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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise kept the balance of power in the senate between the slave states and the Free states. It also called for slavery to be banned from the Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36, 30’ Missouri's southern border. It put a lot more tension between the north and the south. The south was outraged because the thought slaves were their property, so they could take them were ever they wanted. -
Wilmont Proviso
It outlawed slavery in any territory the United States might acquire from the war with Mexico. The north was happy that slavery couldn't expand into any other territories, but slaveholder believed that congress had no right to prevent them from bringing slaves into any of the territories. They viewed slaves as property. -
Compromise of 1850
To please the north California would be admitted as a free state and the slave trade would be abolished in Washington D.C. To please the south congress wouldn't pass any laws regarding slavery for the rest of the territories won from Mexico, and congress would pass a stronger law to help slaveholders recapture runaway slaves. Both side thought they had to give up too much in this plan. But others were tired of the regional bickering. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Breecher Stowe published Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852. It dramatically portrayed the moral issues of slavery. In fact, a play based on the book increased the popularity of drama as well as abolitionism. Stowe's book was wildly popular in the North. But white southerners believed the book falsely criticized the south and slavery. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
While the fugitive slave act and uncle tom’s cabin heightened the conflicts between the north and the south, the issue of slavery in the territories brought bloodshed to the west. The north and south both wanted the territories to be admitted in their favor so people rushed to the territories to vote in their favor. -
Sack of Lawrence
Antislavery settlers boycotted the official government and formed a government of their own. With political authority in dispute, settlers on both sides armed themselves. In may, a proslavery mob attacked the town of Lawrence, Kansas. The attackers destroyed offices and the house of the antislavery governor. This was one of the first battles of the civil war, but they didn’t know it at the time. It put a lot of tension on the north and south verbal attacks turned in to violence. -
Pottawatomie Massacre
To avenge the sack of Lawrence, John Brown and seven other men went to the cabins of his proslavery neighbors and murdered five people. This attack is known as the Pottawatomie massacre, after the creek near where the victims were found. As news of the violence spread, civil war broke out in Kansas. It continued for three years, and the territory can to be called "Bleeding Kansas." -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott had been a slave in Missouri. His owner took him to live in territories where slavery was illegal. Then they returned to Missouri. After his owner's death, Scott sued for his freedom. He argued that he was a free man because he had lived in territories where slavery was illegal. The north was outraged that the Supreme Court didn’t let him have a trial because of his race. The south wasn’t happy because he even tried to sue for his freedom. -
Election of 1860
The election of 1860 turned into two different r4aves for the presidency, one in the North and one in the South. Lincoln and Douglas were the only candidates with much support in the north. Breckenridge and Bell competed for southern voters. The outcome of the election made it clear that the nation was tired of compromise. Lincoln won in the north, and the Breckenridge won in the south. Because there were more people in the north Lincoln won the election. -
South Carolina Seceding from the Union
Before the 1860 presidential election, many southerners had warned that if Lincoln won, the southern states would secede, or withdraw from the union. The supporter’s arguments were based on states’ rights. They argued that the states had voluntarily joined the union. Consequently, they claimed that the states also had the right to leave the union. They tried to compromise one more time, but people were tired of it. Secession was the boiling point.