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The Missouri Compromise.
The Missouri Compromise was the debate of whether Missouri would be a slave state or a free one. It couldn’t be decided whether to have it be a slave state or not considering they needed an even balance of slave states and free ones. Henry Clay suggested to make Missouri a state and Maine a free state. This worked well and ended most controversy. The impact this made was letting another state into the union but letting it be another slave state. -
Wilmot Proviso
In August of 1846, David Proviso made an attempt to stop the spread of slavery in the west. David Proviso was very much against slavery and had made a proposition that divided congress. This happened in Pennsylvania. He proposed that slavery should not be in the states that were won in the Mexican-American war. -
Compromise of 1850
Following the Missouri Compromise, slavery became complicated trying to figure out where slave states were. Henry Clay proposed to let California be a free state and the other newly joined states to use Popular Sovereignty to decide whether to be a slave or free state. This happened due to the state being recently added and needing to decide their path. Occurred in 1850, duh. -
Fugitive Slave Act.
In 1850 the Fugitive Slave act was passed for all the north. The act stated that any runaway slave, freed or not, if accused of being a runaway would be taken back to the south. There would have been a great fine if one was found harbouring a slave. The law was passed by congress to help keep blacks in the south. This act caused resistance and some northerners to see the evil in slavery. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote this controversial book in 1852. It was a brutal telling about a slave family in the south and just how harsh the conditions were down there. Many people in the north were then exposed to how the slaves were actually treated and were appalled. This raised awareness and helped more people become abolitionists. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act & Bleeding Kansas.
In 1854 a bill was passed allowing the people of Kansas and Nebraska to use popular sovereignty to decide whether to be a slave state or free. The bill was proposed by Stephen A. Douglass and eventually let Kansas into the union in 1861. This bill resulted in violence and bloodshed as people and slaves would enter into Kansas to try to persuade the citizens one way or the other. -
The Dred Scott Case
In 1857 a slave named Dred Scott went to court to argue for his freedom. His masters had moved from a slave state to a free one and he argued that he should be a free man. The court decided that no slave could be free and all territory legalized slavery. Because of this, tensions rose in the south along with the growth of abolitionists in the north. -
Lincoln-Douglass Debates.
The Lincoln-Douglass debates were a series of several debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglass for presidency. Speaking for hours at a time, Douglass was Pro-slavery and Lincoln was against slavery. There were seven debates with the first on August 12, 1858 and the seventh on October 15, 1858. -
John Brown, Harpers Ferry
John Brown was a crazy violent abolitionist who led a large group of people to attack the town of Harpers Ferry. The group killed and kidnapped and hoped to get the help of the slaves there. After the battle Brown was taken and found guilty of treason so he was hung. -
Election of 1860
The election of 1860 started off with the future president Lincoln actually having the least votes in the south. The southerners thought that if he won, he would take away their rights. There were four candidates running and he was the only republican and won 40% of the electoral votes. By the end Lincoln had won, but, the south was not in favor of that. This leads to secession. -
Secession
The secession of the south was the kick off of the Civil War. After Lincoln was elected, South Carolina didn't simply threaten to leave this time they were the first to actually do it. In December of 1860 the south became their own union and have their own president other than Lincoln because they felt he would take away their rights.
