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Nat Turners Rebellion
Nat Turner led a group of six slaves plus himself and murdered the Travis family. They then went on a spree and killed about 50 people. The incident caused fear in many people from the South and resulted in harsher slave laws. This also caused a split between two sides, the antislavery and the people that were for it, leading into the civil war. -
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Slavery in the South
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Texas Annexation
Considering that Texas was in the South, the Northerners feared it because it would most likely become a slave state. The southerners were happy with the idea and were eager to expand. -
Wilmot Proviso
It was designed to eliminate slavery in the territory gained from the Mexican American War. It wasn't passed but it did start more controversy over the slavery topic. -
Underground Railroads
These underground railroads were a way for slaves to escape bondage and become free. About 6,000 slaves were freed through this and many of the people who helped free them were slaves who lived in free states and would return to the south to help them. -
Henry Clay Compromise
The compromise made California a free state and ended most slavery in the District of Columbia. It also didn't allow for the adoption of the Wilmot Proviso which would have not allowed slavery in the new states. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The act allowed runaway slaves to be captured and returned to the southern state. This caused a lot of northerners to fear in a 'slave power conspiracy." -
Shadrack Minkins
He was one of the people whose court case became well known. He was arrested while he worked in Boston after escaping slavery in Virginia. His case sparked a black/white crowd of abolitionists to enter the courtroom and thanks to the underground railroad, he escaped to Canada. -
Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln gave a speech regarding the Kansas-Nebraska Acts and how they were "immoral." He was working to stop slavery from spreading since he knew that abolishing it would start a war. He worked hard to deliver his anti-slavery speeches and helped anti-slavery groups by funding them. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This act allowed the people who settled in the territories to decide whether they were to become a free state or not. The huge disagreements from both sides caused many forces from which gave the territory the nickname "Bleeding Kansas." The act never worked out but at the end Kansas became a free state. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott had gone to a free state in order to be free. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott who was a slave trying to get his freedom was not a citizen and could ever become one. They stated that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and enlarged the flame that led to the Civil War.
