Events Leading Up to Civil War

  • Missouri Compromise

    Missouri Compromise
    This compromise allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state, maintaining the balance of power. It also prohibited slavery north of the 36°30’ latitude in the Louisiana Territory.
  • Missouri Compromise

    Missouri Compromise
    This compromise allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state, maintaining the balance of power. It also prohibited slavery north of the 36°30’ latitude in the Louisiana Territory.
  • Nat Turner’s Rebellion

    Nat Turner’s Rebellion
    Nat Turner, an enslaved preacher, led a violent rebellion in Virginia against slaveholders. Though suppressed, it intensified Southern fears of slave uprisings and led to harsher laws against enslaved people.
  • Nat Turner’s Rebellion

    Nat Turner’s Rebellion
    Nat Turner, an enslaved preacher, led a violent rebellion in Virginia against slaveholders. Though suppressed, it intensified Southern fears of slave uprisings and led to harsher laws against enslaved people.
  • Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad

    Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
    Harriet Tubman, an escaped enslaved woman, became a key conductor on the Underground Railroad, helping hundreds of enslaved people escape to freedom in the North.
  • California Gold Rush

    California Gold Rush
    The discovery of gold in California led to a mass migration to the region, which fueled debates over whether California should be a free or slave state, leading to the Compromise of 1850.
  • Mexican-American War

    Mexican-American War
    This conflict between the U.S. and Mexico resulted in the U.S. gaining territories, including present-day California and much of the Southwest, reigniting debates over the expansion of slavery.
  • Mexican-American War

    Mexican-American War
  • The Wilmot Proviso

    The Wilmot Proviso
    This proposal aimed to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico during the Mexican-American War. Though it did not pass, it heightened tensions between North and South over slavery.
  • The Wilmot Proviso

    The Wilmot Proviso
    This proposal aimed to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico during the Mexican-American War. Though it did not pass, it heightened tensions between North and South over slavery.