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Fugitive slave act
The Fugitive Slave Act was passed as part of the Compromise of 1850. This act forced any federal official who did not arrest a runaway slave liable to pay a fine. This was the most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850 and caused many abolitionists to increase their efforts against slavery. This act increased the Underground Railroad activity as fleeing slaves made their way to Canada. Which angered slave owners even more -
Compromise of 1850
allowed for California to be admissioned as a free state. Also applies the notion of “popular sovereignty” to the Utah and New Mexico territories. Causes the strengthening of the Fugitive Slave law. Leads to slaves escaping even more. Aw well as Northerners being harshly punished. Even worse relationships between the North and the South. -
Publishing of UncleTom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s fictional exploration of slave life was a cultural sensation. Northerners felt as if their eyes had been opened to the horrors of slavery, while Southerners protested that Stowe’s work was slanderous. This book led to the civil rights movement. Civilwar due to the fact that it told the story of how slaves lives were and the conditions of where they lived. -
Anthony Burns Uproar
Abolitionist Wendell Phillips and other antislavery advocates attack a federal courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts where Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave, is held. Local residents make several unsuccessful attempts to rescue Burns, who is ultimately returned to his Virginia master. President Pierce orders Burns's return as an example to others that he will enforce the Fugitive Slave Act. Angered the abolishinests and possibly even the slaves who escaped to the north. -
Bleeding Kansas 1854-61
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, narrowly passed while Congressmen brandished weapons and uttered death threats in the House chambers, overturned parts of the Missouri Compromise by allowing the settlers in the two territories to determine whether or not to permit slavery by a popular vote. Pro and anti slavery agitators headed to Kansas, in hope to shift the decision by sheer numbers. Both groups struggled for five years with periodic outbreaks of bloodshed that claimed fifty-six lives. -
Capitol Statue Controversy
American sculptor Thomas Crawford is asked to design a work of art to crown the Capitol's dome in Washington, D.C. He proposes a female figure wearing a liberty cap. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, a slaveholder from Mississippi, objects to the idea because the image, he says, may imply a connection between slaves' desire for freedom and the liberty of free-born Americans. A feathered helmet replaces the liberty cap. Shows how currupt the government system was that would lead to all the issue -
Garner Case
Escaped slave Margaret Garner reaches Ohio with her three children. Fearing capture, Garner attempts to kill her two sons and her daughter to save them from life as slaves. She succeeds in murdering her daughter; her sons are only injured. Despite efforts by abolitionists to prevent Garner's return to Kentucky, she is re-enslaved under the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law. Angered slaves and abolitionists. Also showed how desperate slaves were to get away from it all. -
John Brown's Raid
John Brown was a killer as an anti-slavery “Jayhawker” during Bleeding Kansas. In mid Oct., 1859 the abolitionist organized a small group of white allies and free blacks to raid a government arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He hoped to get weapons and give them to southern slaves in order to start a series of slave revolts.
This led to the civil war by the fact of violence and how he became a martyr for the abolitionist cause. And on the other hand caused the south prepare for future raids. -
Abraham Lincoln's Election
Lincoln agreed with the majority of the Republican Party that the South was becoming too powerful and made it part of their platform that slavery would not be extended to any new territories or states added to the union. South Carolina followed by six other states seceded from the Union. Even though his views about slavery were considered moderate during the nomination and election, South Carolina had warned it would secede if he won. In turn angered the Union. -
South Carolina ordinance
The South Carolina convention adopts an ordinance of secession dissolving its connection with the United States of America. Basically means that South Carolina threatened to leave the Union. Which in turn worried Congress that they would turn against the U.S. Also the U.Su was just plain out furious about them leaving the union.
