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Invention of Cotton Gin
The Cotton Gin transformed the whole world, including the USA, and most of all the South. Cotton had become possible to mass-produce and the South, with its huge and cheap population of slaves, used slaves to mass-produce cotton like no other at the time. This made only increase the divide between the North and the South, as the North didn’t need slaves, but the South elites all but depended on slaves. -
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The American System
A set of laws that would support and be the backbone of the American economic development. The main three were, one, high taxes on exports, two, internal improvements (never saw the day of light), and three, a national bank put in effect for 20 years. The North heavily support this tariff, with the West being neutral and the South being in grueling detest. The American System sparked the big political battle between the North and South that would adversely lead to the civil war. -
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase doubled the USA by half. This Louisiana Purchase really started the arguments over which state would be free and which would be an slave state and the western culture of the USA. -
Eerie Canal
A huge canal that ran from New York City to the Great Lakes. This was the was the most cost efficient way to transport goods at the time. The Eerie Canal created eased tension between the West and the rest of America, as this lead to improved business with the west and the Mid-Atlantic. -
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The American Party (AKA Know-Nothing Party)
Political Party that was non-tolerant of immigrants and catholics, with their nickname coming from their answer when asked of specifics of immigrants. The party tried to be a mid-ground between the huge Whig and Democratic Parties, but failed with the raising issue of slavery and the Republican Party. Their party was only thing that could share polices values between the North and the South before its collapse. -
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Free-Soil Party
Disagreed with the Advncement of Slavery in the western portions of the United States. Many of the members of this party were from the North and West, and almost none would be found in the south. The Free-Soil Party is historic evidence of the sectionalism dividing the United States on the issue of slavery. -
Mexican-American War
Americans war with Mexico proved very valuable, as it gives the land to complete the Amercian dream of Manifest Destiny, but this started a whole other problem about which states would be support slavery or not. This would cause a hosile atttudie between the North and South. -
Seneca Falls Convention
Seneca Falls Convention- The first woman's rights convention held in the United States, they proposed 11 reforms convenes with almost 200 women in attendance. All 12 resolutions, one being disagreed upon, and thus losing some backers of the convention in the process, was the ninth one being that women should be able to vote, all but vote. This created strong tensions between the North and the West, as they were the most accepting of women rights.
Jul 19, 1848 -
Compromise of 1850
This compromise gave states the right to declare if they would be a slave state or free state. This will cause problems if there was not an overwhelming majority who wanted to make the state a slave or free state, because it not you would get situations like Bleeding Kansas, a civil riot over if the state would support slavery or not. -
Missouri Compromise
Made the amount of slave and free states have balance so the south doens't break from the union -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This act did two things, one created the states of Kansas and Nebraska, and two made the state decided if they would support slavery by popular sovereignty. Popular Sovereignty would be great if most of the population agreed but would be bad if the population had a didn't, and this would cause events like Bleeding Kansas, further increasing the divide between the north and the south. -
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Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was a series of violent confrontations in Kansas as the result of the population fought over the state being a slave state or free state. This would be the even that would eventually start the civil war. -
Bleeding Sumner
This incident occurred after Sumner condemned the Kansas–Nebraska Act in his "Crime against Kansas" speech, saying it was pure evil to support slavery. This caused democratic senator Representative Preston Brooks to beat Sumner with a cane. This was the end of reasonable delegation between the South and the North till the end of the civil war. -
Wilmot Proviso
A law that would have banned slavery in the territory acquired from Mexico. Amazing, it was approved by the house twice but turned down by the Senate twice. These disputes will later translate into the Compromise of 1850 and even later, into the civil war. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave owned by owners who lived in a free state. Dred Scott sued for this injustice and brought this to the Supreme Court, but the court ultimately ruled that any indication that "a negro, whose ancestors were imported into [the U.S.], and sold as slaves” would a U.S. Citizen is unconstitutional. This made the North feel uneasy, many declaring that the ruling was dictum, not binding precedent, indirectly being one of the causing of the civil war. -
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Lincoln - Douglas Debates
A series of seven debates that concern the political parties ideals in the state of Illinois. Most of the debates focused on slavery and was both were trying to win the state’s legislatures. Both political parties where depending on the turnout, and that would eventually lead to the civil war. -
John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry
A strong abolitionist who start skirmishes in Virginia to start a slave revolt and end slavery. He was eventually surrounded and givin the death penalty. He was very fundamental in the start of the civil war, as this caused such a big scar that the South and North wouldn’t be able to fix. -
Election of 1860
This election saw Abraham Lincoln become the 15th President of the United States of America. This saw the beginning of the end of slavery and the southern states were full of fury. This electron made the civil war inevitable. -
Transcontinental Railroad-
Railroad that connected the northern states to west. This heavily influenced industrialization and trading in the west frontier, making it was it is today. Not only did did make the west was it is, it also increased trading and a sense of nationality between the North and West.
