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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed
The treaty that gave America over half of the territory that Mexico owned. This treaty gave America the final component of Manifest Destiny. -
The Compromise of 1850
The compromise proposed to keep the issue of slavery from dividing the nation. The North gained California as a free state while the South received the Fugitive slave act from the compromise. -
The Fugitive slave act is passed
This law was very contriversial in the north due to the growing abolitionist support. Due to this many northerners simply ignored the law and warned free blacks and slaves when slave hunters were in the area. -
Uncle Tom's cabin is published
The novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe depected the cruelties of slavery and the immoralities of slavery. Due to the publishing of this novel the country was divided even further than the already apparebt division between north and south. -
The Republican party forms
The Whig party joined together with many other parties and formed the Republican party. John C. Freemont was the leader and first presidential canidate for the party while John Breckenridge was the leader of the pro slavery forces at the time. -
The Kansas Nebraska act.
The author of the Kansas Nebraska act tried to promote popular soverignty to settle the issue of slavery. The author, Stephen Douglas thought that if everyone voted on the issue it would give an accurate statement of who actually wanted slavery and who opposed slavery. -
The Sack of Lawrence
1,200 slave supporting southerners surrounded the small city of Lawrence, Kansas and they sacked the city. Looting, killing and raping the citizens of the small town. -
The Pottawattamie Massacre
On the night of May, 24th 1856 John Brown led five of his sons in a brutal massacre of five pro slave men. Dismembering their bodies and hacking them to bits. -
The election of 1856
The three way race was a close battle with James Buchanen triumphing over John C. Fremont and Millard Fillmore. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
A slave named Dred Scott argued to the supreme court cheif justice Roger Taney that since he lived in a slave free territory that he should be free and the court later ruled against him. -
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, VA
John Brown led several men in capturing the armory in Virginia. Hoping to spark a slave revolt he was surrounded by U.S. Marines and he was wounded in his capture. He was tried for treason and conspiracy. -
Lincoln Douglas debates
Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglas both argued for the possition of slavery and presented their views to the American people. There were over ten debates and they allowed the American people to know what the views of these men were. -
Abrsham Lincoln Elected President
This action caused the civil war in the upcoming years due to Lincoln's views on slavery and Southern Confederate attacks on various forts across the south.
