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Politics Before the Civil War
During the Antebellum Era was a perfect time for politics to come into play and develop because of the many hot topic issues of the time like expansion and slavery. -
Missouri Compromise
Northern leaders accepted into the Union Missouri, as a new slave state, only on the condition that another addition, Maine, gain statehood as a free territory. -
Wilmot Proviso
Anti-slavery Democratic Congressman, David Wilmot, purposed this ban on slavery in any territories gained in the war. Whigs and other anti-slavery Democrats quickly passed the bill in the House of Representatives, dividing Congress along sectional lines. -
Free-Soil Party forms
Following the Senate's rejection of the Wilmot Proviso, thousands of regular northerners joined the "free soil movement". This new party abandoned the Garrison's and Liberty's Party emphasis on sinfulness of slavery and the natural rights of slaves. It depicted slavery as a threat to republicanism and to the Jeffersonian ideal of a free holder society. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. -
Republican Party forms
In Ripon, Wisconsin, former members of the Whig Party meet to establish a new party, the Republican Party, to oppose the spread of slavery into the western territories. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30. -
American(Know-Nothing) Party forms
The Know-Nothing Party was based on nativistic beliefs and its members were native born male Protestants who were opposed to immigrants being able to vote or hold political office. This party was originally a secret society and when questioned, members said, "I know nothing." -
Election of 1856
The Election of 1856 consisted of Democratic Party nominatee, James Buchanan, who ultimately won, John C. Frémont, the Republican Party nominee, and Millard Fillmore, the American (Know-Nothing) nominee. -
Dred Scott VS Sanford
The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision on Sanford v. Dred Scott, a case that intensified national divisions over the issue of slavery. In 1834, Dred Scott had been taken to Illinois, a free state, and then Wisconsin territory, where the Missouri Compromise of 1820 prohibited slavery. In the end, Robert Taney, the US Supreme Court chief justice, declared that Scott was a slave, therefore he was property and could not sue. -
Lincoln VS Douglas Debates
The Lincoln–Douglas debates (also known as The Great Debates of 1858) were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. Topics were concerning the issue of slavery extension into the territories.
