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Missouri Compromise
This compromise kept the number of free and slave states equal. This caused some tension in the North over the South. The Northern states did not want slavery to expand out west. -
Mexican War
The war was over land. The USA wanted California and tried to buy it from Mexico but they where furious over the annexation of Texas. The USA declared war. This caused tension because the Southerners wanted it to be a slave state and Northerners wanted it to be a free state -
Wilmot Proviso
Many Northerners and abolitionists opposed the war as a conspiracy to create new future slave states. The Wilmot Proviso was introduced and said that all land won from mexico would be free. This angered the South. -
California Gold Rush
This is the reason USA went to war with Mexico. USA knew that their was gold in California and they wanted it for them selves. this caused Boom towns to spring up at mining sites in California and many people to move to California and try to get rich quick. Not many people got rich from this. -
Compromise of 1850
This determined the status of the land from the Mexican Cession including California. California became a free state and The Fugitive Slave Act was stronger enforced. This eased sectional tension for a short time. -
Fugitive Slave Law
This was an act stating that if a slave runs away to a free state the owner can still reclaim them. people would offer rewards to people who would find and bring their slave back to them. This upset Northerners, Southerners were happy with this act -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published
This raised tension greatly between the two sides. This book showed the North how the South treated their slaves. This upset the Norther due to the slaves harsh conditions -
Republican Party Forms
This was a cause of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. This was a group of Anti-slavery Whigs, Democrats, and the Free-soil party trying to stop slavery from expanding to the west.Southerners saw then as a threat to slavery. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This was a law and it was meant to organize a new Northern state in the Midwest for a Northern railroad. This was worried the South because this above the 36-30 line. This caused the Midwest to divide in to a Kansas and Nebraska territory. Northerners were furious because this expanded slavery over the 36-30 line. -
“Bleeding Kansas”
This caused very much tension between the North and South. Northerners and Southerners poured into Kansas and had a civil war over slavery. This showed that popular sovereignty failed due to people not being able to agree over slavery. -
Charles Sumner caned in the Senate
Charles Sumner made a speech "The crime against Kansas", denouncing slave states, especially South Carolina. A congress man from South Carolina named Preston Brooks nearly beat Sumner to death with a cane. Northerners were outraged and Southerners were happy. -
Dred Scott vs. Sandford
A slave named Dred Scott sued and argued that his owner took him to free territory and this meant he was free. The supreme court ruled that slavery could not be banned in any western territory. This angered Northern abolitionists. Southerners loved this ruling. -
John Brown’s Raid at Harper’s Ferry
A Northern abolitionist broke into a federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia.Brown attempted to smuggle military weapons to the south and start a major slave rebellion. This made the South feel as if they need to go to war. -
Abraham Lincoln elected President
Tension between the North and the South sky rocketed after Lincoln was elected president. The South saw Lincoln as a threat to their way of life. -
Battle at Fort Sumter
The South claimed Fort Sumter due to it being located in the Confederacy but Lincoln claimed it belonged to the federal government. The North and the South fought over the fort. South Carolina bombed the fort, and ultimate gaining control of it. This was the beginning of the civil war. -
Southern states begin to secede
This was a direct act due to Lincoln going into office. Southern states felt they had no power anymore.
