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Missouri Compromise
Politicians in the North and South had heated debates over the growth of slavery. Henry Clay was known as the Great Compromiser, for settling debates over newly admitted states. A series of laws was created to help maintain an equal number of free and slave states, known as the Missouri Compromise. -
The Nullification Crisis
Southern states felt that tariffs being passed were unfair, so Vice President John C. Calhoun told South Carolina they could reject any federal laws they felt were unconstitutional. When South Carolina threatened to secede after the federal government denied their argument, Henry Clay compromised and lowered the disputed tariff. -
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay helped make a compromise as to whether new states won from Mexico would be considered free or slave states. He said that, California would be a free state, and congress could not pass any more laws against slavery for the rest of the territories. -
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
Congress passed The Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 permitting people to capture runaway slaves that fled to the north. As tensions rose, this law led to John Brown's raid on the Harpers Ferry arsenal, and the Civil War. -
Bleeding Kansas
Five thousand slavery supporters from Missouri came to Kansas to vote for proslavery representatives illegally. -
Dredd Scott Decision
Dredd Scott sued for his freedom as a former slave, but he was denied by the court who stated, that he was property, and as property he couldn't be taken from his owner without due process of law. -
Attack on Harpers Ferry
John Brown hoped to inspire slaves to fight for their freedom by arming them with weapons an arsenal in Harpers Ferry. Though it didn't go as planned, he and his men were captured and put to death as the tension of slavery in America began to rise. -
The Election of 1860
Shortly after Abraham Lincoln won the election, southern states began to secede from the Union.
