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Missouri Compromise
There were 11 free states and 11 slave states in the United States, so the Senate voted to make Missouri a slave state and to add Maine as a free state, to keep the balance of free and slave states. The Senate also chose to draw an imaginary line on Missouri to determine the location of free and slave states. It temporarily preserved the balance of free and slave states. -
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Causes of the Civil War
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Wilmot Proviso
After the Mexican-American war, David Wilmot proposed an idea that any land gotten from Mexico cannot contain slaves, and must be free states in the future. This idea angered many southerners, being that hey wanted more slave states. The bill didn't pass. -
Compromise of 1850
Congress passed a series of 5 bills, with 5 main points. California will remain a free state. New Mexico had the ability to remain either a free or slave-owning state, and it's borders would not be limited. They also passed for the District of Columbia to forbid any slave trade. This caused people to believe it was the final settlement of slavey, but it was not. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act was passed by Congress as part of the Compromise of 1850. It was a very contraversial act of the series of acts passed in 1850. It stated that any fugitive slaves were to be returned to their masters. -
Dred Scott Deciscion
A slave, Dred Scott, sued his master's wife for his freedom. He defended that he wasn't to be a slave, being that he was brought to a non-slavery state to continue working for his master. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, and the judge ruled him still a slave, and that they couldn't violate the master's constitutional rights. This angered the North even more that it couldn't prevent future states from being slave states. It also said that congress can't remove people's property. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin Written
In 1852, it was written and published by Harriet Beecher Stowe. A novel about slavery, it explained the life, conflicts, and difficulties of a slave in the south. This book angered the people of the North. It convinced more people of the cruelty of slavery. -
Kansas/Nebraska Act
The Kansas/Nebraska Act was proposed by Stephen Douglas. It was the organization of the region west of Missouri and Iowa, that was to become Kansas and Nebraska. It was a bill that decided that popular sovereighnty decided upon slavery or not in the unsettled states. This, in return, brought on more conflict. Many people felt as though it undid the Missouri Compromise, in 1819. -
Bleeding Kansas
Pro and Anti-slavery people began causing lots of conflict in Kansas, because of the Kansas/Nebraska Act. It was known as a "Civil War in Kansas". There was lots of violence and murders. It was the first ever violent clash over slavery, that led up to the Civil War. -
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln debated over the subject of slavery many times in the state of Illinois, for a spot in the Senate. Douglas believed in states' rights, yet Lincoln wanted to stop it from spreading more. After this, people, especially Southerners, believed he was a huge abolitionist, that wanted to completely rid the United States of slavery, although he never mentioned complete abolition of slavery. -
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
John Brown, a white abolitionist, planned an arsenal raid on Harper's Ferry. He led a small group of white men to arm slaves and create a slave uprising. His plan failed, and he was caught and tried for murder and treason. Him and other men involved were hanged. Although he died, he became a hero in the NOrth. It convinced the Southerners that the North was out to destroy slavery. -
Lincoln's Election
In 1860, Lincoln won the majority of the election to DOuglas. People in the North wanted him to be more strict about the rules of slavery, yet people in the south thought of him as an enemy. -
South Carolina Seceeds
The south didn't trust the Republicans or that Lincoln would protect slavery. They also didn't like Lincoln. So, they voted to secede. This led other states to secede, as well. It was the nation's start to war, as Lincoln's goal was to preserve the union.
