The Union in Peril Notes
Name:________________________________________________Date:___________
Sectionalism
1. Differences between the north and south led to _______________________ – placing your own
region’s interests ahead of the interests of the nation as a whole.
2. The issue of _____________________ was the biggest problem.
Wilmot Proviso
3. David Wilmot, a congressman from Pennsylvania proposed the
________________________________________________.
4. The Wilmot Proviso was legislation that would _____________________ slavery in any territory
taken from Mexico at the end of the Mexican War.
5. It would _____________________ California, Utah and New Mexico to slavery.
6. The __________________________ states liked it, but the _____________________ states did
not.
Compromise of 1850
7. In 1848 _____________________________________ was elected 12th President of the United
States.
8. He died in 1849 and __________________________________ became the 13th President.
9. _____________________ in the new states was an issue.
10. Henry Clay developed the _________________________________________________________
to help settle the problem.
11. Compromise of 1850 – allowed California to join the Union as a free state (no slavery) but
included the Fugitive Slave Act.
12. The ________________________________________________ - required all states to catch and
return runaway slaves to the original owners.
13. It also allowed for ______________________________________________ – the right of
residents of a state to vote for or against slavery – in New Mexico and Utah.
Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad
14. Fugitive slaves were slaves who had _________________ to a free state to stay.
15. ____________________________________ had helped many slaves escape through the
Underground Railroad.
16. The Compromise of 1850 made the Underground Railroad ________________.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
17. In 1852 __________________________________________ wrote the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
18. The novel was an angry response to the Fugitive Slave Act.
19. It focused on ___________________ and their hard lives.
20. It encouraged abolitionists to fight to ________________ slavery and helped spark the Civil War.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
21. In 1854 the Kansas-Nebraska Act would divide the land west of the Mississippi into ________
territories (Kansas and Nebraska)
22. These states were supposed to enter the Union as ______________ states, but the KansasNebraska Act gave them ________________________________________ – the state would
decide for itself to be a free or slave state.
23. Pro-slavery and Anti-slavery settlers rushed to settle the new land.
Bleeding Kansas
24. The Sack of Lawrence – a group of proslavery men ___________________ an antislavery
township.
25. John Brown’s Raid – ______________________________ was an antislavery supporter. In
response to the Sack of Lawrence, he attacked a proslavery settlement in Pottawatomie Creek.
Here he pulled _________ men out of bed, chopped off their hands and stabbed them. He also
led a raid on an armory in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. The slaves did not help him and the settlers
killed or captured John Brown and his supporters. John Brown was _____________________
for the raid.
26. In the end more than 200 people had died.
27. The fighting was so bad that the area became known as “_______________________________”
Dred Scott Decision of 1857
28. _______________________ was a slave. He belonged to a military surgeon – Dr. Emerson.
29. Dr. Emerson moved with the military.
30. He took Dred Scott with him to many states including the ________________ states of Illinois
and Wisconsin.
31. After Dr. Emerson’s death, Dred Scott ______________ Mrs. Emerson for his freedom, because
he had lived on _____________ soil.
32. The Supreme Court decided that a slave could ____________ be considered a citizen.
Election of 1860
33. ________________________________________ was a member of the newly formed
Republican party who opposed slavery.
34. _________________________________________ was a democrat who stated his belief in
popular sovereignty for slavery issues. This became known as the ________________________
___________________________________________.
35. After several debates and several examples of violence between proslavery and antislavery
supporters the election was held.
36. Abraham Lincoln ________________ the election and became the 16th President of America.
The New Era
37. With a new antislavery President, tensions in America became worse as the possibility of war
increased.