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Missouri Compromise
Henry Clay led the compromise. In this event Missouri was admitted to the nation as a slave state, but to balance it out Maine was admitted as a free state. There was a law created that banned slavery from north of Missouri (except Missouri). This divided the nation. The cause of the compromise was congress needed to balance out the slave and free states. The effect was that an imaginary line was drawn and the conflict up slavery opened up once again. -
Wilmot Proviso
David Wilmot wanted to ban slavery in all the Mexican Cession territories. Southerners were mad because they thought of it as an attack on slavery from the north. David Wilmot proposed the the WIlmot Proviso because he thought it would be an appropriate payment for Mexico since the US had taken some of their land. Although the bill failed, the Southerners became mad at the thought of losing slavery. -
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay thought that the south was going to secede, so he wanted to make a compromise. California and the Mexican Cession territories were admitted as a free states. The North was mad about the fugitive slave law and the south was mad about California. The other laws were: a stricter fugitive slave law, a boundary drawn between New Mexico and Texas, stopping slavery in its tracks, the outlaw of the slave trade in Washington, DC, and popular sovereignty. -
Fugitive Slave Law
This event allowed officers to arrest anyone accused of being a runaway slave, even if they're a free black person. Northerners were forced to help out. It was done to please the South after the Compromise of 1850. The North was mad because they now were forced to take part in slavery. But the South was also mad because their slaves were running away. Now slaves and black people were not safe anywhere in the US. This convinced many Northerners that slavery was evil. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe, the daughter of an abolitionist who was deeply affected by slavery, published a book about an enslaved man who is abused by his owner. This caused the North to realize how bad slavery really was. The South thought of this as misled information and called propaganda. Stowe was said to be the one who started the Civil War. -
Kansas Nebraska Act/ Bleeding Kansas
Senator Stephen Douglas introduced a law that allowed the people the territory to decide the slavery issue by popular sovereignty. Popular sovereignty caused people to come into the states and vote. However, people from all over moved to the territories to vote even if they didn't live there. The North was outraged and the South supported the act. Violence broke out and spread to the senate states. Kansas became a free state and so did Nebraska. Now the North and South were divided. -
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott, a slave, had his owner moved into the North from the South and brought Scott with him. Scott sued for freedom because he thought that it was unfair that he was the only slave being in the north, and in a free state. He did not get his freedom because he was told he wasn't a person, but his owner's property. Now slavery was not illegal in the North. The North feared that slavery would spread west. The South was happy because slavery was now legal in all territories. -
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Lincoln Douglas Debate
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas were both running for senate. They engaged in a series of debates which were followed throughout the country. Douglas wanted individual states get to decide whether or not to have slaves. Lincoln wanted slavery to be banned. Douglas won and he got senate. -
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John Brown's Raid
John Brown led an attack on the town of Harper’s ferry Virginia. After the attack John Brown was accused of treason and he was sentenced to death. John Brown and his followers thought that the bible instructed them to care for the poor and enslaved. The continuing tensions between the north and the south drove the nation apart and broke up the US. -
Lincoln’s Election of 1860
It was time to elect a new president so four people of opposing parties ran against each other. Abraham Lincoln won in every free state. Stephen Douglas won Missouri. Breckinridge won in most of the slave states. Bell won three states in the upper south. Lincoln won the election due to getting the most electoral college votes. The South decided to quickly secede from the United States since they felt Lincoln would not protect their slavery rights. They were clear they wouldn't negotiate. -
Southern Secession
There were 11 states that seceded from the nation and formed their own nation. They called themselves the Confederate States and elected Jefferson Davis as their president, as well as creating their own Constitution. On April 12, 1861 Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter and the US surrendered. Slavery was the cause of the war. This caused the nation to divide between the issue, and one of the last events in the Civil War. The North won the fight, and slavery was abolished.
