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A package of five laws passed in 1850 that addressed slavery in the new territories acquired from Mexico and temporarily eased tensions between the North and South. Impacted the U.S by temporarily postponed the Civil War by admitting California as a free state. -
It was the opening engagement of the American Civil War. Confederate forces bombarded the Union-held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, forcing the Union garrison to surrender, impacted the U.S by the returning of escaped enslaved people to their owners. -
The novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S., and is said to have "helped lay the groundwork for the American Civil War, impacted the U.S. by polarizing the nation on the issue of slavery, fueling anti-slavery sentiment in the North, and provoking fierce backlash in the South. -
Douglass claims American Independe is a hollow and hypocritical mockery for enslaved Black people, and that Black Americans deserve equal treatment and status in the United States. Douglass' speech argues that while white Americans celebrate freedom, the enslaved are denied it. -
Repealed the Missouri Compromise, allowing slavery to be decided by popular vote in the new territories, and sparking violent conflict known as "Bleeding Kansas", impacted the U.S. by repealing the Missouri Compromise, allowing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide on slavery through "popular sovereignty". -
A series of violent civil confrontations in the Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. Impacted the U.S. by violently intensifying the national debate over slavery, leading to the collapse of the Whig Party and the formation of the anti-slavery Republican Party. -
This Supreme Court ruling declared that African Americans were not citizens and had no right to sue, and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in U.S. territories, impacted the U.S. by ruling that African Americans were not citizens, denying them the right to sue in federal court. -
It was an attempt by the abolitionist to incite a slave rebellion by seizing the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown and his 21 followers were quickly surrounded and defeated by local militia and U.S. Marines led by Colonel Robert E. Lee, impacted the U.S by intensifying sectional tensions between the North and South, making the Civil War more likely -
As the Republican Party candidate, Lincoln won the election with less than 40% of the popular vote but a decisive majority in the Electoral College, impacted the U.S. by having a profound and immediate impact on the United States, directly leading to Southern secession and the American Civil War -
This event was the culmination of long-standing tensions over economic differences, states' rights, and federal power, with the election of an anti-slavery president seen as the final trigger, impacted the U.S by triggering a chain reaction of other Southern states leaving the Union, ultimately leading to the American Civil War. -
Representatives from the six seceded states met in Montgomery, Alabama, to formally establish a unified government, which they named the Confederate States of America. On February 9, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected the Confederacy's first president, impacted by the U.S. led to the American Civil War, causing immense division and a brutal conflict over states' rights and slavery -
It was the opening engagement of the American Civil War. Confederate forces bombarded the Union-held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, forcing the Union garrison to surrender, impacted the U.S. by officially beginning the American Civil War, escalating the conflict from a political crisis to a military one