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U.S. Constitution 3/5 Compromise
Slaves would count as 3/5 of a person. Even with the compromise, both the North and South argued over how slaves would be counted for delegation purposes, increasing tension. -
Northwest Ordinance
Authorized new states into the Union but they couldn't have slaves. This drove a wedge between "free" North states and the South -
Fugitive Slave Act
Allowed slave owners to have escaped slaves arrested and returned. Northerners didn't like this because they thought it could affect free black people and freed slaves. -
Invention of Cotton Gin
The cotton gin allowed the quick deseeding of cotton. the demand for cotton grew because it could be de-seeded faster. More cotton meant more slaves and the tension between North and South increased. -
Ban On Slave Importation
This Act banned importing slaves from Africa. Southern plantation owners began slave-rearing and this angered Northerners. -
Missouri Compromise
Admitted Missouri as a slave state but also It also drew a boundary between free and slave regions of Louisiana Territory. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
A slave rebellion led by Nat Turner. Rebel slaves killed anywhere from 55 to 65 people, the highest number of fatalities caused by any slave uprising. This led to stricter restrictions for slaves and affected civil rights. -
South Carolina Nullification Crisis
Southern protests against a series of taxes that on foreign goods. This benefited manufacturers in the North but hurt the agricultural South and increased conflict between them. -
Organization of Underground Railroad
A network of secret routes, passageways and safe houses used to escape slave holding states to northern states and Canada. The South believed that the North wasn't doing enough to stop slaves from escaping and was helping them. -
Wilmot Proviso
Would have banned slavery in any territory gotten from Mexico in the Mexican War. Even though it didn't pass, it opened the door for continued distrust between North and South. -
Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo
The treaty drew the boundary between the U.S. and Mexico at the Rio Grande and the Gila River. The U.S. had to decide if land they got from Mexico would be free or slave states and the South didn't like this. -
Compromise of 1850
It was five separate bills passed to compromise the status territories received after American Mexican War and included slavery issues. The North and South disagreed on parts of the new laws. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin published
An anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It helped to shape public opinion about slavery, which the South did not like. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Act that repealed the Missouri Compromise, which had outlawed slavery in Louisiana territories. It reopened the debate over slavery in the western territories. -
Bleeding Kansas
Term used to described the period of violence during the settling of the Kansas territory. Proslavery and free-state settlers rushed to the state and argued over whether or not it should be a free state or a slave state. -
Charles Sumner Attacked
An attack on Senator Charles Sumner by Preston Brooks with his walking cane. Brooks was angry about a speech Sumner gave. Northerners and Southerners felt very differently about the attack. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was a slave who sued his master for his freedom. He did not win and this angered many Northerners. -
John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry
A raid of the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. It increased fears in the South of a slave uprising, and may have contributed to the Southern states seceding from the Union -
Lincoln's Election
Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States. Many Southerners feared that Lincoln wanted to outlaw slavery and they chose to break away from the US, to become the Confederacy. -
South Carolina Secedes from Union
Secession convention called by the South Carolina legislature voted unanimously to secede from the Union. Other Southern states followed and formed the Confederacy. Union soldiers refused to leave Fort Sumter in South Carolina, so the Confederates fired cannons at the fort. This was the beginning of the Civil War.
