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The Cotton Gin
In 1794, Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin, a machine that revolutionalized the cotton industry by its ability to quickly de-seed cotton. Despite the fact that a growing number of americans supported the abolishment of slavery, this machine justified the expansion of it due to the increased profit that the slavepwners soon realized. This caused a row in the ever-growing conflict of slavery. -
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The Rise of Sectionalism
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The Embargo Act
Implemented by Thomas Jefferson in 1807, the Embargo Act restricted America from exporting anything. The need for this restriction arised due to american ships being intercepted by the British navy while they were on their way to their enemy, France. During The Napoleonic War, America traded with both France and Great Britain, neither side wanted the other to get supplies from america, so they did whatever it took to make sure the American supplies did not get to the enemy. -
The Missouri Compromise
In 1820, Missouri applied to becom a state. Missouri was located in the Louisiana territory and it was a slave-owning state. The conflict in question was whether the louisiana territory would become pro-slave or against it. MIssouri also would have upset the "Delicate Balance" The solution was to admit maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. Part of the compromise also stated that slavery would not exist in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory. -
The Tariff of Abominations
The Tariff of Abominations was enacted to protect Businesses in America, increasing taxes on foreign goods so that people would buy local goods rather than buying from places like Great Britain. This tariff affected the south more than the north because the south received more products from Great Britain than the North did. Raising taxes on imported goods only hurt the South. Many thought the writers of the tariff only created it so that it would ultimately fail, making president Adams look bad. -
The Compromise of 1850
In this Compromise, The people decided whether land won in the Mexican-American war would be free or slave. They eventually settled on making California free, while letting New mexico and Utah decide for themselves. It also abolished The slave trade in Washington D.C. and created the fugitive slave act, which stated that southern slaveowners could retreive runaway slaves from free states snad territories. -
Publication of Uncle toms Cabin
Written by Harriett Beecher Stowe, Uncle Toms Cabin layed the groundwork for the American Civil war. During the war Stowe and Abraham lincoln met, lincoln addressed her, saying "So this is the little lady who started this great war."Uncle Tom's Cabin was the second best-selling book of that century, second only to the Bible. Uncle toms Cabin depicted the reality of slavery while also illustrating the abiity of the christian faith to overcome something as destructive as slavery. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
In this act, Congress repealed the Missouri Compromise. They decided that from then on, The decision whether to be free or slave was up to the individual state rather than the whole. This act gave rise to events like "Bleeding Kansas", where people gathered in Kansas to kill voters on the other side so that they would have more votes. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was a result of the Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854. Bleeding Kansas was the name given to the battle that was held in Kansas over whether Kansas was to be pro-slave or a free state. Each side thought that if they killed enough people on the other side, they wouldn’t have enough votes to win. Like many other battles, the bloodshed was for nothing. Kansas never came to an agreement, instead they created two governments, one pro-slave and one free. -
Dred Scott Vs. Sandford
In this landmark Supreme Court case, an African American runaway slave was retreived by his slaveowner in a free state. The man attempted to sue for his freedom and the the Court held that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, could not be American citizens and therefore had no right to sue in federal court. -
John Browns Raid
On October 16, 1859, John Brown led a small army of 18 men into the small town of Haroers Ferry, Virginia. His plan was to start a major slave rebellion in the South. He planned to take the arms and ammunition in the federal arsenal, arm slaves in the area and move south along the Appalachian Mountains, picking up slaves as he went. His plan was doomed from the beginning, but it did succeed in further seperating the North and South. -
South carolina Secedes from the Union
The Civil War began in South Carolina. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to declare its secession from the Union and join the Confederacy. The first shots of the Civil War (January 9, 1861) were fired in Charleston by cadets at a merchant Ship named the Star of the West. -
Election Of Abraham Lincoln
The presidential election of 1860 was the last thing that happened before the Civil war. It could be thought of as the tipping point. New President Abraham Lincoln opposed the expansion of slavery, he won the election solely on Northern voters. Right before Lincoln was inaugurated, seven southern states seceded from the Union, creating the Confederacy.In 1860, these issues split the Democratic Party into North and south, and a new Constitutional Union Party appeared.
