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Northwest Ordinance
Under the Articles of Confederation, the Northwest Ordinance declared that the “Northwest Territory”, if admitted as states, would have two requirements:
They would have mandatory public education
They would be admitted as free states
This was a huge blow to the primarily slave-owning South, since this law prevented a greater margin in the Wage Labor-Slavery divide, which was in favor of the Slavery side. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was a law set in place in 1820 to allow for Maine and Missouri to be admitted into the Union, Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. The compromise also established that any new states north of the “36’30’ parallel” must be admitted as free states and that states south of this line could be slave states.
This caused major sectionalism by overwhelming restriction on slave state admission, and would cause issues during the settlements over the southwest. -
Prigg v. Pennsylvania
This was a case over the state of Pennsylvania, who had a law prohibiting black people from being taken out of Pennsylvania to a life of slavery. A man named Edward Prigg abducted an escaped Maryland slave, intending to sell her into slavery. He was arrested, and appeals to the Supreme Court were made. The case itself ended in favor of Prigg, overturning Pennsylvania state law, and Prigg’s conviction.
This is a blow to Northerners by enforcing a law favoring southern slave owners. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a series of resolutions that set boundaries in place in regards to slavery. Under this compromise, Texas was admitted as a slave state, California was admitted as a free state. New Mexico and Utah Territory’s status would be determined by popular sovereignty. Sectionalism rose even higher at this point, since New Mexico and Utah were designated as “popular sovereignty” status. These areas are arid, therefore paving the way for multiple new free states. -
Fugitive Slave Act (subsection of Compromise of 1850)
This law simply prohibited the protection of slaves in Northern states who ran from the South. The law is also a more mandated version of the last one, only requiring the slave owner's sworn testimony to declare a slave as "runaway."
This ruling once again hurt the Northern abolitionists by preventing Northern governments from granting Southern fugitive slaves asylum in northern states. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The precedent to Bleeding Kansas, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was set in place to establish Nebraska and Kansas as territories, with the intention of establishing new farmlands and building a new railroad in the Midwest. This act also ended the Missouri Compromise, and slavery was left to popular sovereignty. The big issue with Kansas-Nebraska is that it was left to popular sovereignty, which is the modern equivalent of a swing state in the elections. Everyone wants power over that state. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was a series of violent murders in Kansas between pro- and anti-slavery settlers. The most public fight was between Congressman Preston Brooks and Charles Sumner, when he portrayed South Carolina’s Andrew Butler’s pro-slave sentiment as raping a virgin. The next day, Brooks came into Congress and beat Sumner with a cane.
The country became more or less cut out cookies, and the hostility shown against southerners by northerners solidified the tension between the north and south.
