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civil war
n an attempt to prevent a civil war, Congress enacted a series of laws that became known as the Compromise of 1850. These included an enhanced Fugitive Slave Law. This law required law enforcement officials throughout the country to aid in the arrest of alleged runaway slaves. It provoked a national controversy and many Northerners refused to enforce the law’s provisions. -
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Harriet Beecher Stowe’s
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published. It sold 300,000 copies in the United States in the first year of its publication, spurring on the work of abolitionists and enraging those who defended slavery. It also spawned several other plays and musicals, some carrying on the theme of the book, others taking a pro-slavery approach. While Stowe’s book was strongly anti-slavery, it also created and reinforced stereotypes about African Americans. -
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Kansas-Nebraska Act
Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed settlers in the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide whether they would allow slavery. The Republican Party was formed in response to opening the Northern territories to slavery. -
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Anti-slavery
Anti-slavery Free-Staters and pro-slavery Anti-slavery clashed in Kansas. The violence, which lasted for several years, became known as the Border War, or Bleeding Kansas. -
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Scott v. Sandford
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Dred Scott decision (Scott v. Sandford). The ruling stated that no one of African descent could qualify for U.S. citizenship. This decision further outraged abolitionists. -
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John Brown
John Brown led a band of about 20 radical abolitionists in a raid on the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown hoped to set off a slave revolt, but then plan failed. Brown and several other men were caught and executed. -
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Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln won the Republican nomination for president, running against the Democratic candidate Stephen A. Douglas. Even before Lincoln won the election, Southern states began threatening to secede if the Republican candidate won. Following Lincoln’s victory, South Carolina seceded from the United States on December 20. -
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Jefferson Davis
January-February: Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas seceded. The six states that had seceded formed a government called the Confederate States of America, or Confederacy. Jefferson Davis was elected its president.
March: Lincoln was inaugurated. Congress authorized raising an army of volunteers.
April 12: Confederates fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. U.S. Major General Richard Anderson surrendered the fort.