dropsy edema, or an abnormal accumulation of fluid in cells, tissues, or cavities of the body, resulting in swelling.
Fugitive Bill The Fugitive Slave Bill, tacked onto the Compromise of 1850, required the return of slaves from free states as just compensation of owners. Although contested in Ableman v. Booth, on October 16, 1859, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the unpopular law.
setting-up night-long watch over a corpse.
pride goeth before a fall a common compression of Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."
things older, but not stronger, than He Himself was that is, evil.
Spirit willing; flesh weak As described in Matthew 26: 40–41, Christ, in his agony in Gethsemane, the night when he is betrayed, chastises Peter because the disciples have fallen asleep.
Settlement Fee Pro-Union Southerners pressed claims for damages after their property, supplies, and animals were confiscated by an army quartermaster or commissary or were destroyed during foraging, pillage, or hostile action, such as artillery shelling or arson. On March 3, 1871, Congress began a process of reimbursement for the loyalists' losses. The legislation was extended on May 11, 1872 to cover similar losses caused by U.S. naval action.
God's Ways and Negro pews contemplation of God's apparent blessing of white people, who continued to isolate black worshippers in segregated pews, often in the "colored balcony."
skin voting only white people had the right to vote.
Republicans political movement led by Abraham Lincoln from third-party status to frontrunner.
Dred Scott (1795–1858) a Southampton County, Virginia, slave who sued for freedom in 1846. Voting seven to two, the Supreme Court dismissed the case of Scott v. Sanford nine years later on the grounds that the Constitution did not guarantee rights to a non-citizen. This pro-slavery decision is thought to have hastened the Civil War. Scott, who was freed by his owner in May 1857, died the following year from tuberculosis.
Sojourner's high-wheeled buggy Sojourner Truth was the alias of Isabella Baumfree (1797–1883), a slave and abolitionist born in Hurley, New York, who was freed when the state emancipated its slaves in 1827. Impelled by religious fervor, Isabel took the new name to announce her mission. She personally led many runaways to freedom and, despite her illiteracy, addressed rallies and women's rights conventions.
Colored Ladies of Delaware, Ohio a women's organization dedicated to social and civic activities, such as petitioning the courts to free Sethe from a death sentence.
North Star Frederick Douglass's abolitionist newspaper, published in Rochester, New York from 1847 to 1863.
live oak a wide-spreading, evergreen oak native to the southeastern U.S. Because it has tough bark and does not lose its leaves, the live oak often symbolizes resilience.
your eyes here, stove burners.
white satin coat a residue of cooked milk.
Licking River a river that branches south from the Ohio River into northern Kentucky.
get right make amends, apologize, or atone for a personal injury.
in chambers in private.
you way off the track with that wagon a common adage meaning "you're overstepping the bounds of courtesy."
you in deep water You've gone too far.
I'm on dry land I have just cause.
people who die bad don't stay in the ground a belief that victims of murder or wrongful death wander the earth as ghosts.
head cheese a loaf of jellied, seasoned meat, made from parts of the heads and feet of hogs.
measuring string the tape measure that schoolteacher uses to study black bodies. According to the pseudo-sciences of phrenology and physiognomy, which were popular in the mid-1800s, the shape of the head and body revealed human character, intelligence, and capabilities.
Diane dianthus, any of a genus of plants of the pink family, including the carnation and sweet william.
he had company in the prettiest trees you ever saw Paul A is hanging from one of the trees of Sweet Home farm.
