-
Passed by Congress, admitting California as a free state and passing the Fugitive Slave Act.
-
A novel about slave life published by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
-
A violent confrontation within Kansas that occurred for about 6 years dealing with the legality of slavery.
-
Passed by Congress, allowing people to in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders.
-
The proslavery group, Border Ruffians attacks the antislavery stronghold of Lawrence, Kansas.
-
In reaction to the Sacking of Lawrence, John Brown, an antislavery fanatic, and a group of abolitionists killed five settlers north of the Pottawatomie creek which became as one of the most bloodiest episodes preceding the Civil War.
-
The second constitution drafted for Kansas Territory was written by proslavery supporters. The document permitted slavery, excluded free blacks from living in Kansas and allowed only male citizens of the United States to vote.
-
The United States Supreme Court issues a decision in the Dred Scott case, affirming the right of slave owners to take their slaves into the Western territories. Negates the doctrine of popular sovereignty and severely undermining the platform of the newly created Republican Party.
-
John Brown seizes the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
-
Republican Abraham Lincoln is elected president. Lincoln did not win a single southern state. Pro-slavery members thought it was against their livelihood and forced upon them.
