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Pre-Civil War Timeline
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Missouri Compromise
People against slavery wanted Missouri to get rid of the slavery prior to being admitted as a state; people that were pro-slavery thought that was a matter for Missouri to decide on their own. On March 3, 1820, the Missouri Compromise solved the problem temporarily by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.The Missouri Compromise ordered that slavery was to be prohibited in all states of the Union north of Missouri, except in Missouri itself. This took away state power. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was an amendment to a bill during the Mexican War; it provided $2 million to enable President Polk to negotiate a settlement with Mexico. David Wilmot introduced an amendment to the bill stipulating that none of the territory acquired in the Mexican War should be open to slavery. The Wilmot Proviso created great bitterness between North and South and helped crystallize the conflict over slavery.
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California Statehood
In 1849, Californians sought statehood and, after heated debate in the U.S. Congress arising out of the slavery issue, California entered the Union as a free, nonslavery state by the Compromise of 1850. Web Link -
Fugitive Slave Law
It declared that all runaway slaves be brought back to their masters. Abolitionists nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Law" for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves.The Fugitive Slave Law brought the issue home to anti-slavery citizens in the North as it made them and their institutions responsible for enforcing slavery. Wiki Link -
Uncle Tom's Cabin Published
While living in Cincinnati, Stowe encountered fugitive slaves and the Underground Railroad. Later, she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin in reaction to recently tightened fugitive slave laws. The book had a major influence on the way the American public viewed slavery.
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Kansas_Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, allowing slavery in the territory north of the 36° 30´ latitude. Introduced by Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, the Kansas-Nebraska Act stipulated that the issue of slavery would be decided by the residents of each territory, a concept known as popular sovereignty.
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Onsted Manifesto
The Ostend Manifesto was a document written in 1854 that described the rationale for the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain while implying that the U.S. should declare war if Spain refused. Southern expansionists called for Cuba's acquisition as a slave state.
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Raid on Lawrence, Kansas
LAWRENCE was the center of Kansas's anti-slavery movement. On May 21, 1856, the pro-slavery forces from Kansas and Missouri rode to Lawrence to arrest members of the free state government. The citizens of Lawrence decided against resistance the mob proceeded to destroy homes and shops. The attack inflamed almost everyone. Their attack galvanized the northern states like nothing before.
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Charles Sumner Beating
On May 22, 1856, the U.S Senate became a combat zone when a member of the House of Representatives, Preston Brooks, entered the Senate chamber and savagely beat Senator Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts antislavery Republican. Sumner criticized two Democratic senators for supporting slavery, one was Representative Brooks kinsman from South Carolina.
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John Brown invades Pottawatomie, Kansas
The Pottawatomie Massacre was in reaction to the sacking of Lawrence, Kansas by pro-slavery forces. John Brown and a band of abolitionist settlers killed five settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas. This was one of the many bloody episodes in Kansas preceding the American Civil War.
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Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott first went to trial to sue for his freedom in 1847. Ten years later, after a decade of appeals and court reversals, his case was finally brought before the United States Supreme Court. In what is perhaps the most infamous case in its history, the court decided that all people of African ancestry -- slaves as well as those who were free -- could never become citizens of the United States and therefore could not sue.
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Lincoln Douglas Debates
The Lincoln–Douglas Debates of 1858 were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for Senate in Illinois, and the incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. The debates previewed the issues that Lincoln would face in the aftermath of his victory in the 1860 presidential election. The main issue discussed in all seven debates was slavery.
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Harper's Ferry Raid
On October 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown and several followers seized the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Brown and his men were executed for the raid. Northern abolitionists immediately used the executions as an example of the government's support of slavery. John Brown became their martyr, a hero murdered for his belief that slavery should be abolished.
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Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States
The 1860 election proved to be one of the most momentous in American history as it came at a time of national crisis, and brought Abraham Lincoln, with his known anti-slavery views, to the White House. Indeed, Lincoln’s trip to Washington was literally fraught with trouble, as rumors of assassination plots swirled and he had to be heavily guarded during his train trip from Illinois to Washington.
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South Carolina Secedes
South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. South Carolina adopted the Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union on December 20, 1860. All of the violations of the alleged rights of Southern states mentioned in the document were about slavery.
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Fort Sumter Attack
Following the election of Abraham Lincoln, the candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party, the state of South Carolina announced its intention to secede from the Union. Declaring itself independent of the United States, the state government demanded that federal troops leave the state. Federal soldiers at Fort Sumter refused to leave resulting in the attack.
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