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The Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an effort by Congress to calm the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri. The request for admission asked that slavery would be permitted. At the time, the United States contained twenty-two states, evenly divided between slave and free. -
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Causes of Civil War
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The end of the Mexican-American War
The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican American War in favor of the United States. This war started two years prior due to a territorial dispute involving Texas. This treaty added over 525,000 square miles to the United States territory. -
The Fugitive Slave Law is passed
This was a group of bills that helped quiet early calls for Southern Session. This law forced citizens to assist and capture any runaway slaves. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel is said that this was the cause of the civil war. Since this book sold over 300,000 copies, everyone had been reading it and it had changed their aspects of slavery. This novel paints a picture of life under slavery. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
This act allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide on their own whether slavery should or should not be allowed in their borders. This act served to repeal the Missouri compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery everywhere north of latitude 36*30. -
Brooks attacks Sumner
This event occurred when Representative Preston Brooks used a walking cane to attack Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist in relation to a speech given by Sumner two days earlier. The speech he gave prior was about abolishing slavery. The name of this speech was “The Crime against Kansas. -
The Dred Scott Decision
Scott Decision was a slave who has resided in a free state and territory where slavery was prohibited. This meant that he was not allowed to have freedom. Also, this meant that African Americans could never be citizens of the United States. -
Lecompton Constitution Rejected
The second constitution drafted for Kansas Territory was written by proslavery supporters. The document permitted slavery but excluded free blacks from living in Kansas. Also, it allowed only male citizens of the United States to vote. -
John Brown raids Harper’s Ferry
Brown and his men captured prominent citizens and seized the federal armory and arsenal. Brown had hopes that the local slave population would join the raid and through the raid’s success weapons would be supplied to slaves and freedom fighters throughout the country; this was not to be. -
The Election of Abraham Lincoln
In response to this election, seven southern states seceded from the union. He also played a key part in the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which ended slavery in America.
