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Missouri Compromise
When Missouri requests for statehood in 1819, they wished to enter into the Union as a slave state. However, this would upset to balance between free states and slave states. The solution was to admit Missouri as a slave state and to also admit Maine as a free state. This is significant because it shows the struggle that the country was in over the divide between slavery and no slavery. -
State vs. Mann
This was the North Carolina Supreme Court decision that slave owners had full dominion over their slaves. This ruling showed how little slaves were valued and that they were open to abuse from their owners. This drew the attention of anti-slavery activists in the south and showed the mistreatent of most slaves. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
This rebellion was a slave rebellion that took place in Southhapton County, Virginia. Rebel slaves led by Nat Turner killed more than 50 people. The rebellion was repressed a few days later, but Turner lived a couple months following the rebellion. This caused fear within the southern states. Local militias gathered and executed slaves involved in the rebellion. This shows the growing fear of slave revolts and the struggle to keep everyone happy and the slaves under control. -
Gag Rule
This gag rule forbade the House from considering anti-slavery petitions. This was favorable for the south, making sure that no one so much as mentioned ending slavery. When people of the north, such as John Quincy Adams, began to speak out against these gag rules, the southern states were angered. This was repealed in 1844 after numerous mentions of the gag rule going against freedom of speech. This demonstrates the growing tension between the north and the south when slavery is even mentioned. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was introduced by a democratic reprsentative named David Wilmot from Pennsylvania. This proviso was an attempt to provent slavery in any of the new territory gained from Mexico. This caused tension once again between those for and against slavery. The territories and states would no longer be split between slave and free states. -
California Gold Rush
With the discovery of gold in the new U.S. territory of California, everyone rushed to claim their fortune. However, a problem arose when people of the south began to bring their slaves to help with the labor. This made the slave owners have a greater advantage against the average gold miner. Because of this competition, those who did not own slaves were against slave labor in the mines. This called for California to ban slavery. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of !850 was a series of resolutions proposed by Henry Clay. This was sparked from California wanting to enter as a free state, which would upset the balance bewteen free and slave states. The idea was to help resolve growing tensions between the north and the south. This compromise prevented further territorial expansion of slavery and stregthened the Fugitive Slave Act. This also resulted in the slave trade in Washington, D.C. to be abolished. -
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Act required northeners to seize and return escaped slaves to their owners in the south. This was passed as a part of the Compromise of 1850. Those found interfering in a slave's capture were greatly punished. These laws were very controversial and resulted in many northern states attempting to use their state's rights to avoid having to enforce this act. the Fugitive Slave Act was repealed in 1864. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin is a fictional novel written in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe snd showed the stark brutality of slavery. It followed Uncle Tom, a slave who was struggling during the time. The people of the north felt as though they finally had insight involving slavery while those in the south felt that Stowe's work was slanderous. The popularity of this book brought to life the issue of slavery and created a greater divide between the north and the south. -
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Bleeding Kansas
After the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed settlers in two territories to determine whether or not to become slaves states by popular vote, pro- and anti-slavery agitators fled to Kansas in hopes of changing the vote by sheer number. Those for and those against slavery struggled against each other for years with outbreaks of violence that resulted in 56 deaths. Both terrtories ended up becoming anti-slavery, but the violence shocked the nation. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This bill that was passed mandated popular sovereignty. This allowed settlers in the territories to decide whether or not they would want slavery in a new state's boarders. This was proposed by Stephen Douglas. This caused problems between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settelers and led to a time of violence known as Bleeding Kansas. -
The Pottawatomie Creek Masacre
John Brown, who was an anti-slavery activist, thought that it was completely immoral to own slaves. He had a simple solution: kill slave owners. He went with his sons into the pro-slavery community of Pottawatomie Creek one night. Brown and the rest of his crew stormed various houses of slave owners, armed with rifles and knives. A total of five men were killed. This shows the growing hostility between those for and against slavery. It has gotten to the point where people are being killed. -
Dred Scott vs. Sanford
Dred Scott, a slave, had just moved to the free territory of Wisconsin with his owner. Because Wisconsin didn't allow slavery, Scott attempted to sue for his freedom. When the ruling was reached, it showed just how slaves were viewed. The conclusion was that slaves were not citizens of the United States and couldn't be protected under the Federal Government or the courts. The courts concluded that rights of slaveowners were protected by the fifth amendment, since slaves were viewed as property. -
John Brown's Raid
John Brown had a plan to raid the government arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. He gathered whites and free blacks to help him gather the weapons. His plan was to distribute these weapons to slaves in the south in the hopes of creating a series of slave uprisings. He succeeded in raiding the arsenal, but was surrounded and later executed. This shows the extreme lengths that some people are willing to go to in order to abolish slavery. -
Lincoln Elected President
Lincoln was elected, even without support from the south. His party's anti-slavery outlook scared most southerners. Shortly after the polls closed, South Carolina seceded from the union. Six more states followed leading up to the spring of the next year. This was the breaking point of the nation where there was a clear division on where each state stood when it came to slavery.
