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Ratification of the Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation was weak, creating a conflict between Federal and States' rights. -
Missouri Compromise
Involved the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30' north except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri. -
Wilmot Proviso
An amendment to a wartime bill stipulating that none of the territory acquired in the Mexican War should be open to slavery. -
Compromise of 1850
A compilation of five bills that diffused a four-year confrontation between southern slave states and northern free states regarding the new territories acquired in the Mexican American War. These include the admittance of CA as a free state, slave trade in DC was banned and a stricter Fugitive Slave Act was implemented. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin published
An anti-slavery novel written by Harriett Beecher Stowe. It was the best-selling novel of the 19th century, opening the eyes of many Americans to the brutalities of slavery. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and established popular sovereignty in these areas, repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820. This Act created a hostile environment in these territories and led to "Bleeding Kansas". -
Dredd Scott decision
A landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court found that African Americans, whether slave or free, could not be American citizens, hence they had lacked the right to sue in federal court, and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories. acquired after the creation of the United States -
John Brown's Raid
John Brown was a white abolitionist who attempted to raid Harpers Ferry arsenal in VA, in hopes to start an armed slave revolt. -
Election of Abraham Lincoln
The South saw Lincoln as anti-slavery and in favor of Northern interests. This election was the catalyst for the outbreak of the War. -
South Carolina secedes from the US
South Carolina was the first state to secede, and set the stage for the other southern states to follow. Upon this happening, war was imminent.
