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Missouri Compromise
The northern and southern politicians have heated debates over slavery.
Henry Clay settles the debate.
The Missouri Compromise were a series of laws that helped maintain the balance between slave state and free state. -
The Nulification Crisis
Southern states felt that the tariffs were unfair and only supported the North.
Vice President, John C. Calhoun said any state could nulify a federal law it considers unconstitutional.
The federal government denied South Carolina's argument, so they theatened to secede.
Henry Clay came up with a compromise and lowered the tariff. -
Compromise of 1850
Congress had many heated debates over whether the new territories won from Mexico would be admitted as slave states or free states.
Henry Clay helped with the compromise.
1) California would be admitted as a free state.
2) Congress would not pass laws banning slavery from the rest of the territories won from Mexico. -
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
This act permitted the capture of African Americans who had fled to the north to escape slavery.
These laws heightened tension, and set the stage for John Brown's Raid and the American Civil War. -
Bleeding Kansas
5000 people from nearby proslavery Missouri came and voted for proslavery representatives in Kansas illegally.
Anti-Slavery opponents started their own government.
The anti-slavery government was attacked by proslavery forces.
To avenge this attack, extreme abolitionist, John Brown murdered several of his proslavery neighbors. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott v. Sandford was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court held that African Americans, whether slave or free, could not be American citizens and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court, and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States. Dred Scott, an African American slave who had been taken by his owners to free states and territories, attempted to sue. -
Attack on Harpers Ferry
John Brown wanted to inspire slaves to fight for their freedom.
Brown and his men were captured.
Abolitionist saluted John Brown as he was put to death, the issue of slavery had raised tensions in America to the breaking point. -
The Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln wins the election.
Southern states begin to secede from the union shortly after Lincoln is elected.
