AP United States History Reading Guide Chapters 12-13: 1800-1860 v Chattel principle Ø A system of bondage in which a slave has the legal status of property and so can be bought and sold v Benevolent masters Ø Slave owners who considered themselves committed to the welfare of their slaves v Positive good argument Ø An argument in the 1830 s that the institution of slavery was a positive good because it subsidized an elegant lifestyle for the white elite and provided tutelage for genetically inferior Africans v Gang- labor system Ø A system of work discipline used on southern cotton plantations in the mid nineteenth century in which white overseers or black drivers supervised gangs of enslaved laborers to achieve greater productivity v Black Protestantism Ø A form of Protestantism that was devised by Christian slaves in the Chesapeake and spread to the cotton south as a result of domestic slave trade it emphasized the evangelical message of emotional conversion ritual baptism communal spirituality and the idea that blacks were children of god and should be treated accordingly v Task system Ø A system of labor common in the rice growing regions of south Carolina in which a slave was assigned a daily task to complete and allowed to do as he wished upon its completion v Manifest Destiny Ø A term coined by John L. O'Sullivan in 1845 to express the idea that Euro-Americans were fated by God to settle the North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. v Californios Ø The elite Mexican ranchers in the province of California. v "Fifty-four forty or fight" Ø Democratic candidate James K. Polk's slogan in the election of 1844 calling for the opening up of lands for American settlement in Texas and sovereignty over the entire Oregon Country. v Conscience Whigs Ø Whig politicians who opposed the Mexican War (1846-1848) on moral grounds, maintaining the purpose of the war was to expand and perpetuate slavery. They feared that the addition of more slave states would ensure the South's control of the national government. v Wilmot Proviso Ø 1846 proposal that outlawed slavery in any territory gained from the War with Mexico v Free-soil movement Ø A political movement that opposed the expansion of slavery. In 1848 the free-soilers organized the Free-Soil Party, which depicted slavery as a
threat to republicanism and to the Jeffersonian ideal of a freeholder society, arguments that won broad support among aspiring white farmers. v Squatter sovereignty Ø A plan promoted by Democratic candidate Senator Lewis Cass under which Congress would allow settlers in each territory to determine its status as free or slave. v Forty-niners Ø The more than 80,000 settlers who arrived in California in 1849 as part of that territory's gold rush. v "Slavery follows the flag" Ø The assertion by John C. Calhoun that planters could by right take their slave property into new territories. v Compromise of 1850 Ø Laws passed in 1850 that were meant to resolve the dispute over the status of slavery in the territories. Key elements include the admission of California as a free state and the Fugitive Slave Act. v Personal-liberty laws Ø Laws enacted in many northern states that guaranteed to all residents, including alleged fugitives, the right to a jury trial. v Gadsden Purchase Ø A small slice of land (now part of Arizona and New Mexico) purchased by President Franklin Pierce in 1853 for the purpose of building a transcontinental rail line from New Orleans to Los Angeles. v Kansas-Nebraska Act Ø 1854 - Created Nebraska and Kansas as states and gave the people in those territories the right to chose to be a free or slave state through popular sovereignty. v American, or Know-Nothing Party Ø A political party formed in 1851 that drew on the anti-immigrant and anti- Catholic movements of the 1840s. In 1854, the party gained control of the state governments of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. v "Bleeding Kansas" Ø Term for the bloody struggle between proslavery and antislavery factions in Kansas following its organization as a territory in the fall of 1854. v Dred Scott v. Sandford Ø The 1857 Supreme Court Decision that ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. The Court ruled against salve Dred Scott who claimed that travels with his master into free states and territories made him and his family free. The decision also denied the federal government the right to exclude slavery from the territories and declared that African Americans were not citizens. v Freeport Doctrine
Ø Doctrine developed by Stephen Douglas that said the exclusion of slavery in a territory could be determined by the refusal of the voters to enact any laws that would protect slave property. v James K Polk Ø Governor of Tennessee, slave owner, President, "Young Hickory", supported "re-occupation of Oregon and re-annexation of Texas" v Frederick Douglass Ø One of the most prominent African American figures in the abolitionist movement; escaped from slavery; advocated freedom from slavery & full citizenship rights for all blacks. v Zachary Taylor Ø "Old Rough and Ready", (1849-1850), Whig president who was a Southern slave holder, and war hero (Mexican-American War). Won the 1848 election. Surprisingly did not address the issue of slavery at all on his platform. He died during his term and his Vice President was Millard Fillmore. v Lewis Cass Ø Democratic senator who proposed popular sovereignty to settle the slavery question in the