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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise, which prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the 36°30' N parallel. It was part of the law passed on March 6, 1820 admitting Missouri as the 24th state in the Union. -
Wilnot Proviso
Congressman David Wilmot first introduced the Proviso in the United States House of Representatives on August 8, 1846 as a rider on a $2,000,000 appropriations bill intended for the final negotiations to resolve the Mexican–American War. -
Califronia Statehood
31st state. Ceded by Mexico by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, concluded Feb. 2, 1848, and proclaimed July 4, 1848. From then until statehood, California had a military government until Dec. 20, 1849, and then a local civil government. It never had a territorial form of government. -
Fugitve Slave Law
The Fugitive Slave Law brought the issue home to anti-slavery citizens in the North as it made them and their institutions responsible for enforcing slavery. Moderate abolitionists were now faced with the immediate choice of defying what they believed to be an unjust law or breaking with their own consciences and beliefs. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin published
Uncle Tom's Cabin happens on the Shelby plantation in Kentucky, Tom and 4-year old Harry, are sold to pay debts. The story focuses on Tom, a strong, religious man living with his wife and 3 young children, and Eliza, Harry's mother.
Eliza's husband George Harris, unaware of Harry's danger, has already escaped, planning to later purchase his family's freedom. Eliza runs away, making a dramatic -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
In January 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas introduced a bill that divided the land west of Missouri into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska. He argued for popular sovereignty, which would allow the settlers of the new territories to decide if slavery would be legal there. Antislavery supporters were outraged because, under the terms of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery would have been outlawed in both territories. After months of debate, the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed on May 30, 1854. -
Onsted Manifesto
The Ostend Manifesto was a document written in 1854 that described the rationale for the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain while implying that the U.S. should declare war if Spain refused. Cuba's annexation had long been a goal of U.S. expansionists, particularly as the U.S. set its sights southward following the admission of California to the Union. Pierre Soulé, the driving force behind the Ostend Manifesto -
Raid on Lawrence, Kansas
The raid on Lawrence, Kansas didn't come out of the blue or without motivation. It was one in a long string of atrocities by both sides that had been taking place in the border area since 1854. -
Charles Sumner beaten
In 1856, South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks nearly killed Sumner on the Senate floor for ridiculing his relative, Sen. Andrew Butler, as a pimp for slavery. -
John Brown invadees Pottawatomie, Kansas
The Pottawatomie Massacre occurred during the night of May 24 and the morning of May 25, 1856. In reaction to the sacking of Lawrence, Kansas by pro-slavery forces, John Brown and a band of abolitionist settlers killed five settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas. -
Dred Scott Decision
Any person descended from Africans, whether slave or free, is not a citizen of the United States, according to the Constitution. They were considered property in historic records. The Ordinance of 1787 could not confer either freedom or citizenship within the Northwest Territory to non-white individuals. The provisions of the Act of 1820, known as the Missouri Compromise, were voided as a legislative act, since the act exceeded the powers of Congress. -
Lincoln-Douglas debates
At the time, U.S. senators were elected by state legislatures; thus Lincoln and Douglas were trying for their respective parties to win control of the Illinois legislature. -
Harper's Ferry Raid
Abolitionist John Brown and several followers seized the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. The actions of Brown's men brought national attention to the emotional divisions concerning slavery. -
Abraham Lincoln elected President of United States
The nation had been divided throughout the 1850s on questions surrounding the expansion of slavery and the rights of slave owners. In 1860, it finally came to a head. As a result of conflicting interests, the Democratic Party broke into Northern and Southern factions. A new Constitutional Union Party appeared. In the face of a divided country, the Republican Party, dominant in the North, secured enough electoral votes to put Abraham Lincoln in the White House with very little support from south. -
South Carolina secedes
On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to declare its secession from the United States. The first shots of the Civil War were fired in Charleston. -
Fort Sumter attack
The bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter, near Charleston, South Carolina, that started the American Civil War. Following declarations of secession by seven Southern states, South Carolina demanded that the U.S. Army abandon its facilities in Charleston Harbor.
