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invention of cotton gin
The Cotton Gin was invented again because they already had it but Eli Whitney just improved it by using a double roller machine. Why this helpe was because it made the cotton industry a lot more productive. It would be a cheaper way of making cloth. On the other side a lot more slave were needed. -
The Embargo Act of 1807
The Embargo Act of 1807 was a law signed by Thomas Jefferson. It kept American ships from trading in foreign ports like britain and france. The country lost a lot of money trading with Britain and France. In the north there was talk about leaving (called seceding) the US becuase of this. It was the first time serious talk about seceding happened. -
The Missouri Compromise
Missouri wanted to be a slave state. It would make the Congress have more pro-slavery Congressmen so there would not be a balance any more. The compromise let Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. They drew an imaginary line across western territories that divided the north as free and the south as slave. -
Tariff of Abominations
It was a protective tariff passed by the United States Congress. It was created to protect the northern part of the United States. It would protect indistries in the north because they were being driven out of business by the lower priced merchandise and getting taxed by the southern part of the Unite States. -
Underground Railroad
This was a way to get slaves out of the south and into the north or Canada. They moved from safe house to safe house by people called conductors. The most famous conductor was Harriet Tubman. The north helped slaves leave because they thought it was the right thing to do. The south saw it as hurting their economy and breaking the law by helping their property leave. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
He was a slave that led a rebellion in Virginia that killed 60 people. It was the bloodiest uprising that had happened so far. He was eventually killed and other people were lynched. Virginia passed laws took back the right to have an education, right to assemble and the few other rights they had. -
Wilmot Proviso
Congressman David Wilmot tried to bring this legislation that said if the US got new land through a war that land would be free. He tried every way to get this plan passed but it didn't work. There was a lot of strong debate and it was the first time states even talked about succession. -
Mexican War Ended
When this war ended America was given land in the western part of the country. The land was territory for the US because the area had to apply to become states. Then they would have to be accepted. Discussion started about the territory because the Northern states want the new states to be anti slavery and the southern states wanted the new states to be slave states. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The act was in the Compromise of 1850 but it is important by itself. It said a federal official had to stop and arrest a runaway slave and if they didn't arrest them, the official would be fined. So even if you were in the north and you did not believe in slavery you had to arrest runaway slaves. This was against what northerners believed. The south thought it was a good act becuase they saw it like the US government was saying slavery was ok and that the runaway slaves were like property. -
The Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay and Stephen Douglas were senators that got this compromise passed in Congress. President Fillmore signed it. It kept slavery from expanding and made the Fugitive Slave Act strong. Even thought it is a compromise it made people upset because it didn't change or decide if slavery was right or wrong. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe was expressing slave life in her book. Northerners were astonished at the horrors of slavery while Southerners was untruthful. The book made people have either stronger belief against slavery as the Northerners would or on the South side they agrued against the book and fought for slavery. -
Bleeding Kansas
It was a fight in Kansas to change the Missiouri Compromise called the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 that let new settlers in the territories decide to have slavery or not by majority vote by the people. 56 people died in a 5 year battle between in slavery and against slavery. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
Congress passed this act for people in Kansas and Nebraska to decide if they wanted slavery or not. The north didn't like it becuase they thought it was already decided by the Missouri Compromise. John Brown was the leader of the anti-slavery group. There was fighting. President Pierce who was for slavery sent in troops. They had another election. The for slavery group won but they were accused of election fraud. Congress did not adopt the for slavery constitution for Kansas. -
Dredd Scott Case
He was a Va slave who wanted equal rights and it ended up going into the Supreme Court. They decided that he was wrong because he was a slave and they said slaves were a piece of property. The case made southerns happy and they felt like they could challenge more and get their ideas of slavery approved. -
John Brown's Raid
He was anti-slavery. He took a group of other anti slavery people to a government arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He tried to get as many weapons to slaves in southern states as he could. He was tried and then killed. Abolitionists thought he was a hero, but what he did scared southerners and they started to militarize. -
Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln won the election. He beat John Breckenridge, John Bell and Steven Douglas. He was by a large amount. He was against slavery which was upsetting to the southern states. In December of 1860 South Carolina voted to seced from the US. The next year other southern states did the same. -
South Carolina secedes
South Carolina did not want Lincoln to be president becuase he was against slavery and they believed in slavery. The SC legislature voted about leaving the US. The vote was 169-0 to leave. Their congressmen left the US Congress to support leaving the US.
