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Creation of the Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin to make the cleaning of the cotton much more efficient. This increased the need for slaves in the South, as they could by 50 times more efficient using the cotton gin. Due to this, the value of cotton increased, which changed the economy of the South to be even more dependent on slaves. -
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American Industrial Revolution
The mass production of goods was implemented in the North using textile mills, causing the economy in the North to boom. Which differentiated the North from the South, as the North became very populated (it’s economy being based on textiles), and the South, where the economy was heavily based on slave labor. This increased slavery, as the North required the cotton from the South, and the South picked that cotton using slaves. In this period, the whole of the United states was based on slavery. -
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Second Great Awakening
Protestant Christians held loud and dramatic religious revivals, where stories from the bible were read. This led to a period of social reform, where the North and South separated further as more and more Northerners were becoming abolitionists. Women’s rights campaigns were also very present at this time. -
Louisiana Purchase
The French were in a war with Britain, and lacked the resources to keep fighting. They sold a great amount of territory to the U.S. for 15 million dollars (which the French put towards war efforts) and almost doubled the original size of the United States. This extended slavery, as many Southern farmers migrated into this new territory with their slaves. The North however, only continued to boom as more cotton was coming in from this new western territory, which was bought from the French. -
Missouri Compromise
Any States North of the Missouri compromise would be named as free states, and any states below the line would be named as Slave states. The Compromise was well accepted by most Americans (except slaves) and did not cause any issues at the time, thought it did cause major issues further down the road. -
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Nat Turner’s Rebellion
A slave rebellion, led by escaped slave, Nat Turner, killed over 50 white Southerners. This forced the South to tighten their grip of slaves, and made slaveholders more violent. The revolt also sparked rebellion across the South, inspiring slaves to take action. -
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Nullification Crisis (President Jackson)
South Carolina refused to pay the tariffs (taxes) imposed on British goods, so Andrew Jackson ordered the military to enforce the tariffs on the states. This greatly increased tensions between the state and the Federal governments. When it looked like a civil war between the State and Federal governments was likely to occur, House Representative Henry Clay proposed that the taxes be lowered, which resolved the issue. -
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Mexican-American War
Many Southerners moved into Mexican territory, in which slavery was outlawed, with their slaves, calling themselves an independent country from Mexico. They then tried to become a part of the United States again, trying to sneakily gain land from Mexico. President James Polk accepted them, which sparked the Mexican-American war. The territory gained from Mexico caused tensions between the North and South, as the discovery of California as a free state violated the Missouri compromise. -
California Gold Rush
When the secret got out that Gold had been found at Sutter’s Mill by James Marshall, hundreds of thousands of people rushed to California for a chance of striking gold and becoming rich. This boost in the population caused this territory to pass as a state very quickly. Southerners were angry about the fact that it was named as a free state because it violated the Missouri compromise, which was made almost three decades earlier. -
Compromise of 1850
Southerners worried that the balance of congress would greatly tip in favor of Northerners, as California gave them many more seats in the House of Representatives, so in order to appeal to Southerners, a better fugitive slave act was made, where Southerners could travel into free states to find their runaway slaves. This seemed unfair to Northerners, as they didn’t want to help slave owners find missing slaves. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a novel outlining the life of a slave, was published and sold across America by women’s rights reformer, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Southerners were worried that this would disrupt their fake notion that slaves were happy in slavery. It showed Americans how inhumane slavery truly was. -
Fredrick Douglass gives his 4th of July speech
Fredrick Douglass’s speech told how the most patriotic day for white Americans was the exact opposite for slaves, and that America was built on false promises. This transformed the mindset of many Americans who did not currently have an opinion on slavery towards abolition, which increased the number of abolitionists. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska act was a bill which wrote that the people living in the states themselves should decide whether they wanted slavery or not in their given state. This idea is called popular sovereignty. The bill violated the Missouri compromise, and caused havoc to rise in the upcoming years. This resulted in the event known as “Bleeding Kansas”, which turned Northerners and Southerners against each other, their hands dirty with the blood of their neighbors. -
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“Bleeding Kansas”
Many pro-slavery supporters migrated to Kansas, killing any anti-slavery settlers they found in order to eliminate as many opposing votes as they could for the election of whether Kansas was to be a free state, or a slave state. This bloodlust lasted for six years, with anti-slavery and pro-slavery settlers murdering each other. This ended with Kansas resulting in a free state, which infuriated Southerners. -
Attack on Charles Sumner
Anti-slavery Republican, Charles Sumner, was in the middle of a speech when Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina, beat him violently with his cane. This divided congress furthermore, and got to the point where House members started to bring guns and knives to their jobs. The amount of distrust and tension increased exponentially, and caused the job of being on the House of Representatives to be a dangerous one. -
Dred Scott v Sanford
Former slave, Dred Scott, had traveled to a free state with his owner. When his owner died, Scott sued the owner’s brother, saying that he had lived in a free state, and therefore should be made a free slave according to state laws. The court ruled against Scott, saying that he was still a slave, and that he could not sue in Federal court because he was not considered a citizen. They ruled that the Missouri compromise was unconstitutional, and that slavery could not be banned by state laws. -
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Raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown, a violent abolitionist who had taken part of “Bleeding Kansas”, and his men captured a federal armory, taking several citizens hostage. This angered both Northerners and Southerners alike, as they felt that he had gone too far. John’s last words were “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away, but with Blood.” Which means that he did not think that slavery would be abolished unless the was a war. -
Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln, a member of the Republican party, was elected as president of the United States. His message was that he would abolish slavery once and for all. Southerners were furious, as he had not even been on the ballot in 10 Southern states. He had 60% of the electoral vote, but only obtained 40% of the popular vote. Many Southerners felt that their vote didn’t matter, and considered Seceding from the Union. -
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Southern Secession
From the election of 1860, to California being named a free state, the Southerners had had enough, the first state to secede was North Carolina, and the last was Tennessee. They felt ignored by the Federal government, and wanted to form their own country.
This was mostly accepted by the Southern States, while the Northern States opposed. This was the last event before the civil war, and tension between the two sides was colossal. -
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Shots fired at Ft. Sumter
This was the official start of fighting in the American Civil War. Union troops (northern troops) stationed at Ft. Sumter in South Carolina were attacked by the South Carolina militia. Union troops lost and surrendered the fort to the Confederate militia. Unlike previous acts of violence, this was the first time violence broke out between organized military troops. Fighting in the Civil War would continue for 4 more years after this event.