-
The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act
The Compromise of 1850 included the Fugitive Slave Act. The Fugitive Slave Act allowed all slaves to be hunted by the government and returned back to their masters even if they were in a free state. -
1854 Kansas-Nebraska act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, which created two new territories The Kansas-Nebraska act made it possible for the Kansas and Nebraska territories to open to slavery. The Missouri Compromise had prevented this from happening but was repealed which angered the people from the north because Missouri was supposed to be a slave free state. -
Period: to
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the legality of slavery in the proposed state of Kansas. -
1856 Preston brooks vs Charles sumner
Preston brooks a pro-slavery Democrat used a walking cane to attack Senator Charles sumner.The attack was in retaliation for a speech given by Sumner two days earlier in which he criticized slaveholders, including pro-slavery South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler, a relative of Preston and It has been considered symbolic of the willingness to resort to violence that eventually led to the Civil War. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393, was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held the U.S. Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black African descent, and therefore they could not enjoy the rights and privileges the Constitution conferred upon American citizens. -
1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates
Lincoln-Douglas debates, series of seven debates between the Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois senatorial campaign, largely concerning the issue of slavery extension into the territories. Although Lincoln lost the election, these debates launched him into national prominence which eventually led to his election as President of the United States. -
John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was an effort by abolitionist John Brown, from October 16 to 18, 1859, to initiate a slave revolt in Southern states by taking over the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. It has been called the dress rehearsal for, or tragic prelude to, the American Civil War. -
1860 election of Abraham Lincoln
The American presidential election held on November 6, 1860, in which Republican Abraham Lincoln defeated Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell. The electoral split between Northern and Southern Democrats was emblematic of the severe sectional split, particularly over slavery. This gave Lincoln the power to veto slavery for all of America