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The Missouri Compromise
There was a debate on where slavery should be allowed and where it shouldn't. A compromised was reached that stated Missouri would enter as a slave state and Maine would enter as a free state. Slavery was not allowed 36°30′ parallel except for Missouri. -
Compromise of 1850
This compromise allowed California to enter as a free state and allowed Area from the Mexican cession to decide through popular sovereignty. It also ended the slave trade in DC. A fugitive slave law was also put into place. -
Fugitive slave law
It was part of the compromise of 1850 and the law required that citizens catch runaway slaves. If someone didn't comply with the law they could be fined up to $1000 or put in jail for 6 months. Many free black people were captured and sent back into slavery. People in the North hated this law because it forced them to be apart of the slave trade. -
Uncle toms cabin
This was a novel that was written by Harriett Beecher Stowe and it was written to show the evils of slavery. It told a story of a old slave who was whipped to death by his owner and the Southerners said the book was full of lies. -
Kansas- Nebraska Act
This divided lands into Kansas and Nebraska territories and decided that slavery issues would be decided by popular sovereignty. This lead to violence and Northerners believed that this repealed the Missouri Compromise. -
Pottawatomi creek killings
Due to the violence that was happening in Kansas, John Brown and his four sons rode into a small town and pulled 5 pro slavery men out of their beds. They murdered the men and many Northerners where appalled at what he did. -
Dred Scott decision
Dred Scott and his owner had lived in free territory and then the owner moved back into a slave state and died. He filed a law suit for his freedom but lost the supreme court case because they said he wasn't a citizen and didn't have the right to sue. Southerns loved the ruling because it meant that slavery could spread into other territories. Scott did eventually gain his freedom. -
Lincoln Douglas Debate
While Lincoln believed that slavery should not be allowed to spread into the territories, Douglas believed in deciding slavery through popular sovereignty. -
Raid on Harper's Ferry
John Brown led five black men and thirteen white men into Harper's Ferry and they planned to start a slave revolt. No slaves had helped and a number of his men were killed. Brown was arrested and found guilty of murder which got him hanged. -
Election of 1860
Lincoln and Douglas ran against each other in the election of 1860. Southerners didn't like Lincoln and some states even left him off their ballots. Even with the overwhelming support for Douglas, Lincoln still won the election. The southerners thought that the North had too much power and talked about seceding from the Union.