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The Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was a United States federal statute devised by Henry Clay. It regulated slavery in the country's western territories by prohibiting the practice in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30′ north, except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri. -
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The Abolitionist Movement
The Abolitionist movement in the United States of America was an effort to end slavery in a nation that valued personal freedom and believed "all men are created equal." Over time, abolitionists grew more strident in their demands, and slave owners entrenched in response, fueling regional divisiveness that ultimately led to the American Civil War. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act of Congress of 1850 was an Act of Congress that guaranteed the right of a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Uncle Tom’s Cabin depicts slave owner "Simon Legree" as deeply evil, and the slave "Uncle Tom" as the Christ-like hero. More than 1,000,000 copies of the book were sold in U.S. and even more in Great Britain. Millions of people see the stage adaptation. By June 1852, Southerners move to suppress the book's publication in the South and numerous "refutations" appear in print. -
John Brown and Bleeding Kansas
Kansas abolitionist John Brown attempted to spark a slave rebellion in Virginia through seizure of weapons from the federal armory at Harpers Ferry. No slaves joined him and no rebellion ensued. Brown was tried for treason to the state of Virginia, found guilty and hanged in Charleston, Virginia. Brown became a martyr to the North, but alarmed the South who saw him as a fanatical Yankee abolitionist trying to start a bloody race war. -
Dred Scott Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court reaches the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, a 7 to 2 ruling that Congress lacks the power to exclude slavery from the territories, that slaves are property and have no rights as citizens and that slaves are not made free by living in free territory. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney concludes that the Missouri Compromise is unconstitutional. Northerners vowed to oppose the decision as in violation of a "higher law". Antagonism between the sections of the country increases. -
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Southern Secession
Southern Secession included the withdrawal from the United States of eleven southern states in 1860 and 1861. The seceding states formed a government, the Confederacy, in early 1861. Hostilities against the remaining United States, the Union, began in April 1861 -
The Election of 1860
The United States presidential election of 1860 was the 19th quadrennial presidential election. The election was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860, and served as the immediate impetus for the outbreak of the American Civil War. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
Following declarations of secession by seven Southern states, South Carolina demanded that the US Army abandon its facilities in Charleston Harbor. After the confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter the Union soldiers surrendered the fort to the South.
