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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 had amitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state. Also divided the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase into free and slave territory. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 accomplished most of what Clay had wanted. California entered the Union as a free state. The rest of the Mexican Cession was divided into two territories--Utah and New Mexico--in which the status of slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty. -
The book "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
Uncle Tom's Cabin is a powerful antislavery novel. Inspired by slave narratives and angered by the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The novel sparked outrage in the South. This book has a powerful impact in the North. -
The election of 1852
The election of 1852 was won by Franklin Pierce. He was a little-known politican from New Hampshire, Many southerners considered Pierce "as reliable as Calhoun himself" on the slavery issue. Pierce won 27 of 31 states in the most lopsided victory since 1820. -
The Republican Party
Political unretled some Whigs, Democrats, Freesoilers, and abolitioniststo join together and from the Republican Party, The main issue uniting these different groups was their opposition to the spread of slavery in the West. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraka Act was a plan that would divid the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase into two territory, popular sovereignty would decide the question of slavery. Should eliminate the Missouri Compromise's restriction on slavery north of the 36deg30' line. -
Bleeding Kansas/Pottawatomie Massacre
Early 1856 Kansas had two governments and a hostile population that was divied into two armed camps.With both sides heavily armed, violence soon broke out. One man was killed in the event that became known as the Sack of Lawrence. On the night of May 24, 1856, Brown led a company of seven--four of whom were his own sons-- along Pottawatomie Creek in eastern Kansas. During the night , they pulled five proslavery men from their homes and killed them in the Pottawatomie Massacre. -
The Election of 1856
The presidential election of 1856 showed just how divided the country was becoming. The Democrats realized that they could not nominate anyone closely associated with the Kansas-Nebraska Act, such as President Pierce. They nomiated James Buchanan mostly because he had not been involved in the Kansas-Nebraska controversy because he was serving as ambassador to Great Britain when the debate took place. -
The Dred Scott Decision
Cheif Justice Roger B. Taney himself from a slaveholding, family in Maryland, wrote the majority opinion in the Dred Scott desision in March 1857. People belived that Afracan Americans weather free or slaves were not citzens so Dred had no right to file suit in federal court. The ruling stunned many northerners. Now the nation's court had ruled that Congress did not have this right. -
John Brown's raid
in 1858 John Brown had several plans for aiding the abolitonist cause. Brown and his his wanted to "strike a blow" that would rally antislavery americans to act. He wanted to free more slaves. Brown and his very few men went to Virginia thinking that slaves would jion but they didn't and were all killed. -
The Election of 1860
The Democrats were the first party to try to nominate a presidential candidate in 1860. Abraham LIncoln won the nomination on the third ballot. Lincoln was a moderate who opposed the spread of slavery but promised not to support abolishing it where it already existed. -
Confederate States of America
Montgomery, Alabama, to form a new nation--the Confedrate States of America, also known as the Confederacy, It took the delegates just four days to draft a constitution--mainly because this document closely resembled the U.S.Constitution.
