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Wilmot Proviso
Proposed a bill known as the Wilmot Proviso to outlaw slavery in any territory the United States might aquire from Mexico. Slaveholders belived the congress had no right to prevent them from bringing slaves into the U.S. -
Compromise of 1850
By 1848 nation leaders begun to debate how to deal with slavery in the land that they got from Mexico. The new additon of new states affected the balance of free states and slaves states from north and south. North and South was both worried that if California would come in as a free or slave state. In 1850 California came in as a free state. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Southerners wanted the fugitive slave act because they considered slaves property. It enraged the North because it required them to recapture the runaway slaves and return them to the South. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
A novel that presented the cruelty and immorality of slavery. The novel describes the escape of a slave named Eliza and her baby across the Ohio river. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Senator Douglas drafted a bill to organize the Nebraska territory. It proposed to divide the territory into two parts Kansas and Nebraska. -
Formation of the Republican Party
Mary, Emily, and slaves were escaping for freedom but during the journey Mary died so after the journey Emily became a famous abolitionist and her story motivated several antislavery groups to create a republican party to eliminate slavery. -
Bleeding Kansas
During the election of 1855 there were more proslavery than antislavery settlers in the Kansas territory. After 5 thousand residents of neighboring Missouri came and voted illegally, the Kansas legislature was filled with proslavery representatives. -
Caning of Charles Sumner
In May 1856 Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts spoke against proslavery in Kanas. -
Attack on Harper's Ferry
On this day Brown and 18 followers captured the Harper's Ferry arsenal. -
Election of 1860
The election of 1860 were form of two parties which were north and south. The candiates were Lincoln, Breckinridge, Douglas, and Bell. In this election Lincoln won due to the ban of slavery. -
Secession
Before the election of Southerners had warned that if Lincoln won presidency the South states woul secede from the Union. Southerners based their arguments on states' rights, the idea that States have certain rights that the federal government cannot overrule. -
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott argued that he was free because he had lived in territories where slavery was illegal. Scott's wife and two daughters also sued in court for their freedom. Scotts case reached the Supreme court in 1856.
