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Missouri Compromise
"Rather than risk the breakup of the Union, Congress finally agreed to a compromise crafted by Representative Henry Clay of Kentucky. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state. In this way, it maintained the balance of power between slave and free state," -Ch. 21 A Dividing Nation Text. -
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A Divided Nation
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The Gag Rule
"During the 1830's abolitionists flooded Congress with antislavery petitions. Congress, they were told, had no power to interfere wit slavery in the states....Congress voted in 1836 to set aside all antislavery petitions...In 1839, the gag rule prevented consideration of an antslavery proposal by John Quincy Adams," Ch. 21 A Dividing Nation Text. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner's Rebellion was the last large-scale slave revolt, resulting in 60 white deaths and 100 black deaths. -
Wilmont Proviso
The Gag Rule resulted in Congress from ever seeing a slavery issue for 10 years. In 1846, President James Polk sent a bill to Congress asking for funds, for the war with Mexico. David Wilmont Proviso added an admendment to the the bill, that stated "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exsist," in any land the may be acquired from Mexico. The admendment passed the House but was rejected by the Senate. -
California's Request for Statehood
In 1849 California applied to the Union as a free state. Southener's, rejected California's request; said that making CA a free state would upset the balance between slave and free states in Congress. Congress became deadlocked over the request; Southerners made threats to seceed and Northerners called slavery an imhumane crime. -
The Compromise of 1850
In 1850 Henry Clay had a plan to solve the deadlock in Congress, a compromise. The compromise said that California would be admitted as a free state but New Mexico and Utah territories were free to decide their stance on slavery. Also the compromise ended slave trade in Washington D.C. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher, brought the horrors of slavery to the North in the form of a novel. Beecher got her idea in a vision, about a saintly slave who haunted his cruel master. The book was a success in the North, adding to the fire of the Northener's hate for slavery, while in the South the novel was cursed and burned. -
Ostend Manifesto
The Ostend Mannifesto was a message sent to the secretary of state by three American diplomats who were meeting in Ostend, Beligium. President Pierce's goal was to purchase Cuba from Spain, but Spain refused to sell. The message told the U.S. government to take Cuba, by force, but when the public heard of the plans, Northeners accused Pierce of wanting to add Cuba as a slave state. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois introduced a bill in Congress that would put a railroad to be built to California. The act created two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska. It also abolished the Missouri Compromise and allowed popult soverignity within the territories. -
Violence in Congress
"In 1856, Sumner voiced his suspicions in a passionate speech called "The Cime Against Kansas," as a violent assult on innocent territory," Ch. 21. Two days after the speech, Senator Butler's nephew, Preston Brooks, attached Sumner in the Senate with a metal tipped cane. Southenerners applauded Brooks for defending his family, while Northeners proved their point of the cruelness of the Southern mentality. -
Repubilcan Party
The Republican Party is created in the midst of the controversy over the Kansas-Nebraska Act, by antislavery activists. The Republicans were united by their beliefs that "no man can own another man...That slavery must be prohibited in the territories...That all new states must be free states...that the rights of our colored citizen...must be protected." -
Lawrence, Kansas Invasion
Since the act accepted popular sovereignty thousands of anti and proslavery supporters poured into the territories, hoping to accomplish either a full slave free state or a slave state. On the 21st proslavery "boder ruffians," raided the antislavery town of Lawrence. The invasion provoked a wave of outrage in the North, "Free Soilers," planned to move to Kansas. A fiery abolitionist, John Brown, invaded the proslavery town of Pottawatomie, Kansas. -
Dred Scott Case
The Dred Scott case was a contreversial case involving Dred Scott, a slave who claimed to be free because he resided with his master is Wisconsin and Chief Justice Taney. Taney determined that an African American was not a citizen and could never become a citizen and the the 30' 60' 90' compromise was unconstitutional.(These rulings led to the 14th and 15th amendments). -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
The Lincoln-Douglas debates were arguments between the two Senate oppenents: Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. The debates on slavery were widely reportedm and they helped Lincoln, who lost the election, become a national figure. He made slavery a moral issue and compromises were almost impossible to make. -
Lincoln Runs for Senate
In 1858, Republicans in Illinois nominated Abraham Lincoln to run for the Senate. Lincoln understood that a nation that was divided with its believes could not continue. -
John Brown's Raid
John Brown was an extremist, instead of waiting for Congress to act, Brown planned to seize federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virgina. Brown wanted to use the weapons to arm slaves for a rebellion that would end slavery. Brown launched his raid in 1859; his raid failed, all men were either captured or killed. Brown was convicted of treason. The rebellion threatened and scared Southerners and sparked fire in Northeners' hearts. -
President Lincoln
Lincoln won the presidential election with just 40% of the votes, all of them cast in the North. In ten Southern states, he was not even on the ballot. -
The South Secedes
After the election, Southern states were alarmed that slavery would be abolished. Although, Presient Lincoln made a public statment that he would not interfere with Southern slavery, North Carolina seceded on the 20th. Six more states soon followed Carolina's lead; forming the Confederate States of America -
Civil War
The Confederated States were deemed unconstitutional. A month later, Confederates is Charleston, opened fired on Fort Sumter. After 33 hours of heavy shelling, the fort surrenedered. This defeat caused a flush a patriotic fury in the North. "The issues that had divided the nation for so many yeas would now be decided by cicvil war," Ch. 21 a Nation Divivded.
