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The Missouri Compromise
This compromise, signed into effect by president James Monroe on this date, established that all new states annexed within the Louisiana purchase territory north of the 36 and 30 parallel would be free states, as planned by senator Jesse B. Thomas and in agreement with speaker of the house Henry Clay. This compromise would establish eleven free states and eleven slave states in the union, but created the potential for a sectional imbalance in the growing nation. This lead to the Civil War. -
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The Road to the Civil War
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The Liberator
This anti-slavery newspaper was published by William Lloyd Garrison on this date in Boston, Massachusetts. This newspaper re-invigorated the failing abolitionist movement by redefining the issue. The Liberator showed the perspective of the Black Slave instead of the White Slaveowner and upheld the fight for the rights of African Americans as American citizens. The newspaper made the abolitionist cause popular and called for an immediate end to slavery. This lead to the Civil War. -
The Nat Turner Rebellion
Nat Turner, a Virginian slave preacher would lead an armed band of African American slaves through Southampton County, Virginia and murder sixty whtie men, women, and children. This rebellion was in reproach of slavery. This event filled the south with fear of a coordinated slave uprising and lead to the rapid passage of a series of laws prohibiting the education of slaves and free black. This brutal oppression inspired Northern anti-slavery support. This lead to the Civil War. -
The California Gold Rush
The discovery of gold by a carpenter named James Marshall in the Californian Hills of Sierra Nevada on this date inspired an enoromous influx of population in California. The prospectors in search of gold who arrived a year later were referred to as 49ers. The sudden growth (twenty times larger in one year) necessitated the statehood and sectional decision of California, pressuring the union into quick decision. This lead to the Civil War. -
The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
Negotiations held between Nicholas Trist (envoy to President Polk) and the Mexican Government concluded the Mexican War. This territory ceded land which would contain modern California, Arizona, New Mexico and surrounding lands. The Rio Grande was recogized as the official boundary betwixt Texas and Mexico. Lastly, the U.S. agreed to pay fifteen million dollars in reparations to Mexico. The sudden expansion of national territory would call for a sectional decision. This Lead to the Civil War. -
The Compromise of 1850
This compromise, originally presented by Henry Clay would divide Washington D.C.'s Congress after actions involving the death of president Zachary Taylor, illness of Clay, and senate appointment of Noah Webster would remove the historic idealism of the "old guard"from congress. The compromise would be adapted and fractured by Stephen Douglas. The fugitive slave laws would be stregthened to oppress slaves, and introduced immoral, economically selfish laws. This lead to the Civil War. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of this short novella which accurately depicted the cruelty of slavery would thus inflame the north with abolitionist sentiment. The novella would sell over three hundred thousand editions in it's first year. Abraham Lincoln is reported to have said, upon meeting Ms. Stowe "So this is the little lady who made this big war". The disemination of this tale inspired the northern states to end slavery immediately. This lead to the Civil War. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephen A. Douglas, Illinois senator proposed a solution to the sectional status of the Nebraska territory as it was being annexed. This proposition would become law on this date and split the territory into two states, Nebraska and Kansas. The states sectional status would be decided by a vote of the people called popular sovereigntiy and repealed the Missouri compromise. This destroyed the Whig party and created the Republican party under new political friction. This Lead to the Civil War. -
Dred Scott V. Sandford
Dred Scott, a Missouri slave who sued his deceased owners widow under the supposition that, having resided in the free states Illinois and Wisconsin, he was now a free man by law. John Sandford, the brother of that widow would counter sue Scott and on this date Supreme Court would rule a slave is property. The fifth amendmentprotects property, therefore Scott was still a slave, and further destroying the Missouri compromise, removing the largest sectional solution. This lead to the Civil War. -
The Election of Abraham Lincoln's
This Illinois lawyer and Republican politician put forth an eloquent and powerful position upon the anti-slavery cause unto Illinois and the northern states. Lincoln asserted the concept that if African Americans could not be given the rights of a citizen, then immigrants must resultingly lose all rights as well. Lincoln supported a gadual end to slavery. This day's election was a signal of total loss of hope for the south. This lead to the Civil War.
