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1850 fugitive slave act
this was one of the most controversial acts of the 1850 compromise and heightened northern fears of a "slave power conspiracy". it declared that all runaway slaves were upon capture, to be returned to their masters. abolitionists nicknamed it the "bloodhound law" for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves. -
compromise of 1850
the compromise of 1850 consists of five laws passed in september of 1850 that dealt with the issue of slavery. in 1849 california requested permission to enter the union as a free state, potentially upsetting the balance between the free and slave states in the U.S. senate. -
brooks-summer incident
when charles sumner beat george brooks on the floor of the U.S. senate with a silver tipped cane, the fight sparked the swelling animosity between the north and the south. -
Stowe’s “Uncle Toms Cabin”
Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman. Stowe, a Connecticut-born teacher at the Hartford Female Academy and an active abolitionist, featured the character of Uncle Tom, a long-suffering black slave around whom the stories of other characters revolve. -
kansas nebraska act
The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opening new lands for settlement, and had the effect of repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by allowing settlers in those territories to determine through Popular Sovereignty whether they would allow slavery within each territory. -
beecher’s bibles
it was a term for a rifle. around 1860 a church in kansas needed rifles and bibles. money was raised and they were both sent in crates marked bibles to avoid suspicion. a pastor agreed to get them and his name was beecher. so the term beechers bibles came into being. -
bleeding kansas
bleeding kansas refers to the time between 1854-58 when the kansas territory was the site of much violence over whether the territory would be free or slave. the kansas-nebraska act of 1854 set the scene by allowing the territory of kansas to decide for itself whether it would be free or slave, a situation known as popular sovereignty. -
Pottawatomie Massacre
The Pottawatomie Massacre occurred during the night of May 24 and the morning of May 25, 1856. In reaction to the sacking of Lawrence (Kansas) by pro-slavery forces, John Brown and a band of abolitionist settlers (some of them members of the Pottawatomie Rifles) killed five settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas. This was one of the many bloody episodes in Kansas preceding the American Civil War, which came to be known collectively as Bleeding Kansas. -
sred scott
the united states supreme court, led by chief justice roger b. taney, declared that all blacks slaves as well as free were not and could never become citizens of the united states. the court also declared the 1820 missouri compromise unconstitutional, thus permiting slavery in all of the country's territories. the case before the court was that of dred scott v. sanford. dred scott, a slave who had lived in the free state of illinois and the free territory of wisconsin before moving back. -
Lecompton Constitution
The Lecompton Constitution was the second of four proposed constitutions for the state of Kansas (it was preceded by the Topeka Constitution and was followed by the Leavenworth and Wyandotte). The document was written in response to the anti-slavery position of the 1855 Topeka Constitution of James H. Lane and other free-state advocates. -
freeport doctrine
the freeport doctrine was stephen douglas's answer to lincoln's question, in which he explained that slavery could only exist where there was a slave code. if a state did not pass the necessary laws to protect slavery, then they could not have slavery exist there. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
The Lincoln–Douglas Debates of 1858 were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for Senate in Illinois, and the incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. At the time, U.S. senators were elected by state legislatures; thus Lincoln and Douglas were trying for their respective parties to win control of the Illinois legislature. -
john brown’s raid on harpers ferry
on october 16, 1859, abolitionist john brown and several followers seized the united states armory and arsenal at harpers ferry. the actions of brown's men brought national attention to the emotional divisions concerning slavery. -
abraham lincoln wins election
talk of disunion over the past 40 years was sparked into action with the election of 1860, when abraham lincoln became the first modern republican president. his vote totals by percentage were the lowest ever recorded, but with the democratic party split three ways, it was more than enough to win the electoral college. -
South Carolina Secedes
The white population of South Carolina, long before the American Civil War, strongly supported the institution of slavery. Political leaders such as John C. Calhoun and Preston Brooks had inflamed regional (and national) passions, and for years before the eventual start of the Civil War in 1861, voices cried for secession. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first Southern state to declare its secession and later formed the Confederacy. -
Raid on Lawrence, Kansas
The Lawrence Massacre, also known as Quantrill's Raid, was a rebel guerrilla attack during the U.S. Civil War by Quantrill's Raiders, led by William Clarke Quantrill, on the pro-Union town of Lawrence, Kansas
