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Missouri Compromise
Missouri wanted to become a slave state. Henry Clay proposed a compromise where Missouri became a slave state and Maine becomes a slave state. The reason Missouri couldn't only be a slave state is because there was an equal balance of Non-Slave and Slave states in the U.S. A "line" was also drawn between where slave and free states would be at the 36⁰30 parallel. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was proposed by David Wilmot at the closing of the Mexican-American War. If the bill did pass it would ban slavery in all of the territories acquired by the Mexican Cession. This bill was denied by southern states. However this bill did encourage the idea of anti-slavery bills. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850, which got rid of a four-year political argument between Slave and Free states. This bill put California as a free state, giving the territories of Utah and New Mexico the right of popular sovereignty to determine whether or not they would be a slave state. The Compromise of 1850 also settled the Texas-New Mexico border dispute. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act was a law that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within the United States. This act immediately got a ton of criticism once it was released. Henery Clay, proposed a compromise. California would become a free state and the territories gained by the Mexican Cession would use popular sovereignty to vote wether or not they would be free or slave states. -
Bleeding Kansas
A period of time where many bloody arguments occurred over the border of Kansas. The Kansas-Nebraska act got rid of the boundary of Free and Slave states set by the Missouri Compromise, instead it let the idea of Popular Sovereignty allow wether or not Kansas would be a slace state. A ton of pro-slate people went to Kansas causing arguments. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 30, 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. It also organized all of the land that was purchaced durring the louisana puchase. -
Dred Scott vs. Sadford
Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri. From 1833 to 1843, he resided in Illinois (a free state) and in an area of the Louisiana Territory, where slavery was forbidden by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. After returning to Missouri, Scott sued unsuccessfully in the Missouri courts for his freedom, claiming that his residence in free territory made him a free man. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
The Lincon-Douglas debates were a series of 7 debates between Abe Lincon and Stephen Douglas. Many of the topics that they touched came at a controversial time. Because of Douglas’s political rank (as senator), the campaign attracted national attention. Its outcome, would determine the ability of the Democratic party to maintain unity in it's thoughts about slavery.