Download CHAPTER 10: THE UNION IN CRISIS, 1846-1861

CHAPTER
U. S . H I S T O R Y S T U D Y G U I D E
10: THE UNION IN CRISIS, 1846-1861
GEORGIA PERFORMANCE STANDARDS (YOUR OBJECTIVES FOR THIS CHAPTER):
SSUSH8 The student will explain the relationship between growing north-south divisions and westward expansion.
c. Describe the Nullification Crisis and the emergence of states’ rights ideology; include the role of John C. Calhoun and development
of sectionalism.
e. Explain how the Compromise of 1850 arose out of territorial expansion and population growth.
SSUSH9 Identify key events, issues and individuals relating to the causes, course and consequences of the Civil War.
a. Explain the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the failure of popular sovereignty, the Dred Scott case, and John Brown’s Raid.
c. Describe the roles of Ulysses Grant, Robert E. Lee, “Stonewall” Jackson, William T. Sherman, and Jefferson Davis.
d. Explain the importance of Fort Sumter, Antietam, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and the Battle for Atlanta and the impact of geography on
these battles.
TERMS, PEOPLE AND EVENTS
Abraham Lincoln
“Bleeding Kansas”
Compromise of 1850
Confederate States of
America
Conscience Whigs
Cotton Whigs
Crittenden Compromise
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Election of 1860
Fort Sumter
Free-Soil Party
Fugitive Slave Act
Harpers Ferry
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Tubman
Jefferson Davis
John Bell
John Brown
John C. Breckinridge
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Know-Nothings
personal liberty laws
popular sovereignty
Republican Party
Roger B. Taney
secede
Stephen A. Douglas
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Underground
Railroad
Wilmot Proviso
KEY THEMES, CONCEPTS, AND EVENTS
• The Compromise of 1850 passed as a series of independent bills in Congress. These bills included the following:
o Popular sovereignty would be used to determine the slavery issue in the Utah and New Mexico territories
o California entered the Union as a free state. (This gave the North a Senate majority & angered Southerners.)
o The Fugitive Slave Act was passed. (This angered many Northerners.)
o Disputes between Texas and New Mexico over borders were resolved.
o The slave trade, but not slavery, was abolished in the District of Columbia
• The novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published (1852) and it angered many Southerners
• The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) stemmed from Stephen A. Douglas’ desire for a Transcontinental Railroad to take a
Northern route with a terminus in Chicago. This Act provided for popular sovereignty in the Kansas and Nebraska
territories, and it resulted in the following effects:
o It angered Northerners by repealing the Missouri Compromise.
o It led to violence in “Bleeding Kansas,” thus reflecting the failure of popular sovereignty as a solution to the
issue of slavery in new territories.
• Formation of the Republican Party (1854): made up of former Whigs and Free-Soilers
• Formation of the American (“Know-Nothings”) Party in 1854. This party was absorbed later by the Republicans.
• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
o Dred Scott was a slave taken by his master from the slave state of Missouri into the free state of Illinois, then
to the free territory of Wisconsin, then back to Missouri.
o With the help of an abolitionist group, Scott sued for freedom in 1847, claiming that because he had lived in a
free state, he should be free.
o The case went to the Supreme Court, where, in 1857, the Court ruled against Scott as follows:
1. Slaves were determined to be property, not citizens, thus Scott could not sue in Federal Court.
2. The Fifth Amendment prohibits Congress and territorial legislature from depriving citizens (including
slave owners) of property (including slaves) without due process of law.
3. The Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because the Court declared that Congress had no power
to prohibit slavery in the territories.
4. While Scott was temporarily living in the free state of (Illinois) he was subject to Missouri law.
• The Lincoln-Douglas debate (1858) over states’ rights and popular sovereignty.
• John Brown's raid on Harper 's Ferry (1859)
• Abraham Lincoln was elected President in November 1860; in December, South Carolina seceded from the Union.
• By February 1861, six more Southern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas) had voted
to secede. They formed a new country called the Confederate States of America (aka the Confederacy).
• Lincoln was inaugurated in March 1861.
• The Civil War’s first battle was fought over Fort Sumter in the Charleston, South Carolina harbor, April 12-13, 1861.
• On April 17, 1861, Virginia seceded; by June of that year, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, along with
Virginia, had joined the other secessionist states.
SAMPLE ESSAYS:
1. Describe the Dred Scott v. Sandford case including its particulars, the final decision, and its significance.
2. Explain the Battle of Fort Sumter including the issues leading up to this event, its course and outcome, and its significance.