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Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance was a document that Congress adopted in 1787. It outlawed slavery in Northwest areas and set up the process of adding additional states. Future states would include Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. This ordinance was one of the few positive impacts that the Articles of Confederation employed. -
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wrote these resolutions secretively. The documents argued for states rights and also called for the nullification of federal laws that the states deemed unconstitutional, which supported the idea of strict construction-ism. Years later, the resolutions were used to justify the South’s secession from the Union. -
Hartford Convention
At the convention, held in Hartford, Connecticut, the Federalists introduced ideas such as the limitation of congressional war making and a single-term presidency. When news of this reached DC, news of the American victory in New Orleans had just arrived. Because of this, the Federalist Party was utterly humiliated. In all, this Convention served as the Party’s ultimate downfall, which led to the emergence of a one-party system and ushered in the Era of Good Feelings. -
Missouri Compromise
West ward expansion.As this occurred, the question of whether or not slavery should be allowed came to the forefront of political matters. The Missouri Compromise eased tensions over slavery for the time being because it allowed two states, Missouri and Maine, to enter the union as slave and free, respectively. The Compromise also declared that slavery would not be tolerated anywhere north of the 36’30 line in the remaining portion of the Louisiana territory. -
Tariff of 1828
The Tariff of 1828, also known as the Tariff of Abominations, was the highest tariff in the history of the United States. The tariff was proposed by Calhoun in an effort to make Adams look bad, but his plan backfired when the Tariff passed. Although the tariff would benefit the northern manufacturers, it would also place an impossibly high tax on imports that would wreck the South’s economy when they couldn’t export their crops. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner was a slave in Virginia who spearheaded the most notable slave rebellion in United States history. The infuriated slaves in the rebellion killed 57 white men, women, and children. This uprising terrified the whites, and it directly led to the institution of Black Codes, which restricted education, freedom of movement, and freedom in general for slaves and freed blacks. -
Nullification Crisis
During Jackson's presidency. Caused by the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832, nullification was spearheaded by South Carolina because the Tariff of 1832 still didn’t fix what the 1828 Tariff of Abominations had done. In late 1832, South Carolina passed the ordinance of nullification, which threatened secession if the tariff was forcefully collected and also declared that the tariffs were unconstitutional; they would be considered null and void within the state’s borders. -
Texas Annexation Debate
After it gained its independence from Mexico, Texas was seen as a threat with its new foreign allies. The United States sought to annex the little “lone star” republic. However, many Americans vehemently disagreed with this idea. Northerners feared that annexing Texas would be an expansion the “southern slaveocracy” that would tip the majority in Congress to the slave power side. On the contrary, the South was excited to gain more slave territory. -
Wilmot Proviso
TreatyofGuadalupeHidalgo was signed. The bill proposed to ban sla Wilmot Proviso was introduced by the free-soilers in 1846 directly aftervery in all territories taken from Mexico, pleasing the North, which wanted to abolish or at least limit slavery. This bill was passed in the House yet shot down in the Senate, which was controlled by the pro-slavery South. Due to the rejection of the Wilmot Proviso, the Compromise of 1850 was introduced instead which only temporarily calmed sectional tension. -
Compromise of 1850
Clay,Calhoun,andWebster,allpartof theOldGuard,triedtopreservethe Unionatallcosts.InClay’seloquent speech to the Senate concerning this act, he proved himself once again to be the “Great Compromiser.” From the Compromise, California entered the Union as a free state, the slave trade was abolished in DC, a tougher federal fugitive slave law was passed, the Texas territorial dispute was resolved, and the New Mexico and Utah territories would decide slavery based on the idea of popular sovereignty. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The South created the Fugitive Slave Act in order force the North to return all of the runaway slaves to their Southern owners. The Southerners felt very threatened by the overwhelming voice of radical anti-slavery abolitionists in the North, but this bill ironically motivated abolitionists even further with their open rejection of the Act. The Northern abolitionists still continued to use the underground railroad as a tooltosaveslavesfromtheSouthernerswhichonly servetofurtherinfuriatetheSouth -
Gadsden Purchase
tionwithMexico concerning the annexation of the southern portion of modern day New Mexico. They would pay $10 million to annex this area in order to establish a transcontinental railroad. Specifically, this southern route was chosen because of topographical advantages that couldn’t be found elsewhere. Despite this practical reasoning, it seriously angered the North. The Purchase eventually led to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which played a direct role in the destruction of the Union. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
legislation regarding slavery. It repealed the Missouri Compromise by allowing slavery to be determined by popular sovereignty in the new Kansas and Nebraska territories. This was a concession in order to get the southern concession for the transcontinental railroad. Once again, the slavery issue was revived despite the fact that it had just been calmed down with the Compromise of 1850. The Southerners were tolerant and accepting of the act, but the Northern Republicans united to protest. -
Bleeding Kansas
It was the Northern Jayhawks versus the “Border Ruffians.” In early 1856, the proslavery raiders attacked and burned free-soil Lawrence in the “Sack of Lawrence.” In retaliation, John Brown lead antislavery forces against opposition at Pottawatomie Creek. After this, open war broke out and 200 died by the end of 1856. Following this violence, federal troops were sent into Kansas to stop the violence and bloodshed. -
Ostend Manifesto
The Ostend Manifesto justified the United States’ attempt to purchase Cuba from Spain. The excessively overpriced offer of $130 million was rejected, but the Americans truly believed that they were entitled to expand; the rejection of the purchase was the necessary means for war. This outraged anti-slavery Northerners because they saw it as the expansion of slavery by the “Southern Slave Power.”