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Ordinance of 1787
The ordinance provided for civil liberties and public education within the new territories, but did not allow slavery. Southerners were willing to go along with this because they hoped that the new states would be populated by white settlers from the South. That some of these states would be populated by those against slavery fueled tension between the Southerners and Northerners. -
The state of Vermont
In 1791 the state of Vermont was admitted as a free state.The admission of free states, angered those states that wanted slavery to continue. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Fugitive Slave Act stated the children born to slaves were slaves themselves. This was passed to satisfy the Southerners, but the Northerners ignored it. Another Act that would fuel tension. -
The Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution led by rebellious slaves turned the colony into an independent country administered by the formerly enslaved. The Haitian Revolution was the beginning of the sectional crisis. It helped splinter the Atlantic basin into clear zones of freedom and un-freedom. -
The Black Laws were created.
The Black Laws were created. The laws banned African American voting, denied black Americans access to public schools, and made it impossible for non-whites to serve on juries and in local militias. These laws angered the Northerners that wanted out of slavery. The laws added fuel to the tension between slave and anti-slave states. -
Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves
This act prohibited the importation of slaves into the U.S. It was not enforced, and so slaves continued to be imported. This angered anti-slavery states, as the law was not enforced. -
Tallmadge Amendment
Benjamin Tallmadge was a military officer who proposed that Missouri be admitted as a free state. The amendment was defeated and his request was ignored. Eventually, Missouri would be admitted as a slave state and would go against everything he proposed. The balancing of slave and anti-slavery states made both sides angry and this led to the Civil War. -
The Missouri Compromise
Missouri’s application for statehood would give the pro-slavery faction a Congressional majority this angered the Northerners. Congress reached a series of agreements that would preserve the balance of power between slave and free states known as the Missouri Compromise. -
Missouri and Maine
Missouri was admitted as a slave state and Maine was admitted as a free state, preserving the Congressional balance. This was in answer to the Missouri Compromise. -
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
A slave named Nat Turner started an uprising that spread through several plantations in southern Virginia. Fifty-five slaves, including Turner, were tried and executed for their role in the insurrection. Virginia lawmakers reacted by rolling back what few civil rights slaves and free black people had at the time. Education was prohibited and the right to assemble was severely limited. This fueled state's desires to secede from the Union and slavery in those states. -
Liberty Party
Liberty Party was formed. This party demanded the end of slavery in the District of Columbia, the end of the interstate slave trade, and the prohibition of slavery’s expansion into the West. This was created by those who wanted their state to end slavery. The Liberty Party went against everything the southern states stood for. -
Baptist Convention
Baptist Convention splits over the issue of slavery into northern and southern sections. Some of the members wanted to end slavery and others wanted slavery to continue. -
The Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was designed to eliminate slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican War. This was designed by those that were looking to be part of the secession from the Union. -
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Mexican-American War
After a border dispute with Mexico, the U.S. went to war with Mexico over the annexation of Texas. The war angered northerners because it would increase the slave states' landmass. This fueled the whole idea of secession. -
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States. Mexico gave up all claims to Texas. This territory would lead to future issues about the expansion of slavery within the U.S. This angered the Northerners who wanted to end slavery in the U.S. -
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 allows residents of New Mexico and Utah territories to permit or ban slavery, admits California as a free state (31st), ends the slave trade (but not slavery) in the District of Columbia, and enacts a stricter fugitive slave law requiring citizens in free states to turn in runaway slaves. This is all part of the desire to make slave and anti-slavery states equal. It does not help those states who are looking to secede from the Union and become anti-slavery states. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book about slave life. The book brought the issue of slavery to life for those who remained unmoved after decades of legislative conflict and widened the division between North and South. This was a positive for the secession movement. It showed how truly bad life for a slave was. -
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Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was passed by Congress, repealing the Missouri Compromise and allowing Kansas and Nebraska settlers to decide the status of slavery in the territories. People became furious and violence began. This conflict was known as Bleeding Kansas. -
1856
Anti-slavery movement formed the Republican Party. -
Dred Scott V Sanford
The Supreme Court ruled that having lived in a free state and territory did not entitle a slaved person, to their freedom. The decision argued that, as someone's property, a slave was not a citizen and could not sue in a federal court. Living in a free state didn't get rid of slavery completely in a state. This mad for a lot of tension within the states themselves, not just state vs state. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
The Lincoln-Douglas These debates were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and the current sitting Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. This was liked by the Northerners because Lincoln was for ending slavery and would aid in the secession of states from the Union and slavery. -
John Brown’s Raid
Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. It was an attempt to start an armed revolt of enslaved people and destroy the institution of slavery. -
Abraham Lincoln Election
Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin are elected president and vice president (Republican). Their election would bring about the Civil War that would ultimately end slavery. -
South Carolina
South Carolina secedes from the Union, the first state to do so. This was the first of many states to secede and promote the "growth" of secession. -
The Battle of Fort Sumter
On April 12, 1861, the American Civil War was officially begun. -
sources
The Sectional Crisis and The Crisis Joined
Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/trigger-events-civil-war
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/triumphnationalism/timeline.pdf