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Compromise of 1850
Congress enacted a series of laws, they included an enhanced Fugitive Slave Law. This law required law enforcement officials throughout the country to aid in the arrest of alleged runaway slaves. Many Northerners refused to enforce the Law;s provisions. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel, sold 300,000 copies in the United States in the first year of its publication, spurring on the work of abolitionists and enraging those who defended slavery. Many plays and musicals were made carrying on the theme of the novel. Stowe's book was strongly anti-slavery, but it created and reinforced stereotypes about African Americans. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Congress passed this act, which allowed settlers in the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide whether they would allow slavery. The Republican Party was formed in response to opening the Northern territories to slavery. -
Bleeding Kansas
Anti-slavery Free-Staters and pro-slavery Border Ruffians clashed in Kansas. The violence, which lasted for several years, became known as the Border War, or Bleeding Kansas. -
Southern Chivalry
Where South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks used a walking cane to attack Senator Charles Sumner and abolitionists, to retaliate for a speech given by Sumner. -
Scott v. Stanford ruling
The ruling states that no one of African descent could qualify for U.S. citizenship. This decision further outraged abolitionists. -
LeCompton Constitution
Was drafted in September of 1857 by pro-slavery legislatures in Kansas in hopes of making Kansas a slave state based on popular sovereignty. This constitution was rejected by Kansas voters and Kansas eventually entered the Union as a free state. -
House Divided Speech
Lincoln gave this speech at Illinois State Republican Convention. He believed that the court's decision on the Dred Scott case was a part of a Democratic plan to legalize slavery in all states. In his introduction he stated, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." -
John Brown Fiasco
He led a band of about 20 radical abolitionists in a raid on the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virgina. Brown hoped to set off a slave revolt, but the plan failed. Brown and several other men were caught and executed. -
Abraham Lincoln
Won the Republican nomination for president, running against the Democratic candidate Stephen Douglas. Even before Lincoln won the election, Southern states began threatening to secede if the Republican candidate won. -
Secede of South Carolina
After Lincoln winning the presidency South Carolina seceded, along with Virgina, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. They all joined the Confederacy. -
Civil War
Confederate guns opened fire on the fort, and the Civil War began. Forced now to make a choice between the Union or the Confederacy.