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Invention of the cotton gin
Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. The cotton gin was a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. This invention offered southern planters a justification to maintain and expand slavery even though a great number of Americans wanted it abolished.
http://www.history.com/topics/inventions/cotton-gin-and-eli-whitney -
Missouri Compromise
Congress granted Missouri's admission to the union as a slave state. Congress also admitted Maine as a free state.The agreement also passed an amendment that drew an imaginary line across the former Louisiana Territory which established a boundary between free and slave regions.
http://www.history.com/topics/missouri-compromise -
Tariff of 1828 & Nullification Crisis
Congress passed a high protective tariff on imports that increased the cost of British textiles. This infuriated the south because they felt that it only benefited the north. The tariff benefited american producers of cloth mostly in the north and it shrunk English demand for southern raw cotton and increased the final cost of finished goods to American buyers.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/24c.asp -
Underground Railroad
A network of people, many of them being African Americans, offered shelter and aid to escaped slaves. Most of the slaves helped by the Underground Railroad escaped border states like Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland. Harriet Tubman was the most famous conductor for the Underground Railroad.
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/underground-railroad -
Nat Turner's rebellion
Nat turner was a slave who led the only effective and sustained rebellion. He and six other slaves killed the Travis family, managed to secure arms and horses, and enlisted about 75 other slaves in a disorganized insurrection that resulted in the murder of 51 white people. Afterwards Nat Turner hid for six weeks before being found and hung in Jerusalem, Virginia.
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/nat-turner -
The Liberator is published
William Lloyd Garrison was originally a supporter of colonization. He changed his position and became the leader of the emerging anti-slavery movement. He published "The Liberator" to try to end slavery.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/28a.asp -
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Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was designed to eliminate slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican war. Soon after the war began, president James Polk sought 2 million dollars as part of a bill to negotiate the terms of a treaty. Pennsylvania congressman David Wilmot proposed his amendment to the bill because he feared the addition of pro-slavery territories. The measure was blocked in the South. It brought lots of conflict over slavery.
http://www.history.com/topics/wilmot-proviso -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 consists of 5 laws that dealt with the issue of slavery. Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South. The compromise abolished a few of the slave laws. This caused California to enter the union as a free state and a territorial government was created in Utah.
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Compromise1850.html -
Uncle Tom's Cabin is published
Harriet Beecher Stowe's wrote an anti slavery novel called "Uncle Tom's Cabin". The novel sold 300,000 copies within 3 months and it was so widely read that President Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe. She wrote the novel in reaction to the recently tightened fugitive slave laws.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/uncle-toms-cabin-is-published -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed the new territories to decide if they were a free or slave state by popular sovereignty. The Kansas-Nebraska act served to repeal The Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery in the North. Many conflicts arose due to the new act and it ended up being violent.
https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=28 -
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Bleeding Kansas
When the Kansas Territory was the site of so much violence about whether the territory would be free or slave owned. Wars that occurred during this time was The Wakawsa war, Sack of Lawrence, and The Pottawatomie Massacre. These battles were the result of the Kansas-Nebraska act.
https://www.thoughtco.com/bleeding-kansas-104345 -
Brooks-Sumner event
Representative Preston Brooks attacked Senator Charles Sumner with a metal-tipped cane, leaving Sumner seriously injured. Brooks received a 300 dollar fine. The incident started when Senator Sumner, an abolitionist from Massachusetts, went on a 2 day rant on the senate floor after an incident inn Kansas.
https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/this-day-in-1856-a-near-murder-on-the-u-s-senate-floor -
Dred Scott Decision
Chief Justice Roger Toney delivered the Dred Scott vs Sandford decision to the supreme court. This opinion declared that slaves were not citizens of the United States and could not sue in federal courts. The decision declared that the Missouri compromise was unconstitutional and that congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. The Dred Scott decision was overturned by the 13th and 14th amendment to the constitution.
https://www.gov//program/ourdocs/DredScott.html -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
A series of formal political debates between the challenger, Abraham Lincoln, and the incumbent, Stephen A. Douglas, in a campaign for one of Illinois' 2 U.S senate seats. Although Lincoln lost the election, the debates launched him into national prominence which eventually led to his election of president of the United States. Lincoln and Douglas agreed to debate in 7 of the 9 Illinois Congressional Districts.
https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/debates.htm -
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
John Brown set out for Harper's Ferry with 21 men, 5 of them were black. They cut telegraph wires and made their attacks. They captured the federal armory and arsenal. They held 60 citizens hostage. They did this in hopes that the slaves would come and join the fight but none came forward. They were all caught and executed.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2940.html -
Secession of Southern States
Within 3 months of Abraham Lincoln's election, 7 states had seceded from the union. Confederacy was formed from the secession's.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/32e.asp -
Election of 1860
Republican Abraham Lincoln defeated southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, and Constitutional Union Candidate John Bell. The electoral split between the Northern and Southern Democrats was emblematic of the severe sectional split, particularly over slavery.
https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1860 -
Fort Sumter is fired upon
When President Abraham Lincoln announced plans to resupply the fort, Confederate General P.G.T Beauregard bombarded the Fort. Confederate guns around the harbor opened fire in Fort Sumter. The next day Major Robert Anderson, garrison commander, surrendered the fort and was evacuated the next day.
https://www.civilwar.org/learn/civil-war/battles/fort-sumter
