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The United States Constitution
In May 1787, a revision of the Articles of Confederation took place and 55 men from twelve states would meet. However, James Madison had created a plan to form a whole new national government which was presented by Governor Edmund Randolph. On September 17, 1787, the final draft of the new Constitution was read to the remaining delegates and all but three signed. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution and it then went into effect. -
The Missouri Compromise
This compromise was passed in 1820 which allowed Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. With Missouri as an exception, this law prohibited slavery in the Louisiana territory. Three years after the Missouri Compromise wasrepealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision, which ruled that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. -
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 consists of five laws passed in September of 1850 that dealt with the issue of slavery. In 1849 California requested permission to enter the Union as a free state, which offset the balance between the free and slave states in the U.S. Senate. Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions on January 29, 1850, in an attempt to bring about a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
Introduced by Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, this act stipulated that the issue of slavery would be decided by the residents of each territory. After the bill passed on May 30, 1854, violence erupted in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers, a prelude to the Civil War. -
The Dred Scott Decision
On March 6, 1857, this decision,delivered by Chief Justice Roger Taney, declared that slaves were not citizens of the United States and could not sue in Federal courts. Also, this decision declared that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. The Dred Scott decision was overturned by the 13th and 14th Amendments of the Constitution. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
This was a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate, and the incumbent Stephen A. Douglas, a Democrat, for an Illinois seat in the United States Senate. The debates previewed the issues that Lincoln would face in the 1860 presidential election. The main issue discussed in all seven debates was slavery. -
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
John Brown gathered his men to help slave escape to the Blue Ridge Mountain base they had established. His plan was put on hold due to a threat of revealing what would take place. He waited a year, then with only twenty-one men, which included his own sons, he put his plan into action. Brown became injured and was taken with others to Charles Town where they were soon after executed. -
The Election of 1860
Four candidates were nominated to run in the 1860 election. The Republican Party, which had decided its first candidate in 1856, was opposed to the expansion of slavery. Abraham Lincoln was the party's nominee in 1860 and Southerners feared that his election would lead to its demise, and vowed to leave the Union if he was elected. -
Bleeding Kansas
The years of 1854-1861 were a turbulent time in Kansas territory. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 established the territorial boundaries of Kansas and Nebraska and opened the land to legal settlement. It allowed the residents to decide whether it was a free or slave state. Three distinct political groups occupied Kansas: pro-slavers, free-staters and abolitionists. Violence broke out between these opposing groups and continued until 1861 when Kansas entered the Union as a free state on Jan. 29th -
The Emancipation Proclamation
Issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation declared "all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery, it did change the basic character of the Civil War.
