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Compromise of 1850
Who: Senator Henry Clay
What: California requested to be part ofthe Union as a free state.
Where: North and South of United States.
Outcome: Fugitive Slave Act was amended, slave trade in Washington D.C. was abolished, and California became a free state.
Significance: It upset the slave states. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Who: Harriet Beecher Stowe
What: A novel that shows the cruelty of slavery.
Where: Brunswick, ME and Andover, MA
Outcome: It became the best-selling novel of the 19th century, and second best-selling book of that century. It helped fuel the abolitiionist cause.
Signficance: It personalized the political and economic arguments about slavery. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Who: Stephen A. Douuglas
What: Bill that mandated "popular sovereignity" allowing settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state's borders.
Where: Kansas-Nebraska territory
Outcome: It abolished the Missouri Compromise.
Significance: The aftermath led to the period of violence known as Bleeding Kansas. -
Dred Scott v Sandford
Who: Dred Scott, Eliza Irene/John Sanford
What: The Supreme Court ruled that Americans of African descent, whether free or slave, were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court.
Where: Missouri
Outcome: The Reconstruction Congress ratified the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment, which directly overturned the Dred Scott-decision.
Significance: It strengthened the dtermination of abolitionists to achieve their goals. -
John Brown's Raid in Harper's Ferry
Who: John Brown
What: Brown launched attacks on Harper's Ferry together with 21 men hoping that the slaves would join in the fight.
Where: Harper's Ferry
Outcome: It was a failed attack. Many died. Those who survived were tried, sentenced, and executed.
Significance: It intensified the tension between the north and the south, and raised stakes in the Presidential Elections. -
The Election of 1860
Who: Stephen Douglas, John Bell, Abraham Lincoln, John Breckenridge
What: The Presidential Election where the Democratic party was divided nominating two candidates, and sole candidate from the Republicans and another candidate from a new party which was held in a time of crisis for the country.
Where: United States
Outcome: Lincoln won and became the President of U.S. Civil War began after a month of Lincoln's inauguration.
Significance: It gave the southern states a final push to secede.
