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Northern Abolition of Slavery
By 1804, New Jersey had enacted a law that gradually abolished slavery. All states north of the Mason-Dixon line had now abolished or have started gradually abolishing slavery in the north. This pressured the south and they now feared that they would have to abolish slavery next. -
Virginia's Repeal
Virginia repealed much of the 1782 law that allowed a more liberal emancipation of slaves. The repeal of this law made it much more difficult and more expensive to emancipate slaves. This event angered the north and it challenged the “government vs. state’s power” issue. -
Congress Abolishes Atlantic Slave Trade
After Congress prohibited the Atlantic slave trade in 1808, slave trade developed within the United States. Around 1 million slaves were traded from the older slave states into the Deep South to supply the labor in the new Cotton Kingdom. This encouraged slave-trading businesses in the south and introduced slave coffles for transporting slaves within the U.S. -
Missouri’s Admission Petition
Missouri petitions Congress to enter the Union as a slave state. The admittance of Missouri would upset the balance of slave states to free states, which is currently 11 to 11. Congress was also worried that it would be extending slavery into the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase. -
Missouri Compromise
Missouri was finally admitted as a slave state and to keep the balance, Maine was admitted as a free state. Also, the compromise stated that slavery be prohibited in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase or the southern border of Missouri. -
Personal Liberty Laws
New Jersey and Pennsylvania pass laws, which require a judicial hearing before an alleged fugitive slave can be removed from the state. This upsets many of the southerners because they see slaves as property and demand fugitive slaves to be returned to their owners without question. -
Tariff of 1828(Tariff of Abominations)
The Tariff of 1828 was a protective tariff passed by Congress to protect industry in the north. Southerners saw this as a corrupt aid to the North and had bad effects on the south. The south was very angered at the passing of the tariff and they named it the Tariff of Abominations. -
The Liberator is published
Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison begins to publish The Liberator. It strengthened the abolitionist movement and many abolitionists began demanding immediate emancipation of slaves. -
The Mexican-American War
Mexico considered some part of Texas to be theirs after Texas had joined the Union. The United States sent forces over to Texas to fight with Mexico. This war was controversial because antislavery critics believed the war’s purpose was just to expand slave territory. The war ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. -
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The Mexican-American War
Mexico considered some part of Texas to be theirs after Texas had joined the Union. The United States sent forces over to Texas to fight with Mexico. This war was controversial because antislavery critics believed the war’s purpose was just to expand slave territory. The war ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. -
Compromise of 1850
Congress realized that they couldn’t keep the slave states and free states in balance whenever a new state wanted to enter the union, so Henry Clay came up with the Compromise of 1850. The compromise stated that California be admitted as a free state, Utah and New Mexico territories be organized through popular sovereignty, and the slave trade be prohibited in the District of Columbia. -
Fugitive Slave Law
The Fugitive Slave Law was enacted as part of the Compromise of 1850. It placed fugitive slave cases under the jurisdiction of the government, allowed U.S. commissioners warrants for arresting and returning fugitive slaves, authorized commissioners to deputize citizens to assist in enforcing the law, and imposed stiff fines or jail sentence for those who did not obey the law or to those who assisted fugitive slaves.