-
Period: 1846 BCE to
War with Mexico
Started by president James K. Polk on the belief of manifest destiny, this was the first war between america and foreign soil in order to gain more land towards the Pacific. Armed conflict due to the argument regarding Texas, it's annexation along with whether its border ended at the Nueces River or the Rio Grande. -
Underground railroad
A network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States used by African-American slaves to escape into free states and Canada -
Compromise of 1850
Compromise that declared any state that enters the union after this point has the ability to choose whether or not they are a free state or not. (During the Mexican- American war) -
Fugitive slave law
Required that all escaped slaves, upon capture, be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate. -
Pro and con Literature
Literature written either for or against slavery in order to persuade other people to think their way. Examples such as Uncle Tom's Cabin which was highly successful and against slavery. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
Instatement of borders for Kansas and Nebraska and declaring whether they were a free state or a slave state. Nebraska voted to be a free state by popular sovereignty. -
Period: to
Bleeding Kansas
Violent actions and civil confrontations to debate the legality of slave laws and slavery that was instated in Kansas. Emerged from political debates. -
Republican party established
Anti-slavery Whigs began meeting in the upper Midwestern states to discuss the formation of a new party. A specific meeting in Ripon Wisconsin was seen to be the exact date of the formation of the Republican party. -
Sumner Brooks incident
Charles Sumner gave a speech concerning and supporting the abolition of slavery by describing 'atrocities occurring in Kansas', and labeled the speech as "The Crime Against Kansas". Congressman Preston Brooks then takes offense and strongly disagrees with Charles Sumner's ideas, and proceeds to very violently beat Sumner with a cane. -
Dred vs Stanford
Dred Scott was a slave in the state of Missouri who later resided in Illinois, which was a free state. When Missouri passed as a free state, Scott filed suit in Missouri court for his freedom, as this was a free state. However, he lost this case due to the argument that Americans of African descent were not American citizens, therefor did not have the right to sue. -
Panic of 1857
Panic due to over expansion and declining international economy. First world-wide international crisis -
Lecompton constitution
The second of four constitutions for the state of Kansas by pro-slavery advocates and a bill of rights which excluded free blacks. This added to the frictions of free states and slave states leading to the Civil War. -
Period: to 58
Lincoln Douglas debates
Seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. -
Period: to
John Brown Raids
A raid on Harper’s Ferry was an effort by abolitionist John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt in 1859 by taking over a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia -
Election of 1860
Republican Abraham Lincoln defeated Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge and created a visible divide among the country, pro and anti slavery.
