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Eli Whitney invents Cotton gin
-Whitney invented a way to speed up the process of remaining seeds from cotton fiber
- gave Americans jobs in the cotton industry
- expanded slavery which created some tension between North and South -
Missouri Compromise
-passes into law and regulated slavery in the western states
-contributed to the division and disagreement between north and south regarding the issue of slavery
-both pro and anti-slavery proponents in Congress agreed to it
-Compromise forbade slavery in Louisiana and any territory that was once part of it in the Louisiana Purchase -
Compromise of 1850
-south gained by the strengthening of the fugitive slave law, the north gained California as a free state but both sides weren’t satisfied
-a patch to solve the Missouri compromise
-expanded the U.S Territory by adding California as a state -
Fugitive Slave Act
-part of the compromise of 1850
-required anyone to return slaves to their owners even if they were in a free state
-North did not approve and felt it was a "slave power conspiracy.” -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
-profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S.
-is said to have "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War".
-northerners felt outraged and southerners felt betrayed
-a book displaying the life of a slave with a horrible white master -
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
-Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820
-north was outraged because it allowed slavery in the remainder of the original areas of the Louisiana Purchase and the south felt accomplished -
“Bleeding Kansas”
-a mini civil war between pro- and anti-slavery forces that occurred in Kansas
-settlers simply wanted the new land now open to settlement but many other people came to cast their votes either for or against slavery
- created outraged between south and north and created the first physical battle between them
-started in 1856 and ended in 1865 -
Dred Scott Case
-a decade-long fight for freedom by a black slave named Dred Scott
-gave momentum to the anti-slavery movement and served as a stepping stone to the Civil War.
-Court invalidated legislation that had served as an accepted constitutional settlement for nearly four decades and left a feeling of sectional controversy and pushing the country closer to civil war -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
-Lincoln and Douglas were trying to win control of the Illinois General Assembly for their respective parties
-Lincoln argues that the nation would eventually encompass all slave states or all free states and nothing in between.
-the North and the South because they debated slavery and they came to one conclusion that did not satisfy one of the regions
-election of Abraham Lincoln led to the southern states to break away from the Union -
Raid on Harper’s Ferry
-John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory
-an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery
-Brown's defeat helped spark the Civil War -
Election of Lincoln
-Lincoln ran on a political platform opposed to the expansion of slavery in the territories
-His election served as the immediate impetus for the outbreak of the American Civil War
-He wanted to stop the spread of slavery in new territories and states -
South Carolina secedes from the Union
-first slave state in the south to declare that it had seceded from the United States
-South seceded because they did not want the North to be able to tell them what to do
-North remained Union-loyal while the Cotton States were seceding because they concluded that their own secession was unnecessary to protect their rights -
Attack on Fort Sumter
-the battle was that it marked the beginning of the American Civil War
-After a 33-hour bombardment by Confederate cannons, Union forces surrender Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Harbor
-Fort Sumter allowed the Confederates to create a valuable hole in the Union blockade of the Atlantic seaboard
