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Missouri compromise
Missouri wanted to be admitted into the US, but there was debate on whether it should be a slave state or a free state. Congress did not want to break the balance between slave and free states. As a compromise, Henry Clay proposed that the US could admit both Missouri and Maine, Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. This kept the balance and kept the peace between the North and the South, for a period of time. -
wilmot proviso
the US gained new territory from Mexico in the Mexican American war. There was debate on whether Mexican Cession states should be slave states or free states, since there was a balance 15 of each. David Wilmot proposed a ban on slavery in all Mexican Cession territories. The bill was passed in the House but not the Senate. It angered southerners, they felt that it was an attack by the north This event increased the tension between the North and the South. -
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay proposed a compromiser pro slavery people and anti- slavery laws in an attempt to please both sides. California would be admitted as a free state, the slave trade would be ended in Washington DC, the New Mexico and Utah territories would decide the slavery issue by popular sovereignty, Congress would pass a strict fugitive slave law, and Texas was to give up New Mexico in return for $10 million. This settled the peace a little bit but angered both sides with the new laws they made. -
Fugitive slave act
part of the compromise of 1850 clay that Clay proposed, congress passed the fugitive slave act. This act let officials arrest anyone accused of being a runaway slave and made northern citizens help. Northerners who didn’t would be punished with a fine and/or jail time. No black person was safe anywhere, even if they were free. this made more northerners think how wrong slavery was and this made them hate it even more. -
Uncle tom's cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, it was a book about the horrors of slavery. The book became a bestseller. She wrote it because she was horrified at the experience she had with the fugitive slave act. Northerners more became aware of the horrors of slavery, now they believed slavery to be a moral issue rather than a political view, and inciting them to action. Southerners believed the book to be propaganda, meant only to spread the plans of the North. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act- Bleeding Kansas
In 1854, Stephen Douglas helped pass the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which gave the people permission to decide the slavery issue with popular sovereignty. President at the time, Franklin Pierce, signed the act into law. Kansas soon enough had two governments, each supporting one side of the slavery argument. Violence eventually broke out causing many riots throughout the US. -
Dred Scott Case
After Buchanan took office, a slave named Dred Scott sued for his freedom. The chief justice, Rodger B. Taney, declared that he was not free because he was a slave and even though he lived in a free state, he was still property. He also ruled that congress didn't have the power to prohibit slavery in any territory. This was critical to the US because it abolished all the hard work the anti slavery supporters had done previously. -
Lincoln Douglas Debate
Lincoln and Douglas had several arguments about slavery. Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery whereas Douglas wanted to let the states decide if slavery was illegal or not. Several of the debates they had took place in Illinois. This caused them to become major rivals for the president election and the results of the election would alter and effect the future of the nation. After Douglas won the election, slavery was still intact and would stay until Lincoln becomes president in later years. -
John Brown's Raid
John Brown was a pro abolitionist of slavery. He and his sons traveled to Kansas to fight to pro slavery groups. He led his group from town to town and killed five pro slave men. He had hoped that his actions would help other people including slaves would follow him and revolt. Him and 21 of his men attacked Harpers Ferry, where they captured multiple men and stole arsenals. Before he was sent to prison and sentenced to death, he gave a very important speech that inspired the pro abolitionists. -
Lincoln's Election of 1860
In the election of 1860, 4 candidates ran for president, all having different viewpoints of how slavery should be handled. Lincoln wanted slavery abolished, Douglas thought the states should decide, Breckenridge supported slavery in the territories, and Bell wanted slavery but wanted to keep the nation together. Lincoln won the election in 1860 in Virginia. When this happened, the southern states finally decided to secede from the nation after threatening to do so if Lincoln was elected. -
Southern Secession
After Lincoln was elected, seven of the southern slave states finally decided to secede from the nation. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas were the first states to secede from nation. Lincoln encouraged the states to come back to the US, but the states formed a nation ran by "president" Jefferson Davis. This was a trigger for civil war because Lincoln knew that they would not succeed as a nation if they were separate.
