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Missouri Compromise
United States federal legislation that stopped northern attempts to forever prohibit slavery's expansion by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
A rebellion of enslaved Virginians that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831, led by Nat Turner. -
Gag Rule
A series of rules that forbade the raising, consideration, or discussion of slavery in the U.S. -
Wilmot Proviso
designed to eliminate slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican War 1846-1848 -
Harriet Tubman escapes slavery
An escaped enslaved woman who became a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, leading enslaved people to freedom. -
Compromise of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington D.C. was abolished. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin published
An anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
Repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty. -
Dred Scott Decision
Legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a slave who had resided in a free state. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Series of seven debates between the Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln. -
John Brown raids Harpers Ferry
An effort by abolitionist John Brown, from October 16 to 18, 1859, to initiate a slave revolt. -
Abraham Lincoln elected
The 1860 United States presidential election was the 19th quadrennial presidential election. -
Bleeding Kansas
outbreaks of violent guerrilla warfare between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces following the creation of the new territory of Kansas in 1854.