Events leading to Civil War

Invention of the Cotten Gin

1793

1. In 1793, Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin. (while in Georgia).
2. Reduced the amount of time spent & cost.
3. Made the cotton cultivation much more valuable. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-cotton-gin-in-american-history-104722

Missouri Compromise

1820

1. In 1820, Henry Clay, drafts the Missouri Compromise.
2. Massachusetts would announce Maine as a free state & Missouri as a slave state. Southerners felt attacked by the northerners. Denmark revolts. https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=003/llsl003.db&recNum=586

Tariff of 1828

1828

1. "Tariff of Abomination".
2. Increased tax on imported goods.
3. Benefitted those in Great Britain./ Damage to the South. https://gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/national-expansion-and-reform-1815-1860

Nat Turner Rebellion

1831

1. Nat Turner, a slave was carrying out a revolt.
2. killed 60 white folks.
3. many were killed(his followers), later on Turner was executed.
4. Slave codes were even more strict. http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/nat-turner

The Liberator is published

Jan 1, 1831

1. On January 1, 1831 the first issue of The Liberator appeared 2.The Liberator denounced the Compromise of 1850, condemned the Kansas-Nebraska Act, damned the Dred Scott decision and hailed John Brown’s raid. 3.Garrison advocated the immediate emancipation of all slaves and gained a national reputation for being the most radical of American abolitionists. http://www.accessible-archives.com/collections/the-liberator/

Nullification Crisis

Dec 10, 1832

1. President Jackson passed a law to South Carolina, that disputed a states' right to nullify a federal law.
2. Was written in response issued by a South Carolina convention that declared that the tariff acts of 1828, was unconstitutional.
3. Wanted to hurt the Southerners along with Adams. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h333.html

Wilmont Proviso

Aug 8, 1846

1. The Wilmot Proviso was designed to eliminate slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican War 2.More interested in northern free labor than in the plight of southern slaves, Wilmot had been an administration loyalist until he presented his proviso. 2.It helped widen the growing sectional rift. [https://riceonhistory.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/the-wilmot-proviso-1846/](http:www.timetoast.com)

Underground Railroad

1850

1. North Abolitionists & free African Slaves risked there lives to help ensure slaves to freedom.
2. No tracks, no cars, only secret conductors.
3. Harriet Tubman-- Maryland--born as a slave. "Black Moses"
4. Large amount of money for her capture, they were never able to catch her. http://library.mtsu.edu/tps/sets/Primary_Source_Set--Underground_Railroad.pdf usually begin in 1787. but peak at 1810-1850

Compromise of 1850

1850

1.California admitted as a free state
2.No slavery restrictions in Utah or New Mexico territories
3.Slave trade prohibited in Washington D.C.
4.Slaveholding permitted in Washington D.C.
5.Texas loses boundary dispute with New Mexico
6.Texas gets $10 million
7.Fugitive Slave Law
http://www.ushistory.org/us/30d.asp

Uncle Tom's Cabin is published

1852

1. Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes the Cabin.
2. Tom gave slaves chance to express.
3. Sold 300,000 copies, The southerners were mad because it made them look terrible. http://msa.maryland.gov/ecp/10/223/0001/html/0001all.html

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Apr 30, 1854

1. Allowed settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state’s borders.
2. allowing settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state’s borders.
3. The period of violence known as Bleeding Kansas. https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=010/llsl010.db&recNum=298

Brooks-Sumner Event

Sep 29, 1856

1.Preston Brooks attacked senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist.
2.Sumner was beaten into unconsciousness.
3.Brooks became an instant hero in the South.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/31e.asp

Dred Scott Decisions

Mar 6, 1857

1. Affirming the right of slave owners to take their slaves into the Western territories.
2. The court held that Scott was not free based on his residence in either Illinois or Wisconsin.
3. Black people were not considered citizens when the Constitution was drafted in 1787. https://www.loc.gov/resource/llst.022

Lincoln-Douglas debates

1858

1. Series of seven debates
2. “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” -Lincoln
3. Lincoln assured southerners that he had no intention of interfering with slavery in the states. https://www.lee.k12.nc.us/cms/lib03/NC01001912/Centricity/Domain/1755/Lincoln%20Douglas%20Debates.pdf

John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry

Jul 16, 1859

1.He had raised money from other abolitionists and ordered weapons.
2.Throughout the summer Brown’s Army gathered at the farmhouse.
https://www.nps.gov/hafe/learn/historyculture/upload/John%20Brown's%20Raid.pdf

Election of 1860

1860

1.Northern democrats felt that Stephen Douglas had the best chance to defeat the "Black Republicans."
2. Lincoln had become the symbol of the frontier, hard work, the self-made man and the American dream.
3. The south nominated John Bell of Tennessee, a wealthy slaveholder as their candidate for President.
https://election0f1860.weebly.com/primary-sources.html

Secession of the southern states

Dec 20, 1860

1. The first seven seceding states of the Lower South set up a provisional government at Montgomery, Alabama.
2. The eleven slave states adopted the nomenclature of the Confederate States of America http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/secession

Fort Sumter is fired upon

Apr 12, 1861

1. The Confederates demanded immediate evacuation of the fort.
2. Confederate batteries showered the fort with over 3,000 shells in a three-and-a-half day period. 3.Anderson surrendered. http://civilwarhome.com/CMHsumter.html