Chapter 15 Study Guide – The Nation Breaking Apart
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Vocabulary
Ch. 15 Section 1 - Use page 480 to define:
Wilmot Proviso – 1846 proposal that outlawed slavery in any territory gained from the war with Mexico.
Free-Soil Party – political party dedicated to stopping the expansion of slavery
Stephen A. Douglas – Illinois senator who backed the Compromise of 1850 and ran for president in 1860
Compromise of 1850 – series of laws intended to settle major disagreements between free and slave states due again to balance in Senate.
Fugitive Slave Act – law meant to help slave owners recapture runaway slaves
Harriet Beecher Stowe – abolitionist author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Uncle Tom’s Cabin – novel published by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 that showed slavery as brutal and immoral.
Kansas Nebraska Act – 1854 law that established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and gave their residents the right to decide whether to allow slavery.
popular sovereignty - a system in which issues are decided by citizenry or voters.
Ch. 15 Section 2 – Use page 490 to define:
Republican Party – political party formed in 1854 by opponents of slavery
John C. Fremont – Republican presidential candidate in 1856
James Buchanan – Democratic presidential candidate in 1856
Dred Scott v. Sanford – 1856 Supreme Court case in which a slave, Dred Scott, sued for his freedom; the court ruled against Scott
Roger B. Taney – Supreme Court Chief Justice who judged the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford.
Abraham Lincoln – Illinois Republican who ran against Stephen Douglas in 1858 Senate race and won the Presidential election of 1860.
Harpers Ferry – federal arsenal in Virginia; captured in1859 by Jon Brown during an anti-slavery revolt
Whig Party – political party organized in 1834 to oppose the policies of Andrew Jackson
Know-Nothing Party – anti-immigrant party formed in the 1850’s
Debate- a public argument for and against a question
Void- without legal force or effect, invalidate
Ch. 15 Section 3 - Use page 498 to define:
Confederate States of America – confederation formed in 1861 by the Southern states after their secession from the Union
Jefferson Davis – President of the Confederate States of America
Crittenden Compromise – compromise introduced in 1861 that might have prevented secession
platform – a political party’s statement of beliefs
secede – to withdraw; to leave
states’ rights – the idea that the states have certain rights that the federal government cannot overrule
Chapter 13 Section 3 (Pg 433-437)
1. Explain the concept of Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny is the idea that the United States would stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The US was able to accomplish manifest destiny by buying, negotiating, claiming, and conquering land that was under another country’s rule.
2. After the Mexican-American War the U.S. and Mexico signed a treaty. Explain the details of the treaty and how it affected the idea of manifest destiny
The treaty at the end of the MAW was called the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty read that the Mexican government had to recognize Texas as a part of the US with the Rio Grande River as the border. They also had to give up a large piece of land known as The Mexican Cession which is now the US southwest. The present states of California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and parts of Colorado, and New Mexico make up the land in the Mexican Cession. Manifest destiny was achieved now because the US processed land that went all the way across the continent. Coast to Coast.
Questions – Answer in complete sentences on a separate piece of paper.
1. How did the economies of the North and South differ?
The North had small farms, but developed more industry and commerce, which had paid labor. The South relied on plantation farming of cash crops (cotton) using slave labor. These different attitudes toward slavery and economics led to conflicts.
2. How did the Compromise of 1850 please both the North and the South?
Henry Clay came up with the idea for the compromise, however, Stephen A. Douglas, Senator from Illinois, helped get the compromise passed. This compromise was needed to solve the problem of California becoming a free state. To please the North – slave trade abolished in Washington, D.C. and CA admitted as a free state. To please the South – Fugitive slave law passed to help slave owners and no slave laws passed regarding territories. Problems developed due to the Fugitive Slave Law between North and South over escaped slaves.
3. How did the Fugitive Slave Act increase tensions over slavery?
The FSA required Northerners to help recapture slaves or face a penalty, and slave catchers were allowed to roam the North. This drew many to the abolitionist cause and people began breaking the law (not following it) which made the Southerners upset.
