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The Compromise of 1850 Part 1
Our favorite compromiser henry clay comes to save the day when tensions between the north and the south rise due to fugitive slaves running away to the north, and CA and TX being entered into the U.S as free states. He creates the compromise of 1850 which is an omnibus bill. The bill states that the territories of Utah and New Mexico are only allowed to be slave states if the residents of say so. They will need to vote on it make it legal in the territory. -
The Compromise of 1850 Part 2
The bill also includes the fugitive slave act, which states that the arrest of fugitive slaves in the north will be handled by the federal government. All fugitive slaves are not a states problem they are now the federal government's problem. This promoted sectionalism because states are now forced to report fugitive slaves when before many were not treating them as if they were slaves but as if the were free men. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin Part 1
Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe under the pen name Christopher Crowfield and became the layout for the cause of the civil war. The novel was sentimental as it depicted the harsh reality of slaves and how religious love can overcome something as dehumanizing as the enslavement of a fellow human being. It was the best selling novel of the 19th century and was said to have fueled the abolitionist movement in the 1850s. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin Part 2
The book was outlawed in all slave states and continued to increase sectionalism when northern communities started to understand what slavery was and how it dehumanizes people of a different race. -
Kansas-Nebraska act 1854
Proposed by Stephen A. Douglass, this act was made to raise the 36 30 line to allow more states entered into the union be slave states. This was passed and caused an increase of sectionalism because the Kansas and Nebraska territories were allowed popular sovereignty. Popular sovereignty allowed for the people moving and living in the territories to decide if slavery would be legal in the territories. -
“Bleeding Kansas” 1854
After the Kansas-Nebraska act many northern abolitionists moved to the territories to allow popular sovereignty to take over. This caused increased tension when proslavery southerners sent ruffians to the border of Kansas blocking anti-slavery who wanted to live in Kansas.This caused many battles over the decision if Kansas would enter the union as a slave or free state.A man named John Brown increased sectional tension when he leads many violent rebellions in Kansas for an anti-slavery state -
Brooks- summers affair part 1
Representative Preston Brooks (D-SC) attacked Senator Charles Sumner (R-MA), in the U.S Senate two days after Summers, an abolitionist, gave a speech criticizing slaveholders. He denounced the Kansas-Nebraska act and argued for the immediate emission of Kansas as a free state. After Summers attacked Senators Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Butler of South Carolina in his speech, Brooks (Butler's cousin) was fed up with him. -
Brooks- summers affair part 2
Brooks, two days after Summers speech, attacked summers with a cane in the middle of the Senate. This caused more tension in the government because people saw what others were willing to do to get their point across. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford part 1
The Dred Scott case was an impactful decision in the history of supreme court cases. Scott was a slave in the Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory where slavery was illegal, he sued for his, his wife’s,and his two daughter’s freedom. The case was unsuccessful for Scott, where the supreme court in a 7-2 decision said Scott legally could not sue for his freedom. The courts ruled that an African living in the U.S, free or enslaved, was not a U.S citizen and therefore could not sue in federal court. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford part 2
They also ruled that the federal government had no authority to control slaves in federal territories that were acquired after the establishment of the United States. This caused major outrage from the northern anti-slavery states who believed that the federal government was the ones who should be in control of the topic of slavery. -
Brown's Raid on Harpers ferry part 1
An effort by John Brown to initiate a slave revolt at the U.S arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. There was a miscommunication with his party of 22 and the slaves, therefore, he and his party were defeated by a troop of U.S Marines. The actions of Brown were reported as actions of a madman, nonetheless Brown increased the sectional tension by making it seem that many abolitionists were extreme. -
Brown's Raid on Harpers ferry part 2
Pro-slavery southerners felt validated after seeing no slaves help Brown by their claims of slaves being content.
