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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise began in the 1820s. It decided which states would be free or slave states. This divided the nation is to competing halves. -
Missouri Comprimise
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Nat Turner Rebellion
The Nat Turner Rebellion began in 1831 and was lead by the slave Nat Turner. He and his followers marched throughout Southampton County in Virginia, killing white men, women, and children. -
Mexican-American War
The Mexican-American War was a war between the United States and Mexico that began in 1846. It was a disputed boundary between the United States and Texas on the Nueces Strip. -
The Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was an unsuccessful proposal from the US Congress in 1846. This was started to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican American War. This was one of the major events leading to the Civil War. -
Gold Rush in California 1848-1849
The California Gold Rush began when James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. About 300,000 people from other states and countries traveled to California after hearing about the gold. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Compromise of 1850 included the Fugitive Slave Act. Even in free states, the act mandated that slaves be returned to their masters. Additionally, the act tasked the federal government with tracking down and prosecuting runaway slaves. -
Harriett Tubman and Underground Railroad
Harriett Tubman made 19 trips into the South and escorted over 300 slaves to freedom during a ten-year span through underground railroads starting in the 1850s. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 involved In addition to establishing a border between Texas and the United States, the acts also called for the ban of the slave trade in Washington, DC, the admittance of California as a "free state," and changes to the Fugitive Slave Act. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin published
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book published in 1852.On the Shelby plantation in Kentucky, Uncle Tom's Cabin begins with the sale of two slaves, Tom and Harry, to satisfy the Shelby family's debts. The story revolves around Eliza, Harry's mother, and Tom, a strong, devout man who lives with his wife and three small children. It develops two main lines. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, that took place between 1854 and 1859. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, made two new territories, and was pro popular sovereignty. It took place in 1854 and also produced "Bleeding Kansas", a violent uprising, as pro slavery and antislavery activists flooded into the territories to sway the vote. -
Presidential Election of 1860
The 1860 United States presidential election was the 19th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860, when President Lincoln won the election to John Calhoun. -
Dred Scott V. Sanford
In the Dred Scott V. Sanford ruling that took place in 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that enslaved individuals were not considered citizens of the United States and were consequently not entitled to any support from the federal government or judicial system. -
Lincoln-Douglass Debates
The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a set of seven discussions between Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas and Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln in the 1858 Illinois Senate race, mainly focused on the topic of slavery expansion in new territories. -
John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown's Raid of Harper's Ferry was an attempt to start a slave rebellion in Southern states by seizing the US arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia in 1859. -
South Carolina Secedes from the Union
South Carolina left the union after they were threatened by Lincoln winning the election of 1860.