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Missouri Compromise
When Missouri wanted statehood in 1819, the problem was whether it would be admitted into the Union as a free/slave state. Missouri ratification would upset the balance between slave & free states in the U.S. Senate. Henry Clay worked out a compromise of three parts; Maine would separate from Massachusetts & be admitted as a free state, Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state, & the remaining territory of the Louisiana Purchase will not allow slavery. -
Wilmot Proviso
It was designed to eliminate slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican War. Fearing the addition of a pro-slavery territory, Pennsylvania Congressman David Wilmot proposed his amendment to the bill. The measure was blocked in the Southern dominated Senate, but it inflamed the growing controversy over slavery, it helped bring the formation of the Republican party in 1854. -
Compromise of 1850
California applied for entrance to the Union as a free-state. Henry Clay suggested a compromise where California would enter the Union as a free state while the remainder of the land acquired from the Mexicans would determine their slavery status by popular sovereignty. It also outlawed the slave trade in the District of Columbia while it entered a stricter fugitive slave law to bring back the slaves who ran away to the North. It temporarily preserved the Union. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made the hunting down of escaped slaves, even in free states, fully legal. To the abolitionists, this represented a huge blow to their efforts. Not only had the federal government endorsed slavery, but it had also committed to preserving the institution indefinitely. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe was deeply disturbed by the Fugitive Slave Act after moving to Brunswick. She then wrote a novel about the evils of slavery, which sole 10,000 copies in its first week. It is one of the most influential book in American History. It's graphic details and different perspective. Many northerners were shocked and began to view slavery as a serious moral problem rather than a political problem. Many southerners said it was false, misleading information to protect themselves. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephan A. Douglas pushed the Kansas-Nebraska Act through the Congress. Most of the Western territories lay north of the dividing line legislated by the Missouri Compromise were already off limits to slavery. Southern representatives acted to preserve their predominance in the Senate by stalemating applications that would great the territories statehood. Circumventing the problem, the Kansas-Nebraska Act essentially overrode the Missouri Compromise and allowed popular sovereignty spread slavery. -
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Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was the result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It was a frenzied scramble of pro and anti-slavery settlers into the area and violent confrontations between two groups. This also caused Congress to also go to violence against each other. -
Dred Scott Case
When Dred Scott sued his master for making him a slave in a free state, the Supreme Court ruled against him. Dred Scott argued he was a free man for living with his master in two states where slavery was illegal. He could not sue because he was a slave and not an American citizen. Living in a free state did not make him a free man. The Southerners were very happy about this because now they can take their slaves anywhere while the North became afraid that slavery will now spread to the West. -
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Lincoln Douglas Debate
Lincoln and Douglas engaged in a series of debates, which were followed throughout the country. Douglas thought that individual states should decide whether or not to continue the practice of slavery. Lincoln wanted equality for African Americans, because Lincoln thought slavery is wrong. He didn't want slavery to spread to the Western territories. He said that African Americans are entitled to the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. -
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John Brown's Raid
John Brown was a violent abolitionist. His goal was to free the slaves, but he had such an ambition with his view of needed violence. He wanted to free slaves and after three days with no slaves to help him he got caught and taken to court. He was found guilty of treason and murder and was given the death sentence. -
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Southern Secession
When Lincoln becomes president the southerners became afraid that he would would take slavery away from them. So, they left the Union. South Carolina was the first to leave the Union on December 20, 1860. Mississippi left on January 9, 1861 being the second state to leave. Leaving third, Florida left on January 10, 1861. Alabama left on January 11, 1861 and a few days later Georgia left on January 19, 1861. Louisiana leaves on January 26, 1861 and Texas leaves February 1.
