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The Missouri Compromise.
At the time, there were 11 free states and 11 slave states. As Missouri applied for statehood, slavery was written into its constitution. The Missouri Compromise was known for preserving the balance of free states and slave states by having Missouri join as a free state and Maine join as a slave state.It also brought a temporary lull in the debate over slavery. Northerners and Southerners started gaining an exagerated loyalty to their regions, known as Sectionalism. -
The Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott was an African American bought by an army doctor in Mississippi. When the doctor died in 1846, Dred got help from Anti-slavery lawyers to sue for freedom. Eleven years later, when the case finally made it to court, just as slavery was causing anger. The case received an enormous amount of attention. Chief Justice Rodger stated that Scott was still a slave though he lived on free land. -
Compromise of 1850
Five laws that were passed in 1850 became known as the compromise of 1850. One of these laws stated that Washington DC. would stay a slave state but claimed that slave trade would be banned.It also allowed California to join as a free state. Southerners also gained their stronger Fugitive law they wanted. A fugitive is a runaway slave. Southerners even had thoughts on seccecion, or leaving, the union. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephen A. Douglas proposed an idea. He had the idea of organizing the region west of Missouri and Iowa as the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. Douglas decided to completely abandon the Missouri Compromise and gave the states the right to choose for themselves, also known as Popular Sovereignty. As soon as this idea was introduced, antislavery and slavery believers ran to Missouri and some Border Ruffians, Missourians who traveled in armed groups, came along. -
Bleeding Kansas
In 1856 during May, Slavery supporters attacked the town of Lawrence, a stronghold of antislavery settlers. Violence broke out in Congress. Sectionism, the loyalty to ones country, was also used back here, which made Southerners and Northerners believe that their government was right. John Brown believed that God chose him to end slavery. When Lawrence was attached he vowed to strike terror in the hearts of pro-slavery believers. He even killed five Matyrs, people killed for their religon. -
The debates on Lincoln vs Douglas
The Senate race in Illinois was the center of attention. All over a Senator. But who to choose. Successful Democratic lawyer Stephen Douglas? Or nearly unknown Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln? Lincoln challenged Douglas to many debates. Douglas reluctantly agreed. The main topic to most of these debates was slavery. -
Harpers Ferry Raid
A few years after Bleeding Kansas, John Brown led a raid on Harpers Ferry to ram sack the heck out of an arsenal. Brown had high hopes of arming enslaved African Americans so they would revolt against their owners. Browns plan failed and his raid was defeated. Later he was sentenced to hanging for treason. -
Abraham's Election in 1860.
Slavery was an issue that divided the Northern and Southern Democrats. Northern Democrats wanted Stephen Douglas, for he supported Popular sovereignty, or the idea that people living in a territory had the right to vote if slavery would be legal there. Southern Democrats pledged to uphold slavery by nominating John C. Breckinridge. But Republicans voted for Abraham Lincoln. They believed slavery should be left alone where it lived. -
Lincoln Inaugural Address
Abraham Lincoln had been preparing for a while for this speech, that he directed mostly to the seceding states in specific. Lincoln mixed words of toughness and peace into one simple speech. He claimed secession, or leaving the Union, was not permitted. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
Confederate forces, or Rebels, had already captured U.S forts. Lincoln never wanted to start a war by attempting to take back the forts the Rebels had stolen. But for Lincoln to allow the Rebels to keep the forts they had seized would be admitting that they had the right to secede, or to leave the Union. Lincoln got a call from Fort Sumter the day he had entered office saying they were low on supplies. Lincoln sent supplies but Jefferson Davis ordered an attack.
