A History of the United States: Chapter 16: Toward Civil War

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. regulate
    bring into conformity with rules, principles, or usage
    Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina offered another idea, saying that neither Congress nor any territorial government could ban slavery from a territory or regulate it.
  2. fugitive
    someone who flees from an uncongenial situation
    Concerned over growing abolitionism, Southerners wanted a strong national fugitive, or runaway, slave law.
  3. secede
    withdraw from an organization or polity
    Southerners talked about seceding from, or leaving, the Union.
  4. network
    an interconnected system of things or people
    Free African Americans and whites formed a network, or interconnected system, called the Underground Railroad to help runaways find their way to freedom.
  5. ruffian
    a cruel and brutal fellow
    Armed pro-slavery supporters known as border ruffians crossed the border from Missouri just to vote.
  6. civil war
    a war between factions in the same country
    A civil war is war between citizens of the same country.
  7. rigid
    incapable of compromise or flexibility
    The vote in 1856 was divided along rigid sectional lines.
  8. topic
    the subject matter of a conversation or discussion
    The main topic, or subject of discussion, was slavery.
  9. arsenal
    a military structure where arms and ammunition are stored
    His target was a federal arsenal, a storage site for weapons.
  10. martyr
    one who suffers for the sake of principle
    Some antislavery Northerners rejected Brown's use of violence. Others saw him as a martyr—a person who dies for a cause.
  11. secession
    formal separation from an alliance or federation
    In other Southern states, leaders debated the question of secession, or withdrawal from the Union.
  12. reject
    refuse to accept or acknowledge
    Republicans rejected, or refused to accept, Crittenden's idea.
  13. justify
    show to be reasonable or provide adequate ground for
    Southerners used states' rights to justify secession.
  14. ordain
    order by virtue of superior authority; decree
    ...and when in the judgment of the sovereign States now comprising this Confederacy it [no longer meets] the purposes for which it was ordained, and ceased to answer the ends for which it was established, a peaceful appeal to the ballot box declared that, so far as they are concerned, the government created by that compact should cease to exist.
  15. administer
    supervise or be in charge of
    His duty is to administer the present government as it came to his hands and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor...
  16. impaired
    diminished in strength, quality, or utility
    His duty is to administer the present government as it came to his hands and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor...
Created on Mon Jun 14 16:25:13 EDT 2021 (updated Wed Jun 16 13:40:14 EDT 2021)

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