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Period: to
Road to the Civil War
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Mexican-American War
-From a Mexican point of view it was a disaster from the start
-Fought because America wanted more slaves from the south -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago
-Was negotiated in Mexico
-An American diplomat named Nicholas Trist went to mexico to negotiate -
Fugitive Slave Law
-Persuaded the southerners to accept the loss of California to the abolitionists
-The laws purpose was to chase down runaway slaves and return them back to their owners. -
Underground Railroad
-A loose network where free blacks, courageous ex-slaves with help of white abolitionists would help lead slaves to freedom -
Compromise of 1850
-The fugitive slave act was amended
-The slave trade was abolished in Washington, DC
-California was a free state
-Essentially was a new version of the fugitive slave act -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
-A novel about the conflict between an enslaved man named Tom and his brutal owner -
Bleeding Kansas
-Fought over slavery
-Some believed this to be the first fight of the civil war -
Establishment of the Republican Party
-Idea came from anti-slavery whigs
-Founding meeting was in Wisconsin -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
-Let people decide whether they wanted slavery within their own borders
-The act failed to end slavery -
Sumner-Brooks Incident
-Preston Brooks beats Charles Sumner with a cane
-Preston Brooks beat Sumner after his speech at an anti-slavery meeting -
Panic of 1857
-With a financial panic prices for Midwestern farmers dropped sharply
-Cotton prices remained high, the plantation economy remained superior -
Lecompton Constitution
-Second constitution written by pro slavery supporters.
-Permitted slavery, excluded free blacks to live in Kansas -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
-Supreme court ruled that Americans of African descent, free or not were not citizens and couldn't sue in a federal court
-Congress also said that it lacked power to ban slavery in the U.S. territories -
Impending Crisis of the South
-Book portrayed that slavery actually hurt the southern economy
-Was a strong attack on slavery -
Lincoln-Douglas debates
-Series of 7 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas
-Most of the debates were over slavery -
John Brown's Raid
-Raid was on Harper's ferry in Virginia
-John Brown initiated an armed slavery revolt
-John Brown was captured and hanged. -
Election of 1860
-Abraham Lincoln beats out Stephen Douglas
-Becomes 16th President
-The southerners threatened to leave the union
