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Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a new tower of escaped slaves and white people, offering shelter and aid to help slaves escape the South. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 made escaping the South very difficult, and hiding places were limited. The slaves were usually on their own until they hit parts of the North. People that were helping in the Underground Railroad were called “conductors”. And people operating safe houses were called “stationmasters”. -
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
In August of 1831, Nat turner(a former slave), led a rebellion in Southampton, Virginia. Nat Turner’s group consisted of 75 black men, and went to Southampton Virginia and killed 55 white men in two days in the town. They were eventually stopped by the arrival of military forces from the government. This rebellion to the slavery supporters pointed as evidence that the Black slaves needed slavery to discipline them. This then made the southern states strengthen their slave codes. -
William Lloyd Garrison
A leader in the abolitionist movement, a journalist that published his own newspaper called the “Liberator”. He recruited many other abolitionists, like Benjamin Lundy.In 1832 he founded the New England Anti-Slavery Society, which became the first immediatist society in the country.In 1833, he was one of the people that helped organize the American Anti-Slavery Society. He wrote the Declaration of Sentiments which were statements saying that slavery was a moral evil and needed to be taken away. -
The “Gag” Rule.
In 1834, the Anti-Slavery Society began a anti slavery petition drive. Over the next couple years the petitions sent to Congress increased. They sent more than 130,000 petitions. In 1836, the House passed a resolution that automatically postponed action on all petitions relating slavery without hearing them. John Quincy Adams(one of the Congressman) didn’t approve the rule. He claimed that whatever the person’s view on slavery, prohibiting the right for them to write a potion was wrong. -
Frederick Douglass
He was a former enslaved man that became an activist, author, and public speaker.He spoke about the abolitionist movement, and women’s rights. In 1845, he made a autobiography called, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, which was one of the 5 he published, along with many speeches. He was not a very educated man but his speeches and autobiographies still had a huge impact on the people of the US. -
Compromise of 1850
It allowed residents of New Mexico and Utah territories to permit or ban slavery. It also admitted California as a free state, ended the slave trade in Columbia.But it also enacted a stricter fugitive slave law requiring citizens in free states to turn in runaway slaves. Henry Clay and Stephan Douglas were the masterminds of the Compromise. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Passed by Congress, it repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed Kansas and Nebraska settlers to decide the status of slavery in the territories. The bill raised the possibility that slavery could be extended into territories where it had once been banned. The passage made the bitter debate over slavery in the US even more intense, which would then eventually lead to the Civil War. -
"Bleeding Kansas"
It described the time period of fights between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in the new territory, Kansas. Both forces used guerrilla warfare as a war strategy to go against the other side. In all, between 1855-1859, 55 people were killed from these outbreaks. These outbreaks soon become one of the causes of the starting of the Civil War. -
Dred Scott Case
It was a decade long fight for freed by enslaved man named Dred Scott. Dred Scott was born into slavery, and in 1832 his owner John Emerson took him to Illinois, a free state. In 1843 in Iowa, Emerson died. Since Scott was in a free state, he hoped that he would be freed from slavery. In 1854, Scott appealed his case to the Supreme Court. The case was looking good for Scott because of the support of abolitionists . But on March 6, 1857, he lost the fight with the Supreme Court for his freedom. -
Lincoln's Election
Was one of the most pivotal elections in American history because Lincoln was a Republican with Anti-Slavery beliefs.He was going against Democrat Stephan Douglas. The biggest issue of the election was slavery and state rights.
Southern Democrats felt states had the right to govern themselves, and thought slavery should be moved also into the North. When Lincoln won the election, he was challenged greatly as a president as being the president during the Civil War.