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Conflicts Leading up to the Civil War
Throughout this time period there was growing tensions and many disagreements between the north and the south of the US. Which would lead to the civil war in America. -
The Missouri Compromise
Congress passed a bill granting Missouri statehood as a slave state under the condition that slavery was to be forever prohibited in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36th parallel, which runs approximately along the southern border of Missouri. This was a way to keep slavery as a way of life for them, it divided the states into an equal number of free and slave states. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner led a group of slaves and went around killing whites and destroying their plantations. At least 51 whites were killed. This increased the idea of rebellion and the need for change within America. -
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The Wilmot Proviso
A piece of legislation proposed by David Wilmot. If passed, the Proviso would have outlawed slavery in territory acquired by the United States. The intensity of the debate surrounding the Proviso prompted the first serious discussions of secession. -
The Compromise of 1850
The compromise prevented further territorial expansion of slavery while strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act, a law which compelled Northerners to seize and return escaped slaves to the South. While the agreement succeeded in postponing outright hostilities between the North and South, in some ways it even reinforced the structural disparity that divided the United States. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s fictional exploration of slave life was a cultural sensation. Northerners felt as if their eyes had been opened to the horrors of slavery, while Southerners protested that Stowe’s work was slanderous. The popularity of this book brought attention to the issue of slavery. -
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Bleeding Kansas
Settlers in the area of the Missouri Compromise now had the choice to choose whether to permit slavery or not by popular vote. Violence broke out and 56 lives were lost, this struck the nation on how divided they really are -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott tried to sue for his freedom but the court found him as property and therefor not a human being. The classification of slaves as mere property made the federal government’s authority to regulate the institution much more ambiguous. Tensions intensified as well. -
John Brown's Raid
In mid-October of 1859, the crusading abolitionist organized a small band of white allies and free blacks and raided a government arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He hoped to seize weapons and distribute them to Southern slaves in order to spark a wracking series of slave uprisings. He was surrounded and executed, and became a martyr for the abolitionist cause. -
Abraham Lincoln's Election
Abraham Lincoln was elected by a considerable margin in 1860 despite not being included on many Southern ballots. As a Republican, his party’s anti-slavery outlook struck fear into many Southerners. The Southerners saw him as a threat to their way of life. 6 months after the election, southern states began to succeed from the union. -
The Battle of Fort Sumter
Realizing that he had outposts in foreign land, Abraham Lincoln sent fresh supplies to these outposts. The south encountered the supply convoy and opened up a 34 hour raid on Fort Sumter creating the Civil War
