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Wilmot Proviso
Representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania proposed the bill called the Wilmot Proviso to outlaw slavery in any territory the United States might acquire from the War with Mexico. Pictured is the Wilmot Proviso written by David Wilmot. -
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Causes of the Civil War
This Timeline was made by Corrine Maguire and Kelly McCullough ! :) -
Compromise of 1850
When California was qualified for statehood, the North and South were split. The Congress, in order to compromise, decided to let California be a free state and would not pass laws regarding slavery for the rest of the territories won from Mexico in the war. But not many people liked the compromise, and in the years to follow sectional tensions continued to rise. Pictured is the free state of California -
Fugitive Slave Act
According to this act any African American suspected of being a fugitive slave could be captured and brought to court. They had no right to testify, and no right to trial by jury. Pictured is a drawing of a supposed fugitive slave being brought into court. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Abolitionist writer Harriet Beecher Stowe was outraged by the Fugitive Slave Act. This anger inspired her to write Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852 which presented the cruelty and immorality of slavery. Pictured is the cover of the first made copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
In 1854, Senator Douglas drafted a bill to organize the Nebraska Territory. The bill was known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The bill proposed to divide territory the territory into two parts - Kansas and Nebraska. Pictured is Senator Douglas. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was the name for the territory of Kansas. There were many proslavery settlers in the Kansas Territory. Antislavery settlers rejected and elected governmen, in response, John Brown led seven men in a massacre known as the Potawatomie Massacre. As news of the violence spread, civil war broke out in Kansas. It continued for three years, and
the territory came to be called "Bleeding Kansas". Pictured is John Brown that led the men in the massacre -
Fomation of the Republican Party
The Republican \Party was antislavery and a sectional party that wanted to protect the interests of the North. Republicans used moral arguments against slavery and also looked down on the South's agricultural system based on enslaved labor. The Republicans were mostly made up of antislavery Democrats and others that did want slavery. The first Republican that was nominated for president was John C. Fremont. Pictured is the symbol that represents the Republican Party. -
Caning of Charles Sumner
Senator Charles Sumner gave a speech against proslavery forces in Kansas. He insulted A. P. Butler during his speech and a relative, Preston Brooks found out. He beat Charles Sumner unconious causing him to be disabled for years. -
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott had been an enslaved black man living in Missouri. He assumed that he was free when his master died. Scott and his family were sent to court to see if they were actually free. Scott's case, Dred Scott v. Sandford, reached the Supreme Court where they ruled against him. Pictured is Dred Scott. -
Attack on Harper's Ferry
John Brown wanted to provoke a slave uprising. He planned to capture the weapons in the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. On October 16, 1859, Brown and 18 followers captured the Harpers Ferry arsenal. Brown sent out the word to rally and arm local slave but none joined the fight. U.S. marines attacked Brown, and Brown and six others were captured. Brown was tried for murder and betrayal of this country. Pictured is John Brown, the leader of the attack. -
Election of 1860
When the Democratic convention was held in Charleston, South Carolina the Northern and Southern democrates had very different ideas on slavery. The Southerners wanted the party to defend slavery in the party's platform, but the Northerners wanted the platform to support popular sovereignty as a way of deciding whether a territory became a free or slve state. Lincoln won the election Pictured is President Lincoln. -
Secession
Even before the election, the Southerners had warned that if Lincoln won the presidency, Southern states would secede from the Union. On December 20th, 1860, Soth Carolina became the first state to secede. In early February, 1861, the states that had seceded met in Montomery, Alabama. They formed the Confederate States of America, and named Jefferson Davis president. Pictured is the president of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis.
