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Missouri Compromise
An effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, during August 1831. Led by Nat Turner, rebel slaves killed from 55 to 65 people, the highest number of fatalities caused by any slave uprising in the Southern United States. Resulted in harsher punishments for slaves across the south. -
Texas Annexation
The incorporation of the Republic of Texas into the United States of America. It disrupted the slave/free state balance. -
Wilmot's Proviso
It was designed to eliminate slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican War (1846-48). It laid the groundwork for the Civil War -
Compromise of 1850
a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850, which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican–American War. -
Fugitive Slave Act
A pair of federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within the territory of the United States. Allowed the capture of free black men in the north. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852. The novel helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War. -
Bleeding Kansas
A series of violent political confrontations in the United States involving anti-slavery "Free-Staters" and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian", or "southern yankees" elements in Kansas between 1854 and 1861. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
It 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´. -
The Caning of Sumner
A member of the House of Representatives entered the Senate chamber and savagely beat a senator into unconsciousness. one of the first examples of physical conflict pertaining to the Civil War. -
Dred Scott Decision
Supreme Court issues a decision in the Dred Scott case, affirming the right of slave owners to take their slaves into the Western territories, thereby negating the doctrine of popular sovereignty and severely undermining the platform of the newly created Republican Party. -
Douglas Lincoln Debates
a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. -
Raid on Harpers Ferry
An effort by white abolitionist John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt in 1859 by taking over a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. -
Election of 1860
Republican Abraham Lincoln defeated Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell. -
Crittenden Compromise
Amendments proposing protecting the institution of slavery through constitutional amendments. It led to the civil war