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Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 accomplished what it set out to do -- it kept the nation united -- but the solution was only temporary. Over the following decade the country's citizens became further divided over the issue of slavery. -
Fugitive Slave Law
As a portion of the Compromise of 1850, a new—and much harsher—Fugitive Slave Act is passed. It strengthens the enforcement of the fugitive slave clause in the Constitution (Art. IV, sec. 2), makes the federal government responsible for the apprehension and return of all escaped slaves, and facilitates the job for slave catchers. The fugitives in question are denied a jury trial. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin publication
"Uncle toms Cabin" infuriates the South, where most states ban its sale. Still, some one million copies are sold within the first year of publication. During the Civil War, President Lincoln meets Stowe in the White House and reportedly says to her (in so many words): "So you're the little lady that caused this great big war." -
Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opening new lands for settlement, and had the effect of repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by allowing white male settlers in those territories to determine through popular sovereignty whether they would allow slavery within each territory. -
Brooks attacks Sumner in Senate
Southern Congressman Preston Brooks savagely beats Northern Senator Charles Sumner in the halls of Congress as tensions rise over the expansion of slavery.Brooks became an instant hero in the South, and supporters sent him many replacement canes. He was vilified in the North and became a symbol of the stereotypically inflexible, uncompromising representative of the slave power. The incident exemplified the growing hostility between the two camps in the prewar years. -
Birth of the Republican Party
In Ripon, Wisconsin, former members of the Whig Party meet to establish a new party to oppose the spread of slavery into the western territories. The Civil War firmly identified the Republican Party as the party of the victorious North, and after the war the Republican-dominated Congress forced a "Radical Reconstruction" policy on the South, which saw the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution and the granting of equal rights to all Southern citizens. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
The Supreme Court ruled that Americans of African descent, whether free or slave, were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court.The ruling struck down the Missouri Compromise and the Kansas-Nebraska Act.The Dred Scott decision overturned both of these legislative acts and made tensions even greater between North and South. -
John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry
Abolitionist John Brownled a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery.Although the raid failed, it inflamed sectional tensions and raised the stakes for the 1860 presidential election. Brown's raid helped make any further accommodation between North and South nearly impossible. -
Election of 1860
With four candidates in the field, Lincoln received only 40% of the popular vote and 180 electoral votes — enough to narrowly win the crowded election. A few weeks after the election, South Carolina seceded from the Union. -
Shots fired at Fort Sumter, SC
Confederates fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina. This was the site of the first shots of the American Civil War. -
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Shots fired at Fort Sumter, SC
