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The Great Divide
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The invention of the cotton
A man named Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. The cotton gin is a machine designed to remove cotton from its seeds. Separating cotton fibers from its seeds was intensive and unprofitable so the cotton gin not only made separating cotton easier but the cotton gin also made the cotton industry of the south explode -
The Embargo Act of 1807
In 1803 England and France went to war again, the war lasted for years and caused a lot of trouble for the United States. United States ships were stopped and searched, the English impressed our sailors, and our seamen were treated unfairly. In attempt to slove this problem with England and France and trading, Thomas Jefferson helped pass a law that declared an embargo on trade with foreign countries. The Embargo Act prohibited American ships from trading in all foregin ports. -
Missouri Compromise
In an effort to preserve the balance of power in Congress between slave and free states, the Missouri Compromise was passed admitting Missouri as a slave state and maine as a fee state. Later the Missouri Compromise was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision, which ruled that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. -
the Tariff of Abominations
A tariff provided both revenue to the federal government and protection for local manufacturers against low cost imports. The Tariff of 1828 was a protective tariff passed by the Congress of the Untied States designed to protect industry in the northen United States.The goal of the tariff was to protect industries in the northern United States, but the tariff in all, really ended up hurting the south's industries -
Nat Turner slave rebellion
A slave named Nat Turner led a rebellion in Southhampton County, Virginia. Turner and a group of followers killed about sixty white men, women, and children on the night of August 21. Turner and 16 of his followers were captured and executed, but the incident continued to haunt Southern whites. Blacks were randomly killed all over Southhampton County, and in the mist of the uprising planters tightened their grip on slaves and slavery -
Nullification Crisis
Nullification is the formal suspension by a state of a federal law within its borders. After the passage of another tariff, South Carolina declared the tariffs null and void, and threatened to leave the Union in the Ordinance of Nullification. The Nullification Crisis foreshadowed the eventual secession of the South in 1860–1861. -
The Compromise of 1850
With the national government in gridlock, Henry Clay stepped forward in May 1850 to present a compromise. The importance of the Compromise of 1850 lies on the continuation of peace achieved by the 1820 Missouri Compromise. Most politicians knew that the compromise was a patchwork and that it was a temporary solution at best delaying the inevitable, Civil War. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. This novel changed forever how Americans viewed slavery, It demanded that the United States deliver on the promise of freedom and equality, energized the abolition movement and contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act began a chain of events in the Kansas Territory that foreshadowed to the civil war. The person behind the Kansas-Nebraska Act was senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. By the early 1850s settlers and entrepreneurs wanted to move into the area now known as Nebraska. But, until the area was organized as a territory, settlers did not want to move there because they could not legally hold a claim on the land. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas is the term used to described the period of violence during the settling of the Kansas territory. During the Civil War, Kansas suffered the highest rate of fatal casualties of any Union state, largely because of its great internal divisions over the issue of slavery. -
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny is a term for the attitude prevalent during the 19th century period of American expansion that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast. This helped to fuel western settlement, Native American removal and war with Mexico -
The Dredd Scott case
In March of 1857, the United States Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, declared that all blacks,slaves as well as free, were not and could never become citizens of the United States. The most important question in the case was that if slavery should be allowed in the west. As part of the Compromise of 1850, residents of newly created territories could decide the issue of slavery by vote, a process known as popular sovereignty. -
Lincoln's House divided speech
Lincoln delivered this address to his Republican colleagues in the Hall of Representatives. The speech created many repercussions, giving Lincoln's political opponent fresh ammunition. The speech did awaken the people, and despite Lincoln's defeat, the speech made him President. One of Abraham Lincoln's main points in his speech was that the nation cannot exist half slave and half free. A house divided cannot stand. -
John Bronw's Raid
John Brown led a group of men across the potomac river from Maryland to Virgina. He and his men would establish a base in the Blue Ridge Mountains from which they would assist runaway slaves and launch attacks on slaveholders. In the end the local militia pinned Brown and his men down. They were qucikly tried, sentenced, then executed. John Brown's statements during his trial reached the nation, inspiring many with his righteous anger toward slavery. The raid ultimately rushed the civil war. -
The Election of 1860
Democrats met in Charleston, South Carolina to select their candidate for President in the upcoming election. There was chaos. Northern democrats felt that Stephen Douglas had the best chance to defeat the "Black Republicans", but southern democracts considered Douglas a traitor because of his support of popular sovereignty. Southern democrats stormed out of the convention, without choosing a candidate -
South Carolina seceds from the Union
a secession convention meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, unanimously adopted an ordinance dissolving the connection between South Carolina and the United States of America.The secession movement in South Carolina was explosive. Leaders mobilized citizens and held torch light processions. While many Unionists in the upper South attempted compromise, South Carolina politicians fanned the flames of "popular excitement" over secession. -
The battle of Fort Sumter
With secession, several federal forts, including Fort Sumter in South Carolina, suddenly became outposts in a foreign land. Abraham Lincoln made the decision to send fresh supplies to the beleaguered garrisons. Confederate warships turned back the supply convoy to Fort Sumter and opened a 34-hour bombardment on the stronghold. The civil war was now underway.
