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Period: to
Antebellum
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Congress Passes Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay presented a series of resolutions that were later called the Compromise of 1850. He had hoped that it would settle all questions about the controversy between the free and slave states, growing out of the subject of Slavery. -
Harriet Tubman and the Underground RailRoad
Free African Americans and white abolitionists developed a secret network of people who would hide fugitive slaves at great risks of themselves. Harriet Tubman was one of the most famous conductors during the Railroad. She had made 19 trips to the South and had helped over 300 slaves escape. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe was the publisher of Uncle Tom's Cabin. She wrote it to deliver the message that slavery was not just a poltical contest but also a great moral struggle. The book had strong reactions from both the Northerners and Southerners. -
Kansas - Nebraska Act
Fredrick Douglas had proposed the bill to Congress to divide the area into two territories; Nebraska in the north and Kansas in the South. If Congress passed it then it would repeal the Missouri Compromise and establish popular sovereignty -
Bleeding Kansas
After Congress passed the bill for popular sovereignty people from the South and the North raced to get the majority of Kansas, proslavery had won. Antislavery forces settled in Lawerance when 800 proslavery forces took over destroying buildings. -
Violance in the Senate
Preston Brooks had beaten Charles Sumner after Sumner gave his "Crime Against Kansas Speech." This shows how there was also violance in government during the time period. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave whose owner took him from the slave state of Missouri to the free state of Illinois, to the free Wisconsin territory then back to Missouri. Scott sued his owner for his freedom on the grounds that living in a free state and a free territory made him a free man. The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court -
Lincoln - Doughlas Debate
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas had a long drawn out debate from August 21 to October 15, 1858. The debate was over how to stop or contain slavery. Lincoln knew that it would be impossible to stop slavery completely so he wanted to contain it, while Doughlas that slavery was unstable for praire agriculture and wanted popular sovereignty. -
Harpers Ferry
John Brown and a group of his supporters left their farmhouse hide-out en route to Harpers Ferry. Upon entering the town in the early hours of October 17th, Brown and his men captured prominent citizens and seized the federal armory and arsenal. Brown had hopes that the local slave population would join the raid and through the raid’s success weapons would be supplied to slaves and freedom fighters throughout the country. -
Southern Secession Begins
Once Lincoln was elected President southern states went into an uproar. Lincoln's voctory had meant they had lost their political voice in government. The Secession started Dec. 20, 1860 and ended June 8, of 1861. Eleven states in the Lower and Upper South set up a provisional government at Montgomery, Alabama
