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3/5 Compromise
This was significant because it was included in the constitution and supported slavery by allowing a slave to count as 3/5 of a person. Instead of immediately abolishing slavery, our founding fathers allowed for its preservation and growth. -
Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin
This was significant because at this point in time, slavery was decreasing in the states and would naturally disolve on its own. However, the cotton gin sparked a new flame as the fire of slavery was burning out, and fueled it to continue. It increased the amount of slaves being bought/traded, and created a high demand for new land to settle for cotton plantations. -
Hartford Convention
This event was significant because it showed how a past New England had first wanted to dissolve from the nation during the war of 1812. This is the first view of disunion the country faces before the Civil War. -
Missouri Compromise
This was significant because it furthered tensions between the North and the South by creating a boundary of where slavery could be, also supporting the underlying concept of sectionalism. -
Annexation of Texas
This event was significant because it would soon lead to the Mexican-American War, where the US would gain more land to be disputed over whether or not a state is a slave state or a free state. -
Annexation of California
This event was significant because it added more land to the US which would need to be disputed over whether it was a slave state or free state. Since it became a free state, this created a problem in the balance of power in the ratio of free states to slave states. Thus, more land would have to be sorted out, leading to more complications. -
Fugitive Slave Law
This law was significant because it claimed that a slave from the South could escape to a free state, suddenly becoming free if the owner could never find them. This caused tension because it questionsd the constitution and the ability of the government to take away private property from its citizens. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This was significant because it completely disregarded the Missouri Compromise and the boundary of slave states. It only created further sectional tension between the North and the South. -
Dred Scott Decision
This event was significant because it nullified the Missouri Compromise as to where slave states and free states were by allowing slaves to be taken into free states (but the slaves still arent free) because of how they are privat property and in the constitution you cannot take away private property. -
Lincoln's Election of 1860
This was significant because the South was waiting for a man like Lincoln to get into office so they could proceed with cesseeding from the country. Because they believed that Lincoln was weak and didn't have a lot of power to stop them, the South felt like it could do what it wanted.