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Missouri Compromise
Missouri requested to be admitted to the Union as a slave state. To balance the slave and free states, Congress admitted Maine as a free state. It was an effort from Congress to decrease sectionalism between the North and South. -
Mexican American War
A war between the United States and Mexico from debate over the border of Texas. The United States were victorious and received 500,000 square miles of Mexican territory. -
Wilmot Proviso
Democratic congressman David Wilmot requested a bill forbidding slavery in the new territories. This was never passed by both houses of Congress. -
Compromise of 1850
Measurements proposed by Henry Clay to settle slavery issues. He proposed to admit California as a free state, divide the remainder of the Mexican Cession into two territories and allow the settlers to decide slavery by vote, and adopt a new Fugitive Slave Law. President Fillmore readily signed the bills into law. -
Fugitive Slave Law
Called for the seizure and return of runaway slaves. Northerners opposed the act and created the Underground Railroad to help slaves escape. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It talked about a slave named Tom and his relationship with the slave owner Simon Legree. Moved Northerners to regard slave owners as cruel and inhuman. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Senator Stephen A. Douglas passed a bill to divide the Nebraska territory into the Kansas and Nebreaska territories, and allow settlers to decide whether to allow slavery or not. Proslavery groups and antislavery groups fought with some fatalities. This was known as "bleeding Kansas" -
"Bleeding Kansas"
Proslavery forces attacked the free soil town of Lawrence, killing two people. John Brown and his sons attacked a proslavery farm settlement at Pottawotomie Creek, killing 5 settlers. -
Dred Scott v. Standford
Claimed that slaves were not citizens and could not sue in Federal courts. Also, declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, saying that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery -
LeCompton Constitution
Contains clauses protecting slaveholding and a bill of rights excluding free blacks. Kansas rejected this and became a free state. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Discussed issues of slavery and states' rights. They were a series of seven pubic discussions. Lincoln was the Republican candidate and Senator Stephen Douglas was the incumbent Democratic candidate. -
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
John Brown led a small army of 18 men to Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Their goal was to arm slaves during a rebellion and move along the Appalachian Mountains. Northerners admired his attempt, while Southerners were outraged. -
Election of 1860
Republican Abraham Lincoln defeated Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, and John Bell. -
South Carolina secedes from the Union
A few months after the election of Lincoln, South Carolina, along with seven other states, seceded from the Union. Jefferson Davis became president of the Confederate States. -
Crittenden Compromise
Measures proposed by Senator John J. Crittenden to forestall the Civil War. He envisioned the Missouri Compromise to be extended to the Pacific, squatter sovereignty in the territories, and slavery in the District of Columbia to be protected from congressional action. It was eventually defeated in the Senate. -
Attack on Ft. Sumter
This was the opening engagement of the Civil War at Charleston. After three and a half days of fighting, the Union troops surrendered.