-
Gadsen Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase is a 29,640-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed on December 30, 1853 -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 30, 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. -
Commodore Perry Opens Japan
Commodore Matthew Perry signed a treaty with Japan to open its ports for US merchant ships. -
Republican Party Organized
Anti-slavery Whigs had begun meeting in the upper midwestern states to discuss the formation of a new party. One such meeting, in Wisconsin on March 20, 1854, is generally remembered as the founding meeting of the Republican Party. -
Ostend Manifesto
The Ostend Manifesto was a document written in 1854 that described the rationale for the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain while implying that the U.S. should declare war if Spain refused. -
Brown's Pottawatomie Massacre
John Brown and other abolitionist killed 5 proslavery people in Pottawatomie. -
William Walker becomes president of Nicaragua
Wanted to establish an American colony in Central America, he did and was president for a year. He was then taken over by a Central America army and was executed -
Election of 1856
James Buchanan defeats Fremont and Fillmore to become the president of the United States. -
Sumner/Brooks Incident
Charles Sumner gave a speech that Preston Brooks didn't like very much, so Brooks beat Sumner with cane until it broke. -
Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. -
Tariff of 1857
The Tariff of 1857 was a major tax reduction in the United States, creating a mid-century lowpoint for tariffs. It amended the Walker Tariff of 1846 by lowering rates to around 17% on average. -
Dred Scott Decision
The decision of whether or not a slave would be freed if he legally entered a free state. The final decision was that he was a slave. Big affect in starting the civil war. -
Lecompton Constitution
In Kansas pro-slavery forces held a constitutional convention and drew up the Lecompton Constitution in 1857. The constitution allowed Kansas to be admitted into the union as a slave state. -
Brown Raids Harper Ferry
John Brown tried to rid Harper Ferry's armory and lead a slave rebellion. LIttle slaves helped and the rebellion failed. -
Bleeding Kansas
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" elements in Kansas between 1854 and 1861.
