-
Slavery existed in all 13 colonies
-
The Missouri Compromise
In 1819, Missouri applied to join the union as a slave state. This would tip the current balance of 11 slave and 11 free states so the free states opposed this. This resulted in furious debates in congress and a compromise was reached in 1820 to solve the issue: Maine was to join as a free state as well and there would be no more slavery in the Louisiana purchase area north of latitude 3630 (role of fed. gov. and western expansion) -
The Calhoun Doctrine
Proclaimed the right of any state to overrule or modify any federal government deemed unconstitutional (add more detail??) (role of individuals, manifest destiny, and westward expansion) -
The south produced 2 million bales of cotton per year
-
De Tocqueville comments on racism in the US
He said 'prejudice of race appears stronger in the states that have abolished slavery as opposed to those where it still exists' -
William Lloyd Garrison launched a new abolitionist journal called 'The Liberator'
-
A militant National Anti-Slavery Society was established
By 1838 it had 250,000 members -
Texas consisted of 5000 Mexicans with 30,000 Americans and their 5000 slaves
-
Texas gains indepedence
In the Texas Revolution, Texas successfully gained independence from Mexico. It decided to join the Union seeing as it mostly consisted of Americans (role of west. expans.) -
Elijah Lovejoy becomes the first martyr to the anti-slavery cause
He was a minister, journalist and abolitionist murdered by a pro-slavery mob -
The Wilmot Proviso
David Wilmot, a democrat from Pennsylvania ceded an amendment to a finance bill in the house of representatives: slavery would not exist in any territory gained from Mexico (role of sectional voting) -
Calhoun issues the Platform of the South
This claimed that citizens from any state had the right to take their 'property' wherever they wanted - congress had no authority to place restrictions on slavery (role of individuals, manifest destiny, federal government, and slavery) -
Congress meet to discuss the issue of slavery
-
Californian Gold Rush
100,000 people moved to California meaning they could apply for statehood -
The 1848 election
Polk decided not to pursue a 2nd term so Lewis Cass is nominated as his replacement (democrat)
Zachary Taylor nominated by Whigs (slave owner with little political experience)
Free Soil party established who disliked the dominance of southern democrats and 'conscience whigs'. They won 10% of the vote showing that people cared about the issues they stood for
Taylor won the election with 1,360,000 votes and 163 electoral college votes, with 8 slave states and 7 slave states -
Mormons drew up a constitution and sought admission to the union
Thousands of them had settled in Salt Lake City so they could establish their own state -
Mississippi called to all slave states to send a representatives to meet at Nashville to device and adopt 'some mode of resistance to northern aggression'
-
Divisions were clear in congress with fist fights and fierce debates
-
Nine northern states passed personal liberty laws
Forbidding the use of state jails to imprison fugitives made it difficult to enforce federal law -
The 1850 compromise
The admittance of California as a free state and New Mexico and Utah being split into territory with no specifics regarding slavery. It was an effort to settle several outstanding slavery issues and to avert the threat of dissolution of the Union. It also said that a new more stringent fugitive slave act should be passed and Texas should surrender the disputed land to New Mexico, in return congress would assume the $10 million debt that Texas still owed. -
The Nashville Convention
Delegates from 9 states met at Nashville. The fact that 6 slave states did not send delegates was disconcerting to those who supported secession, as was the fact that the convention displayed little enthusiasm for secession. Therefore, it had little impacts -
President Taylor dies of gastroenteritis
Vice President Millard Filmore took his place, he was a northerner but also sympathetic to the south -
Douglas replaces Clay as the leader of the compromise cause
He stripped Clays bill down to it's component parts and passed each one as a separate bill. In September 1850, all the bits of the compromise had been passed. Political leaders hailed the compromise as a settlement of issues that threatened to divide the nation. However it is argued that it was more of an armistice, the south agreed not to secede for now but there was still tension -
The Fugitive Slave Act
This required that all escaped slaves, upon capture, were to be returned to the enslaver and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate. It was one of the factors that led to the civil war -
Harriet Stowe published Uncle Tom's Cabin, a piece of popular abolitionist literature
This portrayed the experiences of slaves in America and 300,00 copies were sold in the year of publish. Over the next 10 years 2 million copies were sold. Abolitionist songs and plays were also created so that people who couldn't read could still be familiar with the message -
The 1852 election
The Whigs were defeated which they were shocked about -
Period: to
The collapse of the Whig Party
-
Boston mod broke into a courthouse and killed a guard in an attempt to rescue the fugitive slave Antony Burns
Troops escorted Burns to Boston harbour where he was carried back to slavery (role of slavery and abolitionist movement) -
The Kansas Nebraska Act
This repelled the Missouri Compromise by introducing popular sovereignty, and divided Nebraska into Kansas and Nebraska. Slavery was unlikely for Nebraska as the climate was not appropriate for plantations but it was possible in Kansas. Douglas was confident that slavery would not be voted for in Kansas, and he believed that the political capital he could gain from the act would encourage the railroad without sectional tensions. -
Period: to
Bleeding Kansas
A series of violent conflicts in the Kansas Territory between 1854 and 1859 over the legality of slavery. It involved proslavery and antislavery settlers, political fraud, guerrilla warfare, and influenced the American Civil War -
Bleeding Sumner
The caning of Charles Sumner occurred in the US Senate chamber, when Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina used a walking cane to attack him. This was a result of Sumner's speech a few days previously where he criticised slaveholders. This almost killed him and contributed to the country's polarization over the issue of slavery and willingness to resort to violence that eventually led to the Civil War -
James Buchanan becomes president
He made many colossal mistakes that added to sectional tensions to a great extent -
The Dred Scott Decision
This was a landmark decision of the US supreme court meant American citizenship would not be extended to people of black African descent that therefore they could not enjoy the rights and privileges the Constitution conferred upon American citizens. This decision is widely considered the worst in the Supreme Court's history, being widely denounced for its racism. Dred Scott, an enslaved black man, sued the Missouri State Court for his right for freedom, not granted. See notes for more detail -
President Buchanan acceptance of the Lecompton Constitution
-
The Panic of 1857
An economic crash caused by the declining international economy. American banks did not recover until after the civil war -
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
This was an effort by abolitionist John Brown to initiate a slave revolt in Southern states by taking over the US arsenal at Harpers Ferry -
One in four families were slave owners in South Carolina
-
There were nearly 4 million slaves compared to 8 million white people
Slaves outnumbered white people in South Carolina -
There were around 250,000 free black people in the south
55% of slaves worked in cotton production -
There was still a worldwide demand for cotton
This suggests that it would be economically beneficial for the south to keep slavery going -
Lincoln becomes president