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Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, which allows for the cultivation of short- staple cotton and revolutionizes the industry, dramatically increasing its profitability and the land areas that can be utilized for growing the crop. This dictates the westward spread of cotton growing and its backbone: slave labor. -
Missouri Compromise
The House and Senate are deadlocked over the question of whether to admit Missouri as a slave state. There is some fear of civil war. As a compromise, Congress adopts an amendment that there shall be no restriction on slavery in Missouri, but the institution will be prohibited from Louisiana Territory north of 36º30' latitude. Protests continue as critics seek to refuse Missouri's admission unless the state passes legislation to provide for gradual emancipation. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago
Treaty that concluded the war between the United States and Mexico and that guaranteed to all Mexicans living in the "new" American territory a number of basic rights: full American citizenship, retention of Spanish as a recognized and legitimate language, political liberty, and ownership of property. -
Compromise of 1850
Measures passed by congress in 1850 whether or not admit california into the union as a free state.Also to divide the rest of the southwest into the New Mexico and Utah territories with the people there dterminig for themselves through popular sovereignty wheter or not to accept or ban slaveryin Washington D.C and to establish a new stronger fugitive slave law. -
Fugitive Slave Act
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
On 1852 this novel by Harriet Beeaner Stowe got published. The novel describes the cruelties of slavery so clearly. This is considered the spark that initiated the civil war. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Bill passes, largely thanks to Stephen A. Douglas, the Democratic senator from Illinois. 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. Controversy over the bill will drive a wedge into the Democratic Party, shatter Whig unity, and spur the creation of the Republican Party in the North. -
Bleeding Kansas
a common term for the bloody fighting that erupted in Kansas Territory in the years after 1854 over whether slavery should be allowed or prohibited there. -
Dredd Scott vs. Sanford
The U.S. Supreme Court rules (7 to 2) in Dred Scott v. Sandford that slavery is protected by the Constitution, and that a ban on slavery in the territories is unconstitutional. -
Election of 1860
The election of 1860 was a four-man race led by Lincoln of the Republican Party, John Bell of the Constitutional Union Party, John Breckinridge of the Southern Democratic Party and by Douglas of the National Democratic Party. At stake during this election was the policy of slavery -- Southerners wanted the slave codes to be preserved whereas Northerners hoped to contain it. The Constitutional Union Party was not explicit on this issue, claiming that all issues would be resolved by the Constituti -
Fort Sumter
A historic site in the harbor of Charleston in South Carolina. It is the site of the beginning of the Civil War 1861.
