-
1846 Wilmont Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso, one of the major events leading to the American Civil War. It would have banned slavery in any territory to be acquired from Mexico in the Mexican War or in the future, including the area later known as the Mexican Cession. Some proponents construed to also include the disputed lands in south Texas and New Mexico east of the Rio Grande. -
1848 Free-Soil Party
The main purpose of the free soil party was to stop the expansion of slavery across the western territories. The Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party in the United States active in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections, and in some state elections. They opposed slavery in the new territories and sometimes worked to remove existing laws that discriminated against freed African Americans in states such as Ohio. -
1849 President Taylor
Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Taylor was the last President to hold slaves while in office, also last Whig to win a presidential election. He was the second president to die in office, following William Henry Harrison, who had died nine years earlier. Taylor had a forty-year military career in the United States Army, serving in the War of 1812. -
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five bills, passed in September 1850, It defused a four-year confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War. It would have not happened if President Taylor was in office. -
Fugitive Slave Act
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. It declared that all runaway slaves be brought back to their masters. Abolitionists nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Law" for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves. between Southern slave holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers, this was one of the most controversial acts of the 1850 compromise. -
1852 Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was antislavery novel by an American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. It is credited with helping fuel the abolitionist cause in the 1850s. In the first year after it was published, 300,000 copies of the book were sold in the United States. -
1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act opened new land in the territories: Kansas and Nebraska. It allowed slavery or not determining on popular sovereignty. This act was made by Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. -
1856 John C. Fremont
John C. Fremont was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. He became one of the first two U.S. Senators elected from the new state in 1850.During the American Civil War he was given command of the armies in the west but made hasty decisions and got fired. -
1856 James Buchanan
Buchanan was nominated as president in the 1856 election. Buchanan's efforts to maintain peace between the North and the South which caused both sides divert, and the Southern states declared their secession in the prologue to the American Civil War. Also when he left office, popular opinion had turned against him, and the Democratic Party had split in two. -
1856 Senator Charles Sumner Speech
Senator Charles Sumner gave his speech about the extension of slavery into the Kansas territory. Because of his speech Preston Brooks came into the room calling the speech a "libel on South Carolina”. Then he fiercely beat Senator Charles Sumner on the head with his cane which broke because of the beating.
