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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was made by Henry Clay. Maine became a free state, and Missouri became a slave state. It was important because it was used to keep the balance between free states and slave states. The Louisiana Territory north of the southern Missouri border would be free. Southern slave owners could pursue escaped slaves into free states. -
Wilmot Proviso
Representative David Wilmot from Pennsylvania proposed a plan that the Mexican Cession territories would ban slavery. The south viewed the document as an attack on slavery from the north. It passed through the house but not the senate. This was important because the people had a choice in political decisions. It also showed how divided the nation was and where the different beliefs were. -
The Compromise of 1850
The people of the territories of New Mexico and Utah would decide the slavery question by popular sovereignty. The slave trade but not slavery would end in Washington D. C. The Fugitive Slave Act was created and Texas gave up its claims to New Mexico in return for $10 million. This was important because it kept the balance between the slave states and the free states and it shows how divided the nation had become. It gave the free states and slave states more responsibilities. -
Fugitive Slave Act
It allowed officials to arrest anyone accused of being a runaway slave. The suspects had no right to a trial. Northerners were required to help capture the accused runaways. This was created in 1850 as an addition to the Compromise of 1850. This was significant because it showed how split the nation was if they had to create a law to have peace. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
It was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1853. It is about an enslaved man who was abused by his cruel owner. This book was important because it showed what the slave life was like. It opened the eyes to many white people and showed them how awful slavery was. This book gained more supporters for anti-slavery. -
Kansas Nebraska Act/Bleeding Kansas
This act allowed people in the Kansas-Nebraska Territory to decide the issue over slavery by popular sovereignty and undid the Missouri Compromise. Southerners supported the act and were happy, but northerners felt betrayed and were outraged. President Franklin Pierce signed the act. Thousands of anti-slavery and pro-slavery settlers started to move to the territory, creating two governments in Kansas. Violence broke out, and Kansas earned the name of Bleeding Kansas. Stephen Douglas passed it. -
Dred Scott Case
In 1857, Dred Scott sued Congress for his freedom. He claimed that because he lived in two places where slavery was illegal, he should be a free man. Congress declared that Scott could not sue because he was a slave and not a U.S. citizen, living in a free state did not declare him free, and slaves were property of U.S. citizens and could not be taken away. Southerners were extremely happy with the results of the case. There was nothing that could hold them back from having slaves. -
Lincoln Douglas Debate
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln ran for Senate against Stephen Douglas. Douglas thought that states should use popular sovereignty to decide whether or not to continue the practice of slavery, he was pro-slavery. Lincoln thought that slavery was wrong and should not be spread any further and that African Americans deserve the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Stephen Douglas won the election, but Abraham Lincoln became a national figure. This event ended on October 15, 1858. -
John Brown's Raid
John Brown and his followers attacked Harpers Ferry, Virginia, seized guns, planning to start a slave revolt. Marines came in and stopped the issue, injuring John Brown. Brown was captured by Colonel Robert. E. Lee. Ten of Brown’s followers were killed. Brown was tried for murder and treason and was found guilty. He fully believed in God and was publicly executed later. This was significant because it showed that the issue over slavery would not end without bloodshed and how far people would go. -
Lincoln's Election of 1860
In 1860, Republican Abraham Lincoln ran for president against Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas, who favored popular sovereignty, Southern Democrat John Breckinridge, who supported slavery in the territories, and Constitutional Union Party runner-up John Bell, who promised to protect slavery and keep the nation together. Lincoln won every free state, Breckinridge won most of the slave states, Bell won three states in the upper south, and Douglas won Missouri. -
Southern Secession
When Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election in 1860, southerners felt that the president and Congress were against their interests. Southern states then started to secede and form the Confederate States of America. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union. Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida soon followed. By March, the confederacy already had a constitution and declared former Senator Jefferson Davis as president. This ended May 9, 1865.
