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The Mexican War
On this date, Polk began to prepare for war mesage to Congress.When it ended in 1848, this posed a problem; the new territories would be admitted as states. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act was not passed on Jan. 1 1850, it was just passed in the year of 1850. This act forced any federal official who did not arrest a runaway slave liable to pay a fine. It also allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within the territory of the United States. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin(the book) Was Released
Uncle Tom's Cabin(also known as Life AMonf the Lowly) written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852. It was again not written exactly on Jan. 1. Stowe wrote this book to show the evils of slavery. Then when this was a best seller, it had a big impact on the way Northerners saw the ways of slavery. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas is the term used to described the period of violence during the settling of the Kansas territory. In 1854 the Kansas-Nebraksa Act overturned the Missouri Compromise’s use of latitude as the boundary between slave and free territory and instead, using the principle of popular sovereignty, decreed that the residents would determine whether the area became a free state or a slave state. -
Charles Sumner is Attacked by Preston
When the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was passed, popular sovereignty was applied within the two new territories and people were given the right to decide the slave issue by vote. Because the act nullified the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the debate over slavery intensified. Northerners were incensed that slavery could again resurface in an area where it had been banned for over 30 years. -
Lecompton Constitution Rejected
The Lecompton Constitution, the second constitution drafted for Kansas Territory, was written by proslavery supporters. The document permitted slavery (Article VII), excluded free blacks from living in Kansas, and allowed only male citizens of the United States to vote. There were three separate votes on the Lecompton Constitution: December 21, 1857, January 4, 1858, and August 2, 1858. In the final vote, residents of Kansas Territory rejected the Lecompton Constitution -
Dred Scott Decision
In March of 1857, the United States Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, declared that all blacks -- slaves as well as free -- were not and could never become citizens of the United States. The court also declared the 1820 Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, thus permiting slavery in all of the country's territories. -
John Brown Raided Harper's Ferry
On the evening of October 16, 1859 John Brown, a staunch abolitionist, and a group of his supporters left their farmhouse hide-out en route to Harpers Ferry. Descending upon the town in the early hours of October 17th, Brown and his men captured prominent citizens and seized the federal armory and arsenal. -
Abraham Lincoln Was Elected President
Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States over a deeply divided Democratic Party, becoming the first Republican to win the presidency. Lincoln received only 40 percent of the popular vote but handily defeated the three other candidates: Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Constitutional Union candidate John Bell, and Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas, a U.S. senator for Illinois.
