Events leading up to the civil war

  • Fugitive slave act of 1850

    Fugitive slave act of 1850
    The Fugitive Slave Acts were a pair of federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway enslaved people within the territory of the United States.
  • Compromise of 1850

    Compromise of 1850
    made it easier for slaveowners to recover runways under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
  • Uncle Toms Cabin

    Uncle Toms Cabin
    While being transported by boat to auction in New Orleans, Tom saves the life of Little Eva, an angelic and forgiving young girl, whose grateful father then purchases Tom.
  • Kansas Nebraska act

    Kansas Nebraska act
    The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 was a territorial organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, passed by the 33rd United States Congress, and signed into law by President Franklin Pierce.
  • Dred Scott Decision

    Dred Scott Decision
    Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393, was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in which the Court held that the United States Constitution was not meant to include American citizenship
  • Attack on Harpers Ferry

    Attack on Harpers Ferry
    John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was an effort by abolitionist John Brown, from October 16 to 18, 1859, to initiate a slave revolt in Southern states by taking over the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. It has been called the dress rehearsal for, or Tragic Prelude to, the Civil War.
  • Licholn's Election

    Licholn's Election
    In a four-way contest, the Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin, absent from the ballot in ten slave states, won a national popular plurality, a popular majority in the North where states already had abolished slavery, and a national electoral majority comprising only Northern electoral votes.
  • Attack on fort Sumter

    Attack on fort Sumter
    The Battle of Fort Sumter was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the South Carolina militia, and the return gunfire and subsequent surrender by the United States Army, that started the American Civil War.