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The United States Constitution
In May of 1787 the design of an entirely new National Government was planned.Then on September 17, 1787 the final draft was signed by 39 people and Congress submittied it to the states for more arguing. Finally on June 21, 1788 New Hampshire was the ninth state to to ratify and put into effect the Constitution. -
Missouri Compromise
This was an effort to preserve the balance of power in congress between free and slave states. In 1854 the compromise was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Three years later it was declared unconstitutional and congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in territories. -
Compromise of 1850
A series of five bills intended to be a resolution for keeping North and South at peace thought of by Henry Clay. The bills stated that California entered as a free state, The Fugitive Slave Act was amended and slave trade in D.C was abolished, it settled a boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico and New Mexico and Utah were able to use popular sovereignty towards slavery issues. The goal of the compromise was acheived. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
This act repealed the Missouri Compromise allowing slavery in the territory North of the 36'30 latitude. It was introduced by Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois. It said that the issue of slavery would be decided by the residents of each territory. After the act passed violence erupted in Kansas between anti and pro slavery settlers and was the prelude to the civil war. -
Dred Scott Decision(Dred Scott vs. Sandford)
This declared that slaves were not citizens of the United States and couldnt sue in Federal court. It also declared that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and that Congress didn't have authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. It was overturned by the 13th and 14th amendments to the Constitution. -
The Lincoln Douglas Debates
Seven debates held in seven different cities in Illonois from August till October between Abraham Lincoln(republican) and Stephan A. Douglas(Democrat) for a seat in the U.S. Senate, which drew lots of attention from the entire Nation. The main issue in the debates was slavery. November 2nd was the day the winner was elected. Lincoln ended up loosing the race for senate but nominated in 1860 for president and won. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas went on from 1854 to 1859. In 1854 Congress opened Kansas and Nebraska territories to white settlement and allowed them to choose by vote whether to be slave or free. In 1857 the U.S Army Arrived in Fort Scott to restore order but left only for trouble to start again. The violence continued through til 1858. The heart of the conflict was whether or not Kansas would enter the union as a free or slave state. -
John Browns Raid on Harpers Ferry
A plan to help slaves escape. They established a base in the Blue Ridge Mountains where the runaway slaves were assisted and they would launch attacks on slaveholders.They had to put the plan on hold for a year because of someone threatening to reveal the plan..Brown was injured and taken to Virginia and they were all tried, sentenced then executed. -
Election of 1860
The most important presidential election in American History. Nominated was Abe Lincoln who was seen as a moderate on slavery and John Bleckenridge, he was elected by Southerners who said that if Lincoln was elected they vowed to leave the union. Democrats chose Stephen Douglas and constitutional party picked John Bell. Lincoln was elected by Republicans and won the election in the end without support of a single southern state. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Issued by Abraham Lincoln on this day it stated that any slave held within the union would be then and forever free unless any of the rebellious states returned to the union by january first, which none of them did . Although it didnt completely end slavery it did change the main focus of the Civil War which made the North fight for a slavery free union. It also allowed African Americans to be recruited as union soldiers.(approximately 180,000 served in the Army and another 18,000 in the Navy)
