Uncle Tom’sCabin	Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852 as an attempt to show the North the horrors of slavery. The novel was published abroad, including France and Britain. It helped to start the Civil War and for the North to win it.
The ImpendingCrisis of theSouth	Hinton R. Helper, a non-aristocrat from North Carolina, wrote The Impending Crisis of the South in 1857. He hated both blacks and slavery, and he attempted to use statistics to prove that the non-slaveholding whites were the ones who suffered the most from slavery.
Lecompton Constitution	The Lecompton Constitution is a pro-slavery document. If approved it would allow slavery in the state of Kansas. Both the proslavery constitutional convention and the free-state legislature claimed to have the authority to call for an election on the Lecompton Constitution.
Bleeding Kansas	Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the legality of slavery in the proposed state of Kansas
Dred Scott v. Sandford	In 1857: Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision permitted slavery in all WEstern territories, invalidating the Missouri Compromise of 1820, Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1856) In a decision that later was nullified by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, the Supreme Court held that former slaves did not have standing in federal courts because they lacked U.S. citizenship, even after they were freed.
Panic of 1857	The panic of 1857 was caused by over-speculation in the West and currency inflation due to the inrush of Californian gold. The North was the hardest hit, while the South continued to flourish with its cotton.
Tariff of 1857	The Tariff of 1857 lowered import taxes to about 20%. The North blamed it for causing the panic, because they felt they needed higher duties for more protection. This gave the Republicans two economic issues for the election of 1860: protection for the unprotected and farms for the farmless.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates	Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of seven debates that were arranged from August to October 1858 (Lincoln-Douglas debates). The most famous debate happened in Freeport, Illinois. Lincoln asked Douglas, "What if the people of a territory should vote down slavery?" The Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision had said that the people could not do this. Douglas's reply to him became known as the "Freeport Doctrine." Douglas argued that no matter how the Supreme Court ruled, slavery would stay down if the people voted it down. Laws to protect slavery would have to be voted on by the territorial legislatures. Douglas won the senatorial election, but Lincoln won the popular vote.
Freeport Doctrine
Harpers Ferry	Abolitionist John Brown developed a plan to secretly invade the South, call upon the slaves to rise, give the slaves weapons, and establish a black free state.In October 1859, he seized the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Because many of his supporters failed to show up, he was caught and sent to death by hanging. When Brown died, he lived on as a martyr to the abolitionist cause.
Constitutional Union Party	The Constitutional Union Party was formed by former Whigs and Know-Nothings. They nominated John Bell as their presidential candidate.
Crittenden Amendments	The Crittenden amendments to the Constitution were designed to appease the South. The amendments prohibited slavery in territories north of 360 30', but it permitted slavery in the territories south of this line. Future states (north and south of this line) would get to vote on the issue of slavery. President Lincoln rejected the amendments.
Confederate States ofAmerican	The 7 seceders met at Montgomery, Alabama in February 1861 and created a government known as the Confederate States of America. The states chose Jefferson Davis, a recent member of the U.S. Senate from Mississippi, as President
Harriet Beecher Stowe	Harriet Beecher Stowe, who was white, published Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852 as an attempt to show the North the horrors of slavery. The novel was published abroad, including France and Britain. It helped to start the Civil War and for the North to win it.
James Buchanan	James Buchanan, a Democrat, succeeded Pierce as the President of the United States in the election of 1856. He had a strong southern influence and approved of the Lecompton Constitution. Senator Stephen Douglas was strongly opposed to the document and he campaigned against it. Eventually, a compromise was reached that enabled the people of Kansas to vote on the Lecompton Constitution, itself. It was revoked by the abolitionists voters, but Kansas ended up remaining a territory until 1861, when the southern states seceded from the Union.
Charles Sumner	In 1856, abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts gave a provoking speech condemning pro-slavery men. During this speech, Sumner also personally insulted Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina. Two days later on May 22, 1856, Butler's nephew, Preston Brooks, beat Sumner with a cane to unconsciousness.
Dred Scott	Dread Scott, a slave who had lived with his master for 5 years in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, sued for his freedom on the basis of his long residence on free soil.
Roger B. Taney	dred scott decision
Stephen A Douglas	Stephen A. Douglas: senator who tried to break the North-South deadlock over westward expansion; proposed the Territory of Nebraska to be sliced into two
John Brown	John Brown: fanatical abolitionist who, in May of 1856, hacked to death 5 presumed pro-slavery men at Pottawatomie Creek in response to the pro-slavery events in Lawrence.
John C. Breckinridge	The southern Democrats met in Baltimore to choose their own Democratic presidential candidate. They chose vice-president John C. Breckenridge. The platform favored the extension of slavery into the territories and the annexation of slave-populated Cuba.