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Compromise of 1850
Five separate bills passed by Congress with the goal of defusing tensions between slave and free states. Henry Clay, the Great Compromiser, proposed the idea. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe published a book-- a fictional story of a fictional slave family-- regarding the horrors and crime of slavery. It gained mass approval in the North and was denounced in the South. -
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Bleeding Kansas
Because of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the new territories are left up to the votes of the majority to determine the fate of the land. Because of this, there was a mass of conflict between settlers in the new region. -
Formation of the Republican Party
The Anti-Slavery Whigs and Free Soilers joined together in a combination party that would become the Republican Party. This was the miscellaneous drawer of their governing parties with their only true similarity being the intent to abolish slavery. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This Act repealed the Missouri Compromise and left the territory's classification as either slave or free to be a decision of the people. -
The Caning of Charles Sumner
Because of conflicting opinions between Charles Sumner and Bully Brook, the "world's greatest deliberative body" became a combat zone. Brook beat Sumner to the point of lifelong trauma and started a new sense of conflict between the regions. -
Election of 1856
John C. Frémont condemned the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and was against the Slave Power and the expansion of slavery, while James Buchanan-- a Democrat-- was for popular soverignty and consequentially won by a considerable amount. Also, this was the initial instance of segregated voting in the United States. -
Dred Scott v Sandford
When an enslaved black man sues for his freedom, and the freedom of his family, the Supreme Court in turn rules that he had no right to sue in the first place, and that slavery can expand however it likes-- regardless of the laws in that territory o state. -
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Lincoln-Douglas Debates
In short, Douglas accused Lincoln of being an abolitionist-- while he actually presented the idea of confining the pre-existing slavery whilst containing its spread-- while Lincoln accused Douglas of wanting to nationalize slavery, whereas Douglas just wanted to continue on with popular soveriegnty. -
Harpers Ferry
John Brown led a raid on Harpers Ferry with the intent of liberating the slaves. However, few rose up with him and it was a short lived-- but well-intentioned-- endeavour.