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Missouri Compromise
-A law signed by President James Monroe
-Missouri was admitted as a slave state, and Maine as a free state
-Was created to maintain a balance between slave states and free states -
New York State officially abolishes slavery
-New York was the first state to abolish slavery
-Despite this, anti-black violence continued in New York, and the slave trade remained wildly successful there -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
-Also known as the Southampton Insurrection
-A rebellion of enslaved Virginians
-The rebellion led to the massacre of over 200 black people
-Pro-slavery laws were tightened after the rebellion
-Over 60 white people were killed -
Wilmot Proviso
-A proposal to prohibit slavery expansion in new territories
-The proposal was unsuccessful but caused tensions to rise even higher than before -
Mexican-American War
-A battle for land, where Mexico was fighting for the land they believes to be theirs, and America was fighting for more of the disputed land of Texas
-The Wilmot Proviso was a proposal regarding the newly acquired land in the Texas/Mexico region -
Fugitive Slave Act
-Required that slaves were returned to their owners, even if they were living in a free state
-Fueled the abolitionist movement in the North, which angered southerners, creating more conflict
-Part of the compromise of 1850 -
Compromise of 1850
-A package of 5 separate bills passed by the United States Congress
-Passed in an effort to settle disagreements over American Slavery
-Strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act, which was hated by free states and abolitionists -
Kansas-Nebraska Act & popular sovereignty
-Created two new territories
-Allowed for popular sovereignty
-Popular sovereignty is the idea that the government is able to assert authority because the people give consent -
"Bleeding Kansas"
-A series of violent confrontations in Kansas territory
-Was caused by the debate on the legality of slavery in Kansas
-Foreshadowed the violence of the Civil War -
Brooks attacks Sumner
-Representative Preston Brooks used a walking cane to attack Senator Charles Sumner
-In retaliation to a speech Senator Sumner gave, where he criticized slave owners, including one of Brooks’ relatives -
Dred Scott v. Sandford (aka Dred Scott Case)
-The Supreme court ruled that Americans of African descent were not American citizens
-The Court also ruled that Congress did not have enough power to ban slavery in the U.S.
-People of African descent were not able to sue in federal court
-This was greatly upsetting to abolitionists -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
-7 debates that occurred between Abraham Lincoln and Senator Stephen Douglas
-Some of the topics of these debates were slavery, race equality, emancipation, popular sovereignty, etc -
Raid on Harpers Ferry
-John Brown, an abolitionist, tried to organize a raid by taking prominent citizens hostage
-The Raid failed, due to a lack of support
-Was a big event leading up to the Civil War, because it created more unrest -
South Carolina Seccesion
-South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union after the 1860 election
-South Carolina was a slave state and felt hostility from free states
-Greatly contributed to the cause of the Civil War, because other states felt this was unfair -
Election of 1860
-An unusual election, because there were four strong candidates
-Abraham Lincon won against John C. Breckinridge, Stephen A. Douglas, and John Bell
-After the election the south felt they no longer had a voice in politics; thus leading to successions
-One of the main topics of the election was slavery
