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The 3/5 Compromise
The ⅗ compromise was agreed on in the Constitutional convention of 1787. Slaves in the South would be counted as ⅗ of a person on the vote, which would lead to more representation due to an increased population. The North benefited because the South had to pay taxes on the Slaves. -
The Creation of the Cotton Gin
Without the invention of the cotton gin, slavery would have eventually dies out because there were much more efficient ways to make money. -
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromis of 1850 was a compromise between the north and the south. In this compromise, California was admitted as a free state, and Washington DC wasn't allowed to participate in the slave trade. The South gained the Fugitive Slave Act from the compromise. Popular sovereignty was also derived from the Compromise of 1850, which allowed a state to vote on whether or not they would be a slave or free state, which just raised tension. -
Uncle Toms Cabin
Uncle Toms Cabin was an anti-slavery book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The book does an amazing job of describing the violence involved in slavery. This turns many northerners into avid abolitionists, and many southerners sympathize with the intention of the book. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was a series of battles between pro-slave and anti-slave taking place in Kansas, caused by popular sovereignty. Two elections took place deciding whether or not Kansas would be a slave or free state. In the first election, it was decided that it would be a slave state, but voter fraud was evident. The second election took place and Kansas was dubbed a free state. The two controversial elections caused much disunion. Fights, aresen, and riots took broke out across Kansas. -
Dred Scott vs. Sanford
Sanford was a surgeon and Dred Scott was his enslaved assistant. Sanford moved to the North and became an abolitionist. He had Dred Scott sue him to set a precedent in the northern states, but the judge determined that Dred Scott was property, and therefore could not sue. Instead of aiding the road to abolition, which Sanford had intended, it made the situation worse. This caused more tension between the North ans South. -
John Brown's Raid
John Brown was a radical abolitionist that believed that God wanted him to use violence to free the slaves. He tried to start a slave revolt with his five sons in Virginia. He raided the armory and waited for the slaves to revolt, but said slaves never aided his cause. His sons were killed in a firefight and he was hung. The north treated John Brown as a hero, even though technically he was a terrorist, this outraged the south. -
The Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln, a former member of the Whig party, ran for president in the election of 1860 opposed to the expansion of slavery into the territories. The immediate reaction to his election was the start of the Civil War.