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The Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was a series of agreements made by Congress. This agreement came to be due to a large dispute that went on when new state Missouri applied for statehood as a slave state. This sparked a deep, bitter national debate. Ultimately, it was agreed upon that Missouri would be admitted as a slave state and Maine would also be admitted but as a free state. This compromise preserved a sectional balance between the states, but also further divided the two groups. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
A slave named Nat Turner incited a slave rebellion that swept across many plantations in Virginia. Turner and his 70 others killed approximately 62 white people, and after two days, were finally stopped by a militia deployed to stop the rebelling slaves. This was the most deadly slave rebellion to date. In response, Nat and 54 others were tried and executed for their crimes, and southern lawmakers rolled back all rights that blacks had. This further separated the two sections of the country. -
The Compromise of 1850
This compromise admitted California as a free state, it did not regulate slavery in the remainder of the Mexican cession, and in return strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act. This was a law that convinced Northerners to seize and return escaped slaves to the south or they could bare the same punishment as the slave. This almost helped to reinforce the disparity that divided the country. This forced non-slaveholders to participate in an institution they did not support, polarizing citizens further. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
This novel, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was a fictional tale depicting the life of a slave. At this time this book was a cultural sensation. Many northerners who read the book felt as if their eyes were finally opened to the true horrors of slavery. While quite on the contrary, southerners who read the tale protested and claimed her work was slanderous. This furthermore gave the two sections another issue to argue over, the book was only 2nd best selling to the bible in the 19th century. -
Bleeding Kansas
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 established Kansas and Nebraska as territories of the US. They adopted popular sovereignty, under this their residents decide by popular vote whether the state will be free or enslaved. This caused settlers from both sides to pour in to try to swing the vote their way, people were angry and violence came about. Abolitionist John Brown and his supporters killed 5 pro-slavery settlers in Kansas launching a small war between the sides, and deeming it Bleeding Kansas. -
Dred Scott vs. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave who tried to sue for his freedom in court. The case was taken to many courts where the verdict was the same, he was not free. He kept appealing this though until his case rose to the level of the Supreme Court. Here, justices found that because he was a slave, and technically a slave is a piece of property that a man can buy and own, he should have none of the legal rights of humans. This set a precedent for all cases similar in the future and increased polarization. -
Abraham Lincoln's Election
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected by a considerable margin, after not even being put on many southern voting ballots. Lincoln was a Republican, his party's anti-slavery outlook struck fear into many southerners. So much so that a little over a month after polls closed, South Carolina and six other states seceded from the Union. This was the last spark needed to start the Civil War. The south feared under Lincoln's presidency that their way of life would be destroyed.
