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fugitive slave act
Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. -
election of 1852
Democrats Franklin Pierce and William King defeat Whigs Winfield Scott and William Graham for President and Vice-President -
gadsen purchase
The Gadsden Purchase, or Treaty, was an agreement between the United States and Mexico, finalized in 1854, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico. -
kansas nebraska act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1852 -
kansas becomes a state
March 30, 1855 Kansas elects its first territorial legislature. Pro-slavery Missourians cross the border into Kansas to vote against Freestate candidates -
bleeding kansas
Samuel Jones, a pro-slavery sheriff leads a band of border ruffians on a raid against Lawrence, Kansas -
Lecompton Constitution
The Lecompton Convention, a pro-slave constitutional convention convenes -
republican party
Abraham Lincoln makes his "House Divided" speech before the Illinois Republican Convention to kick off his senatorial run against Stephen Douglas -
oregon
Oregon enters the United States as a free state -
West Virginia Is Born.
Residents of the western counties of Virginia did not wish to secede along with the rest of the state. This section of Virginia was admitted into the Union as the state of West Virginia on June 20, 1863
