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American Industrial Revolution
The change of the way customer goods were being made in America. People started making factories and automating things using machines. It let many goods be mass produced. The Industrial Revolution brought with it many new inventions that partially automated the processes for making goods. This meant many things were much more efficient, but someone had to do the unautomated parts. For this, many turned to slaver, which was a very big issue that caused the civil war. -
Mum Bett Case
Mum bett was an enslaved woman who fought her way to freedom through the court system in Massachusetts. She sued her enslaver and won the case. This victory was very significant in the abolition of slavery. It was a huge step towards it in Massachusetts and inspired other enslaved people to fight for their freedom. This split the US because some people thought this was a good thing and some did not. -
3/5 Compromise
The ⅗ compromise stated that each enslaved person counted as ⅗ of a person towards the population of a state. Because the south had way more slaves than the north, they wanted them to count towards the population to have more power in government. This could cause the two sides to fight over how they are counted, even with the compromise. Arguments over this could split the divide between them even more. -
Northwest Ordinance
This was a law that was passed which said that states in the northwest had to go through a process to become a state as well as have a population of 60000. It also guaranteed fundamental rights for anyone who lived there. It also had a clause that banned slavery in the northwest territories. This clause caused the south to be very upset because they wanted slavery to expand. This caused a lot of tension between the two sides. -
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Second Great Awakening
It was a period when people started valuing religion again and many converted to Christianity. Less based on logic and science and more based on the “will of God”. The second great awakening promoted equality for everyone and many people of every race were a part of this. Equality meant that people were beginning to think that slavery was wrong and this made the south upset. -
Creation of the Cotton Gin
The cotton gin was an invention that cleaned debris from cotton very efficiently. It was invented by Eli Whitney and as a result the demand for slavery increased significantly. It affected slavery a lot because it made farming cotton much more efficient and profitable. The demand for slavery after its creation skyrocketed, which the northerners were against. This caused the north to dislike the south much more for abusing slavery for their profit. -
Louisiana Purchase
Jefferson bought the Louisiana territory for $15 million from France. It doubled the size of the United States but caused a lot of controversy because Jefferson believed in a strict interpretation of the constitution and the constitution did not explicitly say that the president can buy territory. It significantly increased the area that the US had, so people could live there and add new states to the union. Deciding whether these are going to be free or slave states caused a lot of fighting. -
Missouri Compromise
When Missouri applied to become a state, a huge debate arose on whether it should be admitted as a slave state or free state. In the compromise it is added as a slave state but Maine is added as a free state as well, and a line is drawn north of which slavery was not permitted. This made each side upset because they wanted more states to be on their side. Southern states were especially upset however because south of the line people had popular sovereignty. -
Nat Turner’s rebellion
Nat Turner led a slave revolt which ended up with 55 white people dead. In the end, he was arrested and executed and this case set back the Abolition of slavery a bit. This caused the south to be enraged about rebellions and more concerned about it. Because of this they added more strict rules and tight regulations onto their slaves, setting back the progress that abolitionists had made. -
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Mexican-American War
A war over the border between the US and Mexico. In the end, the US paid Mexico $15 million and got California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Texas, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, and Wyoming. This added a lot more potential states for the north and south to fight over, and many of these were already inhabited by some Mexicans who were not slave owning. -
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California Gold Rush
A huge number of people rushed to California in hopes of becoming rich after gold was found there. People from other countries came as well. There was a huge amount of people coming in from other countries in that state and it was a very diverse free state. The sway on the voting of the state, especially because it was a big state and it was on the border of the Missouri compromise line caused issues between the north and south. -
Compromise of 1850
This was 5 laws that were passed which related to slavery and territories. It would let California become a state, let New Mexico and Utah have popular sovereignty, settle a border dispute in Texas and New Mexico, enforce stricter fugitive slave act, and abolish slave trade in DC. This have each side something that they wanted and something that they did not want to be passed. This increased tensions instead of compromising. -
Frederick Douglass’ 4th of July Speech
Douglass delivered a powerful speech which critiqued America and how they are celebrating the independence of America while millions of slaves are suffering. This changed a lot of people’s views on the fourth of July and slavery in general and this caused the South to be upset because they were for slavery. -
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“Bleeding Kansas”
Pro-slavery and anti-slavery people were fighting each other in Kansas trying to gain the most votes and made the state a free or Slave state. There as a lot of violence between the two sides of the issue. Americans were turned against each other in a violent way which eventually led to the civil war beginning. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This was an act that let Kansas and Nebraska decide whether they wanted slavery to be allowed in their state or not through popular sovereignty. This upset both sides because each state got to decide what they wanted to be, so many people from outside the state would come into these states and fight to achieve the vote that they wanted. -
Attack on Charles Sumner
Senator Charles Sumner was beaten in the US Senate by a representative because he said something that the representative did not agree with. Sumner had given a speech on anti slavery. The northerners were upset at the southerners for accepting this kind of violence against their people and the southerners were angry at the speech that Sumner had made. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott, an enslaved person, sued the family of his owner after he passed claiming that he should be freed because he had lived in a free state. The court ruled against Dred Scott saying that because he was enslaved he didn’t even have the right to sue. This case enraged the abolitionist northerners. This sparked more tension between each side of the issue and split America even more. -
Raid on Harpers Ferry
Abolitionist John brown gathered a group of 21 men and tried to rally up a bunch of slaves to cause a revolt. He stole weapons and tried to give them to enslaved people to get them to join in. It was quickly ended though and Brown was executed along with a few of his men. Violence from either side caused tensions to increase between the north and south. In this case, the south were upset at the north for condoning such actions and trying to organize a slave revolt. -
Election of 1860
The election when Lincoln was elected president of the US. This basically caused the southern secession because the southern states were not happy with Lincoln becoming the president. They were already upset with the US, but this was the last straw. -
Shots 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. -
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Southern Secession
Starting with South Carolina, a number of southern states decided to secede from the United States after Lincoln became president. Many people in the country were upset because these states were leaving the Union. Some were happy that there were less slave states in the union, but it did split the country up and cause a lot of tension between all the states.