Causes of the Civil War

  • Missouri Compromise of 1820

    Missouri Compromise of 1820
    Missouri wanted to enter the union as a slave state, but it would make the slave and free states uneven. So henry Clay came up with this compromise which admitted Missouri as a slave state, and Maine as a free state. To seperate the free and slave states a line was drawn. (36' 30' line)
  • Wilmot Proviso

    Wilmot Proviso
    Wilmot and Northerners feared the addition of slave territory so they proposed the Wilmot Proviso. This was a proposal to outlaw slavery in the territory added to the United States by the Mexican Cession. This proposal went through the House of Represntatives but didn't go through with Congress.
  • Compromise of 1850

    Compromise of 1850
    Was when California was able to enter the union as a free state. While the rest of the Mexican Cession was divided into 2 territories, where slavery would be divided by popular sovereignty.
  • Fugitive Slave Act

    Fugitive Slave Act
    This was an act that stated it was a crime to help runaway slaves. this act allowed officials to arrest those slaves in free areas. This act was passed because of the current situations of people escaping by using the Underground Railroad in the South.
  • Kansas - Nebraska Act

    Kansas - Nebraska Act
    This was a plan that would divide the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase into 2 territories known ad the Kansas and Nebraska territory. This act would allow the people in each territory to decide on the question of slavery. This act would also eliminate the Missouri Compromise restriction on slavery North of the 36' 30' line.
  • Bleeding Kansas

    When popular soverignty was allowed in the Kansas - Nebraska act, it allowed Kansas to decide wheter it would be free terriotry / slave territory. This is what caused small battles to grow to big battles and later known as Bleeding Kansas. Was a sequence of violent events involving abilitionist, pro slavery, and anti slavery people. John Brown led 1 of the most violent campaigns to end slavery. There was a lot of blood in this fight.
  • Dred Scott v. Sandford

    Dred Scott v. Sandford
    Dred Scotts lawyer died and he was still considered as a slave. So he went to court and eventualy ended up at the U.S. Supreme Court. He wanted to be considered free because his slaveholder lived in a free state for 4 years. The court then decided slaves were not citizens so they could not bing suit into court. Slaves were property, and congress couldn't ban slavery from the territories. The Missouri Compromise was also announced unconstitutional.
  • Lincoln - Douglas Debates

    Lincoln - Douglas Debates
    This was a series of 7 debates throughout the state of Illinois. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas had different views on slavery.Douglas thought that African Americans shouldnt be free or have any rights only white people. While Lincoln either wanted the union to be either free states or slave states, but he didnt like slavery.