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Missouri wanted to become a state, a slave state, but congress worried that this would throw off the balance of free and slave states. Later in 1819, Missouri reapplied for statehood and was accepted under the condition that Maine became a free state. In 1820, the 30 36 latitude line rule took effect, where any land north of the latitude line would not be allowed to have slavery (excluding Missouri). -
The Wilmot Proviso was a proposed amendment that stated that all new land coming in as a state that is won through the Mexican-American war would be automatically a free state. At the time, the Democrats thought that these areas should decide through popular sovereignty, so David Wilmot, a democrat, saying they should automatically be free sparked a lot of debate between the north and the south and was a big contributor to the civil war because it created so much conflict. -
Zachary Taylor was president and was a very big supporter of the Union and not spreading slavery west. He threatened to send an army to any state that tried to leave the union, and encouraged states to draft constitutions quickly so that they could be free states. -
The Compromise of 1850 was a compromise that said California had to come in as a free state, made it so New Mexico and Utah decided for themselves if they were a slave or free state, made a new Texas-New Mexico boundary, and made it so enslaved people were easier to find under the Fugitive Slave Act. These acts were all put into place in order to settle disagreements over slavery. -
The Fugitive Slave Act was where any slave that was found escaping had to be returned back to their owner. It was illegal to help runaway slaves in any way. This law made the north very mad, but it really helped the south in the Compromise Of 1850 when the free state balance was higher than the slave states. -
Millard Fillmore was the accidental president after Taylor died. He did not get along with Taylor and undid all of his work. He signed the Fugitive Slave Act, which did not have a good response from the people but he signed to prevent the south from seceding. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin was an anti-slavery book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe that shows the enslaved person point of view through life. This book was very popular and sold over 300,000 copies in just the first year. This book added more knowledge to the situation and changed views, so it was a big part in the civil war with it being so popular and so far against the other side of the debate and also through the views it provided and changed. -
Franklin Pierce supported southern slavery. However, he was depressed and drank a lot so he had a huge lack of leadership, which led to events like Bleeding Kansas. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was an act put into play that said that the states included would decide if they were free states or not through popular sovereignty. This made many people upset, because many thought that they shouldn't be allowed to have slavery because they were originally banned areas, but others agreed that they should have it. This led to people form both parties gathering in Kansas and fighting for their side to help sway the decision, which became known as Bleeding Kansas. -
The creation of the republican party occurred from Bleeding Kansas and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. People who did not support slavery were worried that the free states that now got to decide if they were free or slave would choose to be slave states. This group of people became the Republican Party. -
After Bleeding Kansas and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, many northerners were very upset at the fact that free states could now become slave states if they choose. One person upset was Charles Sumner, an abolitionist, who gave a two-day speech to the Senate talking about his views on the act. He went against his colleague Andrew P. Butler in his speech, which made Preston Brooks, his cousin, take his cane and beat Sumner at his desk, which he couldn't move away from. -
James Buchanan said that the Supreme Court would decide on the issue of slavery. He also did nothing to prevent seven southern states from seceding from the union. -
Dred Scott was an enslaved person who moved around, and eventually moved to Missouri, which was now a free state so he stated that he was a free man by law. When he went to court to fight for his freedom, he was turned down and by the third article of the constitution, he was not considered a citizen that was allowed to sue in court. This court decision that enslaved people were not citizens was a big start and cause of the civil war and added more conflict over the rights of enslaved people. -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas were two people both fighting for a seat in Senate, but had very different ideas about slavery. Douglas believed in popular sovereignty, where the individual states were to decide if they were free or slave states, but Lincoln believed that the enslaved people were entitled to Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit Of Happiness. This led to lots of conflict later in the election and during the war between the two. -
Harper's Ferry was when John Brown and his group of abolitionists invaded Harper's Ferry, Virginia (modern day West Virginia), and collected weapons from the armory in order to arm slaves to free them, which was all part of his greater plan to completely get rid of slavery. The raid was successful of the armory, but in a day in a half his followers had either fled, been captured, or been killed. He was then put on trial for treason and was later executed on the morning of December 2nd. -
In 1860, four presidents were all running for president who all had very different views on slavery. Abraham Lincoln, a republican, did not support slavery and did not want to move west, but he did agree that the south could keep it and he wouldn't interfere. He won, and because the south did not support his views that slavery should not expand, many states succeeded, starting with North Carolina. This caused lots of conflict between both regions and created tension for war. -
When Lincoln won the 1860 election, his views on slavery not moving west were not liked by the south. This made many states upset, because they really wanted to expand west into the new land and bring slavery over but could not with Lincoln president. This made in total fourteen states secede, starting with South Carolina so that they could keep their views and keep slavery.