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War with Mexico
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Treaty of Guadalupe
Treaty of Guadalupe (1848) treaty negotiated in Mexico to recognize Rio grande as southern border of Texas and US taking possession of former Mexican provinces of California and New Mexico -
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early to mid-19th century, and used by African-American slaves to escape into free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. -
Comprimise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850, which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired during the Mexican–American War. -
Fugitive Slave Law
The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas or the Border War was a series of violent civil confrontations in the United States between 1854 and 1861 which emerged from a political and ideological debate over the legality of slavery in the proposed state of Kansas. -
Republican Party
The Republican Party (GOP) was founded in 1854 in Ripon, Wisconsin, by anti-slavery expansion activists and modernizers. The fledgling party quickly surpassed the Whig Party as the principal opposition to the Democratic Party. In 1860, the GOP rose to power upon the election of former President Abraham Lincoln (R). -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
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. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´. -
Summer-Brooks Incident
Congressman Preston Brooks, who had taken the speech particularly personally, entered the Senate Chamber. He proceeded to attack Senator Sumner with a walking stick. Brooks assaulted Sumner “with a considerable amount of violence." Sumner was struck with “numerous blows on and about the head with a walking stick which cut his head." Brooks hit Sumner so hard with the cane that part of the cane shattered. -
Lecompton Constitution
The Lecompton Constitution was the second of four proposed constitutions for the state of Kansas. The document was written in response to the anti-slavery position of the 1855 Topeka Constitution of James H. Lane and other free-state advocates. -
Dred Scott v Sandford
Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393, also known as the Dred Scott case or Dred Scott decision, was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on U.S. labor law and constitutional law. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
The Lincoln–Douglas debates were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. -
John Brown Raids
John Brown's raid on Harpers 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. Brown's party of 22 was defeated by a company of U.S. Marines, led by First Lieutenant Israel Greene. -
Election of 1860
United States presidential election of 1860, American presidential election held on Nov. 6, 1860, in which Republican Abraham Lincoln defeated Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell.
