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The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of whites and free blacks that assisted fugitives and runaway slaves to escape. It had "stations" in Richmond, Charleston, and other southern towns, helping about 1,000 African American slaves reach freedom in the North each year. Harriet Tubman was a famous former slave and conductor involved in the Underground Railroad. -
Nat Turner's Revolt
Nat Turner was a slave in Southampton County, VA, who had been separated from his wife by one of his masters and became deeply spiritual. Turner claimed he had a vision in which Christ had encouraged him to "fight against the Serpent", and in August he took the eclipse of the sun as an omen. Turner and a few relatives and friends (about 60 in all) killed at least 55 white men, women, and children before the white militia killed them and took their revenge. -
William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison was one of the most passionate abolitionists, and worked on several antislavery newspapers, including the Genius of Universal Emancipation and his own newspaper, The Liberator. He condemned the US Constitution as "an agreement with hell" because it implicitly accepted the idea of slavery. He founded the New England Anti-Slavery Society and helped establish the American Anti-Slavery Society. -
Frederick Douglas
Frederick Douglass was a prominent abolitionist who was a former slave, having used the Underground Railroad to escape his master. He was extremely smart and challenged the widely held belief that blacks couldn't match whites intellectually. He wrote several autobiographies throughout his life that detailed his experiences as a young black slave. -
Gag Rule
An informal agreement used by House of Representatives to table antislavery discussions to avoid the volatile topic of slavery on the congressional floor. It was first suggested by Representative James Hammond of South Carolina, and was violently opposed by John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts. Nevertheless, this rule remained in force until 1844. -
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Slavery in the South
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The Missouri Compromise
A series of 5 laws proposed by Henry Clay and Stephen A Douglas in an effort to avert further separation between the North and the South. The Fugitive Slave Act was amended as part of the compromise, and California was allowed to enter the union as a free state. Also, slave trade was banned in DC. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe used her best selling novel to highlight sexual abuse of female slaves as a moral and ethical failure of the slave society. it helped depict the horrors of slavery to the American public and told a sentimental story that helped fuel the abolitionists' cause. -
Bleeding Kansas
When thousands of settlers began rushing into Kansas, free soilers (abolitionists) and pro-slavery activists began to butt heads. Arguments over whether slavery should be legal in Kansas eventually turned violent when a proslavery force of 700 men burned and looted the town of Lawrence (a free-soil town). A few passionate abolitionists struck back, killing 5 proslavery settlers in Pottawatomie. The attacks started a guerrilla war that claimed nearly 200 lives in Kansas. -
Dred Scott Case
The case raised a controversial issue over how much constitutional authority Congress had over slavery. Dred Scott was a slave who had lived with his owner in the free state of Illinois and in the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase where slavery was prohibited. He claimed that his residence in those free territories meant he should be freed. Seven of the nine justices agreed that Scott was still a slave but ultimately disagreed on why. -
The Election of 1860
With the Democratic party divided, the Republicans had a strong chance of winning the presidency. They chose Lincoln as their candidate because he had a more moderate view on slavery than most republicans and also because his background appealed to small holding farmers and midwesterners. Their strategy worked, with Lincoln winning every northern and western state except for New Jersey.
