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Missouri Compromise
With the growing amount of land in the United States, people were worried that Slavery was going to move west. The North and the South kept on arguing on the growth of Slavery. Henry Clay creates the Great compromise which ends disputes with the North and South for a while. The Missouri Compromise stated a series of laws that made sure that the slave states and the free states were balanced. -
The Nullification Crisis
When congress passes many tariff laws southern states i.e. South Carolina felt as if the tariff were only fair to the North. The Vice president at the time was John C. Calhoun and he said that it would only be fair if every state could nullify a law if it was unconstitutional. The government said that they could not deny a federal rule so South Carolina threatened to secede. finally Henry clay came up with a compromise to keep both sides happy and lower tariffs. -
Compromise of 1850
After the Mexican war congress had many arguments over the topic of slavery. They wanted to know if the new territories should be admitted as free states of slave states. Henry clay made a compromise that stated that California would be admitted as a free state and Congress would not ban slavery from the rest of the territories. Many people felt as if this Compromise saved the Union. -
Fugitive Slave Act
In 1850 the Fugitive slave act was passed by congress. It permitted slaves (freed and escaped) to be captured and sent back to the north. Many abolitionists thought that this act was unfair and tried to help reduce the amount of slaves captured. The Fugitive Slave Act created heavy tensions between the North and the South. It influenced John Brown's raid and the Civil War. -
Bleeding Kansas 1855
When Kansas was about to be entered into the union, the government decided that the people would vote if they wanted or did not want slavery. However, 5,000 people from Missouri came to Kansas to vote for slavery illegally. Due to this event the anti-slavery people started to make their own government. After a while the government was attacked by people in favor of slavery. This attack led to anti-slavery member John Brown murdering his pro-slavery neighbors. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scot was a slave that went to court for his freedom. He said that since he was in a free territory he should also be considered free. The Supreme court did not agree with Dred Scott. They said that he was property of his owner and property cannot be taken away from a person. Many abolitionists believed that because of this court ruling their country may never be free from slavery. -
Attack on Harper's Ferry
The attack on Harper's ferry was very significant to ..the Civil war. John Brown believed that God wanted him to encourage slaves to fight for their freedom. He wanted to capture the south's weapons to arm the slaves. During the capture none of the slaves came to help and Brown's crew were captured. To the abolitionists John Browns execution was terrible and it raised to the maximum amount of tension between the North and the South. -
The election of 1860
In the election of 1860 the voters decided that Abraham Lincoln should be president. After his inauguration the southern states started to secede from the union.
