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The Missouri Compromise
In the Missouri Compromise, Missouri applied to Congress for admission into the Union. Questions were asked if Missouri should enter the Union as a free state or a slave state. Rather than risk the breakup of the Union over this subject, a compromise was reached. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine, who had just applied for statehood, as a free state. This event helped lead to civil war because of the fierce debate concerning slavery in Missouri. -
Introduction
This is a timeline decribing pre-Civil War events that led to the Civil War. These events all took part in making the problem of slavery and morals to another extent which caused the Civil War. -
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The Timespan of States and Events in the North and South Before the Civil War
This is the timeline of new states that entered the United States and events that happened before the civil war started over slavery. -
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 admitted California as a free state while New Mexico and Utah would be territories open to slavery. It also ended the slave trade in Washington D.C. Slave owners could keep their slaves, slaves would not be sold in the capital. Finally, it called for a strong fugitive slave law that would make it easier to capture runaway slaves. The compromise was needed to decide what to do with land, please slaveowners, and gain support from abolitionists. This challenged land equality. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
Senator Stephen Douglass of Illinois introduced a bill wanting a railroad built to California. He suggested that Congress organize the Great Plains into Nebraska Territory and opened the region to settlers. Southerners in Congress would only support the bill if he made a few changes. His final bill created two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska, leaving it to the people to vote if they wanted slavery in the territory. This event led to Civil War because anger in the territory led to fighting. -
The Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri and traveled to Wisconsin with his owner. Upon his return, he went to court to win his freedom claiming that his trip to a free state made him a free man where slavery was banned by the Missouri Compromise. The Court decided that Scott couldn't sue for his freedom because he wasn't a citizen. The court also said that that his trip didn't make him a free man because the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.This led to war because it was an attack on slavery. -
The Election of 1860
The 1860 presidential race showed how divided the nation had become. White Republicans supported Lincoln, northern Democrats supported Stephen Douglas, southern Democrats supported John Breckinridge, and the Constitutional Union party supported John Bell. Lincoln won strangly because he had only 40 percent of votes, and he wasn't on the ballot. White southerners thought that the south was now a minority section. This led to war because many were talking of secession because of the election. -
The Attack on Fort Sumter
In Springfield, Illinois, a reporter called on President Lincoln. He asked if he would support a compromise on slavery. He wouln't interfere with slavery and support the Fugitive Slave Law, but wouldn't let slavery extend into territories. On March 4, Lincoln became president and stated that secession was wrong and unconstitutional. On April 12, hotheads opened fire on Fort Sumter, a federal fort. The fort finally surrendered and thus sparked the Civil War. The issue of slavery will have war.
