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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri compromise was a decision made by congress in 1819. The idea came from Henry Clay who knew that the country was having trouble figuring out what to do about the political rivalry between the north and the south. People in the South wanted Missouri to become a slave state whereas people in the north wanted it to be free. Henry Clay came up with the idea that all land below 36 degrees north would be slave territory and everything above it would be free. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was a document proposed as an american law to get rid of slavery in any territory that was captured from the Mexican war. It was trying to prevent slavery from spreading even more towards the West. It was introduced by David Wilmot in 1846. He wanted to prevent it in these areas so it might one day be completely illegal. It seemed like a good and reasonable idea but many people were against and it was never passed. -
Compromise of 1850
The compromise of 1850 was a series of bills that were passed by Congress in 1850.They were created in order to try and determine which states would be slave states and which ones would not. They ended up keeping California a free state and giving the other ones a choice based on popular sovereignty on whether or not they wanted to be slave territory. -
Compromise of 1850
They chose this because they knew that California was going to be the most populated state. At the time the government did not fully support slavery even though most of the southerners did. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The people in the north who housed these free slaves or tried to hide them could be thrown in jail or fined because what they were doing was supposedly illegal. It was a dark time in american history and it gave the northerners even more of a reason to hate slavery. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive slave act was a law that was passed that allowed escaped slaves to be hunted down and returned back to their original owners. This law was very controversial at the time and greatly hurt the free slave population. Many of them were not slaves to begin with but because they were black they were captured and brought to the south. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was all about the horrors of slavery in the South. This novel was read by many people in the north and showed them just how awful slavery could be. It was supposedly the start of the civil war according to many people because it revealed the true story of how slaves were treated in the south.
Abe Lincoln was known as specifically telling her that she started the war. -
Kansas Nebraska Act/ Bleeding Kansas
The kansas Nebraska act was a not so smart law passed by congress. It allowed the people residing in those territories to decide on whether or not they wanted to be slave states. This caused Bleeding Kansas. Because of this decision people from the north and the south came into this area to try and vote for their stance on slavery. This caused the state to become very politically divided and a lot of fights came about. It was a very violent part of history. -
Dred Scott Descision
The Dred Scott Case was when Dred Scott’s former owners died so he wanted to try and sue for his freedom. He was a slave who was being illegally kept in Illinois and Wisconsin where slavery had not been allowed. His owner had died so he thought that he had the right to sue for his freedom. The Court said he could not sue because according to the constitution he was just a piece of property. This greatly angered and surprised the North but made the South very happy. -
Lincoln Douglas Debate
The Lincoln Douglas debate was a series of speeches made in order to try and win the public's opinion. Abraham Lincoln went up against Stephen Douglas in a verbal battle. They went up against each other mostly on the issue of slavery and how it was spreading into other states. In the end Douglas won the debate. However this debate both helped them become better known by the citizens of the entire country. -
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Lincoln Douglas Debate
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John Brown's Raid
John Brown was an abolitionist from the north who had strong opinions on the evils of slavery and why it should be abolished. He went to Harpers Ferry, Virginia to initiate a slave revolt in 1859. His revolt was quite violent and he killed many slavery supporters in the process. This caused him to go on trial and he was convicted as murder so it was decided that he was to be hung. His last words greatly impacted the world and gave many of the people their a different perspective on slavery. -
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John Brown's Raid
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Primary Resource
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/johnbrown.html This link leads to the last words spoken by John Brown before he was hung for murder. It shows what he believes and that he knew that he was dying for a purpose. -
Lincoln's Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln was elected as of the United States in 1860 as part of the republican party. He was the 16th president of the united states. Abraham Lincoln was up against Douglas, Breckinridge and Bell. He wanted to stop the spread of slavery and he wanted to keep the union together. Despite this the South did not believe him and they felt they had no say on what happened in the country. -
Lincoln's Election of 1860
This election was very controversial. Abraham Lincoln won the election by a lot despite what the democrats said. They thought that the only reason he won was because the democratic vote was divided however even if the vote wasn’t divided Abraham Lincoln still would have won because of the electoral college. -
Southern Secession
When Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860 it caused quite a stir in the South. They believed that he was trying to abolish slavery when in reality he just wanted to stop it from spreading to the new territories. He mainly wanted to keep the union together. The south did not realize this and began to get very angry. South Carolina was the first to secede, they did so by an anonymous vote. Soon many other southern states began to secede as well. This was basically the start of the war. -
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Southern Secession
