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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was a bill passed on March 3, 1820 making Missouri a slave state and Maine a free state. The bill was passed by Congress to try and keep the union together for some amount of time. The Missouri Compromise did help to keep the union together for just over 30 years, but this was only temporary. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was designed to get rid of slavery in the new land gained from the Mexican war. After the war, James K. Polk bought the land for $2 million as part of a negotiation. The Wilmot Proviso was first introduced by congressman David Wilmot. -
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Dred Scott Case
The Dred Scott Case was a lawsuit that was started in 1846, and it involved Dred Scott who was a freed slave that tried to sue for his freedom when a new slave owner tried to claim him. The lawsuit lasted 11 years, and in the end Dred Scott was told that since he is African American, he is not an American citizen, and therefore has no rights and cannot make a lawsuit against anyone. -
Compromise of 1850
Senator Henry Clay proposed a number of solutions to avert the rising crisis between the north and south. Part of the compromise was the Fugitive Slave Act, which made it mandatory for people in the north to report escaped slaves. Another part of the compromise was the banning of the slave trade altogether, but slavery still thrived without the intake of slaves from Africa. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act was an act passed on September 18, 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850. The act made it mandatory for people in the north to report anyone who looked like a runaway slave. People (especially abolitionists) were furious at the act, and rallied against it existing. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book published on March 20, 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe to shed light on how terrible slavery is. The book tells a story through the perspective of a slave going through extremely harsh conditions. The book shocked both people in the north and south, each with different responses. Most people in the north felt that slavery was inhumane and needed to be stopped, and slave owners in the south tried to defend themselves by saying that the book is just fiction. -
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Kansas Nebraska Act / Bleeding Kansas
The Kansas Nebraska Act was passed on May 30, 1854 so that Both Kansas and Nebraska can vote to choose whether they would be free or slave, even though they were both above the Missouri Compromise line. Bleeding Kansas was a period just after the Kansas Nebraska Act when both pro-slave and anti-slave people went to Kansas to try and make the state whatever position on slavery they wanted through voting. There was many arguments, but there was very few physical uprisings that started. -
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Lincoln Douglas Debates
The Lincoln Douglas Debates were a series of debates where Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas challenged each other's ideas on different topics. Stephen Douglas said that Lincoln was a fool to want to completely end slavery, even though it isn't good, which lost him lots of his southern voters. Lincoln also challenged Douglas on his morals, saying that slavery went against the constitution. -
John Brown's Raid
John Brown's Raid was an event during October 1859 where John Brown took many of his sons to Virginia to start a slave revolt. When he attempted to garner help and start a revolt, no one came. Since no one came, he was easily captured by Virginian police and then hanged for treason. -
Lincoln's Election of 1860
Lincoln's Election of 1860 was the election in which Lincoln was debating with Douglas and then finally won the debates. After winning the debates, he was inaugurated which eventually lead to the secession of southern states such as South Carolina. -
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Secession
The secession of the southern states was an event where the southern states started to leave the union. After Lincoln was inaugurated, South Carolina was the first to secede. South Carolina stated that Lincoln would not protect their rights, and that they could leave due to the declaration of independence. Shortly after South Carolina left, all of the other southern states left with them. This was the event which eventually leaded to the civil war.
