-
Northwest Ordinance GREEN
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 chartered a government for the Northwest territory, provided a method for admitting new states to the Union from the territory, and listed a bill of rights guaranteed in the territory. Political Issue. -
Missouri Compromise GREEN
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was the legislation that provided for the admission of Maine to the United States as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. This compromise maintained the balance of power between the North and the South. Political Issue. -
Nat Turner Rebellion RED
The Nat Turner Rebellion was a slave rebellion that took place in Southhampton, Virginia and was led by Nat Turner. Rebel slaves killed from 55 to 65 people. Social Issue. -
Gag Rule RED
On this date, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "gag rule" which made it so petitions were basically impossible to make. Political Issue. -
Amistad Case RED
The Amistad Case was a United States Supreme Court case resulting from the rebellion of Africans on board the La Amistad. The Supreme Court decided that the Africans had been illegally enslaved and therefore had exercised a natural right to fight for their freedom. Political Issue. -
Annexation of Texas RED
The annexation of Texas was the adoption of a new state (28th state) and the declaring of independence from Mexico. This brought sectional differences into greater prominence because Texas would become a large new slave territory and increase southern votes in Congress and in the electoral college. Northerners opposed this and felt that the annexation of Texas would bring sectional controversy and even a war with Mexico. Political Issue. -
Mexican War RED
The Mexican War was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. This war brought sectional differences in the United States into greater prominence because there were some who opposed going to war with Mexico and thought that the hostilities with Mexico were draining resources and attention away from the more important issue of the Pacific Northwest. Political Issue. -
Wilmot Proviso RED
The Wilmot Proviso was an unsuccessful proposal in the United States Congress to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican War. Political Issue. -
California Gold Rush RED
The California Gold Rush was a gold rush that began in January of 1848 when James Marshall, a carpenter working on one of rancher John Sutter’s sawmills, found traces of gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California. This event brought sectional differences in the United States into greater prominence because it lead to greater westward expansion would contribute to the debate over free or slave states. Economic Issue. -
Compromise of 1850 RED
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills that defused a political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired in the Mexican War. This compromise brought sectional differences in the United States into greater prominence because laws were passed that both the North and the South did not like as a part of the compromise. Political Issue. -
Fugitive Slave Act RED
The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Compromise of 1850 and made it so that slaves had to be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The northerners opposed this act because they did not support slavery and southerners were beginning to appear in northern states to pursue people they claimed were fugitives. Political Issue. -
Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin RED
Uncle Tom's Cabin is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. The novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the United States. Social Issue. -
Kansa Nebraska Act and "Bleeding Kansas" RED
The Kansas Nebraska Act was a bill that mandated popular sovereignty which allowed settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery should be allowed within a state's borders (in Kansas and Nebraska). This resulted in the establishment of two opposing legislatures within the Kansas territory. Violence soon erupted and the territory earned the nickname "bleeding Kansas" as the death toll rose. Political Issue. -
Ostend Manifesto RED
The Ostend Manifesto was a document written in 1854 that described the rationale for the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain but implied that the U.S. should declare war if Spain refused. Political Issue. -
Dred Scott Decision RED
The Dred Scott Decision was a Supreme Court Case that mandated that Dred Scott, a slave who was suing for his freedom, was not free because he was not a citizen and did not have rights. Political Issue. -
John Brown and the Raid on Harper's Ferry RED
The raid on Harper's Ferry was an effort by abolitionist John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt in Southern States by taking over a United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Social Issue. -
Crittenden Compromise RED
The Crittenden Compromise was an unssucessful attempt to avert war and stop the Southern states from seceding. It permanently enshrined slavery in the United States Constitution and made it impossible for future congresses to end slavery. Political Issue.
