Catalysts of the Civil War Timeline

  • Missouri Compromise

    The Missouri Compromise was an act of congress that admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It also forbade slavery in Northern Louisiana and put question of slavery to rest for a generation.
  • Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad

    The runaway slave Harriet Tubman helped 100 fugitive slaves to escape from their master thanks to a secret network of safe houses known as the "Underground Railroad".
  • Free-Soil Party

    A political party during that time which opposed the expansion of slavery into the western territories and was later absorbed into the Republican Party.
  • Compromise of 1850

    The Compromise of 1850 was introduced by Henry Clay and brought 5 changes: California was the 16th free state, New Mexico and Utah were ablte to vote if they wanted to be a free or slave staate, slave trading in Washongton D.C. was forbidden and the Fugitive Slave Law was passed.
  • Fugitive Slave Act

    The Fugitive Slave Avt was a law passed by Congress in 1850 that allowed the capture and return of run away slaves. It was opossed by many Northern States.
  • Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin"

    Harriet Beecher wrote a book about the evils and cruelty of slavery known as "Uncle Tom's Cabin". I was the 2nd most sold book in the 19th century and had a big influence.
  • Kansas-Nebraska Act

    The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed their citizens to decide with a popular sovernty whether they wanted to allow slavery or not. As a restult te both states were split, Kansas became a slave and Nebraska a free state.
  • Bleeding Kansas

    The Kansas-Nebraska Act led the tension between Northern and Southern States grow. The debates about slvaery got so intense that people started to fight and shoot eachother.
  • The Election of 1860

    The Republican canidate Abraham Lincoln won the Election of 1860 against Stephan Douglas. Lincoln hated slavery and wanted to avoid a Civil War even though he anticipated it.
  • The Beginning of the Civil War 1861

    The debate about slavery divided the whole country. Different events led the tension between the free states in the South and the slave states in the North grow. Even the Election of 1860 with Abraham Lincoln did not include a change in the situation and the Civil War began...