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Missouri Compromise
Congress passed a bill granting Missouri statehood as a slave state under the condition that slavery was to be forever prohibited in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36th parallel, which runs approximately along the southern border of Missouri. -
The Nullification Crisis
The Nullification Crisis of 1832 involved the United States government wanting to enforce tariffs and South Carolina’s authority to nullify such laws. The tariffs of 1828 and 1832 had particularly negative economic implications for the state of South Carolina. When it became clear the tariffs would not be repealed, the state issued the Ordinance of Nullification, which declared both tariffs null and void within its boundaries. A new compromise tariff was issued in 1833, averting a possible confr -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 added some new laws. Buying and selling slaves in Washington, D.C. was outlawed. The people living in Washington, D.C. could still own slaves, but could not buy or sell new ones. In the South the land received from Mexico was broken up into two states, New Mexico and Utah. In these states the settlers could decide for themselves whether they wanted slavery or not. -
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Acts were a pair of federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within the territory of the United States. Enacted by Congress in 1793, the first Fugitive Slave Act authorized local governments to seize and return escaped slaves to their owners and imposed penalties on anyone who aided in their flight. Widespread resistance to the 1793 law later led to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which added further provisions regarding runaways an -
Bleeding Kansas 1855
Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas or the Border War was a series of violent political confrontations in the United States involving anti-slavery Free-Staters and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian" elements, that took place in the Kansas Territory and the neighboring towns of the state of Missouri between 1854 and 1861. -
Dred Scott Decision
The case was decided in favor of Sanford, but Dred Scott appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the majority opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. -
Attack on Harpers Ferry 1859
On the evening of October 16, 1859 John Brown, a staunch abolitionist, and a group of his supporters left their farmhouse hide-out en route to Harpers Ferry. Descending upon the town in the early hours of October 17th, Brown and his men captured prominent citizens and seized the federal armory and arsenal. -
The Election of 1860
In 1860, Lincoln won the party's presidential nomination. In the November 1860 election, Lincoln again faced Douglas, who represented the Northern faction of a heavily divided Democratic Party, as well as Breckinridge and Bell.
