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Northwest Ordinance of 1787
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was passed by Congress on July 13, 1787 after the acquisition of the Northwest Territory west of the Ohio Territory. Here, 3-5 states would be formed once they reached a population of 60,000 people, civil rights and liberties were enforced, education was encouraged, and slavery was outlawed. These were major steps in expanding the nation and admitting new free states in a time of increasing social tensions. -
Annexation of Texas
Settlement of Texas, a Mexican territory, between 1820 and 1830 was encouraged by Stephen Austin with hopes to eventually gain independence. The Mexican government enforced an increasingly strict hold on Texas' residents, inspiring its breakaway in 1837 and independence as the Texas Republic. By 1845 it was admitted to the United States as a slave state with opposition from the North, and provoked the Mexican American War from 1846 to 1848. -
Missouri Compromise
Henry Clay proposed the Missouri Compromise in 1820 to accommodate the new territories admitted to the United States during a time when there were 12 free states and 12 slave states. In order to avoid upsetting this balance, the compromise proposed that the 36°30’ parallel would determine the status of slavery in the new states: states to the North would be free and states to the South could vote for or against it. This prolonged tensions and relatively appeased both opposing sides. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner, a slave in Virginia, led a strongly motivated rebellion consisting of over 50 slaves on August 22, 1831. He and his followers killed nearly 60 white men, women, and children in the town of Southampton before being stopped the next morning. Authorities captured the rebels and ordered them to be killed or exiled. Unfortunately, this revolt did more harm than good. Rights of slaves were restricted rather than broadened, and their status was further suppressed. -
Gag Rule
The Gag Rule pertained to petitions that addressed the abolition of slavery between 1836 and 1844. Congress was to table any such legislation until the end of the Gag Rule several years later, inspired by abolitionist John Quincy Adams. This rule infuriated the North, as their stances and petitions were ignored by Congress. The South, however, supported it as slavery was preserved and abolitionist movements were suppressed. -
The Amistad Case
The Amistad Case occurred in February 1839 involving the abduction of African slaves by Portuguese slave hunters. Slaves were illegally shipped to Cuba, where 53 were bought by Spaniards who hoped to send them to a plantation in the Caribbean. However, the slaves were able to seize control of the boat and kill the cook and chef. They steered towards Africa but landed in CT, where they faced trial for murder. Because they were illegal slaves, they were freed and granted the rights of an American. -
The Mexican-American War
The Mexican war was a direct result of the annexation of Texas. War was declared on May 13, 1846 to settle Texan boundaries and tensions between the weakening Mexico and strengthening America. The states, however, remained divided in entering the war as slavery was largely up for debate. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo declared American victory, granting them Texas (with borders at the Rio Grande), California, and New Mexico. The United States paid Mexico $15 million. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was proposed by David Wilmot from Pennsylvania in the midst of the Mexican was. He proposed this amendment that would outlaw slavery in the territories added to the United States as a result of the Mexican War. It was introduced to the House of Representatives on August 8, 1846 and passed, though it was not approved in the Senate. Nevertheless, the Wilmot Proviso furthered controversy regarding the status and legalization of slavery across the country. -
California Gold Rush
In January of 1848, James Marshall discovered small traces of gold in the Sacramento Valley, California. He and the company he worked for attempted to keep the news to themselves, but inevitably it spread to the surrounding populations through newspapers and communication. Eventually, settlers flocked to California soon after its admittance to the United States. The population drastically increased as settlers from around the country, Mexico, and China arrived in search of economic prosperity. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act was a component of the Compromise of 1850, and one that played a major role in increasing tensions prior to the Civil War. The Fugitive Slave Act strengthened laws first in effect in 1793 by requiring the government to assist slave owners in reclaiming their runaway slaves. Though the North strongly opposed, law forced them to join the efforts to suppress free slave populations. With such passionate opposing viewpoints, the Fugitive Slave Act had disastrous consequences. -
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was drafted by Kentucky Senator Henry Clay in attempt to appease the North and South following the Mexican War and prior to the Civil War. It consisted of 5 proposals: slave trade was to be banned in the District of Columbia, enactment of the Fugitive Slave Act, slavery in New Mexico and Utah was to be ruled by popular sovereignty, California was to be a free state, and the boundaries of Texas were defined. The compromise was introduced to Congress on January 29, 1850. -
Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was an abolitionist novel published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe, a Connecticut author. The piece was unique in that it told of the journey, struggles, and death of a slave named Uncle Tom without censorship. Readers, mainly Northerners, were shocked by this raw reality of slavery that was accessible to the public for the first time. In a time of such high tensions between pro-slavery and abolitionist supporters, the novel pushed the issue over the edge and led to war. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas' ambitious transcontinental railroad led to the settlement of the uncharted Nebraska Territory. Because it lay between the 36°30’ parallel of the Missouri Compromise, its slave status was up for debate. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was proposed by Douglas in January 1854, dividing the territory into Nebraska and Kansas, declaring Nebraska as a free state, and leaving Kansas' status up to popular sovereignty. Conflict arose as the Missouri Comprise was overridden. -
Ostend Manifesto
Secretary of State William Marcy met with European ambassadors in Ostend, Belgium to discuss the American acquisition of Spanish Cuba on October 18, 1854. As an advocate for Southern slavery, Marcy hoped to gain Cuba by force if necessary and make it a slave state as new free states such as California were being admitted to the United States. His efforts were unsuccessful as the Ostend Manifesto was denounced, and pro-slavery supporters faced a setback during a time of high political tension. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was the period of violence emerging from the settlement of Kansas after the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Pro-slavery and abolition advocates from both the North and South moved into the state in attempt to influence its slave status. Tensions rose as each side devised armed associations and governments, resulting in death and destruction by May of 1856 with the Sack of Lawrence. Bleeding Kansas led to the introduction of Kansas as a free state and the formation of the Republican Party. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was a slave when he attempted to gain freedom as an African American in 1857. His owner resided in free states, Illinois and Wisconsin, so logistically he should not be bonded to a master. However, when he appealed to the Supreme Court in front of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney on March 6, 1857, it was ruled that Scott did not have rights as a citizen under the United States Constitution. This decision further established slaves as property and suppressed the new Republican Party. -
Raid on Harper's Ferry
John Brown was a Northern-raised abolitionist who aspired to destroy the institution of slavery by whatever means necessary, including violence. He and his sons committed the Sack of Lawrence, killing 5 men. A year later, on October 16, 1859, he and 22 men raided Harper's Ferry in Maryland, capturing hostages and seizing the federal armory and arsenal. The raid was stopped with the killing of Brown and 10 men, but a lasted impact was created as the issue of slavery could not be overlooked. -
Crittenden Compromise
The Crittenden Compromise was proposed by Kentucky Senator John J. Crittenden as a last attempt to avoid civil war in December 1860. It included 6 proposed constitutional amendments and 4 proposed Congressional resolutions that would guarantee the existence of slavery in Southern states by reestablishing the line set by the Missouri Compromise. It was favored by the South and opposed by the North, never passing in Congress. The attempt demonstrated the inevitability of war by the early 1860s.
