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Wilmot Proviso
This bill aimed to outlaw slavery in territories taken from Mexico. The bill passed in the House of Representatives but was defeated in the Senate thus causing a division in Congress. Although, not a success it led to the formation of the Free Soil Party. -
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The Nation Breaking Apart
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The Compromise of 1850
This compromise led to California being admitted as a free slave state. Stephen A. Douglas passed this plan. Slave trade in Washington D.C. was abolished, and slavery was abolished. Lastly, they made stronger laws to recapture runaway slaves. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephen A. Douglas drafts this bill for governing the Nebraska Territory. This divided the territory into two territories: Nebraska and Kansas. Slavery was to be decided by the residents' vote, which was popular sovereignty. This allowed vote for slavery in areas where the Missouri Compromise had banned it. The South supports the bill, and it becomes a law. -
Bleeding Kansas
Proslavery and antislavery settlers wished into Kansas Territory to vote for territorial legislation. The problem was that at the time of the election, there was more proslavery than antislavery, but 5,000 proslavery Missourians voted in the election illegaly. -
Caning of Sumner
The senator Charles Sumner's speech attacked proslavery forces in Kansas and made fun of A.P. Butler. A relative of Butler, Preston Brooks, attacked Sumner in the Senate. It is also the defense of the south. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott sues for freedom, and the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford reaches the Supreme Court. Dred Scott is a slave in Missouri. The Supreme Court rules against Scott. -
Attack on Harpers Ferry
John Brown captured Harpers Ferry arsenal. They killed four people in the raid. The U.S. Marines attacked John Brown at Harpers Ferry but some had escaped. -
Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860 because he received the most electoral votes. As a resul of this election, South Carolina and six other southern states decide to secede from the Union soon after they form the Confederate States of America.
