Beginnings of the Civil War: 1858–1861

Republican presidential candidate who was elected the 16th president of the United States on November 7, 1860

name used to describe the violent conflict in the Kansas Territory between proslavery and antislavery forces

five slave states (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and West Virginia) that remained part of the Union

nation formed in 1861 by 11 Southern states that were pro-slavery

breakaway party made up of former Whigs from the Republican party who sought to resolve sectional differences by upholding the Constitution

long-standing proslavery party based in the South

controversial 1857 Supreme Court ruling that determined slaves could not be citizens and that prior residence in a free state did not entitle an enslaved individual to freedom

system by which the president of the United States is selected by electors from each state and the District of Columbia. Each state has the same number of electoral votes as it has representatives and senators in Congress; the District of Columbia has three.

Union fort on a man-made island located at the entrance to the harbor in Charleston, South Carolina

U.S. senator who was elected president of the Confederate States of America in 1861

militant abolitionist who, in 1859, organized a violent and bloody raid against a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

passed in 1854, an act that established the borders of the Kansas and Nebraska territories, gave the territories popular sovereignty to decide the issue of slavery, and repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820

statement of principles and policies adopted by a political party

political doctrine that the power of government lies in the hands of the people governed and that a government is legitimate only if it has the consent of the governed

mostly antislavery political party partly evolved from the Whig Party in the 1850s

capital of the Confederate States of America

withdrawal of Confederate states from the Union

division between North and South over the question of slavery and whether to extend it to the territories

offshoot of the long-standing Democratic Party and made up of pro-slavery leaders

senator from Illinois who publicly debated the issue of slavery and its extension to the territories

political system consisting of two major parties usually equal in strength. One of the two parties wins a majority in an election.

evolution of the National Republican Party and conservative political opponents of the Democratic-Republicans, formed for the 1834 election