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Willmot Proviso
1846
Amendment to a bill put before the U.S. House of Representatives during the Mexican War; it provided an appropriation of $2 million to enable President Polk to negotiate a territorial settlement with Mexico.
The Wilmot Proviso, as it became known, would forbid the expansion of slavery to any territory acquired from Mexico. -
Fugitive Slave Act
1850
The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers.It required that all escaped slaves were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate in this law. Abolitionists nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Law" for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was 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 territories acquired during the Mexican–American War.The south gained by the strengthening of the fugitive slave law.Texas lost territory but was compensated with 10 million dollars to pay for its debt. Slave trade was prohibited in Washington DC. California was added as a free state. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
1852
Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly, is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War."The strength of Uncle Tom's Cabin is its ability to illustrate slavery's effect on families, and to help readers empathize with enslaved characters. Stowe's characters freely debated the causes of slavery, the Fugitive Slave Law, the future of freed people, what an individual could do, and racism. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
1854
The Kansas-Nebraska 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´. Kansas with slavery would violate the Missouri Compromise, which had kept the Union from falling apart for the last thirty-four years. The long-standing compromise would have to be repealed. -
"Bleeding Kansas"
1856
Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas or the Border War was a series of violent political confrontations in the United States involving anti-slavery "Free-Staters" and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian", or "southern" elements in Kansas.The events were a microcosm of the violent forces shaping the United States in the decade of the 1850s, forces that would ultimately lead to a disintegration of the Union itself. This is what has come to be known as Bleeding Kansas and its impact on the issue of slavery. -
Dred Scott Case
1857
Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857), also known simply as the Dred Scott case, was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on US labor law and constitutional law.The Dred Scott decision was a landmark case in that it drew a clear line of how the government stood on the issue of slavery, and further inflamed passions surrounding an already divisive topic within American politics. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
1858
The Lincoln–Douglas Debates of 1858 were 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.The only real impact of the debates was that they put Lincoln on the national "map" as a major political figure. The debates were staged as part of a race between the two men for a seat in the US Senate. Douglas won the election. -
Harper's Ferry
1859
Historically, Harpers Ferry is best known for John Brown's raid on the Armory in 1859 and its role in the American Civil War. Abolitionist John Brown led 21 men down the road to Harpers Ferry in what is today West Virginia. The plan was to take the town's federal armory and, ultimately, ignite a nationwide uprising against slavery.The raid failed, but six years later, Brown's dream was realized and slavery became illegal. -
Election of 1860
United States presidential election of 1860, American presidential election held on Nov. 6, 1860, in which Republican Abraham Lincoln wins and becomes he 16th president of The United States of America. Even though Lincoln did not win the popular vote, he won the election with a total of 180 electoral votes. Lincoln's victory prompted South Carolina to secede from the United States. They had been on the verge to secede and the outcome of the election was their last sting. -
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is historically significant as the location of the first shots fired in the American Civil War. The United States began building Fort Sumter after the War of 1812 to strengthen the defense of its southern ports. After South Carolina's secession from the Union, Union forces occupied the unfinished Fort Sumter. After 3 1/2 days of battle, Union troops, led by Major Robert Anderson, surrendered.
