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The Missouri Compromise
In 1820, Henry Clay created the Missouri Compromise. The compromise was made to settle the dispute between the north and south over the issue on slavery in the states. This agreement made Missouri a slave state, while Maine became a free state. Any land above the 36˙30 latitude line was to be a free state, and anything bellow was not. As a result, people would calm down over the issue and would continue to keep an equal number of slave and free states, until things got too complicated. -
The Wilmot Proviso
In 1846, David Wilmot proposed to congress that all territories which emerge from the Mexican Cession territory would be free states. As tension rose back up after the Missouri compromise, Wilmot saw this as the perfect solution. In the end, all it did was cause Southerners to view the bill as an attack on slavery from the north and cause tension to rise even higher. -
The Compromise of 1850
In 1850, Henry Clay created a set of 5 laws that would possibly not limit the expansion of slavery above the Missouri line. This was a result of the south beginning to push for the right to own and act on slavery in the West. As a result, the north felt like this went against everything the Missouri compromise had done, but the south felt they were finally getting what they deserved which was the ability to own slaves in all of America. -
Fugitive Slave Act
In 1850, President Fillmore signed the compromise of 1850, and within that compromise there was a new law. This law stated that all fugitive slaves were to be returned to their former masters and put back into slavery since they were their “property”. This law applies to all northern and free states, and as a result the northern abolitionists were enraged and began to resist the new law. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
In 1853 , Harriet Beecher Stowe used her writing skills to write a book in Kentucky which showed that dark truth about slavery. This brought attention to the north about how truly brutal slavery was. Harriet was passionate about the cause and felt the need to show a slave’s life. She knew that there could be a chance people would buy the book as a learning tool. It caused many to take action and help slaves by participating in the Underground Railroad, and refuting laws that supported slavery. -
Bleeding Kansas/Kansas Nebraska Act
In 1854, Stephen Douglas proposed the idea to let the residents in every state vote on if slavery should be allowed in the territory, using the idea of popular sovereignty. So to test the and let people in the new territory, Kansas, vote on what to do. As a result, people from bith sides moved to cast their vote. The fight between the two sides became so intense that people began to participate in physical fights, resulting in the death of many people. This only tore the nation further apart. -
The Dred Scott Case
In 1857, Dred Scott sued for his freedom. He lived in two free states with his owner, and this meant he was a free man. The Supreme Court ruled that a slave was not a citizen, and that they could not ban slavery anywhere, since they were considered property. The Northerners were shocked since they realized that there was no such thing as a free state and they could not stop it from spreading. The south was more pleased since they knew that they could now take slavery wherever they pleased. -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas began to have debates all over Illinois, discussing why they should be elected for Senate. People who sided with Lincoln began to support him and the Republican Party. They would debate mainly over slavery, attempting to prove the other wrong in order to win. Depending on who got elected, Illinois could them either become slave state or not. Douglas won the senate seat, but Lincoln got more publicity, which helped him win the election of 1860 -
John Brown's Raid
In 1859, John Brown, an abolitionist from the north, went to Harper’s Ferry in Virginia with 5 of his sons in order to begin a slave revolt. Brown felt like slavery as an evil action that went against the Bible. They seized guns and ammunition as well as fought off many soldiers, some needed up dying. Most abolitionist didn’t agree with Brown’s actions, but began to believe that it wasn’t possible to free slaves without violence but the south began to discuss the idea of seceding from the U.S. -
Lincoln Election of 1860
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, John Breckinridge, and John Bell all ran in the Presidential election. As the votes were casted, people began to realize how split the nation was. Lincoln won in the northern part of the nation as well as Oregon and California. Douglas won in Missouri and New Jersey. Breckinridge won in all the southern states. Bell won in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. Lincoln won the election became the first republican to be elected and it made the south secede. -
Southern Secession
In 1860, Lincoln won the presidential election, causing southern states to believe that they would lose their way of life. As a result, Virginia seceded the nation. Soon after 6 more southern states followed and they all became the Confederate States of America. Together they elected Jefferson Davis as their leader and proceed to try to take Fort Sumter back from the north. This resulted in a battle between the north and south, it set beginning of the Civil War.
