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John Rolfe Plants Tobacco
Desperate to make money, John Rolfe planted the cash crop, tobacco. The planting of tobacco required the labor of slaves or servants. The use of slaves would later add to the many issues that resulted in the Civil War. -
Bacon's Rebellion
After a group of former indentured servants became tired of dangers from Native Americans, they disobey orders from the VA House of Burgesses. They burn Jamestown, and the use of indentured servants is no longer popular. Indentured servants became free after seven years of labor and only became angry when they didn't achieve success. Plantation owners then looked towards African slavery which quickly grew, and, once again, added to the issues of the Civil War 185 years later. -
The 3/5th Compromise
When addressing the representation issue in the nation, Benjamin Franklin proposed The 3/5th Compromise. It stated that three out of every five slaves in a state would count towards representation and taxation in the lower house (House of Representatives). Slaves would continue to be used for labor because they didn't all count towards taxes, yet they still counted towards the number of representatives a state would have in the House. -
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a religious movement during the early 19th century that encouraged people back to the church. New ideas were generated. The awakening created new views on temperance, women's rights, education, and the most important idea, which was abolitionism. People like Henry Thoreau believed that it was evil for a man to be held as a slave. He also believed in the divinity of man. These strong views on slavery would create conflict in the north and south leading to war. -
Invention of the Cotton Gin
The creation of the cotton gin by a black man, Eli Whitney, would change the face of the south in the early 19th century. Allowing the time to pick out seeds from a cotton plants to be much shorter, gave plantation owners the desire to acquire more slaves. The more slaves to pick cotton meant more money earned by plantation owners. The cotton gin created a boom in the south and made the thirst for slaves unquenchable. Slaves would continue to be sold and populate the south of the nation. -
Compromise of 1820
Written by Henry Clay, the Compromise of 1820 created the conflict between free/slave states. When Missouri wanted to become a slave state, the nation began to panic due to the unequal balance of representation in the government. It was later decided to enter Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. There would also be no slave states above the 36 30 line throughout the LA territory. The tensions between the slave/free states would only rise when getting closer to the war. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Being part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act would force those who did not turn in a runaway slave to pay a fine. This led to the rise of the Underground Railroad, a key event in helping slaves escape, and the influx of the abolitionists' protests against slavery. Tensions would continue to rise and added more fuel to the fire. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin would create a shift in the nation. The novel addressed the negativity of slavery, which caught the attention of northerners who would speak out as abolitionists. Those who couldn't read were able to view the play acted out on a stage and form their own opposing opinions to slavery. The abolitionist movement increased above the southern borders. Even Abraham Lincoln claimed that Harriet Beecher Stowe was a main cause of the Civil War. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
After allowing the states to decide on whether they wanted to be a slave or free state through popular sovereignty, a rush of people came into Kansas and Nebraska. The amount of fighting and killing in Kansas would allow it to be labeled "Bleeding Kansas." With tragic and countless murders, the nation began to fall apart by showing the inability to accept the fate of slave or free, which would cause the Civil War to be very near. -
Harpers Ferry
Two years before the war, an extremist named John Brown traveled to Harpers Ferry, Virginia with about 20 other men to fight against the pro-slavery groups. Brown and his men killed several men, before he was captured, tried for reason, and hung. The tensions were at an all time and so were the efforts of the abolitionists. John Brown's rioting was definitely a key factor to the starting of the Civil War.