4. Describe the events that led to violence in Kansas.
Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed the territory to vote on the issue of slavery, popular sovereignty. Residents of Missouri came across the border to vote illegally and filled the legislature with proslavery representatives. Antislavery settlers rejected the government. A bloody 3 year civil war started where 100’s of people were killed. This act destroyed Missouri Compromise, angered opponents of slavery, and turned Kansas into a bloody battleground due to Missouri’s interference in election.
5. Explain how the issue of slavery affected political parties?
The Whig Party started to split after the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Northern Whigs opposed it and Southern Whigs were for it. The Republican Party was formed in 1854 by opponents of slavery ( Abolitionists, Free Soil Party, and Northern Whigs) and sought to protect the interest of the North. It opposed the expansion of slavery and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The
6. Explain the Dred Scott decision and why it was important.
Dred Scott was a slave from Missouri who had lived for a time in free territories before being taken back to Missouri. After his owner’s death, he sued for his freedom because he had lived where slavery was illegal. His case reached the Supreme Court and it ruled under Chief Justice Roger B. Taney that Scott was property not a citizen, so he had no right to bring lawsuit. Taney also ruled that Congress could not limit slavery in territories because it violated slave owners Constitutional property rights.
This 1857 decision was important because now the Missouri Compromise was illegal and Congress could not limit slavery in the territories or the states. Therefore, no state could be a free state and states could not ban citizens from importing, owning, or buying and selling slaves.
7. How did John Brown’s attack on Harper’s Ferry increase tensions between the North and the South?
Depending on what side of the slavery issue a person was on determined their opinion of John Brown’s actions. In 1859, John Brown wanted to provoke a slave revolt and stole weapons from a U.S. arsenal in Virginia. He failed and was hanged. Reactions to his death caused sectional tensions because abolitionists tolled bells and fired guns in his honor, while Southerners were upset by Brown’s actions and horrified by the North’s reactions to his death.
8. Who ran in the Election of 1860, and why was the South upset with Lincoln’s victory?
The Election of 1860 had four candidates: Abraham Lincoln (Republican from Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas (N. Democrat) senator from Illinois; John Breckenridge (S. Democrat) the vice president from Kentucky; john Bell (Constitution Union), senator from Tennessee. Two different elections: one in North and one in South. Lincoln won the North and the election because the No. had more population, therefore, more electoral votes. South was upset because they did not believe or trust Lincoln. They thought he and Republicans were going to ban slavery and threaten the South’s way of life.
9. Look at the chart on page 503. Why did this series of laws and events shatter the unity of the nation? Give three examples
The chart shows the differing opinions of the North and South. Every event such as the Compromise of 1850 shows how the North and South argued about the Fugitive Slave Act: North hated it because they didn’t want to return escapes slaves and the South liked it because they could go get their slaves on free soil.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act which was supposed to take the decision of slavery away from the government and give it to the people with popular sovereignty. However, it caused more violence by starting a civil war in Kansas over cheating during the voting.
Also the election of 1860 helped shatter the nation. With the North satisfied with Lincoln, the South did not want to have a republican President because the party was against slavery and they thought, even though Lincoln said he wouldn’t, the republicans would abolish it. The South also felt that their way of life was being threatened
Could also mention the Mexican-American War what to do with all the land won after the war; would it be free or slave, Wilmot Proviso all lands acquired from the war would be free (the slave states didn’t like that), Uncle Tom’s Cabin made the south look bad because of the way slaves were treated, and the Dred Scott Case that ruled that property rights couldn’t be limited and slaves could be in all states.
10. How did the Southern states justify their decision to secede?
Southern states justified their decision to secede by arguing that since the states had voluntarily joined the Union, they had the right to leave it. This was based on the argument of states’ rights, the idea that states have certain rights the federal government cannot overrule.