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Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was an unsuccessful proposal in the United States Congress to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican–American War. This brought up the first real discussions of secession leading up to the civil war. -
Free Soil Movement
Minor but influential political movement in the pre-Civil War period of American history that opposed the extension of slavery into the western territories. Did not want end of slavery but they wanted to keep the West a land of opportunity for whites only so that the white majority would not have to compete with the labor of slaves or free blacks; Free-Soil party in 1848 in North, saying, "free soil, free labor, free men"; advocated free homesteads and internal improvements. -
Compromise of 1850
Series of measures proposed by the “great compromiser,” Sen. Henry Clay of Kentucky, and passed by the U.S. Congress in an effort to settle several outstanding slavery issues and to avert the threat of dissolution of the Union. The problem was complicated by the unresolved question of slavery’s extension into other areas ceded by Mexico the preceding year bringing the U.S to the Civil War. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin Published
The most influential American novel ever, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe,appeared first in weekly instalments between June 1851 and April 1852 in the National Era, a Washington DC periodical with an anti-slavery slant. The novel had such a strong impact in arousing feeling against slavery that it has been credited with helping to cause the US Civil War. -
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. The Kansas-Nebraska Act infuriated many in the North who considered the Missouri Compromise to be a long-standing binding agreement. In the pro-slavery South it was strongly supported, thus influencing the Civil War. -
Republican Party Formed
In Wisconsin, former members of the Whigs met to establish a new party to oppose the spread of slavery into the west territories. By February 1854, Whigs had begun meeting in the upper midwestern states to discuss the formation of a new party. One such meeting, in Wisconsin on March 20, 1854, is generally remembered as the founding meeting of the Republican Party. Southern slave states were publicly threatening secession if the Republicans won the presidency, this being a cause of the Civil War. -
Bleeding Kansas
Small civil war in the United States, fought between proslavery and antislavery advocates for control of the new territory of Kansas under the doctrine of popular sovereignty. This further dividing the nation and resulting in the larger Civil War, with what started with a slavery issue. -
Caning of Charles Sumner
During his speech on May 19-20, 1856, Sumner described southern interference in the region as, “the rape of a virgin Territory, compelling it to the hateful embrace of Slavery. He also opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and spoke forcefully against the bill’s authors, Stephen Douglas and Andrew P. Butler. On May 22, representative Brooks, relative to Butler, proceeded to get revenge on Sumner beating him viciously with his cane, this event then being a famous political influence on the Civil War. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on March 6, 1857, ruled that a slave, Dred Scott who had resided in a free state and territory was not thereby entitled to his freedom; that African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States; and that the Missouri Compromise, which had declared free all territories west of Missouri and north of latitude 36°30′, was unconstitutional, further fueling arguments of slavery and war. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Series of seven debates between the Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois senatorial campaign, largely concerning the issue of slavery extension into the territories, leading to decisions of territorial slavery, and discussions of abolishment prior to Civil War. -
John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry
On October 16, 1859, John Brown led a small army of 18 men into the small town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His plan was to instigate a major slave rebellion in the South. He would seize the arms and ammunition in the federal arsenal, arm slaves in the area and move south along the Appalachian Mountains, attracting slaves to his cause. It failed, but succeeded in deepening the divide between the North and South. -
Election of Lincoln
The Republican Party platform promised not to interfere with slavery in the states, but opposed the further extension of slavery into the territories. The election of Lincoln led to the secession of several states in the South, and the Civil War would begin with the Battle of Fort Sumter.