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A Dividing Nation
Americans tried to keep the United States united despite their deep divisions over slavery. They faced their most troubling question: Could a nation born in freedom endure half-slave and half-free? -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state. In this way, it maintained the balance between slave and free states. Congress also drew an imaginary line across the Louisiana Territory at latitute 30'30. North of this line, slavery was banned and south of it slavery was permitted. This event led to war because even though it kept the Union together, it pleased no one.It got the government to realize that the debate over slavery must be resolved -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 began by admitting California, which would please the North. Meanwhile, New Mexico and Utah would be organized as territories open to slavery, which would please the South. Clay's plan also ended the slave trade in D.C. but slaveholders could keep their slaves. Finally, there was a strong fugitive slave law. Passing this law made the debate grow louder. Both sides were unhappy with the fugitive law. Northerners didn't want to enforce it, southerners felt it didnt do enough -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebrask Act was an 1854 bill that mandated popular sovereignty allowing settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state’s borders. This bill overturned the Missouri Compromise's use of latitude as a slavery boundary, which enraged the North. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers rushed to Kansas, and the conflict turned violent. The conflicts that arose between pro and anti slavery led to a period of violence that paved the way for the war. -
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott, a slave who had lived in the free state of Illinois and the free territory of Wisconsin before moving back to the slave state of Missouri, had appealed to the Supreme Court in hopes of being granted his freedom. The court held that Scott was not free because he was not considered a person under the U.S. Constitution. This decision would bring slavery to the attention of the nation and was a step toward slavery's ultimate destruction. It made the arguement over slavery grow and grow. -
Election of 1860
The United States presidential election of 1860 set the stage for the American Civil War. In 1860, this issue finally came to a head, fracturing the formerly dominant Democratic Party into Southern and Northern factions. It also brought Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party to power without the support of a single Southern state. Before Lincoln's inaguration, South Carolina declared secession and 7 states were considering it. The south was outraged because they felt they were now a reduced... -
Election of 1860 continued
....status of minority. Lincoln also stated that there would be no seccesion, so this also enraged the south. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
When South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860, force of 85 soldiers were positioned at Fort Moultrie near the mouth of Charleston Harbor. The firing continued for 34 hours. On Saturday, April 13, Anderson surrendered the fort. Incredibly, no soldiers were killed in battle. This was the first battle in the Civil War, but it ended up being the bloodiest.
