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Missouri Compromise
A law that tried to address growing sectional tensions over the issue of slavery. By passing the law, which President James Monroe signed, the U.S. Congress admitted Missouri to the Union as a state that allowed slavery, and Maine as a free state. The Missouri Compromise kept the balance between slave states and free states. -
Abolitionists Movement
An attempt to eliminate slavery in a country that valued individual liberty and believed that “all men are created equal. They had managed to bring the issue of slavery into public awareness. -
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Slavery in the South
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Underground Railroad
A network of secret routes and safe houses established to help slaves escape from the south and into the north. The underground railroad helped guide hundreds to thousands of enslaved people to freedom. It also helped undermine the institution of slavery. -
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Nat Turner was a slave, who led more than fifty followers in a bloody revolt in Southampton, Virginia, killing nearly 60 white people. His action set off a massacre of up to 200 Black people and a new wave of oppressive legislation prohibiting the education, movement, and assembly of enslaved people. His rebellion also led to the passage of a series of new laws. The Virginia legislature added additional restrictions and harsher penalties on the activists. -
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott was an enslaved African American who had lived for a time with his owner in the free state of Illinois, which was declared free because of the Missouri Compromise. Scott claimed that his residency in a free state and a free territory made him free. The Supreme Court denied the legality of black citizenship in America, and declared the Missouri Compromise to be Unconstitutional. -
Compromise of 1850
The goal of the compromise was to balance the interests of the slaveholding South and the free North, to prevent the secession of Southern states that could lead to the dissolution of the Union. This compromise was able to put off the secession of the South and creation of the Confederacy was postponed for a decade. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves. One effect from this act was many free African Americans were being illegally captured and sold into slavery. The Fugitive Slave Act also enraged abolitionists and caused thousands of Northern African Americans to flee to Canada in fear. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty. The act opened new territories for settlement and allowed male settlers in those territories to determine through popular sovereignty whether they would allow slavery or not. Another impact of the act was that it led to the creation of the Republican Party. -
John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown and his supporters captured prominent citizens and seized the federal Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Although his raid failed, it inflamed sectional tensions and raised the stakes for the 1860 presidential election. Brown’s raid also made any further commendation between North and South nearly impossible. -
Abraham Lincoln Winning Presidential Election of 1860
Lincoln dominated the election by winning the North states while the South states were divided between multiple candidates. Lincoln did believe that the expansion of slavery should not happen, which caused seven southern states to secede from the Union before Lincoln’s inauguration. Weeks after his swearing-in, the confederate Army fired on Fort Sumter and started the Civil War.