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Abolitionist Movement
The goal of this movement was the emancipation of all slaves and the end of racial discrimination. Abolitionist ideas became noticeable in Northern churches and politics beginning in the 1830's, which contributed to the regional bitterness between the North and South. The goal of emancipation for all black slaves, free or not, distinguished abolitionists from the political opposition to slavery's expansion. This movement provoked higher positioned gentlemen to take action in later years. -
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Underground Railroad
The Railroad was a network of meeting places, secret routes, and safe houses used by slaves in the US to escape slave holding states to northern states. The Railroad was run by people involved in the Abolitionist Movement who helped thousands of slaves escape bondage. The most known helper was Harriet Tubman, an ex-slave. Around 6,000 slaves were freed from this system that ended with the start of the Civil War. The Railroad contributed by being the fundamental system of freeing slaves. -
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Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman was an ex-slave that become the most well known "conductor" of the Underground Railroad. Even though it was suicide to come back to the south, she went back close to nineteen times in order to free hundreds of slaves. Her help in freeing so many slaves partook in the controversy of slaves coming to the free states, and their slave owners wanting the northerners to bring them all back(Fugitive Slave Act). -
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Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner's rebellion was one of the largest slave rebellions ever to take place in the US. The rebellion was armed black men in the country side killing white men, women, and children that were led by a black slave named Nat Turner. These murders started to haunt white southerners and showed slave owners how vulnerable they were. Following the rebellion, whites southerners were determined to prevent any further rebellions, and they tightened the harsh slave code for all African Americans. -
Texas became a state
When Texas was being fought over by the Americans and Mexicans, the huge discussion for the Americans was deciding whether Texas would be a free state, a slave state, or be given popular sovereignty. Texas was a huge controversy for America to balance between slave and free states. This did not help with the disagreement between the North and the South which led to the Civil War based on the argument about slavery. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Fugitive Slave Acts were a pair of federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within the territory of the US. The first authorized local governments to seize and return escaped slaves to their owners and imposed penalties on anyone who aided in the flight. This caused widespread resistance which enacted further provisions. May Northern states passed special legislation in an attempt to reject them. This created a further depth of tension between the North and South. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin is published
Uncle Tom's Cabin is a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe which became the second most popular book of the 1800's next to the Bible. It demanded that the US deliver on the promise of freedom and equality, and shock the abolition movement. The book calls on Americans to confront the legacy of race relations in the US as the title itself became a racial slur. Ultimately, it made the Northerners aware of the slave situation and aroused protest against the crucial argument of slavery. -
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Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was the period of violence during the settling of the Kansas territory. In 1854 the Kansas-Nebraska Act overturned the Missouri Compromise's use of latitude as the boundary between slave and free territory, and used popular sovereignty to decree that it was the residents decision whether Kansas was a free state or slave state. Pro-slavery and free-state settlers rushed to Kansas to influence the decision, but ended up fighting for control ending in bloodshed and destruction. -
Charles Sumner and Preston
One of the most publicized events in Bleeding Kansas was when on May 21, 1856 Border Ruffians ransacked Lawrence, Kansas which was known to be a staunch free-state area. One day later, violence occurred in the US Senate. Pro-slavery Congressman Presto Brooks attacked Charles Sumner with a cane after Sumner had given a speech attacking the pro-slavery forces for the violence occurring in Kansas. This was a huge example of the violence and tension between pro-slavery and anti-slavery people. -
Dred Scott Case
The Dred Scott case was one of the most controversial events leading to the Civil War. The case was brought to the Us Supreme Court by Dred Scott, a slave who had lived with his owner in a free state before returning to Missouri(slave state). Scott argued that he was entitled to emancipation since he lived in a free state. Chief Justice Roger Taney, a slavery supporter, disagreed. The court found that no black slave could claim citizenship which heightened North-South tensions immensely.
