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Compromise of 1850
In this compromise, California was admitted as a free state, slave trade was outlawed in Washington D.C., a border dispute between Texas and New Mexico was solved and the government payed Texas' debt. Slavery in the rest of the Mexican cession was to be decided by popular sovereignty. It also included the Fugitive slave law, which was the most controversial aspect. -
Fugitive Slave Law
This law was one of the provisions in the compromise of 1850. It forced Nrtherner's to send escaped slaves back to their Southern owners or else go to jail. This was hated by the North and it meant that now slaves were not truly free until they traveled out of the country, to places like Canada. It cqaused an upsurge in the underground railroad and violence by rebellious Northerners. -
Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Published by a white woman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's cabin was an anti-slavery novel in reaction to the recent Fugitive Slave Law. It was widely dispersed throughout the nation and helped to open the eyes of the people to the horrors of slavery. -
Birth of the Republican Party
The Republican Party was formed by anti-slavery former whigs in Wisconsin. The Republicans gained rapid support among Northerners. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Proposed by Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas, this piece of legislation proposed the idea of popular sovereignty to decide if slavery was allowed in the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska. This overturned the use of the latitude line in the Missouri Compromise used to decide slavery. Many conflicts arose between anti-slavery and pro-slavery, a period which was known as Bleeding Kansas. -
Brooks attacks Sumner in Senate
Southern Congressman Preston Brooks savagely beat the Northern Senator Charles Sumner over the issue of slavery. It began when Sumner, an abolitionist, made a speech in Congress blasting three of its memebers, including Brooks' cousin Andrew P. Butler. Brooks took it upon himself to defend his cousin, and became a hero in the South for his violent beating of Sumner. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
This court case began when Dred Scott, a slave, was taken by his owners to free states and so therefore, after his master's death, he sued his widow for his freedom. The ruling was that African Americans could not be American citizens, whether they were enslaved or free, and therefore had no right to sue in a federal court. -
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John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry
This event was an attempt by the white John Brown to start and armed slave revolt. Him and 20 other men (some of them slaves) attempted to seize the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry but were shut down by troops led by Colonel Robert E. Lee. John Brown was then tried and found guilty of treason and was then executed for his crimes, gaining admiration from the North. -
Election of 1860
This election broke the political parties into clear Northern and Southern factions.The Republican party dominated the North while the Democratic party dominated the South, Abraham Lincoln, the Republican canidate, secured the majority of electoral votes, receiving almost none from the south, to win the election. He ran against the Democratic Canidate John Breckinridge. -
Shots Fired at Fort Sumter, SC
This shot at Fort Sumter marked the beginning of the civil war. After seceeding from the union, South Carolina demanded that the US army abandon its facilities in Charleston harbor, including Fort Sumter. A battle sooin ensued, which became a bombardment and eventual surrender of Fort Sumter to the confederate forces. It was the first crisis of Abraham Lincoln's presidency.
