-
Compromise of 1820
A great debate over where slavery would be allowed and where it would not. The debate occurred and finally a compromise was reached. It stated that Missouri would enter as a slave state, Maine would enter as a free state, and the 36'30 line would be drawn. -
Compromise of 1850
In this compromise, Congress would admit California as a free state. People in the New Mexico and Utah territories would decide on slavery using popular sovereignty. The slave trade, but not slavery, would end in D.C. Congress would pass a fugitive slave law. -
Fugitive Slave Law
This law was apart of the compromise of 1850. It was a law that required citizens to catch runaway slaves. If someone did not comply, they could be fined up to $1000 or put in jail for six months. Many blacks who were free were captured and sent back into slavery. Northerners hated this law because it forced them to become a part of slavery. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
A novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was written to show the horrors of slavery by telling the story of a slave who was whipped to death by his owner. Many people began to change their view of slavery after reading this book, but others said that the book was full of lies. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The act initially divided lands into Kansas and Nebraska territories. It was decided amongst the two territories that the issue of slavery would be decided by Popular Sovereignty, but this led to extreme violence in the Senate. Conflict began to rise between the pro-slavery and the anti-slavery settlers. -
Pottowatomieowa Creek Killings
John Brown and four of his sons decide to take action into their own hands because of all the violence happening in Kansas at the time. They rode into a small town and they pulled five pro-slavery men out of their beds in the middle of the night, and then they murdered them. John Brown thought that what he did was the right thing, but many northerners, who didn't believe in slavery, were appalled by what he had done. -
Dred Scott Decison
Scott moved with his owner John Emerson to Illinois in 1834, which is a free state. Then they returned back to Missouri, a slave state, in 1838 where his owner soon died shortly after. Scott then sued for his freedom. and it went to the Supreme Court but he lost. The court then ruled he was not a citizen but rather property and that they could not sue. Also, they ruled that Congress could not ban slavery in any territories. These actions made the Missouri Compromise of 1820 unconstitutional. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Abraham Lincoln (Republican) and Stephen Douglas (Northern Democrat) debated! Douglas believed in deciding slavery by popular sovereignty, but Lincoln believed that slavery should not be allowed to spread throughout the territories. Douglas won the election to be a senator, but Lincoln would gain a national following that would help him later. -
Raid on Harper's Ferry
John Brown had some unfinished business, and he led five blacks and thirteen whites into Harper's Ferry. The plan was to raid an arsenal and start a slave revolt, but no slaves were along to help. A number of his men died and then Brown was arrested. He was tried and found guilty of murder and treason, and then he was lynched. -
Election of 1860
Lincoln ran against Douglas in the Presidential Election of 1860. The Southerners did not like Lincoln or what he believed in. They overwhelmingly supported Douglas but Lincoln still won. This made the South very angry, and they even started to think that the North had too much power. So as a result the South begins to secede from the Union. The Union eventually collapses and the civil war begins.