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The Compromise of 1850
A compromise of which two senators Henry Clay and Stephen Douglas reached an accord. The compromise prevented further expansion of slavery while strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act. -
Fugitive Slave Act
This act was passed by congress during The Great Compromise of 1850, and is a law which forced the Northerners to seize and return escaped slaves to the South. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes a fictional novel named Uncle Tom's Cabin that showed everyone the life and daily routine of a slave. Northerners felt like they finally are not blind to the horrors that had been going on unknown to them. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
Kansas-Nebraska Act, which overturned parts of the Missouri Compromise by permitting the settlers in the two territories to determine whether or not to permit slavery by a popular vote, becomes law. -
The Siege of Lawrence
A band of pro-slavery activists, led by Sheriff Samuel J. Jones, attacked and ransacked the town of Lawrence, Kansas which had been founded by anti-slavery groups in progress of making Kansas into a "free-state" -
The Caning of Charles Sumner
After a tense conversation between the two men Andrew Butler (Pro-Slavery) and Charles Sumner (Anti-Slavery) about the abolition of slavery and accusations of two senate members, Butler returned later to beat Charles bloody, if he had believed Charles as a gentleman he would have equally challenged him to a duel, but instead he beat him like the animal he thought him to be. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott, a Virginia slave who tried to sue for his own freedom in court, brought his argument to the Supreme Court who then ruled that he as a piece of someones property, could not have any rights afforded to a human being. -
Lecompton Constitution Rejected
The Lecompton Constitution was made to make Kansas a slave state and exclude all free blacks from living in Kansas. Though this was rejected because Kansas was in the process of becoming a free-state and succeeds in 1858. -
John Brown's Raid
In Harpers Ferry, Virginia, John Brown and his band of freed blacks and white allies converge and completely raid a government arsenal. John stormed this place in hopes he could gather enough materials and weapons to distribute them among the southerner slaves in the hopes of starting conflict. -
Abraham Lincoln's Election
Abraham Lincoln was elected as president despite not being included on many Southern ballots. As Abraham was Republican, this frightened many Southerners so on December 20, 1860 South Carolina and six other states excluded themselves from the Union.
