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Wilmot Proviso
This Bill aimed to outlaw slavery in territories taken from Mexico. This bill passed in the House of Representatives but was defeated in the Senate thus cause a division in Congress. Although, not a sucess it led to the formation of the Free Soil Party. -
Comprimise of 1850
A plan created by Senator Henry Clay saying to please the North, California becomes a free state, and slave trade would stop in Washington D.C. To please the South, Congress could not pass laws about slavery to the land won by Mexico, and pass laws to help get runaway slaves. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephen A. Douglas created a bill saying the Nebraska Territory be split into Kansas and Nebraska. To get help from the South, he said to use popular sovereignty. If the bill got passed then it would get rid of the Missouri Compromise, and it got passed. It then became known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act. -
"Bleeding Kansas"
Proslavery and antislavery settlers went to Kansas after the Kansas-Nebraska Act to vote on it. Five thousand Missourians went and voted in the election illegally, therefore they won. Antislavery settlers boycotted the official government, and they formed their own government. A proslavery mob attacked the governments house. It became called the Sack of Lawrence. An extreme abolitionist, named John Brown attacked five proslavery people, and killed ten of them to avenge the Sack of Lawrence. -
Caning of Sumner
Senator Charles Sumner made a speech insulting proslavery people. He even made fun of a proslavery Senator, A. P. Butler. A relative of Butler named Preston Brooks heard about the speech Sumner made, and Brooks was angry. Preston Brooks then attacked Sumner who was at his desk. Brooks hit Sumner many times with his cane. Southerners cheered Brooks but Northerners were terrifed with the violence in Congress. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave from Missouri. His owner then took him to places where slavery was illegal but then returned to Missouri. After his owner died, Dred Scott sued his owners for his freedom. He argued that he became a free man when he went to the place where slavery was banned. His case reached the Supreme Court in 1856. In 1857, the Court gave its opinion led by Cheif Justice Robert B. Taney. They stated that Scott was not a U.S. court. Dred Scott was also bound to the Missouri slave code. -
The Attack on Harpers Ferry
John Brown the extrereme abolitionist who reacted to the Sack of Lawrence, three years ago, had a new plan. He wanted to capture weapons from the U.S. arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He also wanted local slaves to come, and fight for their freedom. On october 16, 1859, Brown and eighteen other men captured the arsenal. He send out a call for slaves to join but none did. The US. marines then came, and they killed ten men, capttured six men including Brown, and some escaped. -
Election of 1860
In1860, there was an election for president. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas were the only canidates with most of the support from the North. John Breckinridge and John Bell both competed for Southern votes. Lincoln and Breckinridge had the biggest views on slavery. Douglasand Bell were moderate. Lincoln beat Douglas and Breckinrigde beat Bell. Since there were more peope in the North than South, Lincoln won the election. -
Secession
On December 20, 1860, South Carolina was the first state to seceede from the Union. In the next six weeks Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas also seceded. They all seceded because they were afraid that Lincoln would abolish slavery. In early Febuary of 1861, the states met together, and formed the Confederate States of America. They also nominated Jefferson Davis as their president.