territories; he lost the presidential election in 1848 against Zachary Taylor but continued to advocate his solution to the slavery issue throughout the 1850s. v Stephen Douglas Ø A moderate, who introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 and popularized the idea of popular sovereignty. v Harriet Beecher Stowe Ø (1811-1896) American author and daughter of Lyman Beecher, she was an abolitionist and author of the famous antislavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. v John Brown Ø Well-known abolitionist who led the Pottawatamie Massacre (Bleeding Kansas) and the raid on the arsenal at Harper's Ferry where he was captured tried and hanged. v Abraham Lincoln Ø 16th president of the United States; helped preserve the United States by leading the defeat of the secessionist Confederacy; an outspoken opponent of the expansion of slavery. v John O'Sullivan Ø Coined the term "manifest destiny" v Ostend Manifesto Ø An 1854 manifesto that urged President Franklin Pierce to seize the slaveowning province of Cuba from Spain. Northern Democrats denounced this aggressive initiative, and the plan was scuttled. v Winfield Scott Ø US general in the Mexican War; led the capture of Mexico City
v John Sloat Ø Naval commander who landed in California v John C. Fremont Ø An American military officer, explorer v John Tyler Ø 10th president; proslavery; called for the annexation of Texas v Thomas Oliver Larkin Ø Merchant in. Monterey, CA, did NOT assimilate into Mexican culture white working with Mexican politicians and landowners. v Ulysses S. Grant Ø Young officer under General Zachary Taylor during the War with Mexico v John Sutter Ø Owner of the mill where gold was discovered that helped start the California Gold Rush v Causes of Mexican American war and how they caused sectional crisis during the 1850s Ø President Polk wanted Mexican territories ordered American naval commanders to seize California bay Ø Border issued with Texas Ø Congress voted for the war popular support v Native Americans on the great plains Ø Horses and mules Ø Exchange goods with merchants Ø Access European weaponry Ø Buffalo v Wilmot proviso Ø Was ban on slavery in any territories gained form war Ø Whig and antislavery democrats quickly pass the bill during congress along federal lines Ø Proslavery northern senators join southerners to kill proviso Ø Ours is the government of white men Calhoun fears expansion and other races v Free soil party Ø Abandoned Garrisonian s and liberty party s emphasis on the sinfulness of slavery and the natural rights of African Americans Ø Really depicted slavery as a threat to republicanism and to the Jefferson idea of a freeholder society (broad support white farmers) v Rooted idea of white superiority Ø John C Calhoun said this is a white mans government people don t like other races Ø People don t like immigrants Ø Movement of native Americans act of the US into the territories and the trail of tears
Ø Blacks aren t in government and aren t equal (even if free) or more political rights v Similarities between the admission of Missouri and California Ø Rapid settlement of California Ø State constitution prohibits slavery Ø Rise of popular sovereignty rather than government positions Ø Fugitive slave act supporting catching of slaves Ø Establishes boundaries Ø California free state Ø No slavery district Columbia Ø Utah and Mexican territories popular sovereignty v Compromise 1850 Ø Required federal magistrates to determine the status of alleged runaways and denied them a trial by jury or the right to testify Ø Not liked in north/midwest Ø Tom s cabin boost opposition fugitive slave law Ø Personal liberty laws even blacks get trial v Kansas in 1850s Ø Douglas want transcontinental railway Chicago to California so extinguish native Americans right and create Nebraska Kansas Nebraska act has them for popular sovereignty causing much opposition Ø Whig party dies scheme extending slave power = formation of the republican party (middle class caules domesticity respectability religions commitment and capitalist) Ø American know nothing party mobilize native born protestants against Irish and German Catholics prohibit further immigration and literacy tests for the voting Ø Begins sectional split Ø Bleeding Kansas in disagreement of slavery in Kansas leads to violence and deaths Ø John brown v Scott v. Sandford Ø Raised issued congresses constitutional authority over slavery Ø Scott was a salve taken to free territory supreme court declares he is still a slave is property cant sue said only when settlers wrote a constitution and requested statehood could they prohibit slavery declare republicans trying to restrict slavery s expansion is unconstitutional = slave power conspiracy Ø Widen party split and slavery controversy v Lincoln Ø Promoted education banks canals and railroads Ø Use of patronage and passage of legislation Ø Human bondage unjust federal government shouldn t tamper with slavery Ø Want gradual emancipation slaves distance of Columbia Ø Favored colonization of free blacks in Africa or sout America
Ø Free blacks should have equal economic opportunities but not equal political rights Ø More moderate on slavery than more republicans Ø Compelling egalitarian image appeal small farmers wage earners Midwestern voters Ø Slavery had permeated the American deferral republic so thoroughly southerners saw is as a natural part of the constitutional order an order under siege will cripple southern economy