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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was a proposal by Henry Clay. In exchange for letting Missouri in as a slave state, slavery would be banned from rest of the Louisiana Purchase. This would allow the United States an equal number of slave states and free states. This was important because it led to equal amount of power between the states.This compromise kept the peace temporarily between the North and the South. -
Wilmont Proviso
Wilmont Proviso was a proposal in 1846 by a congressman named David Wilmont. This proposal wanted Congress to ban slavery in the territory earned from the Mexican- American war. This proposal was passed by the house but got declined by the senate.This was made so slavery could slowly start to be eliminated. Southerners were nervous about this because they thought Congress was against slavery and would ban it. This was another major conflict, leading up to the Civil War. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was between the North and the South. All the Compromise did was put a bandaid on all of the tensions in this area. The Compromise was proposed by Henry Clay, and it included five laws. The Compromise settled the issue of slavery in some states compared to being a free state, stopped the slave trade in Washington DC, and allowed people to vote using popular sovereignty. The compromise did not settle many issues but kept the North and South at peace for a while. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act took place in 1850, and was the most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850. Made by John Calhoun, it stated that if you found a runaway slave, you had to return them to their owners. Basically, no African American was safe anymore. The North was required to help capture runaway slaves. The idea behind this was making the North think that slave owners did have a right to own the slaves. However, it did not work and only continued the Underground Railroad. -
Uncle Tom´s Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book written in 1853, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The purpose of this book was to bring attention to the matter of slavery in the North. This was the book that ¨started the war¨ because it brought attention to slavery. Everyone in the nation read this and it spread. This book showed the North how the slaves got treated in the South. People at the South denied the horrible treatment the slaves got. This caused more conflict between the North and the South. -
Kansas Nebraska Act/ Bleeding Kansas
The Kansas Nebraska Act was in 1854, and it allowed the people in the territories to decide the slavery issue. It was presented by Stephen Douglass. The South was happy about this because they hoped this would give them more slave states. The North was mad about this rule because they felt that Douglass betrayed them by allowing more slave states. Everyone went to Kansas to vote, and with all of the people and tension, fights broke out and many people died, earning the name Bleeding Kansas. -
Dred Scott Case
The Dred Scott Case took place in 1857. A slave named Dred Scott sued for his freedom. Scott was a slave in Missouri, but he moved to Illinois with his owners. Since Illinois was part of the Louisiana territory, slavery was illegal. However, since Scott was a slave, he could not sue because he wasn't a United States citizen. This ruling meant that slavery was legal unofficially in every state. Southerners rejoiced because of this, and the Northerners thought it wasn't fair. -
Lincoln Douglas Debate
The Lincoln Douglas Debate took place in 1858. They were both running for president and had different respective on slavery. Lincoln and Douglas argued if states should be allowed to vote on slavery, or if it should be banned in general. They were competing for the senate in Illinois. Lincoln ended up losing, but this was an important moment for his career, when he would run for president just two years later. -
John Brown's Raid
John Brown's Raid was raid lead by John Brown, an abolitionist. He wanted to end slavery, and in 1859, he gathered an army of his followers and tried stealing guns and weapons and attacking Harper's Bay. Brown wanted to start a major slave revolution with those weapons. However, he was captured and hung as a traitor by the South. The North praised his actions and mourned his death, however the South saw them as violent and thought the North was trying to destroy them. -
Southern Cession
The Southern Cession was when the Southern states left after the election of 1860. South Carolina was the first to secede, and with Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina,Tennessee, they formed the Confederate States of America, lead by Jefferson Davis. This caused a problem, since Fort Sumter, where troops were in, was in the South. The Confederate army surrounded the fort, slowly starving them. Eventually, the North gave up Fort Sumter. -
Lincoln´s Election of 1860
Lincoln's Election of 1860 was an election between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas for the presidency. This was controversial because Douglas supported slavery, and Lincoln didn't. This election would determine if slavery would be legal or not. On November 6th, 1860, Lincoln won because he got the majority of the electoral college votes. He had won all the Northern states. However, he barely got votes from the South.
