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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise preserved the balance between slave and free states in the Senate. It also brought about a temporary, or brief. lull in the debate over slavery. The North and South grew into sectionalism. -
The Compromise of 1850
In 1850 Henry Clay tried to find a compromise. He proposed that California enter as a free state, while the rest of the new territories would have no limits on slavery.Southerners talked about seceding. He made a plan. Slave trade would be banned in Washington D.C. Clay was fighting for a stronger fugitive slave law. Stephen A. Douglas divided Clay's plan into five bills so that they could be voted on separately. These bills were later passed and became laws.This was the Compromise of 1850. -
The Kansas- Nebraska Act
Franklin Pierce intended to enforce a Fugitive Slave Act. Stephen Douglas introduced the bill in Congress. He proposed organizing the region west of Missouri and Iowa as the territories of Nebraska and Kansas. Douglas hoped the South and North would except his plan. Kansas and Nebraska were most likely to become free states because of their location. He proposed abandoning the Missouri Compromise and letting settlers from each territory vote. This was popular sovereignty. -
Bleeding Kansas
Slavery supporters attacked the town of Lawrence. The groups attacked newspaper offices, houses and the Free State Hotel. Soon antislavery forces retaliated. The attacks enraged John Brown he wanted to fight for his belief, he was known as a martyr.armed bans roamed the territory. The situation was also known as " the Civil War in Kansas." Violence also broke out in congress. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts lashed out against pro-slavery forces, in Kansas. He was later killed. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was an African American slave that unsuccessfully sued for his and his wife's freedom. He claimed that they should be free because they had lived in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory for four years, where slavery was illegal. The Supreme Court decided against Scott, finding that he or any other person of African ancestry could not claim citizenship in the United States, so he could not bring suit in federal court. -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
Lincoln challenged Senator Douglas to a series of debates. Thousands of people were coming to these debates. The main topic was slavery. During one debate, Lincoln pressed Douglas on his view on popular sovereignty. Lincoln asked him, "Could the people of a territory legally exclude slavery before becoming a state?" Douglas replied that the people could exclude slavery by refusing to pass laws protecting slaveholders rights. He satisfied anti-slavery followers, but lost support in the South. -
Raid on Harpers Ferry
After 1858 Election, Southerners felt threatened by Republicans. On October 16, the abolitionist John Brown led a group on a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His target was an arsenal. Brown hoped to arm enslaved African Americans and start a revolt against slaveholders. Brown's raid was defeated by local citizens and Federal troops. Brown was later sentenced to a hanging after being convicted of treason and murder. Brown was seen as a martyr by some. -
Election of Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln won the election but was not President yet. James Buchanan's term ran until March 4, 1861. In December 1860, Buchanan sent a message to Congress saying the southern states had no right to secede from the Union, except he had no power to stop them from doing so. People wondered what would happen in the slave states. -
Lincoln Inaugural Address
Lincoln's inaugural address spoke directly to the seceding states mixing words of toughness with words of peace. He said that secession would not be permitted, that" the Union of these States is perpetual." He vowed to hold federal property in the south, including a number of forts and military installations, and to enforce the laws of the United States. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
Confederate forces had already seized some US forts within their states. Although Lincoln did not want to start a war by trying to take the forts back, allowing the Confederates to keep them would amount to admitting their right to secede. Lincoln received a message that warned them the fort was low on supplies, and the Confederates demanded its surrender. The President made the decision to start shooting up the Confederates.
