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Missouri Compromise 1820
By repealing the Missouri Compromise, people in the anti-slavery north viewed Congress as allowing the south to exert more control in Congress, they resented it. It also made the south seem more aggressive in their pro-slavery sentiments. The repeal of the Compromise lead to the formation of the anti-slavery Republican party.Many people view the compromise as postponing the Civil War, which would probably have occurred sooner than it did without the peace the Compromise brought. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion 1831
The rebels killed all the white people they found, including women, children and the elderly. When the killing finally came to an end, 55 white people lay dead — bludgeoned to death.What followed was a reign of terror against all blacks in Virginia. State and federal troops beat, tortured, and murdered some 200 blacks, many of whom had nothing to do with the rebellion. Instead enacted new slave codes to prevent future uprisings, including strict control of slaves' movements. -
Wilmot Proviso 1846
He put up the amendment to a bill put before the U.S. House of Representatives during the Mexican War; it provided an appropriation of $2 million to enable President Polk to negotiate a territorial settlement with Mexico. -
Mexican War Ended 1848
On May 9, 1846, Polk began to prepare a war message to Congress, justifying hostilities on the grounds of Mexican refusal to pay U.S. claims and refusal to negotiate with Slidell. That evening he received word that Mexican troops had crossed the Rio Grande on April 25 and attacked Taylor’s troops, killing or injuring 16 of them. In his quickly revised war message—delivered to Congress on May 11—Polk claimed that Mexico had “invaded our territory and shed American blood on American soil.” -
Fugitive Slave Act 1850
The Fugitive Slave Act allowed Northerners who had always thought slavery was so far away to see it personally for the first time. The display of cruelty convinced more people of the evils of slavery and made them opposed to the Southern institution of slavery and the Fugitive Slave Act. This increased support for the abolitionists' cause would infuriate the South.
These resentments would eventually come to head at Fort Sumter in Charleston's Bay, April 12, 1861. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin 1852
Harriett Beecher Stowe wanted to portray the evils of slavery in a way that would make a large part of the American public relating to the issue.She was crafting a work of fiction that general readers could relate to, and populating it with characters both sympathetic and villainous, was able to deliver an extremely powerful message. Better yet, by creating a story containing suspense and drama, Stowe was able to keep readers engaged.She changed the way people viewed slavery. -
Bleeding Kansas 1854
This problem began when Senator Stephen Douglas extended the principle of popular sovereignty to the territory, which he organized under the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The fighting that led the territory to be known as "Bleeding Kansas" accompanied political intrigue and fraud over the establishment of a constitution for the territory. "Bleeding Kansas" can mainly be said to have led to the Civil War because it led to the establishment of the Republican Party. -
Charles Sumner 1856
Sumner sought to control U.S. foreign policy. He blamed Great Britain for the prolongation of the Civil War because he thought Britain had favored the Confederacy. His strong stand on the Alabama claims issue created a rift with Ulysses S. Grant’s administration.In 1865 he insisted that suffrage be granted to all black males. At the time of his death, Sumner was still vainly agitating for federal legislation repealing all discriminatory laws. -
Dred Scott Decision 1857
Dred Scott lost his case arguing that he should be free because he had been held as a slave while living in a free state. The Court ruled that his petition could not be seen because he did not own any property. The state said that even though he had been taken by his 'owner' into a free state, he was still a slave because slaves were to be considered property of their owners. This decision furthered the cause of abolitionists as they increased their efforts to fight against slavery. -
Lecompton Constitution 1858
The document was written in response to the anti-slavery position of the 1855 Topeka Constitution of James H. Lane and other free-state advocates. When the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed, Kansas was allowed to determine whether it would enter the union as free or slave. However, there was enough opposition that in 1858 it was sent back to Kansas for a vote. Even though it delayed statehood, Kansas voters rejected the Constitution and Kansas became a free state.
