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The Three-Fifths Compromise
As the political system began to shape into how we know it today, southern and northern political representatives argued over whether or not a slave should count as one person in a population census. Northerners argued that a slave, considered property, was not a part of the population. Southerners argued it was, so it would increase the overall population of their state, therefore making them more powerful. -
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Congressional Debates about Slavery
Slavery was a topic even our founding fathers struggled with. Should this country, its very Declaration of Independence stating "all men are created equal" uphold the institution of slavery? If not, when and how should it be abolished? -
The Missouri Compromise
Political tensions in Congress between pro- and anti-slavery viewpoints had reached a peak with the purchase of the Louisiana Territory. Would the new states created be slave or free? The debate was solved by adding Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. The addition of any new states south of the compromise line would be slave, and any north of this line would be free. -
The Gag Rule
Differing opinions on slavery in Congress meant that nothing else was getting discussed besides for slavery and nothing was getting done about it. The House passed the "Gag Rule": all anti-slavery petitions to the House would be ignored and discussed at a later date while the House dealt with more pressing issues. -
The Compromise of 1850
As it usually went, new territory gained with the winning of the Mexican-American war also came with the age-old question: slave or free? California was admitted as free, Texas as slave, and other territories were left to popular sovereignty to decide whether they would hold slaves or not. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
As part of the Compromise of 1850, Northerners were required to return any escaped slaves to their owners. This made it much more difficult for escaped slaves to remain escaped and eventually pass as free. Even if you were a legal, free slave, all it would take was one accusation to be put back to work on a plantation, since blacks were not granted trials. -
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Discussion turns to Action
After the Compromise of 1850, the balance between slave and free states was thrown off. Not only was there less territory in which you were able to own slaves, the US Government now had a favor towards free states, with more anti-slavery representatives in Congress and the House. The election of a decidedly anti-slavery President did not help the divide between slave and free, and as tensions increased, so did talk of secession from the union. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
This act allowed the territories of both Kansas and Nebraska to vote by popular sovereignty whether they would be slave or free states. This upset anti-slavery representatives as it was essentially a repeal of the Missouri Compromise; according to that, Kansas should be free. This act caused opposition about slavery to become violent. Kansas was known as "Bleeding Kansas" due to the amount of violence in the territory between pro- and anti-slavery forces. -
The Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott petitioned that he should be a free man after moving with his owner into a free state. He believed that the time living in the free state entitled him to his freedom, and many abolitionists agreed with him. However, the pro-slavery Chief Justice Taney disagreed and declared that "no black, slave or free, has the right to US citizenship". This declaration only increased abolitionist movements, and was one of the most controversial topics of that time. -
The Lecompton Constitution
As "Bleeding Kansas" needed to decide whether it was slave or free, the state drafted the Lecompton Constitution that declared slavery legal in that state. Once this was passed by the US federal government, it only served to cause much more tension between pro- and anti- slavery forces in the controversial state of Kansas. -
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Lincoln and Douglas, two presidential candidates pro- and anti-slavery respectively, had a series of seven debates on slavery. These debates proved just how drastic the line between Lincoln's supporters and Douglas's supporters was - and how the turnout of the Election of 1860 would truly determine the future of the United States. -
The Election and Secession of 1860
When the well-known anti-slave candidate Abraham Lincoln was elected president, six states officially seceded from the Union. Lincoln had promised that with his election, he was going to reduce the power of the South and refuse to add any new states as slaves. With the secession, war was inevitable, and the Election and Secession of 1860 is seen as the official starting event of the Civil War.
