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Missouri Compromise
This compromise kept the number of free and slave states equal. The compromise ONLY applied to the Louisiana Territory. This compromise kept sectional tension low until the Mexican-American War brought in new land. -
Mexican War
All compromises over slavery in this new land would fail. Sectionalism between the North and South would reach the breaking point, the Civil War. The war brought in new land that both the North and South wanted to influence. -
Wilmot Proviso
Wilmot Proviso was to appease northerners, this suggested making all land won from Mexico FREE. Pro-slavery congressmen made sure the Wilmot Proviso never passed. -
California Gold Rush
As news spread of the discovery of gold nuggets, thousands of prospective gold miners traveled by sea or over land to San Francisco and the surrounding area; by the end of 1849, the non-native population of the California territory was some 100,000. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 eased sectional tension for a short time. This determined the status of the land from the Mexican Cession, including California. -
Fugitive Slave Law
This law became the most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850. It forced northerners to aid slave catchers. Blacks were falsely identified as runaways, denied jury trials, and kidnapped to the South as slaves. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, a book about slavery. The book was graphic and made slavery look terrible. Northerners who had been indifferent toward slavery began to hate it. Southerners banned the book, calling it propaganda and full of lies. The North and South became more divided over slavery. -
Republican Party Forms
Anti-slavery Whigs, Democrats, and the Free-Soil party hated the Kansas-Nebraska Act. They joined together to form the Republican Party, which existed in the North. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This law was meant to organize new northern states in the Midwest for a northern railroad. The South worried because this land was above the 36 30 line. The Midwest was divided into a Kentucky and Nebraska territory. Both territories would decide on slavery using popular sovereignty. -
“Bleeding Kansas”
Abolitionists from the North and slave owners from the South poured into Kansas. Kansas had a Civil War between abolitionists and slave owners. Popular sovereignty failed because people in Kansas could not agree over slavery. -
Charles Sumner caned in the Senate
"The Crime Against Kansas" was the speech made in the Senate by Sumner, denounced slave states, especially South Carolina. Preston Brooks, a congressman from South Carolina, nearly beating Sumner to death with a cane. The North was outraged and the South was happy. -
Dred Scott vs. Sanford
The Supreme Court made a ruling about slavery in the West. The case: Dred Scott, a slave, was taken by his owner into a free territory. Republicans and abolitionists were angry that slavery could legally spread west. Southerners loved the ruling. -
John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry
John Brown was a violent white abolitionist who murdered five slave owners in "Bleeding Kansas." John Brown and his followers seized a federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Brown intended to smuggle military weapons to the South and start a major slave rebellion. Brown was stopped, captured, and executed. Northerners saw John Brown as a hero. -
Abraham Lincoln elected President
When Republican Lincoln was elected, the South saw him as a threat to slavery. Southern states "nullified" the election by seceding from the Union. -
Battle at Fort Sumter
In 1861, Fort Sumter was attacked. By Lincoln's inauguration, the Confederacy claimed federal forts in the South. Lincoln decided to resupply Fort Sumter, located on an island off the coast of South Carolina. South Carolina claimed the fort belonged to the Confederacy. -
Southern states begin to secede
South Carolina seceded from the United States first in late 1860. By the time Lincoln was in office, the 7 states in the "lower south," had seceded.
