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The Missouri Compromise
Missouri was admitted as a slave state and Maine was admitted as a free state, preserving the Congressional balance. A line was also drawn through the unincorporated western territories along the 36°30' parallel, dividing north and south as free and slave. Thomas Jefferson saw the compromise as a way to put off the issue of slavery, saying “It is hushed indeed for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence.” -
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
In August of 1831, a slave named Nat Turner incited an uprising that spread through several plantations in southern Virginia. Turner and around seventy other rebels killed over sixty white people. The deployment of militia infantry and artillery suppressed the rebellion after two days. Virginia lawmakers reacted to the crisis by rolling back what few civil rights slaves and free black people possessed at the time. -
The Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was a piece of legislation proposed by David Wilmot after the Mexican-American War. If passed, the Proviso would have outlawed slavery in territory acquired by the United States as a result of the war, which included most of the Southwest and extended all the way to California. Wilmot spent over two years fighting for his plan, but it never passed. But it did start the first serious discussion of secession in the southern states. -
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The North Star Newspaper
Anti-slavery newspaper published from the Talman Building in Rochester, New York, by abolitionist Frederick Douglass. It developed into one of the most influential African American antislavery publications of the pre-Civil War era. It ended when the paper merged with Gerrit Smith's Liberty Party Paper -
The Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay and Stephen Douglas drafted the compromise to help national tensions regarding the future of slavery. The two main points in the compromise were the admittance of California as a free state, and the strengthening/enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act (required northern states to return escaped slaves back to the South). Postponed outright violence between the North and South but did nothing to truly address the topic of slavery. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
A book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe which explored the reality of slaves' lives. It was a cultural sensation and was the second best selling book, only second to the Bible. Northerners felt their eyes had been opened to the horrors of slavery, while Southerners protested that Stowe’s work was slanderous.
The book forced the issue of slavery to light, and led to further tension and division between the North and South. -
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Bleeding Kansas
When the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed in 1854 it established Kansas and Nebraska as territories and adopted popular sovereignty to decide their status as free or slave states.
(Popular sovereignty means the population of the territory determined its policies regarding slavery) Settlers from the North and the South poured into Kansas, hoping to swell the numbers on their side of the debate.With so many opposed people occupying the same territory violence ensued. -
Pottawatomie Massacre
1855 Abolitionist John Brown came to Kansas to fight the forces of slavery On May, 1856, Lawrence abolitionist printing was attacked by a group of pro-slavery settlers. Brown and his supporters fought back and killed five of them Launched a guerilla war between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces
Sporadic and unorganized violence, but it still sparked fear Further aggravated political and social tensions -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a Virginia slave who tried to sue for his freedom in court. The case eventually rose to the level of the Supreme Court. The justices found that, as a slave, Dred Scott was a piece of property that had none of the legal rights or recognition afforded to a human being. The classification of slaves as property made the federal government’s authority to regulate the institution much more debated and polarization grew. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas faced up and coming Abraham Lincoln. In the campaign that followed Lincoln and Douglas engaged in seven public debates where they debated the controversial issue of slavery. Douglas won the senate race, but these debates gave Lincoln the recognition to become president in 1860. -
John Brown’s Raid
Abolitionist John Brown supported violent action against the South to end slavery and played a major role in starting the Civil War. He and 19 supporters led a raid on the federal armory in Virginia. Their goal was to capture and confiscate the arms located there, and begin armed insurrection. A force of U.S. Marines, led by Robert E. Lee, put down the uprising. There were casualties on both sides. Brown and seven of his remaining men were captured and hanged.