Terms
-
Abolitionist
Movement
A social movement organized in the North to abolish
the institution of slavery, upon which the economy of the South depended.
The movement was strongest, and gained most of its influence, during
the three decades preceding the Civil War
-
Confederacy
The term used to describe the government established
by the Southern states that had seceded from the Union. Its president was
Jefferson Davis, and it was dissolved after the South's surrender
at Appomattox.
-
Industrial Revolution
The social and economic upheaval that went along with
the transition from an agriculturally based economy to one based more
on machinery and factories. The industrial revolution took place
mainly from 1860–1890 in New England, as Southern states were rebuilding
their devastated cities after the Civil War.
-
Popular sovereignty
A doctrine promoted by Stephen Douglas in which the
legality of slavery in U.S. territories not yet states is determined
by settlers living there. It was utilized as a way of appeasing
both sides of the slavery debate. It was ambiguous, however, since
people disagreed at which point in a territory's development this decision
should be made.
-
Presbyterian
The Christian denomination into which Harriet Beecher
Stowe was born, Presbyterianism embodies Calvinist principles and opposes
state interference in ecclesiastical affairs.
-
Underground Railroad
A loose organization of Northern abolitionists and
free blacks who harbored runaway slaves and facilitated their escape
from slavery to freedom in Northern industrial cities, or in Canada. During
the mid-nineteenth century, harboring a runaway slave was a federal
offense, and the Underground Railroad a subversive organization.
After the Dred Scott decision in the Supreme Court, many of the
Beecher siblings became active participants in the Underground
Railroad.
-
Women's suffrage
During the mid to late nineteenth century, the idea
of women's rights and the right for women to vote was almost comical
to both men and women in America. However, earlier pioneers of women's
suffrage-a woman's right to vote-were impassioned and, by necessity,
courageous. Stowe's sister Isabella was a suffragist.
Events
-
Civil War
Conflict between the Northern union and the Southern
states, which seceded and formed the Confederacy. The war lasted
from 1861 to 1865 and was one of the bloodiest conflicts in U.S. history,
with over 600,000 deaths.
-
Dred Scott Case
Officially, Scott v. Sanford, this case was argued before
the United States Supreme Court in 1856–1857. Dred Scott, a slave from
Missouri, accompanied his master to Illinois and then to the Wisconsin
territories, where slavery was illegal. When his master died, Scott
sued his master's widow for his and his family's freedom, stating
that because he was in a free state, he was no longer a slave.
The Supreme Court ruled against Scott, deciding, in the process,
that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in new states and
territories.
-
Emancipation Proclamation
Signed by Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, and
put into effect January 1, 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation put
an end to slavery in the United States. In its wake, huge numbers
of freed slaves migrated to Northern cities.
-
Battle of Gettysburg
A series of bloody battles in June and July of 1863 during
the Civil War. The Union Army lost 23,000 men in the battle and
the Confederacy lost 25,000.
-
Kansas-Nebraska Act
A bill passed by Congress on May 30, 1854 by which the
Kansas and Nebraska territories became states. It intensified the
slave debate in America because it directly contradicted provisions
in the Missouri Compromise, which barred the extension of slavery
into new states. The legality of slavery, according to this new
law, would be decided by "popular sovereignty", or by the inhabitants
of the territory.
-
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
A series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and
Stephen Douglas. At stake was the question of extending slavery
into the newly admitted states-notable, Nebraska and Kansas. Lincoln firmly
opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which left the decision about
whether or not slavery should be legal in the hands of the settlers
of that state. Douglas, who supported this bill, called this concept
popular sovereignty. Lincoln's success in these debates opened
the door for him to capture the presidential election of 1860.
-
Mexican War
Conflict between the U.S. and Mexico between 1846 and
1848, sparked by the U.S. annexation of Texas in December 1845.
-
Nat Turner Rebellion
Also called the Southampton Insurrection, this slave
insurrection was led by a Virginia slave named Nat Turner in 1831.
Turner, who believed himself meant by God to lead the rebellion, planned
a revolt along with about sixty other slaves. The group killed
Turner's owner's family and then went on to kill fifty-five other
whites. It led to a tightening of the existing slave laws in the South
and ended any hope of success for the burgeoning abolitionist movement
there.
-
Panic of 1837
A financial crisis brought on by speculation and reckless
financial dealings in the Western territories.
-
1850 Compromise
A series of legislative measures meant to assuage Southern
fears that slavery was on the way out, and to satisfy Northern
anti-slavery forces that slavery was not going to be extended.
Under this compromise, California was admitted as a free state,
New Mexico and Utah territories were organized without mention of
slavery-to be determined by popular sovereignty-and the prohibition
of slavery in the newly organized District of Columbia. In addition,
the fugitive slave laws were made more inflexible.
