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Missouri Compromise
Henry Clay (Speaker of the House)
Unite Congress over the slavery issue.
Norherners get Maine (free state)
Southerners get Missouri (slave state)
All south of Missouri in the Louisiana Territory would be slave areas, and vice-versa -
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President #7: Andrew Jackson (Democrat)
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President #8: Martin Van Buren (Democrat)
Panic of 1837 -
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President #9: William H. Harrison (Whig)
Died a month in office from a cold caught at his inauguration -
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President #10: John Tyler (Whig)
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President #11: James K. Polk
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Wilmot Proviso Debate
This bill proposed to ban slavery in any territory that the U.S. acquired from the War with Mexico (you guessed it, during the Mexican-American War from 1846-1848). The Northerner congressmen liked it, and the Southerners in Congress hated it. It passed the House of Reps, but not the Senate (House had more representatives for the abolition of slavery while the Senate had more Southern power.) -
Free-Soil Party Emerges
Largely as a response to the Wilmot Proviso's defeat, this political party was in favor of free-states.
Former President Martin Van Buren was the Free-Soil Party's candidate with Charles Francis Adams (son of J Quincy Adams, I know right?). -
Election of 1848
Democrats - Lewis Cass [P] William Butler [VP]
Whigs - Zachary Taylor [P] Millard Fillmore [VP] [Winners]
Free-Soilers (heh heh) - Martin Van Buren [P] Charles Francis Adams [VP] -
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President #12: Zachary Taylor (Whig)
Died in office (medical reasons) -
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President #13: Millard Fillmore (Whig)
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Fugitive Slave Law
To pacify the Southerners in the Compromise of 1850
Runaway slaves found hiding in the North could be captured and brought back down to the South. -
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay ([W] Senator of Massachusetts) and Stephen Douglas ([D] Senator of Illinois)
Followed the Mexican War in deciding free and slave territories
California as a whole would be a free state
Washington D.C. would abolish slave trade (though not slavery)
New Mexico and Utah would organize by popular sovereignty in regard to slavery
Texas would take its current shape (from the then Texas Annexation boundaries) -
Uncle Tom's Cabin published
By Harriet Beecher Stowe
Northerners received the book as telling everything that is wrong with slavery.
Southerners viewed the book as pure propaganda and hated it. -
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President #14: Franklin Pearce (Democrat)
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Kansas-Nebraska Act
Research LinkStephen A. Douglas (Senator of Illinois)
Organized the Nebraska Territory (created Nebraska and Kansas)
Broke up the Missouri Compromise of 1820 boundary
Both territories were open to popular sovereignty in regard to slavery -
Sack of Lawrence
Proslavery ruffians attacked Lawrence, Kansas, destroying offices and the governor's house. -
Charles Sumner is beaten by Preston Brooks
Charles Sumner (Senator of Massachusetts) was beaten by Preston Brooks for insulting Brooks's uncle in Congress (Andrew Butler, Senator of South Carolina) over Butler's proslavery ideals.
Many proslavery Americans ridiculed Sumner by mailing canes to his property, as Brooks had beaten and broken his cane on Sumner. -
Pottawatomie Massacre
John Brown, in reaction to the Sack of Lawrence, kills 5 proslavery neighbors (mostly with broadswords, I know...). -
Dred Scott Case
Supreme Court decision that favored the proslavery movement
Scott v. Sanford
The Supreme Court misspelled Sanford with Sandford and thus the two exist.
Dred Scott was freed before the end of the month (freedom paid), but died shortly after a year from tuberculosis. :( Research LinkDred Scott v. Sanford -
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President #15: James Buchanan (Democrat)
Only president who was a bachelor. -
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Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Debates on who would be Senator for Illinois
First debates with rival candidates; would inspire future presidencies to debate in similar fashion; high schools still hold Lincoln-Douglas debates
Lincoln did lose to Douglas, but he was nationally recognized and would use this popularity for presidency. -
Harpers Ferry - John Brown part 2
John Brown captures the Harpers Ferry U.S. arsenal in hopes to arm slaves in a revolt against their masters.
No slaves join the fight.
Brown is captured and tried for treason. -
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President #16: Abraham Lincoln (Republican)
Civil War -
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The Civil War!
Began in Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina.
Ended in Appomattox Court House, Virginia. -
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President #17: Andrew Johnson (National Union)
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Surrender at Appomattox
Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant in this Virginia town, in the McLean House and not the court house (Appomattox Court House was the name of the town).
