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The Three-Fifths Compromise in the U.S. Constitution of 1787 counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation purposes. -
The Northwest Ordinance was a law passed by U.S. Congress in 1787 that made a system for governing the Northwest Territory, which included areas that would later become states like Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. -
The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney revolutionized the cotton industry by greatly speeding up the process of separating cotton fibers from seeds. -
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was a controversial law in the United States that required people to capture and return escaped slaves to their masters, even if they were in free states. -
The ban on slave importation was implemented by the United States in 1808, following the passage of the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves. This law made it illegal to import enslaved people into the U.S. -
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a legislative agreement that aimed to maintain the balance of power between slave and free states in the United States by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. -
The Nat Turner Rebellion was a slave rebellion that took place in Virginia in 1831. Nat Turner, an enslaved African American preacher, led a group of slaves in a violent uprising against white slaveholders, -
The South Carolina Nullification Crisis is when South Carolina attempted to nullify federal tariffs it deemed unconstitutional. -
The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses used by slaves to escape to free states and Canada -
The Wilmot Proviso was a suggested amendment that aimed to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico during the Mexican-American War but the proviso was never passed into law. -
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War. Mexico ceded multiple territories to the United States, including present-day California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. -
The Compromise of 1850 was a set of laws to deal with slavery issues after the Mexican-American War. It made California a free state, let people in Utah and New Mexico decide on slavery and banned the slave trade in Washington D.C. -
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" is a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in 1852. It is an anti-slavery novel that depicts the harsh realities of slavery in the United States. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was a law that allowed the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery through popular sovereignty. This act repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which prohibited slavery in territories north of the 36°30' parallel -
Bleeding Kansas is the violent conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery states in the Kansas Territory. The territory's status as a potential slave or free state led to conflict. -
Charles Sumner, a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and prominent abolitionist, was beaten with a cane on the Senate floor by Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina. -
The Dred Scott Decision was a Supreme Court case in 1857 that ruled African Americans, whether free or enslaved, were not considered citizens and therefore could not sue in federal court. -
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry took place when John Brown led a group of men in an attempt to start a slave rebellion by seizing the weapons at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown hoped to arm slaves and lead them in a revolt against their owners. -
South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union in response to Abraham Lincoln's election as President and the growing argument over slavery and states' rights. -
Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States. His election was a pivotal moment in American history as it marked the first time a candidate from the newly formed Republican Party won the presidency