slavery. They had threatened to secede many times before over the idea of nullification, which they believed was legal.

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DRED SCOTT DECISION

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Dred Scott was an enslaved African American who moved from Missouri to Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, both free territories. He sued for his freedom, claiming that he should be free because he had lived on free soil, and the case went to the Supreme Court. Chief Justice said that scott was still a slave, not a citizen and could not bring a lawsuit. He also said that slaves were property and the Fifth Amendment prohibited Congress from taking away property with “due process of law.” He wrote Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in any territory. He said the Missouri Compromise and popular sovereignty were unconstitutional. Voters could not vote to abolish slavery because that would take away someone’s property. That meant the Constitution protected slavery.

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FORT SUMTER

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a fort guarding Charleston Harbor. The Confederates surrounded the fort and demanded surrender. Low on supplies, Major Robert Anderson alerted Lincoln. Lincoln wrote Governor Francis Pickens of South Carolina, saying he would send supplies. Before the supplies arrived, the Confederates attacked the fort, forcing the Union to surrender. No lives were lost. President Lincoln asked for volunteers to fight in the Union army and four states joined the Confederacy.

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NULLIFICATION DEBATES

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Southerners argued that states could nullify federal laws that were considered unconstitutional. This idea was first expressed in the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in 1798-99. South Carolina nullified protective tariffs, arguing they only benefitted the North, in the Ordinance of Nullification.

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ELECTION OF 1860

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Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln. Northern democrats nominated Stephen Douglas. Southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckinridge. The Constitutional Union Party nominated John Bell. Lincoln won 180 out of 303 electoral votes, 40% of the popular vote and every Northern state. Douglas won 30% of the popular vote, the state of Missouri and 3 of 7 of New Jersey’s electoral votes. Breckinridge won every Southern state. Bell won most border states.

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SECESSION REASONS

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didn’t believe the Republican Party would protect Southern rights. They believed the national government had violated the Constitution, a contract among states, by refusing to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act and by denying Southern States equal right in the territories.

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UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

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a network of free African Americans and whites who helped runaway slaves make their way to freedom. Harriet Tubman, the most successful conductor, made 19 trips and assisted more than 300 people.

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FREE SOIL PARTY

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a political party consisting of members of the Democrat, Whig, and Liberty Parties. They endorsed the Wilmot Proviso and were against slavery. They nominated Martin Van Buren in the election of 1848.