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Missouri Compromise
In order to maintain the country's balance between slave and free states, this law simultaneously accepted Maine as a non-slave state and Missouri as a slave state. Moreover, it prohibited slavery in the remaining Louisiana Territory above the 36° 30' latitude line. -
Wilmot Proviso
Except for crimes for which the party shall first be lawfully convicted, no slavery or involuntary servitude shall ever exist within this region. The Wilmot Proviso was a clause that said slavery would not be included in the Mexican Cession. -
Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe challenged prevailing societal notions about the mental and emotional capabilities of black people in Uncle Tom's Cabin by discussing the evils of slavery. While Stowe rose to prominence in the anti-slavery struggle, her views on race were nuanced. -
The Compromise of 1850
The laws set a boundary between Texas and the United States, abolished the slave trade in Washington, DC, and revised the Fugitive Slave Act in addition to calling for the admission of California as a "free state" and territory governments for Utah and New Mexico. -
Boston Slave Riot
Black American abolitionists under the leadership of Lewis Hayden made an unsuccessful attempt to free Anthony Burns, a caught runaway slave, from the courthouse during the "Boston Slave Riot." James Batchelder (hence referred to as "Bachelder"), a deputy marshal, was murdered during the ensuing disturbance. -
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Bleeding Kansas
Kansas was ruled by three separate political factions: pro-slavery, free-stater, and abolitionist. Between these competing forces, fighting started right once and persisted until January 29, 1861, when Kansas became a free state and joined the Union. -
Caning of Sumner
The "largest deliberative assembly in the world" entered war on May 22, 1856. A member of the House of Representatives invaded the Senate Chamber and viciously assaulted a senator until he was rendered unconscious in one of the most dramatic and foreboding events in the history of the Senate. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
In Missouri, Dred Scott was a slave. He lived in the Louisiana Territory, where slavery was outlawed by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and in Illinois, a free state, from 1833 and 1843. When Scott made it back to Missouri, he sued for his release, arguing that because he had lived in a free region, he was now a free man. Scott filed a new lawsuit in federal court. No "black" or descendant of slaves, could be a citizen in the meaning of Article III of the Constitution. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party's candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and Democratic Party incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas. -
Election of Abraham Lincoln
Many Southerners considered Abraham Lincoln, the candidate of the antislavery Republican Party, as a threat to their way of life and a sign of secession. -
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John Brown’s Raid at Harper’s Ferry
John Brown, an abolitionist, and a group of his supporters left their farmhouse hide-out en route to Harpers Ferry. Descending upon the town in the early hours of October 17th, Brown and his men captured prominent citizens and seized the federal armory and arsenal. -
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First Wave of Secession
On December 20, 1860, a special convention convened in South Carolina overwhelmingly enacted a secession law. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana followed in January, and on February 1, 1861, Texas voted to separate.
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