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Underground Railroad
Secret system between abolitionists and slaves used by slaves to escape to freedom in the north. It was illegal and made southern slave owners angry, they viewed it as being stolen from. It made southerners distrustful of northerners. -
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Abolitionist Movement
Groups of activists, mostly in the North, formed to try to put an end to slavery. They petitioned, sent out pamphlets, wrote articles, essays, and stories to inform the public of the injustices of slavery. Slave owners did not like these groups and tried even harder to defend slavery. -
Nat Turner Slave Rebellion
A slave named Nat Turner led the most successful slave revolt by killing 57 white people in a single night. Although he was caught and hanged, he inspired other violent slave revolts, causing fear and panic for southerners. It made white slave owners in the south afraid for their lives and helped convince people in the North that slavery was a very bad thing. -
Prigg v.s. Pennsylvania
It was a Supreme Court case that stated that the federal Fugitive Slave Act would be enforced instead of the state law that prohibited blacks being forced out of Pennsylvania into slavery. This established the federal government's superiority to states in terms of power. It also paved the way for more strictly federal laws that bypassed state laws. -
Abolitionist Movement
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Underground Railroad
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Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act was passed in an effort to compromise with the South and prevent them from seceeding. It helped the South by forcing citizens of the northern states to help find and turn in runaway slaves. It provoked abolitionists and created more tensions in the north. -
Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin was an abolitionist novel exposing the harsh living conditions of slaves. It became an immediate best seller and was read by almost everyone in America. It exposed northerners to the brutalities committed by slave owners and created an uprising of anti-slavery enthusiasts in ed to the north. It also led to southerners defending slavery even harder, increasing tensions between the north and south. -
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Bleeding Kansas
A series of political confrontations in Kansas and Missouri between free-staters (anti-slavery) and border ruffians (pro-slavery). It ended with the victory of the free-staters. These bloody disputes separated the north and south even more and made the differences between the regions more apparent. -
Bleeding Kansas
