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Eli Whitney Invents the Cotton Gin
The invention made it easier to process cotton. Cotton becomes the most important crop in the South. Planters invest more money into land and slaves. -
Period: to
created by Mira
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Compromise of 1820 (AKA Missouri Compromise)
Main joined as a free state and Missouri joined as a slave state. This provided an equal balance between free and slave states. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner led the fight against slavery in Virginia. Rebel slaves armed with axes and guns killed at least 57 people in two days. The white people did not like this because they were afraid of the power of the slaves. The rebellion resulted in harsher laws against slaves and deepened the differences between slave holders and others who were against slavery. -
Texas becomes a state
Texas is admitted to the Union as a slave state. This temporarily offsets the balance of free and slave states. -
Compromise of 1850
1.) Fugitive Slave Act ( northern states had to send slaves that escaped back to the south)
2.) California admitted to the U.S. as a free state
3.) Popular Sovereignty Enacted (citizens from new states that applied for statehood from then on would vote as to whether their state would be a free or slave state
4.) Slave trade abolished in Washington DC, slavery itself maintained
The trading of slaves depends on the laws of each individual state. -
Kansas - Nebraska Act
People in Kansas and in Nebraska were going to vote if they were going to have salves or not. This act allowed settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state’s borders. -
Dred Scot v. Sanford
Dred Scot was a free slave and he should had have rights to freedom. But the Supreme Court said that black salves were not like the whites and ruled that they were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court. The Court also ruled that Congress didn't have the power to prohibit slavery in the U.S. territories. -
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Election of 1860
Voters of Untied States pick Abraham Lincoln for president. He won the election without the support of a single Southern state. After his election the Southern states began withdrawing from the Union. So, the election can be seen as the first event in a series that turned into the Civil War that started April of 1861. -
South Carolina Secedes from the Union
South Carolina decided to not be a part of the United States anymore. The Civil War between the North and the South begins.
