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Compromise of 1850
Who: Henry Clay, California, New Mexico & Utah territories, North & South
What: Henry Clay made a compromise by trying to meet the North and South's wants for free or slave states/territories and laws.
Where: United States
Outcome: California is admitted as a free state, New Mexico & Utah territories are opened to slavery, slave trade is banned in Washington D.C, and a strict fugitive slave law is passed.
Significance: It was another attempt at calming sectional tensions, but failed to do so -
The Fugitive Slave Law
Who: Runaway slaves, slave hunters, and North & South.
What: As part of the terms of the Compromise of 1850, this law was passed that gave permission to seize and returned escaped slaves to their owners for a reward.
Where: United States
Outcome: Many slaves were returned to their owners even African Americans who were free before, as well as many abolitionists were angered by the passing of this law.
Significance: Enraged abolitionists causing further tension between the North and South. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Who: Harriet Beecher Stowe
What: Stowe wrote a story about a slave and showed Americans the truth about slavery.
Where: It was written partially in Brunswick, Maine and Andover, Massachusetts.
Outcome: Changed how Americans viewed slavery.
Significance:Many more people joined the abolitionist cause after they read what slavery was really like. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
Who: Stephen Douglas, Kansas and Nebraska Territories
What: Stephen Douglas proposed a bill to let the decision of slavery in the Kansas and Nebraska Territories to be decided by popular sovererignty.
Where: Kansas and Nebraska Territories
Outcome: Pro-slavery and anti-slavery people rushed to Kansas to have an impact on the vote which lead to violence. Causing Kansas to be called "Bleeding Kansas".
Significance: It repealed the Missouri Compromise and aroused the debate of slavery. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Who: Dred Scott
What: Scott was suing for his freedom after he and his owner traveled into Wisconsin, which was a free state.
Where: Wisconsin
Outcome: Court ruled that African Americans are not citizens, Scott remains a slave under Missouri law, congress cannot ban slavery in any territory, and the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.
Significance: Abolitionists felt that the ruling was unfair and caused further tensions between the North and the South. -
The Election of 1860
Who: Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, John Breckinridge, & John Bell.
What: All of the above candidates were running for president, each bringing their own belief to the table.
Where: United States
Outcome: Lincoln didn't win the popular vote but he did win the electoral vote.
Significance: After Lincoln was elected president South Carolina seceded from the United States.
