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The Missouri Compromise
Allowed Missouri to become a slave state, and Maine to become a free state, prohibited slavery north of latitude 36˚ 30' within the Louisiana Territory -
The Compromise of 1850
Designed to ease tensions between the North and the South. They Did 5 things: California became a free state, Utah and New Mexico became self-sovereignty states, defined the Texas-New Mexico border, the government caught Texas in debt, the slave trade was abolished in DC, and a new fugitive slave law; advocated by Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act was a law that made it a crime to help runaway slaves; allowed for the arrest of escaped slaves in areas where slavery was illegal and required their return to their masters. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel brought light to the horrors of slavery to the North. It heightened Northern support for abolition and escalated the sectional conflict. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
It created Kansas and Nebraska, opened new lands, repealed the Missouri Compromise, and allowed settlers in those territories to determine if they would allow slavery within their boundaries. -
The Dred Scott Case
A slave who sued for his freedom, the Supreme Court denied that he had any rights at all including the right to be heard in court, and, stated that the government could not ban slavery in newly admitted states -
Bleeding Kansas
A series of violent conflicts in the Kansas territory between anti-slavery and pro-slavery factions over the status of slavery. -
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Two men running for Senates. The debates were focused on slavery. Douglas won the election, but Lincoln's fine showing made him a national figure and helped him win the Republican nomination in 1860 -
John Brown's Raid
In 1859, the militant abolitionist John Brown seized the U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry. He planned to end slavery by massacring slave owners and freeing their slaves. He was unsuccessful. -
The Election of 1860
Lincoln, the Republican candidate, won because the Democratic party was split over slavery. As a result, the South felt they didn't have a voice in politics, and several states split from the Union. -
South Carolina Secedes
South Carolina left the United States. They were the first state to start the Confederate States of America.