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Missouri Compromise of 1820
In 1820 Henry Clay presented the Missouri Compromise to Congress. It settled the conflict that had arised from Missouri's application for statehood. It had three main conditions. Maine would join as a free state but Missouri would join as a slave state. Slavery wouldn't be allowed in new territories or states north of 36 30' latitude, which is Missouri's southern border. It was needed back then because it settled the dispute of how to admit Missouri to the Union without upsetting the balance. -
Wilmot Proviso (1846)
In 1846 David Wilmot made it and presented it to the House of Representatives and the Senate. The document stated that slavery or involuntary servitude shouldn't exist in the territory of the Mexican Cession. It passed in the House but not in the Senate because the South had more power. Those that were against slavery needed it and in a way would've benefited from it, should it have passed. In the end it benefited those that were in favor of slavery. It stirred up sectionalism. -
Compromise of 1850
In 1850 Henry Clay introduced it at the Senate. It would let California in as a free state. The rest of the Mexican Cession would be federal land. The slave trade would end but not slavery. Texas would give up land east of the upper Rio Grande. And a more effective fugitive slave law would be passed. It let the Union have another free state. People needed it because to a certain point it shaped the future of the Union. -
Compromise of 1850 (continued)
John C. Calhoun argued that letting California in as a free state would upset the balance between free and slave states. He asked that slave states should be able to secede. Senator Daniel Webster favored Clay's plan. -
Fugitive Slave Act
On September 1850 Henry Clay presented it to the Senate as part of the Compromise of 1850. Slaveholders could use the testimony of white witnesses, but the enslaved African Americans that were accused couldn't give their testimony. People that helped hide a runaway slave face six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Those that were captured were sent to their slaveholders. This law benefited slaveholders because it encouraged slaves to not run away. -
Fugitive Slave Act (continued)
The slaveholders could have a little bit more control over their slaves. Most of the northerners opposed to it peacefully, but violence did erupt. When Anthony Burns was arrested in Boston, abolitionists used force to get him out of jail. In the process they killed a deputy marshal. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
On January 1854 Stephen Douglas presented the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It was a plan that divided the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase into two new territories, which are Kansas and Nebraska. In these territories the people would choose if they wanted slavery or not. It eliminated the Missouri Compromise's restrictions of slavery north of the 36 30' line. It gave people the right to choose what they wanted and it also gave them a voice. -
Bleeding Kansas
Anti-slavery and pro-slavery people attacked each other in 1854 in Kansas. A pro-slavery jury charged anti-slavery leaders with treason. 800 men rode to Lawerence to arrest them, but they had fled. To take their anger out they set fires, looted buildings, and destroyed anti-salver printing presses. One man was killed. John Brown, an abolitionist, decided to kill all pro-slavery people. After that Kansas collapsed into a civil war. This showed how slavery was a big issue that needed to be solved. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
In 1857 Dred Scott presented his case to the Missouri state courts. When his owner died, he was under the control of his owner's wife. He sued for his freedom in the Missouri state courts. A lower court ruled in his favor but the Missouri Supreme Court didn't. The U.S. Supreme Court didn't rule in his favor because he wasn't a citizen and he hadn't lived on free soil for a long period of time. This is important because it showed that you needed the Supreme Court to rule in your favor. -
Lincoln- Douglas Debates
In 1858 Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held debates in the Senate. Lincoln and Douglas both attacked each other to become the leader of the Senate. They would criticize each other on things they would say. It's important because it showed how candidates would attack each other to get what they wanted. Stephen Douglas won but Lincoln became an important leader of the Republican Party.
