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Missouri Compromise
Missouri's application for statehood as a slave state sparked a bitter debate. Adding it would give the pro-slavery side of Congress, so the compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state which kept the balance in Congress. This was a temporary solution to the tension between the slave and free states and was seen as a quick fix.
https://www.history.com/topics/missouri-compromise -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
The bloodiest slave uprising in the American South, a slave named Nat Turner incited an uprising that spread through a lot of plantations in southern. He and 70 others killed around 60 white people and the Turner and the other were tried and executed. This led Virgina lawmakers to roll back civil rights for slaves and free black people at the time and led to more tensions and brough them closer the civil war.
[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p1518.html(http://www.timetoast.com) -
The Compromise of 1850
The compromised prevented further territorial expansion of slavery and strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act which made Northerners seize and returns escaped slaves to the South. It also admitted California as a free state. The agreement was like the Missouri Compromise and was just a baind-aid on the problem and did little to adress the tension between the North and the South.
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/compromise1850.html -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Landmark case where a Virginia slave named Dred Scott tried to sue for his freedom in court. The Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott was a piece of property that have none of the legal rights or recognition afforded to a human being. The decision threatened the political landscape that had so far managed to prevent the civil war by classifying slaves as property. -
Abraham Lincoln's Election
The election of Abraham Lincoln struck fear into many Southerners with his anti-slavery outlook. A month after he was elected, South Carolina seceded from the Union with six more states following in the spring of 1861 leading up to the Civil War
https://millercenter.org/president/lincoln/campaigns-and-elections
