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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed by the U.S. Congress in 1820. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state to the union at the same time, while outlawing slavery above the 36º 30' line in the rest of the Louisiana Territory. This led to the start of the civil war because it was the first conflict that debated where slavery should and should not be in the United States, which led to the start of a sectional debate across the United States over slavery. -
Compromise of 1850 Part 1
The Compromise of 1850 prevented the separation of the United States. With slavery becoming a bigger issue in the United States, the secession of the south became a more possible scenario. So to prevent that, congress passed the compromise of 1850, which created a newer and tougher fugitive slave law called the fugitive slave act. The fugitive slave act did 3 big things: an accusation made against an African American was enough to have them arrested, an African American in court could not -
Comprmise of 1850 Part 2
testify that they aren't who you say they are, and judges were paid $5 per trial if they set the suspect free and $10 if they found them guilty. On top of the fugitive slave act, the Compromise of 1850 admitted California as a free state to the union and made the Utah/New Mexico region open to slavery through popular sovereignty (citizens voting on it.) -
Publication of Uncle Toms Cabin
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin focuses on the struggles of a slave, named Tom, who has been sold numerous times and has to endure physical brutality by slave drivers and his masters. The book addresses the controversial subject of slavery and encouraged others to speak out, further diminishing the already rocky relations between northern and southern states. This swayed northern states who had not yet decided how they felt about slavery to not support it. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act Part 2
A result of proslavery and antislavery activists flooding into the territories to sway the vote. This led to the Civil war because the act meant that slavery could be extended into territories where it was banned before and intensified the debate over slavery in the United States. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act Part 1
The Kansas-Nebraska Act nullified the Missouri Compromise creating two new territories (Kansas &
Nebraska) allowing for popular sovereignty over slavery in those territories. The Pottawatomie Creek massacre, lead to the death of 5 southerners after John Brown and his sons murdered them in cold blood with long swords creating a violent uprising known as “Bleeding Kansas.” -
Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 was created by over-investments in northern industries mixed with those industries not producing enough goods to make a profit. This engulfed the country for nearly three years, further increasing tension in the United States after southern landowners began to make the argument that slavery/cotton farming was a more stable way to make money than the northern economy. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates Part 2
Lincoln’s performance in the debates with Douglas established him as a figure of national importance. He then began to give speeches on slavery around the country, allowing him to gain popularity in order to win the Republican nominee in the 1860 presidential election. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates Part 1
The Lincoln and Douglas debates were a series of debates over 2 main topics, slavery and the battle over its extension into new territories. In which Lincoln made the statement, "A house divided against itself cannot stand..this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free." This allowed him to make the argument for slavery to be allowed where it currently is, but it couldn't expand. -
Presidential Election of 1860
In the 1860 presidential election, Abraham Lincoln defeated Stephen Douglas. This was only the second time the party had a candidate in the presidential race. The South saw Lincoln as a threat to slavery and believed he had too much power as a Northerner who wanted to abolish slavery. This essentially became the final nail in the coffin for the civil war, as on December 20, 1860, the state of South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union and 6 others followed in the next year.