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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was a balance between the north and south regarding the expansion of slavery. The compromise allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It was devised by Henry Clay. The compromise also outlawed slavery above the 36* 30 latitude line (with the exception of Missouri) bringing a delicate balance between slave and non-slave states. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the compromise of 1850 and it required that all slaves be returned to their owners even if they were in a free state. The act was passed to please the south and maintain the peace/prevent the south from succeeding from the Union. Henry Clay was the one who proposed the comprise of 1850. -
Undergound Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of people that helped slaves escape into the North. The earliest mention of the Underground Railroad was made in 1831 when escaped slave Tice Davids credited his escape to the “Underground Railroad”. The total number of escaped slaves is unknown but some estimates put the number at over 100,000. People who operated the Underground Railroad were known as conductors, the most famous being Harriet Tubman. -
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Also known as the Southampton Insurrection, Nat Turner's Rebellion was a group of enslaved Virginians led by Nat Turner that killed between 55-65 white people. This made it the deadliest slave rebellion in all of U.S. history. This insurrection was quickly stifled by the U.S. militia and the result was harsher slave laws being imposed. -
The Gag Rule
The U.S. House of Representatives forbade the discussion of anti-slavery legislature since it was taking so much time and the topic was also a tense and uncomfortable subject to discuss. It was first proposed by representative James Hammond from South Carolina. The gag rule would last until 1844 when the discussion of Texas entering the Union necessitated the talk of slavery. -
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was a former slave that escaped to the north through the underground railroad. As a free man, Douglass became a prominent abolitionist, using his voice to spread anti-slavery messages. He founded his news paper "The North Star" in 1847. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was a dispute between the settlers in Kansa over whether or not there should be slavery. Pro-slavery people fought against abolitionists in a series of violent confrontations. Kansas eventually entered the Union as a part of the "Kansas Nebraska Act" where the settlers in Kansas decided whether or not slavery would be legal. Bleeding Kansas was a foreshadowing for the upcoming American Civil War. -
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom because he had lived with his owner in the free state of Illinois and the free territory of Wisconsin. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that Dred Scott was not a U.S. citizen and therefore did not have the right to a court ruling. The court justices denied Scott’s plea and upheld slavery -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by Abraham Lincoln and it stated that all slaves in the Confederate States were now free. This proclamation did not free the slaves that were still in the Union as Lincoln feared that this would cause them to succeed from the Union. Lincoln hoped that this proclamation would motivate southern slaves to rebel to the north. -
The 13th Amendment
Passed by Congress near the end of the civil war. The 13th Amendment officially abolished slavery in the United States.