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Abe Lincoln
He issued the Emancipation Proclamation that abolished slavery in the United States and signed the Home steed Act where poor people could own land. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise kept the balance of pro and anti-slavery states. By allowing Maine as a free state, Missouri was able to become a pro-slavery state. This created tension between the north and south because the north did not like that congress could aid in the expansion of slavery. This becomes an argument over power. -
Fugitive Slave Law
Was an extremely controversial law that deepened the divisions in the country over the issue of slavery. The law was part of a compromise between free and slave states that prevented the secession of states where slavery was legal. -
Compromise of 1850
Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South. As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished. -
Kansas - Nebraska Act
It was passed by the U.S. Congress, allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. -
Dred Scott Supreme Court decision
Dred Scott, a slave who had lived with his owner in a free state before returning to the state of Missouri. Scott argued that his time spent in these locations entitled him to emancipation. In his decision, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, a staunch supporter of slavery, disagreed: the court found that no black, free or slave, could claim U.S. citizenship, and therefore blacks were unable to petition the court for their freedom. -
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Raid on Henry's Ferry
John Brown lead a small group on a ferry to raid against a federal armory in Henry's Ferry, Virginia to attempt to demolish the institution of slavery. -
Election of 1860
This election put four candidates; Abraham Lincoln, John Bell, John C. Breckenridge, and Stephen Douglas against each other. Stephan of the state Illinois, wanted the people of each territory to vote on whether or not to accept slavery in their region. The Southern Democrats held their own national convention and chose Breckenridge of Kentucky, who wanted to adopt a platform that advocated the unhindered expansion of slavery in the West and annexation of Cuba. -
Battle of Antietam
Generals Robert E. Lee and George McClellan faced off near Antietam cree in Sharpsburg, Maryland. Though McClellan failed to utilize his numerical superiority to crush Lee's army, he was able to check the Confederate advance in to the North. After a string of Union defeats, this tactical victory provided the political cover Abraham Lincoln needed to issue his Emancipation Proclamation. -
Emancipation Proclamation
It declared that "all persons held as slaves ... shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free". This only applied to the states designated as being in rebellion, not to the slave-holding border states of Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri or to areas of the Confederacy that had already come under Union control. -
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Battle of Gettysburg
Union victory that stopped Confederate General Robert E. Lee's second invasion of the North. More than 50,000 men died during the 3 day battle, which made it the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War.