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This act forced any federal official who did not arrest a freedom seeker to pay a fine. This was the most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850 and caused many North American 19th century Black activists to increase their efforts against enslavement. -
They agree to give up their lands in Iowa and almost all of Minnesota.
The New York Daily Times appears. This will be renamed the New York Times in 1857.
A fire occurs at the Library of Congress, destroying 35,000 books.
Moby Dick is published by Herman Melville. -
Life Among the Lowly" was written in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe, an activist who wrote the book to show the evils of enslavement. The book became a best-seller and had a huge impact on the way that Northerners viewed enslavement. It helped further the cause of Black activism, and even Abraham Lincoln recognized that this book's publication was one of the events that led to the outbreak of the Civil War. -
Vice President William King dies on April 18th. President Pierce does not appoint a new Vice President for the rest of his time in office. Mexico gives land along the southern border of present-day Arizona and New Mexico in exchange for $15 million. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was devised as a compromise over enslavement in 1854, as the nation was beginning to be torn apart in the decade before the Civil War. Power brokers on Capitol Hill hoped it would reduce tensions and perhaps provide a lasting political solution to the contentious issue. -
When Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell were married, they protested against laws of the time in which women lost their legal existence upon marriage (coverture), and stated that they would not voluntarily comply with such laws. -
In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, allowing the Kansas and Nebraska territories to decide for themselves using popular sovereignty whether they wanted to be free or practice enslavement. By 1856, Kansas had become a hotbed of violence as pro- and anti-enslavement forces fought over the state's future to the point where it was nicknamed Bleeding Kansas. -
on May 21, 1856, pro-enslavement supporters in Missouri known as the Border Ruffians sacked Lawrence, Kansas, which was known to be a staunch free-state area. One day later, violence occurred on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Congressman Preston Brooks, who favored enslavement, attacked Sen. Charles Sumner with a cane after Sumner had given a speech condemning the pro enslavement forces for the violence occurring in Kansas. -
In 1857 Dred Scott lost his case that argued that he should be free because he had been held as an enslaved person while living in a free state. The Supreme Court ruled that his petition could not be seen because he did not hold any property. -
When the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed, Kansas was allowed to determine whether it would enter the Union as a free state or one that practiced enslavement. Numerous constitutions were advanced by the territory to make this decision. In 1857, the Lecompton Constitution was created, allowing for Kansas to be a state that practiced enslavement. Pro-enslavement forces supported by President James Buchanan attempted to push the Constitution through the U.S. Congress for acceptance. -
John Brown was a dedicated activist who had been involved in anti-enslavement violence in Kansas. On Oct. 16, 1859, he led a group of 17, including five Black members, to raid the arsenal located in Harper's Ferry, Virginia. -
With the election of Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln on Nov. 6, 1860, South Carolina followed by six other states seceded from the Union. Even though his views about enslavement were considered moderate during the nomination and presidential campaign, South Carolina had warned it would secede if he won. -
Abraham Lincoln wins the presidency after a hard-fought campaign centering on the issues of sectionalism and slavery.
South Carolina decides to secede from the Union. The state militia takes over the Federal arsenal at Charleston.