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Fugitive Slave Act
The fugitive slave act was a part of the group of laws referred to as the "Compromise of 1850". In this compromise, the antislavery advocates gained the admission of California as a free state, and the prohibition of slave trading in the Distric of Columbia. The slavery party received concessions with regard to slave holding in Texas and the passage of this law. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Passage of this law was so hated by the abolitionists, however, that its existance played a role in the end of slavery a little more than a dozen years later. This law also spurred and continued operation of the fabled underground railroad. It is a network of our 3,000 homes and other "stations" that helped escaping slaves travel from the southern slave-holding states to the northern states and Canada. -
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Causes of the Civil War
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The Compromise of 1850
Clay's Compromise became a law by September. California was admitted to the Union as the 16th free state, In exchange, the South was guranted that no Federal restrictions on slavery would be placed on Utah or New Mexico. Slavery was maintained in the nation's capital, but the slave trade was prohibited. The North got, California admitted a free state, Slave trade prohibited in Washington D.C., and Texas loses boundary dispute with New Mexico. -
The Compromise of 1850
The South got, No slavery restriction in Utah or New Mexico territories, Slave holding permitted in Washington D.C., Fugitive Slave Law. -
The Compromise of 1850
The plan was set forth. Calhoun, Webster, and Clay had spoken, still Congress debated the contentious issues well into the summer. Clay's Compromise was set forth for a vote, it did not receive a majority. Henry Clay himself had to leave in sickness, before the dispute could be resolved. In his place, Stephen Douglass worked tirelessly to end the fights. Zachary Taylor died of food poisoning, on July 9th. His successor was much more interested in the compromise. -
Slavery
In the North, many religious groups worked hard to end slavery in the United States. The North was opposed to the idea that one person could "own" another. Abolitionists in the North wrote books, published newspapers spreading ideas about slavery. They often assisted slaves to freedom when they ran away from their masters. -
Slavery
On the other hand, Southerners believed that abolitionists were attacking their ways of life and that the Federal Government was not doing enough to protect their "property" from running away. They were also concerned that the new states were entering the Union that did not permit citizens to own slaves, because the more "free" states that entered the Union, the weaker the southern infuence in the Federal Government became. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin is a book about slavery and how they were treated by their masters as well as their courage and faith. It was written in 1852. The author was anti-slavery and the book talks about one female slaves flight with her son to the North for freedom and another slave, Uncle Tom. Uncle Tom was sold from a nice master to one who was cruel. He was then bought by a master who was nice because he saved his son. -
Uncle Toms Cabin
He was later sold by this master's wife to a very cruel and evil master named Simon Legree. Uncle Tom's faith and courage are tested throughout the book. -
Dred Scott Case
In 1847 Dread Scott first went to trial to sue for his freedom. Ten years later the case was finally brought before the United States Supreme Court. The court decided that all people of African ancestry, which included not only slaves, but those who were free, could never become citizens of the United States and therefore could not sue anyone in federal court. It also ruled that the federal government did not have the power to prohibit slavery in its territories. Scott remained a slave. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The person behind the Kansas and Nebraska Act was Senator Stephen A. Douglas. He said he wanted to see Nebraska made into a territory and, to win Southern support, proposed a southern state inclined to support slavery. Douglas wanted Kansas to have a transcontinental railroad to go through Chicago. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed each territoy to decide the issue of slavery on the basis of popular sovereignty. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
If Kansas was with slavery, it would violate the Missouri Compromise, which had kept the Union from falling apart for the last thirty years. The long standing compromise would have to be replaced. Opposition was intense, but ultimately the bill passed in May of 1854. Territory North the sarced 36, 30 line was now open to popular sovereignty. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act may have been the single most significant event leading up to the civil war. In the early 1850s, settlers and entrepreneurs wanted to mive into the area known as Nebraska. Settlers would not move there because they could not legally hold claim on the land. The Southern states, representatives in Congress were in no hurry to permit a Nebraska territory because the land by north of the 36 30 parallel where slavery had been out lawed by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. -
Bleeding Kansas
Fearing that Kansas would become the next slave state, hundreds of northern abolitionists also flocked to the territory and set up their own government in Lawrence. A band of of proslavery men, however, burned Lawrence to the ground in 1856. In revenge, an abolitionist gang led by John Brown killed five border ruffians at the Pottawatomie Massacre.These two events sparked an internal war so savage that many referred to the territory as "Bleeding Kansas". -
Bleeding Kansas
The Kansas crisis was so shocking and so controversial that it even ignited tempers in Washington, D.C In the most infamous case, one southern congressman nearly caned abolitionist senator Charles Summer to death on the senate floor for speaking out against the act and its authors. -
Harpers Ferry
John Brown had a plan that he and his men would establish a base in the Blue Ridge Mountains from which they would assist runaway slaves and launch attacks on slaveholders. After a year delay, Brown rented a farm in Maryland across from Harper's Ferry. Many of the men he recruited either changed their minds, moved away or did not think the plan would work. On October 16 Brown set out for Harper's Ferry with 21 men. -
Harpers Ferry
Brown was seriously wounded and taken to Charlestown, Virginia with other captives where they were tried, sentenced and then executed. Brown's statements during his trail reached the nation inspiring many with his righteous indignation toward slavery. -
Harpers Ferry
Leaving after sundown, they crossed the Potomac and alked all night in heavy rain reaching the town at four am. They cut telegraph wires and made their assult. They captured the federal armory and arsernal, and Hall's Rifle Works. They took 60 citizens as hostages, hoping the slaves would join the fight, but they did not. The militia pinned down Brown and his men. Ten of Brown's men were killed, seven captured, and five escaped. -
State Rights
Southerners felt that the Federal GOvernment was passing laws, such as importing taxes, and that treated then unfairly. Southerners believed that individual states had the right to "nullify" or overturn any law the federal government passed.They also believed that individual states had the right to leave the United States and form their own independent country. Most people in the North believed that the concepts of "nullification" and "states rights" would make the United States a weaker country -
Election of Abraham Lincoln
He was elected with just over a third of the popular vote but a victory in the Electoral College. When the results were announced, the people of South Carolina began meeting and talking of succession. On November 10th, the legislature agreed to meet on December 17th to consider the question of succession. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina dissolved the Union when its legislature voted to secede. -
Election of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was elected president on November 6, 1860. Abraham had different views on slavery than wht the South did. Lincoln agreed with majority of the Republican Party that south was becoming to powerful and made it part of their platform that slavery would not be extended to any new territories or states added to the union. Lincoln was the first member of the republican Party elected to the presidency. -
Election of Abraham Lincoln
It was a remarkable rise for a political party that had been in existence less than ten years. The election of Lincoln was nearly guaranteed by the disintegration of the Democratic Party during its attempts to nominate a candidate. The Constitutional Union party, comprised of former Whigs nomninated John Bell of Tennessee as its candidate. Lincoln carried all of the free states and none of the slave states.
