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The Missouri Compromise
Missouri’s application for slave state created a national debate. Plus the deeper moral issue posed by the growth of slavery. The addition of pro-slavery Missouri legislators would give the pro-slavery faction a Congressional majority. This marked the beginning of the sectional conflict over slavery which ultimately led to the civil war. Missouri was made a slave state and Maine was made a free state, to preserve the Congressional balance. -
Nat Turners Rebellion
A slave Nat Turner encouraged a rebellion that spread through several plantations in southern Virginia. He and around 70 of his men killed around 60 white people.This sparked a culture of fear in Virginia that then spread to the rest of the South. This destroyed the Southern belief that slaves were actually happy with their lives willing to undertake in rebellion. Virginia lawmakers reacted to the rebellion by cutting back what few civil rights slaves and free black people had at the time. -
The Compromise of 1850
The compromise made California a free state, and passed five laws. The New Mexico and Utah territories were officially created and given the right to choose slave or free state. The new law required all states to help return escaped slaves to their owners. The second law ended the slave trade in D.C. Slavery was legal in the district but ended the public trading areas which embarrassed many Northerners. Finally, Texas’s borders changed, the U.S. government took on the weight of their debts. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Most controversial part of the compromise of 1850. Escaped slaves were to be return to their owners even if they were in a free state. Federal government is responsible for finding returning and trying escaped slaves. Before this en-slavers were responsible to hire slave hunters on their own. This contributed to the war because the number of abolitionists increased, the operations of the Underground Railroad became more efficient, and new personal-liberty laws were started in many North states. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe & Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Northerners felt as if their eyes had been opened to the horrors of slavery. Southerners protested that Stowe’s work was false. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the second-best-selling book in America in the 19th century. Its popularity brought the issue of slavery to the eyes of those few who remained unmoved after decades of legislative conflict expanding the division between North and South.This encouraged some to speak out, which killed relations between north and south states and led to the Civil War. -
Anthony Burns Case
He escaped slavery in Virginia and was captured and tried in Boston before being sent back to Virginia. The outraged people in the North and further cause of abolition. His arrest sparked major protests, a failed courthouse rescue, a military takeover of downtown Boston and ultimately a return to slavery by the federal government. Personal Liberty laws prohibited citizens from complying with the federal law and protected escaped slaves as well as free black men and woman. -
Bleeding Kansas
People from the North and the South came into Kansas, hoping to get people on their side of the slavery. Violent uprising took place when both pro slavery and anti slavery activists flooded Kansas resulted in 55 deaths. It is ultimately the people of Kansas who decide by popular vote if the state is to be free or enslaved. Kansas engaged in a violent war between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in this event. This significantly shaped American politics and contributed to the Civil War. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a Virginia slave who tried to sue for his freedom in court. The case went to the Supreme Court, where the they found that, as a slave, Dred Scott was property and had no right and not recognized as a human being. The classification of slaves as property made the government’s authority to regulate the institution much more arguable. This also stated that Congress had no right to ban slavery from federal territory. This then pushed the nation even closer to the Civil War. -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
In the campaign between Lincoln and Douglas encountered seven public debates across Illinois where they debated the biggest issue slavery. Douglas won the senate race but these debates pushed Lincoln to the national spotlight and enabled his nomination for president in 1860. Douglas tried to brand Lincoln as violent while Lincoln emphasized the danger of slavery. Arguments Douglas made in the debates came back to hurt him in the 1860 election. Douglas lost his position as an influential leader. -
Harpers Ferry (John Brown
John Brown (abolitionist) supported violence against the South to end slavery. He and 19 men, armed with rifles raided the federal armory and arsenal at Harpers Ferry. In an effort to confiscate the arms located there, distribute them among local slaves and begin armed rebellion. Brown was tried for treason against the state of Virginia, convicted and hanged in Charles Town. The trial and execution of Brown pushed the nation closer to civil war.