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Gold was discovered in California and enough people quickly settled in the new territory to apply for statehood. There was an issue, however, because the Missouri Compromise Line stopped at California and would run right through the middle of it. So Henry Clay has a proposal: California would be a free state, there would be no slave trade in the nation's capitol, and all runaway slaves would be returned.
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States can vote if they want to be free/slave. Results included: Bleeding Kansas and Republican Party starts.
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Fights broke out frequently over the arguement of Kansas being a free state or a slave state. Led to the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
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A Northern senator (Sumner) spoke poorly of a Southern senator, so his cousin (Brooks) beat him with a cane on Senate floor.
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"Slaves are property and cannot sue". Slaves aren't citizens and the Missouri Compromise is unconstitutional.
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Believed he was "God's avenging angel" and held slavery supporters captive and then slaughtered them at Harpers Ferry, VA.
