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Wilmot Provosio
The Wilmot Provosio was a proposal to prohibit slavery in the territory acquired by the United States at the conclusion of the Mexican War. In 1846, David Wilmot a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, proposed the Wilmot Proviso. This led closer to the civil war because many southerners were mad of the idea of no slavery. -
Free Soil Movement
Northern Democrats and Whigs supported the Wilmot Proviso and the position that all African Americans-slave and free-should be excluded from the land gained by the Mexican War. Northerners sought to keep the West a land of opportunity for whites only. In 1848, Northerners who opposed allowing slavery in the territories organized the Free-Soil party. The Free Soil movement helped to contribute to the Civil War because it helped to create tension between the North and South. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 is a group of five laws passed in September of 1850. The laws included the admission of California as a free state, the strengthening of the Fugitive Slave Law, popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico concerning the question of slavery, the abolition of the slave trade in D.C., and the federal assumption of Texas's debt. This event led closer to the Civil War because it caused controversy between the Fugitive Slave Law. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book about the disgusting things slave owners do to slaves. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author, moved Northerners to regard all slave owners as monstrously cruel and
inhuman. This led to the Civil War cause Southerners did not like the backlash there were getting from this book. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress in 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. This act repealed the Missouri Compromise and as a result it led to the Civil War because tensions between the North and the South started to boil up again. -
Republican Party
The Republican party was founded in Wisconsin in 1854 as a direct reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Composed of a coalition of Free-Soilers and antislavery Whigs and Democrats, its overriding purpose was to oppose the spread of slavery in the territories but not to end slavery itself. This led to the Civil War because it remained strictly a Northern or sectional party, its success alienated and threatened the South. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was a series of violent events involving anti-slavery and pro-slavery concepts.These series of events started with the killing of five slave supporters by the hand of John Brown and his supporters at Pottawatomie Creek. This event led to the Civil War because it led to the establishment of the Republican Party. -
Caning of Charles Sumner
In 1856, Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner verbally attacked the Democratic administration. His actions included personal charges against South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler. Butler's nephew, Congressman Preston Brooks, defended his absent uncle's honor by walking into the Senate chamber and beating Sumner over the head with a cane. Sumner never recovered fully from the attack. This help lead to the Civil War it showed growing passions in both sides. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave who was raised in Missouri. He moved to Wisconsin with his slave owner for two years then moved back to Missouri. Scott believed since he lived on free soil for a period of time then that he should be a free man and in 1856 he sued for his freedom. Finally it reached the Supreme Court, which made its decision in March 1857. Scott did not win the case and this led to the Civil War because northerners were angered and southerners were happy. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
In 1858, the focus of the nation was on Stephen Douglas's campaign for reelection as senator from Illinois. His challenger was a successful trial lawyer and former member of the Illinois legislature, Abraham Lincoln. The were seven debates held in different towns in Illinois. Douglas won his campaign for reelection to the U.S. Senate. -
John Brown’s Raid On Harpers Ferry
John Brown tried to start a slave uprising in Virginia in 1859. Him, his four sons, and a few farmers led an attack on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Federal troops under the command of Robert E. Lee captured Brown and his band after a two day battle. Brown and six of his followers were tried for treason, convicted, and hanged by the state of Virginia. This led to the Civil War because the southerners thought the north were using slaves to destroy the south -
Election of Lincoln
Douglas campaigned across the country, Lincoln confidently stayed home in Springfield, Illinois, meeting with Republican leaders and giving statements to the press. The election results were predictable. Lincoln carried every one of the free states of the North, which represented a solid majority of 59 percent of the electoral votes. This led to the Civil War because after the election many states seceded from the union.
