-
The Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise did three things. It made Maine a free state, made missouri a slave state, and drew the 36" 30' line. Any land north of this line was to remain a free state while anything south was automatically a slave state. After this compromise, made it difficult to remain neutral, and debates began to break out between the north and south and tensions increased. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nathaniel "Nat" Turner, an enslaved african-american man, organized a rebellion with other slaves and free blacks that resulted in the deaths of 51 southerners. This resulted in harsher slave laws that deepened the chasm between the north and south. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850, proposed by Henry Clay, brought fourth 5 proposals. It banned slave trade in Washington D.C, it made California a free state, it created a strict fugitive slave law, the Mexico cession was split into the Utah and New Mexico Territories, and it settled a Texas-New Mexico border dispute. This meant that the north could no longer risk trying to free slaves and that the south had lost a state that should've become a slave state because of the missouri compromise. -
"Bleeding Kansas"
Bleeding Kansas was four year period of attacks and raids between north and south states. It began was pro-slavery men raided an anti-slavery town and John Brown got angry and retalliated. John Brown then raided the southern town of Harper's Ferry. This series of attacks and raids drew apart the south and north further apart. -
Brooks Attacks Sumner
Shortly after Lawrence was sacked, a man by the name of Charles Sumner called a man named Andrew Butler an idiot for sacking Lawrence. Preston Brooks, a distant, southern cousin of Butler, took this as a shot at his family and beat Sumner with a cane. The south held Brooks in high regard, which greatly agitated the north. Brooks was fined $300, but reelected into office by the southern people. The north and south were drawn apart by their differing perspectives of this violence. -
The Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was an african american that was enslaved by multiple people for several years. Throughout his years, he was moved throughout the country. One day, he filed a lawsuit against his owners and went to the supreme court with the case. It was there that the Supreme Court Justice made the decision that Scott wasn't able to file a lawsuit because he was a slave, not a citizen, and that slaves were property, not people. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
After the Kansas-Nebraska act, the Nebraska Territory was divided into two new states; Kansas and Nebraska. Slavery in each of the new states was decided by a vote. This made the northerners angry because according to the Missouri Compromise, slavery should have been banned in each state, but the Kansas-Nebraska act lifted that ban. -
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
One night, a group of raiders led by northerner John Brown attempted to raid the Harper's Ferry Arsenal and arm the slaves to begin a revolt against the south. The raiders made it to the arsenal, but failed to start the revolt. John Brown was later sentenced to death and idolized amongst many northerners. The south became more agitated because of the north's attempt to abolish slavery and their support of John Brown's actions. -
The Presidential Election of 1860
The Election of 1860 was maily between Abraham Lincoln and John C. Breckenridge. The other canidates, Stephan Douglas and John Bell, wanted only to hold together the union. In the end, Abraham Lincoln won by more than double the number of votes that Breckenridge aquired. However, president Lincoln was a northern man and the south strongly opposed him, which pushed the north and south further apart. -
South Carolina's Secession
Finally, in 1860 after much fighting and arguing between the north and south, South Carolina, a southern state, became the first state to secede from the union. Alabama, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The southern states believed that they had the right to secede, but northern president Abraham Lincoln thought otherwise, and declared that they could not leave the union. This angered the south and they blamed it on the north.
