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Mum Bett Case
The Mum Bett case was when Mum Bett, a slave, fought through the courts to free herself. She said that the Constitution said that she had rights. The Mum Bett case led to the idea and precedent that slaves were humans, something that the south didn’t agree with. This decision was later reversed by the Dred Scott Case. -
3/5 Compromise
The ⅗ compromise basically said that every enslaved person would count towards ⅗ of a person in the state population. This argument was one of many between the North and South about slavery. The Northerners thought it was hypocritical for the South to count slaves towards their population, as they treated them as property. This increased tension between the North and South. -
Northwest Ordinance
A law that said explained how the Northwest areas could apply for statehood and it set a bunch of precedents in place for how the new states would work. As the Northwest Ordinance established the criteria for applying for statehood, they said that each state could be free or not, and as they applied, some were free and some were not. This caused a lot of tension, as the government didn’t want there to be a majority. -
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American Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the era where the US shifted towards mass-production. Less people worked out of their homes, and things became more accessible. Slavery was important to the Industrial Revolution, as the economy couldn’t afford to pay workers, so they needed slaves to pick cotton from the fields. The cotton was needed to mass-produce items, so slavery became essential to the economy. -
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Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a period in which people began to sway towards a religious revival. There were lots of events to promote Christianity. The Second Great Awakening was a time when people began to shift towards the idea that all people are equal. This caused a lot of people in the North to start believing that slavery was wrong, as it was promoting an idea that went against the religious ideals. -
Creation of the Cotton Gin
The Cotton Gin was created by Eli Whitney, and its invention pushed the increase of slavery. The invention led to a significant increase in the amount of slaves, as more were now needed to pick cotton. As a result, the South became reliant on slavery, and used this as an argument when refusing to abolish slavery. -
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the purchase that Thomas Jefferson made from France. He bought a large piece of land west of the US. This action launched forward westward expansion and began to lead to the question of what new states would be created. The issue of applying for statehood (as a free or slave state) became more relevant. -
Missouri Compromise
Maine and Missouri both applied for statehood and were admitted at the same time so that there wouldn’t be an unbalanced court. They also created the line where states above it would be free and states below it would be slave states. The Missouri Compromise led to a. temporary solution, however it did not last long. Eventually California wanted to apply for statehood and it was both above and below the line, so this caused an issue of whether they would be free or not. -
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Nat Turner led a bunch of slaves through Southampton County, Virginia. He, along with the others in the rebellion, killed about 60 white people. As a result, a bush of white men killed a ton of slaves. Nat Turner’s rebellion was a prime example of the violence that was going on. This violence is what really incited the idea of the need to fight (physically) for the causes at hand. -
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Mexican-American War
The Mexican-American war was an argument about whether the US could annex Texas and make them part of their country. The North thought it was dumb that the South got involved in a war that would have been avoidable if they had just not annexed Texas. This created a lot of tension between the North and South. -
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush was when a bunch of people from all over began to come to California in order to look for gold. As many people were coming to California to look for gold, it became a very populated area. This would eventually lead to California applying for statehood in the future, something that led to the Civil War. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a set of five laws that would hopefully serve as a compromise for the North and South. The laws were not passed as whole but when they were separated, they were all passed individually. This Compromise caused a lot of tension because neither the North or the South were particularly happy with this arrangement. It definitely increased the tensions because the North and South were further disaligning their values. -
Frederick Douglass gives July 4th Speech
On July 5, Frederick Douglass, a powerful abolitionist gave a speech about the issue of slavery, and how it wasn’t fair that enslaved people saw people celebrate a day about being free in the US, while they were still forced to be someone’s property. The speech further fueled the inspiration for the North to fight for the right of enslaved people. The idea angered the South further, and caused more tension in doing so. -
Bleeding Kansas
“Bleeding Kansas” was when the electon to decide if Kansas would be a free or slave state occured. Many people from the North and South infiltrated to try and sway the vote. The Bleeding Kansas incident was very violent, another thing setting the precedent for the violence that would occur during the Civil War. The incedent also showed how far people would go to save/end slavery. -
Attack on Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner was a man who said something during a Senator’s speech, and another man did not agree with what he said. The other man attacked him, and nearly killed him, on the floor of the Senate. Clearly, now violence was being encited even on the floor of the Senate, showing that there really was no more avoiding the issue of slavery. The violence was getting greater, and there was a need for a decision to be made about slavery. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act gave every new state the right to decide if they were going to be a free state or a slave state. This became very stressful for some southern states, as they worried that the new states would vote ot be free, and slavery would be abolished by Congress. This eventually led to Bleeding Kansas, something that was a huge cause for the Civil War. -
Dred Scott v Sanford
This was a Supreme Court case addressing the issue of Dred Scott, someone who was enslaved but living in a free state, so he believed he should be set free. The decision that the court case made was that the Dred Scott was not free at all, as he was property and couldn’t be taken away. This set a precedent that enslaved people were not humans or citizens. -
Raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown, an abolitionist, got some people together to steal weapons and launch an attack on slave owners with the help of their enslaved people. This caused a lot of tension, and really led to the south realizing that they were going to have to fight with violence. They got militias together due to the attack, and began planning in case of an attack. -
Election of 1860
This was the election in which Lincoln was elected president. The southern states mainly voted against him, while the northern states voted for him. In the southern states, Lincoln didn’t even appear on the ballot as an option for voting, another thing that increased tension. Additionally, Lincoln’s whole mission was to stop the spread of slavery, and he was a large part of the Civil War. -
Southern Succession
The Southern Secession was when South Carolina and several other southern states decided to leave the US because they didn’t want to lose their slaves. This event was what really launched the Civil War, as the Northern states believed that it was wrong for the South to just leave. This caused the most tension, and really set the scene for the Civil War. -
Shorts fired at Ft. Sumter
This was the official start of the fighting in the American Civil War. Union troops (Northern troops) stationed at Fort. Sumter in South Carolina were attacked by the South Carolina militia. Union lost and surrendered the fort to the Confederate militia. Unlike previous acts of violence, this was the first time violence broke out between organized military units. Fighting in the Civil War would continue for 4 more years after this event.