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Missouri Compromise of 1820
Proposed by Henry Clay to fix the balance between free and slave states. Had three major parts; Maine would be a free state, Missouri would be a slave state, all future states added from the Louisiana Purchase above the line 36 30' would be a free state, and those below would be slave states. Both the North and South originally like this idea, however while expanding West they no longer followed the compromise. It was replaced with the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the idea of popular sovereignty. -
Manifest Destiny 1840's
American expansion that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast. This attitude helped fuel western settlement, Native American removal and war with Mexico. Free soilers demanded that the land remain slave-free, and the south which wanted to expand slavery, and eventually most of them became free which royally made the south very angry. -
Annexation of Texas and California 1845
U.S. President James K. Polk oversaw the greatest territorial expansion of the United States to date. Polk accomplished this through the annexation of Texas in 1845, the negotiation of the Oregon Treaty with Great Britain in 1846, and the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848, which ended with the signing and ratification of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848. -
Mexican-American treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
War between United States and Mexico stemming from the U.S annexation of Texas in 1845-1848 and from a dispute over whether Texas ended at the nueces river. Treaty of Gudalupr Hidalgo added 525,000 miles to the United States territory. With all the land that was gained from the Mexican-American war there was issue whether if it was going to be a free state or a slave state -
The fugitive slave act
The fugitive slave act were a pair of federal laws that allowed the capture and retire of runway slaves within the United States. The fugitive slave act was passed by congress on September 18, 1850 as part of the compromise of 1850 between south slave-holding interests and north free soldiers abolitionists nicked named it the "bloodhound law" due to the dogs that were used to capture runways slaves. This created conflict between the south and the north. -
Compromise of 1850
Proposed by Henry Clay. There were five major parts; California was to be a free state, New Mexico and Utah would be based on popular sovereignty, Fugitive Slave Act, to end the slave trade in the District of Columbia, and the government would buy land from Texas to solve their debt crisis. It succeeded in preventing immediate hostility between the North and South, but it never completely fixed the issues. The North and South were never unified. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854
Two new states were created, Kansa and Nebraska. They would not follow the Missouri Compromise, but instead be based off of popular sovereignty on whether or not they were a slave or free state. This created tension because the Southerners supported this idea, while the North did not. It caused a major battle and uprising in Kansas . -
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Bleeding Kansas 1855-1861
A major political battle between pro-slavery and abolitionist.Since Kansas was a state that followed popular sovereignty, 5000 Missourians went to Kansas and voted. Causing the state to become a slave state. This outraged the free-staters and they rebelled. "Bleeding Kansas" is a powerful symbol of sectional controversy. The violence shocked the nation and was a foreshadow of the violence to come in the near future. -
Dred Scott vs. Stanford 1857
Also known simply as the Dred Scott case, was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on US labor law and constitutional law. It held that "a African, whose ancestors were imported into the U.S, and sold as slaves", whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court, and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States. -
Election of Aberham Lincoln
Aberham Lincol 16th president of the United States over a deeply divided Democratic Party, became Republican to win. In 1860 election Lincoln faced Dougles, who represented the northern fraction of a heavily divided Democractic party. When Lincoln had won victory it signaled the secession of the southern states, which since the beginning year had been publicly threatening secession if republicans gained the White House. He wanted to end slavery
