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Compromise of 1850
Forestalled the Civil War by instating the Fugitive Slave Act , banning slave trade in DC, admitting California as a free state, splitting up the Texas territory, and instating popular sovereignty in the Mexican Cession -
Publication of Moby Dick
Young Ishmael signs up for service abroad the Pequod, a whaler sailing out of New BedfordThe men found the great white whale. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin or, Life Among the Lowly. Is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman. -
Gadsden Purchase
Agreement between the United States and Mexico, finalized in 1854, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 30, 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. -
Presidential election of 1856
The United States presidential election of 1856 was an unusually heated election campaign that led to the election of James Buchanan, the ambassador to the United Kingdom. Former President Millard Fillmore represented a third party. -
John Brown kills 5 homesteaders in Kansas
John Brown was a radical abolitionist who believed in the violent overthrow of the slavery system.He and his supporters killed five pro-slavery supporters in the Pottawatomie massacre of May 1856 in response to the sacking of Lawrence by pro-slavery forces. -
Oregon becomes a state
In 1846, the border between U.S. and British territory was formally established at the 49th parallel – the part of the territory that was given to Britain would ultimately become part of Canada.Oregon was officially admitted to the union as a state on February 14th, 1859. -
John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry
John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery. -
Presidential Election of 1860
By 11 soutern states seceded from the union, 4 slave states stayed with the union and were called bordeer states, on april 12, 1861 the confederates fired the 1st shots of the civil war at fort sumter -
Bleeding Kansas
The name given to the time period between 1854-1856 marked by civil unrest regarding the Free or Slave state question, resulting in many lives lost -
Dred Scott Supreme Court case
Famous slave who sued for his freedom in the Supreme Court.Supreme Court case in 1857 that declared African Americans, were NOT citizens of the US
