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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was created by Henry Clay. It added Maine to the Union as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. This compromise was created to keep slave and anti slave states equal when Missouri became a state. The compromise kept peace then, but was later repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. -
Wilmot Proviso
A proposal that tried to ban slavery in the territories gained by the Mexican-American war. This proposal was unsuccessful and was one of the major events leading to the civil war. It brought to congress by David Wilmot in 1864.The failure of the bill to pass, led the peace in country to come to an end. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850, created by Henry Clay, added five laws that addressed slavery. They included admitting California as a free state, popular sovereignty would decide slavery in New Mexico and Utah, slave trade would end in D.C., strict fugitive slave law, and Texas would give up claims to New Mexico for $10 million. This compromise eventually lead to the civil war. The compromise was needed to solve tensions of slavery, but also made everything worse because of the civil war. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Compromise of 1850, by Henry Clay. It was created to please the South as part of the compromise. This act stated that any escaped slaves must be returned to their owner or they could be arrested. This impacted free blacks too, as they could be enslaved. This act made the North mad, because they wanted to stop slavery. The South was happy because they could get their escaped slaves back. As an effect of this act, many people started to become slave catchers. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
The novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, was created by Harriet Beecher Stowe. She created the book to show what slavery was really like. The book was about an enslaved man who was abused by his owner. People in the North were outraged after reading the book and they couldn't believe that was how they treated slaves. The South thought it was propaganda. Many believe that the creation of the novel started the civil war. The book just made the north and south even more divided than they were before. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was signed by President Pierce to address slavery in the Kansas-Nebraska territory. It said that popular sovereignty would decide slavery in the territory. Due to this, people in both the North and the South fled to Kansas, who both wanted majority. Violence broke out, which lead to the name Bleeding Kansas. Proslavery won the vote, but were charged with voter fraud. In the end, Congress didn't accept Kansas' constitution and they wouldn't become a state for now. -
Dred Scott Case
The Dred Scott vs. Sanford case was a legal case where a slave, Dred Scott, tried to sue for his freedom in the supreme court. Dred Scott was born in a slave state, but later moved to the free state of Illinois. Since his lived in a state where slavery was illegal, Scott believed that he was free from his owner. The Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott still belonged to his owner and that a slave couldn't bring a case to the court because they weren't citizens. -
Lincoln Douglas Deabtes
The Lincoln Douglas debates were a series of seven debates between future president Abraham Lincoln and Senator Lincoln Douglas. Lincoln and Douglas were both running for an Illinois Senate seat. These debates were where Lincoln took a anti-slavery stance, while Douglas wanted to let the states decide. These debates took place all over Illinois in front of large crowds. Douglas ended up winning the seat, while the debates propelled Lincoln to the White House. -
John Brown's Raid
The John Brown raid was an attempt by John Brown, a white abolitionists who believed that slavery was against the bible, to start a large slave revolts. Brown and his followers raided Harper's Ferry, Virginia and brought ammunition to give to slaves that he assumed would join him. After a fairly successful raid, Brown's plan failed because no slaves came to join him. Federal troops raided Brown's headquarters and seized him. Brown was tried for treason and hanged. -
Lincoln's election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln, an anti-slavery lawyer from Kentucky, won the presidential election of 1860. His anti-slavery stance pleased the North and enraged the South. He was a Republican who defeated two democratic and one constitutional unionist. Days after his election, South Carolina seceded from the Union. The rest of the confederate states soon followed. These states the Confederate States of America and the Civil War started. -
Southern Secession
Following Lincoln's election, eleven southern seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate State of America. The states set up a government that was originally in Montgomery, Alabama and was later moved to Richmond, Virginia. They elected Jefferson Davis as President and wrote a new constitution. The southern states wanted slavery to live on forever and went on to fight the Union for four years. The states surrendered to the union in 1865 and rejoined America in defeat.
