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Congress made an amendment to make slavery in Missouri, but the institution will be prohibited slavery from any more territory north of 36º30' latitude.
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Nat Turner was a fellow slave who led a slave rebellion in the south; 70 whites are killed in the uprising.
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Senator Henry Clay creates a successful compromise measure in Congress to lower the 1832 tariff.
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The Texas Declaration of Independence is enacted, creating the Republic of Texas. The U.S. government refuses to recognize Texas because it does not want to agitate sectional strife.
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The great potato famine in Ireland forces large numbers of Irish to emigrate.
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The Compromise admits California as a free state, while voters in New Mexico and Utah territories are granted the right to decide whether to allow slavery.
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Texas formally enters the United States.
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The United States declared war on Mexico, causing the American-Mexican War.
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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War. California, Nevada, Utah, most of New Mexico and Arizona, and the disputed regions of Texas are all obtained by the United States
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A new and much harsher Fugitive Slave Act is passed.
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In effect, the bill repeals the Missouri Compromise and its prohibition of slavery in the Northwest by authorizing settlers to determine for themselves the status of slavery in their communities
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The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Dred Scott v. Sandford that slavery is protected by the Constitution, and that a ban on slavery in the territories is unconstitutional.
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Abraham Lincoln engage in a series of fiery debates.
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Radical abolitionist John Brown planed to incite a massive insurrection by arming local slaves with weapons from the federal arsenal.
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Abraham Lincoln is elected president of the United States.
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The South Carolina legislature votes to secede from the Union. Casuing other southern states to follow as well to then create the Confederate States of America
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The Confederate States of America fired the first shots on Fort Sumter officially beginning the Civil War.