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Invention of the Cotton Gin
The Cotton Gin allowed for easy seperation of the seeds from cotton. This made slavery even more important to the South. This is because the South now had an easy way of making fast money. So they would rely heavily on slaves to work these cotton gins and the undamaged seeds could be used to plant more cotton. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 admitted Missouri as a slave state. It also made Maine a free state. The Compromise also prohibited slavery North of Louisiana. This Compromise was later repealed by the Supreme Court and declared unconstitutional. -
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and American Slave
This Narrative was published in 1845. It talks about Douglass' life as a slave and his means of escaping slavery. It depicts the brutality and injustices slaves had to face during the early 19th century. -
Free-Soil Party of 1848
The Free-Soil Party of 1848 was a political party in the presidential elections. This party believed that free men living on free soil was morally and economically superior to the system of slavery. They opposed slavery not only in the already occupied states but also in the newer territories. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 helped the South avoid the Wilmot Proviso. But it also strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act in the South. This upset many Northeners but was a ok compromise because Texas was forced into giving up New Mexico which was where war was almost threatened. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 allowed for slave masters to retrieve slaves even if they have escaped. This Act was abused many times in a situation where a free African-American would be claimed as a ex-slave and put into slavery. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin
This Novel was published in 1852. This was a very popular book and came neck and neck with the sale of the Bible. This book is credited with being a major fuel for the abolitionist cause. -
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
Harriet Tubman first started her work with the Underground Railroad in 1853. Although she escaped slavery, her passion and sympathy for the slaves brought her many times back to the South. Although Harriet Tubman was one of the bigger people associated with the Underground Railroad, there were many other activists involved. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska act established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. This opened new lands to settlement. The decision of whether or not the states would be slave states or free states were given to the decision to the white male settlers. -
Bleeding Kansas
This was a series of violent political confrontations in 1854. It took place in the Kansas Territory and neighboring towns in the state of Missouri. Free Soil Party supporters got into an argument with proslavery southerners which resulted in a series of confrontations. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
This was a Supreme Court case in 1857. The ruling was that all African-Americans, whether free or slave, would not fall under the term "citizen". This would mean that the Constitution does not apply to them at all. -
The Election of 1860
This served as an impetus for the American Civil War. It propelled the US into war between the Union and the Confederacy. The South New that Lincoln was heavily against slavery and once he became President, he would do all he can to abolish it. -
The Beginning of the Civil War
The Civil War began when seven Southern States decided to leave the Union. The Country was split into two, the Confederacy and the Union. The war pretty much originated from the controversy over slavery.
