-
Period: to
Underground Railroad
The Underground railroad was neither underground or a railroad. It was a series of routes going to northerner states and Canada from southern slave states. Slaves would run away from their plantations that they worked on and would take a route north. -
Period: to
Underground Railroad
Abolitionists would volunteer their homes for the fugitives to eat, sleep, and hide. If an abolitionist did not volunteer their home for safety, they most likely provided food, lanterns, candles, and more for the “station”, otherwise known as the houses that were hiding fugitives. A few famous abolitionists are Harriet Tubman, John Rankin, Fredrick Douglass, Levi Coffin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John Brown. -
John Rankin
When signaling fugitives on the Underground Railroad in Kentucky, he used a lantern. Along with being a conductor, Rankin was a stockholder to approximately 2,000 fugitives on the Underground Railroad. He was also referenced in Uncle Tom’s Cabin for the stories that he wrote. Then, after finding out that his brother Thomas had purchased slaves in Virginia, John Rankin wrote a series of anti-slavery letters to his brother out of anger. -
John Rankin (2)
After receiving his brothers letters, Thomas then moved from Virginia to Ohio and freed his slaves.
This was the date John rankin was born. -
Missouri Compromise Part 2
Maine then joined as a free state to maintain balance in the states - twelve free states and twelve slave states. As a final touch, the 36’30’ line through the Louisiana Territory. States north of this line were free (no slaves), and states south of the 36’30’ would be slave states, with the exception of Missouri. Using the 36’30 maintained balance in the United States - twelve free and twelve enslaved. On March 3, 1820, this law was passed in Congress. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history -
Missouri Compromise
Slaveholders had already moved to into Missouri, with their slaves in tow. Congressman James Tallmadge proposed that no more slaves were to be brought to Missouri and the current slaves were to be freed at twenty-five. Southerners said Congress had no right to make conditions for any new states, because they wouldn't be equal to the other states. Therefore, it was passed in the House, but rejected in the Senate. Because it was not passed, there were slaves in Missouri. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
On August 22nd and 23rd, 1831, in Southampton, Virginia, Nat Turner led a rebellion of 60 to 70 slaves against slave owners. Nat Turner worked on the Travis plantation, where the rebellion began, killing the whole Travis family. With the help of sixty to seventy other slaves in Southampton, Turner managed to kill a total of sixty families and ruin their plantations in the process. -
Nat Turner's Rebbelion Part 2
Like most slaves in 1831, Nat Turner wanted his freedom, along with the other 60 to 70 slaves involved in this rebellion. As a result to this outrage, slave owners became scared, and violent. Creating an uproar, southerners killed over 200 blacks, even though some slaves protected their owners and the plantation, as well as the families. After Nat Turner’s Rebellion, even stricter laws were passed in the south. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion Part 3
Slaves could not vote, serve on a jury, own property, testify in court, learn to read or even write, buy or sell goods, become a preacher, own their own gun, or meet in groups of more than five people, among many other things. These laws were passed with the hope that it would prevent anymore rebellions. Then, they became the Black Codes after the Civil War. These codes limited what free blacks could do as well. This enraged the blacks furthered, making them want their freedom that much more. -
Period: to
Dred Scott Case (2)
Scott and his wife would remain slaves because they were considered property. The Compromise of 1820 was then considered unconstitutional because it restricted slavery in certain territories. Since slaves were in fact considered property, the compromise was forgotten. The South loved this decision because they could now take their slaves anywhere they pleased. The North was outraged. It greatly influenced that nomination of Abraham Lincoln to the Republican Party and his election to President. -
Period: to
Dred Scott Case (3)
Peter Blow’s sons had helped to pay Scott’s legal fees over the years since they had been childhood friends. They paid $750 to buy Dred Scott and his wife. They then freed them from slavery. Scott had nine months of freedom until he died. -
Period: to
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri. His owner took him from Missouri to Illinois and the free territory of Wisconsin and then back to the slave state of Missouri. Since Scott had been in a free state and a free territory, he thought that he and his wife should be free blacks. He then took it to the Supreme Court, fighting for his freedom, instead of running away like many other slaves, he made it legal. Scott fought from 1846 to 1857 and a decision was finally made. -
Compromise of 1850
-
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephen Douglass wanted Chicago to benefit from the development of the West, or in other words, he wanted Chicago linked to the West by railroads. Douglass wanted Chicago to become the “Railroad Central Station” so all railroads would lead to Chicago. For this to happen, Kansas and Nebraska needed to become states. Stephen Douglass also wanted to run for President. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act (2)
To become president, Douglass needed to get as much southern Democrat support as he could, so he tried to score points with the northerners and the southerners. So, Stephen Douglass made the Kansas-Nebraska Act in January 1854. Douglass knew that the Compromise of 1850 would make Kansas and Nebraska free states. The act said to forget the 36’30’ line to give the southerners a little hope that these states could potentially become slave states. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act (3)
Therefore, the decision for Kansas and Nebraska to become slave or free states depending on popular sovereignty. Douglass though that the people of Kansas and Nebraska would choose to be a free state because the agriculture would not support cotton or slavery in the Great Plains. Stephen Douglass thought the northerners would not be against relying on popular sovereignty to make such a decision. Douglass wrongly figured the people of these two states would choose to be free states peacefully. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act (4)
As it turned out the northerners were enraged by this. They denounced Douglass for a sellout to the Slave Power. On May 30, 1854 Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act into law. http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/kansas.htm -
Bleeding Kansas
The tension began in Kansas when the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed into law. Two events kicked off the event of Bleeding Kansas. First, on May 21, 1856 a group of southerners, with the help of a proslavery federal marshal, looted newspaper offices as well as homes in Lawrence, Kansas, which was a center of free-soiler activity. -
Bleeding Kansas (2)
Second, as a reaction to the looting, an anti-slavery man named John Brown led several New Englanders to a proslavery settlement near Pottawatomie Creek in the middle of the night. Once there, the men removed five men from their homes and killed in front of their families. These two events sparked a summer of raids and counter-raids all throughout Kansas. The violence also spread to the nation’s capital. -
Presidential Election of 1860
-
Period: to
The Underground Railroad
