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Missouri Compromise
- Missouri Compromise March 3, 1820.
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Mexican Cession
Cede means that they give up. Mexican Cession was the land that the U.S. won at the end of the Mexican War. This added land that could be made into Southern states. If this happened it would upset the balance in Congress. David Wilmont tried to get a law passed that would ban slavery in the new area. The law was passed in one house but not in the other, so it was defeated. Because of the Mexican Cession, sectionalism divided our country between the people in the South and North. -
Compromise of 1850
California wants to join the Union as a free state. This would upset the Congressional balance. This is troubling to the South, and they think about leaving or seceding from the Union. The South agreed to allowed California to be free if The Fugitive Slave Law gets passed. The decision to make the land in the Mexican Cession slave or free is determined by popular sovereignty. The North will agreed if we end the slave trade in Washington, D.C.
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Fugitive Slave Law
The Fugitive Slave Law said that all runaway slaves had to be returned to the South. If people were caught with a slave they would be fined $1000 or be sent to jail for 6 months, or both. When slaves were captured they went to court and judges decided if they were free or a slave. Judges received $10 if they sent slaves back and only $5 if they said slaves were free. As a result of the Fugitive Slave Law, slaves run away to Canada for freedom. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stove was a white woman who wrote a book about slavery. This book gave people in the North information about slavery. This increased the abolitionist movement in the North. President Lincoln said, "So this is the little lady who make this big war." This led to the Civil War. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephen Douglass wanted to split the Nebraska Territory into 2 states. He wanted to call the states Kansas and Nebraska. Stephan Douglass said that the states should determine if they were free or slave by a popular vote (popular sovereignty). Northerners said if this happened it would break the Missouri Compromise. -
The Republican Party
The Republican Party was a mixing of the Whig Party, the northern Democrats and Free Soil Party members. The Republican Party was against slavery. John C. Freemont was the first Republican to run for President. He lost but many Republicans showed up to vote. Lincoln was a Republican when he went up against Douglass for Senate. Lincoln lost but became more known throughout the Union. -
Dred Scott
Dred Scott was a black man who wanted to be free. He was living in Missouri, which was a slave state. Dred Scott sued for his freedom. The case ended up at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott and said because he was black he had no rights. They also said that the Missouri Compromise was illegal because Congress cannot determine whether or not a state had slavery. As a result slavery spread. -
John Brown’s Raid
A white abolitionist who responded to the killing of 5 Northerners by killing 5 Southerners. He raided Harper's Ferry in Virginia. Which was a federal arsenal. He expected slaves to join him, however not many came. He was captured by Robert E. Lee and hanged. John Brown was considered a hero by people of the North, while people in the South thought he was crazy. -
The Election of Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglass run for presidential office. Stephen Douglass thought he would win because he left the Southerners would vote for him after the Kansas Nebraska Act. Lincoln won the election. 10 Southern states did not have Lincoln on the ballot. Southern states felt that they no longer had a say in government. This caused South Carolina to secede the Union. The Southern states thought Lincoln was an abolitionist. -
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter was a Northern fort in Charleston Harbor which was in the Southern states.
The Northern army could not get supplies in or out because the South surrounded the fort and wouldn't let supplies in. The South was surrounding the North and made Major Anderson surrendered.
