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Missouri Compromise
Enlisted Missouri as a slave state, and Maine as a free state. The North had wanted another free state while the South fought for a slave state. It also prohibited slavery in all other areas of the Louisiana Purchase. This brought peace for 30 years, however tensions grew. The South did not like how Congress had the power to establish laws on slavery. The North criticized how Congress reluctantly agreed to the idea without accepting any protests on the expansion of slavery. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
A rebellion led by Nat Turner in which white people were killed by a group of slaves in protest of slavery. About 60 Virginian whites were killed, including women and children. Nat Turner and 18 others received the death punishment. The North was inspired and the abolition movement grew in popularity. The South became paranoid of the abolition movement, resulting in hundreds of innocent blacks being killed. The contrasting views of slavery were what caused the North/South tension. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was a piece of legislation proposed by David Wilmot at the close of the Mexican-American War. It would have outlawed slavery in territory acquired by the United States as a result of the war. Wilmot spent two years fighting for his plan. This increased tension because the Southerners obviously wanted slavery and the North went against it. Wilmot was proposing not including slavery in the new territory and the South didn’t like that at all. Thus, tensions were raised. -
Compromise of 1850
A compromise admitting California as a free state and having no slavery restrictions on Utah and New Mexico territory. A Fugitive Slave law was also created in this process. The slave trade was also abolished in D.C. This caused tensions between the North and South due to the amount of benefits given to each side. For example, the North was given a free state and the slave trade became prohibited, while the south gained two territories without restrictions and the Fugitive Slave Law. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The fugitive slave laws were laws passed to provide for the return of slaves who escaped from one state into another state or territory. by 1860, 330 slaves were returned to their owners. However this act was almost unenforceable in the North.Tension was caused because the North was in disagreement with the act, and in support of the abolition movement. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book about a slave names Uncle Tom and his stories. It was an anti-slavery novel and it was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The North began to realize to injustices of slavery. The South was in great disapproval of the book, and worked hard to defend the institution. This caused tension, because more and more people were starting to see the wrongful doings of slavery and angered the Southern slaveholders. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Act that gave the territories of Kansas and Nebraska the power to decide for themselves whether or not they want to become a slave state. The North was infuriated by this act, repealing the Missouri Compromise. This caused violent outbreaks like "bleeding Kansas." Tension was caused between the North and South from the debate whether the new territories would be a slave or free state. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was a series of violent events over the debate of slavery in the proposed state of Kansas. The violence did not end for another 5 years. 56 people were killed. This caused tension between the North and South because of the violent acts encouraged by anti and pro slavery advocates against each other. -
Brooks Attacks Sumner
Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts gave a speech in the Senate called "The Crime Against Kansas.”It called out South Carolina's Senator Andrew Butler. Preston Brooks of South Carolina, Butler’s cousin, decided to confront Sumner. Two days after Sumner’s speech, Brooks went to his chamber and repeatedly hit him over the head with a cane. This event created tensions between the North and South because the North felt as though Brooks should’ve been punished, but the South commended it. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave who tried to sue for his freedom in court. The justices found that, as a slave, Dred Scott was a piece of property that had none of the legal rights afforded to a human being. The decision threatened to entirely recast the political landscape that had thus far managed to prevent civil war. This increased tensions between the North and South because the North felt that Dred Scott and other slaves should be free, and the South believed that they were property and shouldn’t. -
Lincoln-Douglass Debates
A series of seven debates between the Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois senatorial campaign. Although Douglas won, his popularity had gone down severely. Lincoln, on the other hand, became an amazing spokesman for the Republican Party. These debates increased tension between the North and South because they debated the slavery extension issue,therefore, they were addressing the problem that had divided the nation into two. -
Raid on Harpers Ferry
Harpers Ferry Raid was assault by an armed band of abolitionists led by John Brown on the federal armoury located at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.It was intended to be the first stage in an elaborate plan to establish an independent stronghold of freed slaves, choosing Harpers Ferry because of its arsenal and its convenient gateway to the South. Although the raid on Harpers Ferry was denounced by a majority of Northerners, it electrified the South and convinced slaveholders of the North’s will. -
Election of 1860
The election of 1860 was one of the most pivotal presidential elections in American history. It pitted Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln against Democratic Party nominee Senator Stephen Douglas, Southern Democratic Party nominee John Breckinridge and Constitutional Union Party nominee John Bell.Lincoln emerged victorious and became the 16th President of the U.S.. The election increased tensions between the North and South because the debates held in the election were all about slavery.
