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Compromise of 1850
After the Mexican-American War there were many controversial issues on the land gained between 1846-1848, boundaries, and slavery. Resolutions included the creation of Utah and New Mexico as territories, the creation of a Texas- New Mexico boundary, adding California as a free state, and ending the slave trade in Washington, D.C. This was known as the Compromise of 1850. -
Fugitive Slave Law
What begain in 1793 as the Fugitive Slave Act allowing for escaped and run away slaves to be captured and returned to their masters was later enforced in 1850 on more severe terms with harsher punishments and penalties to run aways and anyone who aided in their escape. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin published
Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was a novel revealing the brutality of slavery in America at the time it was published, 1852, and was read by so many that it was often considered a major cause of the Civil War. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act opened up lands in the west, creating the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The Act also repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which banned slavery north of the parallel 36 30 north. Those who settled in that area were to decide if slavery was allowed within those borders. -
Brooks attacks Sumner in Senate
As the dispute over slavery in the United States intensified in the 1850's due to the repeal of the of the Missouri Compromise and the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, as well as popular sovereignty deciding whether or not slavery would be allowed in new territories, northerners feared that slavery would resurface in parts of the country where it had been abolished for 30 years. -
Birth of Republic Party
The Republican Party was born as a result of broken peace that was held together previously by the 36 30 parallel regarding which states allowed slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act broke this peace and so Northerners felt the need for a new political party. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
In the case of Dred Scott vs Sanford, the Supreme Court that African Americans and those of African American decent, free or enslaved, were not American citizens, and could not sue in federal court. Slaves were categorized as propery. -
John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown was an abolotionist who believed so greatly in the cause that on May 25, 1856, he raided and attacked cabins on Pottawatomoie Creek in the new territory of Kansas. He then returned east, creating an abolitionist army including both black and white men, and planned their raid on Harper's Ferry. They killed and took hostages, including slaves. Brown was captured and tried for treason and murder. His raid on Harper's Ferry would push towards the inevitable American Civil War. -
Election of 1860
The Election of 1860 was sybolic of the split of the United States during this time, mostly over slavery, Abraham Lincoln, a republican won the presidential election defeating southern democrat Breckenridge, Douglas who was also a democrat, and John Bell who represented the Constitutional Union, Tensions rode and soon after Lincoln's election civil war broke out. -
Shots fired at Fort Sumter, SC
After South Carolina succeeding from the Union in 1860, it would only be a year later when the Conferates would open fire on Fort Sumter, beginning the Civil War.
