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Slavery in 1808
Around 1600, Africans began to be shippeed to North America as slaves. Slaves did most of the work where they lived. Most of them worked in mines or in farms and also in plantations, while some became servants. Some people thought that slavery was wrong, while the majority of people thought that slavery was acceptable. Few slaves could marry, have a family, testify in court, or own property legally. Some slaves were able to make money to free themselves. -
Missouri Compromise
In an effort to preserve the balance of power in Congress between slave and free states, the Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. -
Mexican American War
The war between the United States and Mexico had two basic causes. First, the desire of the U.S. to expand across the North American continent to the Pacific Ocean caused conflict with all of its neighbors. A huge block of new territory was acquired—approximately 525,000 square miles
Mexico lost loss of about 50 percent of their territory was a matter of great humiliation and provoked ill feeling against the United States that has never fully gone away. -
Compromised of 1850
This was a series of five bills, to help defuse a four year confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North that arose following the Mexican-American War . The compromise, drafted by Henry Clay avoided secession or civil war at the time and calmed down conflict for four years. -
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. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was the name of an African-American slave. His master,moved, from the slave state of Missouri to the free state of Illinois and then to the free territory of Wisconsin. He lived free for a long period of time. When his master tmoved back to Missouri, he took Scott with him back to that slave state, where his master died. Scott sued for his freedom in court, claiming he should be free since he had lived on free soil for a long time. The case went to the Supreme Court. But he lost. -
John Brown
On October 16, 1859, this abolitionist led 21 men on a raid of the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His plan to arm slaves with the weapons he and his men seized from the arsenal was thwarted, however, by local farmers, militiamen, and Marines led by Robert E. Lee. Within 36 hours of the attack, most of Brown's men had been killed or captured. -
President Election
In the Presidential Election of 1860, the four candidates were Abraham Lincoln, John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, and Stephen A. Douglas. Abraham Lincoln was elected from the state of Illinois and was a Republican, John Breckinridge represented the southern states and was nominated by the Democratic Party, John Bell represented the Constitutional Union, and Stephen Douglas candidate for the Democrats.
