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Abolitionist Movement
Northern states began to individually abolish slavery after the Revolutionary War, starting with Vermont. The anti-slavery mentality in the North strengthened over time and with the North's growing independence from slave labor, as it was replaced by labor done cheaply by immigrants. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an act making slavery illegal in the northern Louisiana Territory, but allowing it in the newly created state Missouri. -
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
The autobiography of famous former slave and abolitonist Frederick Douglass has been called one of the most influential pieces of literature in the abolitionist movement. Detailing the hardships that Douglass endures as a slave and his struggle to become free, the book helped to humanize black people to white Northerners who may have been undecided on the topic of abolition. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act made it legal to arrest any suspected runaway slave on nothing more than a slave owner's testimony. The act also made it illegal for an elected official to choose not to arrest a runaway slave. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was an anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It presented Northerners with a view of the evils of slavery and helped to popularize and abolitionuist sentiment in Northern popular culture. -
John Brown and Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas refers to a series of violent battles that took place in Kansas surrounding the designation of that state as a free or slave state. Abolitionists and slavery supporters flooded the state to influence the vote and conflict occurred between the years of 1854 and 1861. John Brown was an abolitionist who lead many fights in this conflict, eventually being executed by the state. After Brown's death, he was made a martyr and symbol of the cause for abolitionists. -
Dredd Scott Decision
Dredd Scott, a slave whose master had taken him to live in a free state, attempted to sue for freedom and citizenship. The Supreme Court ruled that no person with African blood could be considered a U.S Citizen. -
Election of 1860
The controversial presidential election that took place in 1860 split the country into several parties including the mainly Northern Republicans, Southern and Northern Democrats, and the Consttutional Union party. Abraham Lincoln won the election despite having almost no support from Southern states. As a result of this, several Southern states seceded from the nation in the time between Lincoln's election and his inauguration. -
Southern Secession
Southern states had long threatened secession in response to various political disagreements, but Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas finally moved to secede in the months following President Abraham LIncoln's election. They were later joined by four other Southern states.
