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Northwest Ordinance
This ordinance proposed that 3-5 states should be added to the union. It also set up a new way for states in the west to be added to the union: once a territory reached a 60,000 population, it could apply for state status- however no slavery allowed. -
Missouri Compromise
Prior to the Missouri Compromise, there were high tensions between pro and anti-slavery believers in the US. When Missouri requested to be admitted as a slave state, people were afraid of how it would upset the slave-free state balance. So the Missouri Compromise admitted Maine as a free state and drew an imaginary line at the 36-30 parallel as a boundary between the free and slave states. Anything north of the line would be free, anything south would be a slave state. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
A slave from Southampton County, VA organized the bloodiest slave revolt in history. He led about 40-50 slaves who killed 55 whites including Nat Turner's own master and family. The rebellion lasted two days- August 21 and 22. This rebellion helped white beliefs that blacks were dangerous and encouraged the subjugation of slaves- but it also made southerners think the northerners were plotting rebellions against them and convinced them they could not live safely within the union. -
Gag Rule
The Gag Rule tabled any petitions on the issue of slavery between 1836 and 1840. Gag rules were supported by pro-slavery southern whigs because it prolonged slavery, but opposed by notherners. John Quincy Adams said it was unconstitutional and got it repealed on December 3, 1844 because it conflicted with the first amendment. -
Amistad Case
53 illegal african slaves from Cuba participated in a successful mutiny onboard the Amistad. Off the coast of New York, the slaves were caught and thrown in jail. Eventually they were allowed trial and declared not liable for their actions. John Quincy Adams defended them and got them all free men status. -
Annexation of Texas
In order to help the Texas territory economically, Mexico allowed American immigration in 1820s. But the Americans flooded the region, bringing their slaves in even though Mexico outlawed slavery. So, Americans in Texas declared independence from Santa Anna and Texas (and southerners) were pining for the regions annexation. Caused a divide between south and north who were not fond of increased southern representation, more slave states, and war with Mexico. Polk won president and annexed Texas. -
Mexican War
The Mexican War, fueled by border discretion between Mexico and Texas and Texas potential for statehood in the US, forced a broken trade relation between the US and Mexico. The war gained heavy opposition from the Whig Party for risking the stability of the nation. But on February 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadelupe Hildago was signed and gave Cali and New Mexico to the Union, and set the Rio Grande as the boundary of Texas. US ended up having to pay Mexicans 15 million dollars as a result. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was the amendment to a bill that stated slavery would not exist in any land gained from Mexico, proposed by David Wilmot (a democrat). The amendment passed the house of representatives, but not the senate. -
California Gold Rush
In early 1848, James Marshall found gold at Sutters Mill California. Although he did not want it to, word spread and the whole country buzzed with excitement and by the end of 1849, California was filled with single white men in search of quick riches by finding gold. Along with american expansion to the west, the gold rush brought migrants from China and Ireland. It produced racial tensions and put pressure on to make a more stable government in the newly diversified and populous region. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas Nebraska act was a compromise that was proposed by Stephen A. Douglas in order to reduce concern over upset of the free and slave state balance. The act divided the territory into two: Kansas and Nebraska. Kansas was allowed to vote on their slave policies, and Nebraska was decided to be free. However, this repealed Missouri Compromise- abolitionists were outraged because this act incited the expansion of slavery, which caused the Republican Party to energy from the dying Whig party. -
Compromise of 1850
There was a large conflict between moderates and unionists over free and slave states. So, Henry Clay proposed the compromise with 4 parts: admission of California as a free state, formation of territorial governments in the rest of the lands acquired from Mexico, with no restrictions on slavery, abolition of slave trade, but not slavery in DC, more effective fugitive slave law. This compromise was extremely important to the preservation of the union, and was signed into effect in September 1850 -
Fugitive Slave Act
The 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. This outraged the northerners because southerners were coming onto their land and capturing blacks they claimed were former slaves; north formed mobs to prevent enforcement of this law, some states even passed local laws that barred the deportation of slaves. This enraged the southerners because they were being denied rights by law. -
The Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel was credited with starting the civil war because it was the first time that northerners got a glimpse of what actually goes on while in the bonds of slavery. The anti-slavery book gave the north a powerful reason to fight the war. -
Ostend Manifesto
In 1854, a group of Franklin Pierce’s envoys sent him a private document from Ostend, Belgium making the case for seizing Cuba by force. It enraged many anti-slavery northerners who charged the president's administration with trying to bring another slave state into the union because the south opposed any territory that would not support a slave system (Hawaii and Canada for example). -
Bleeding Kansas
After the Kansas-Nebraska act, both north and south advocated passionately for and against slavery, strengthening tensions. Bleeding Kansas, a period of violence, emerged over the slavery debate in the Kansas territory. Both sides were fighting for/against establishment of slavery in the new territory. On May 21, 1856, pro-slavery advocates burned hotels and newspaper offices in Lawrence. Three days later, John Brown- an abolitionist- led the Pottawatomie Massacre where five of his were killed. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was a missouri slave once owned by an army surgeon who took Scott with him where slavery was forbidden. After his master died, he sued his master’s widow for freedom on the grounds that his being in free territory had liberated him from slavery. The missouri court declared him free but the master’s brother appealed to the Supreme Court who repealed the earlier decision- ruled Scott had no standing to sue because he was private property & deemed the missouri compromise unconstitutional -
John Brown and Raid on Harper's Ferry
On october 16th, he and a group of eighteen followers attacked and seized control of a US arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in hopes a slave uprising would occur, but it did not. instead he besieged himself in the arsenal by citizens, local militia companies, and United States troops. 10 of his men were killed so brown surrendered, and six of his men including himself were hanged. This action convinced white southerners that they could not live safely in the union. -
Crittenden Compromise
The Crittenden Compromise was proposed as an attempt to stall the civil war by a Kentucky Senator and opposed by Abraham Lincoln. It wanted to reenact the Missouri Compromise and extend it west, compensate owners of fugitive slaves, give popular sovereignty in territories, protect slavery in D.C., and forbid interference with the interstate slave trade. This compromise was a real last chance to save the union and appease the south- but it was defeated in the senate on March 2, 1861.
