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Western Expansion
President Thomas Jefferson goes through with the Louisiana Purchase, buying more than 828,800 square miles for $15 million, nearly doubling the size of the US.
This helps lead up to the the Civil War because it gave the US way more land, which then, in turn, requires attention to split it up into different states. -
Missouri Compromise
This compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state - which kept the balance of slave states and free states the same.
This also prohibited slavery above the 36º30' latitude line. -
Vesey's Plot Discovered
Denmark Vesey and 34 others planned an uprising in South Carolina. It never went through (a slave told the authorities) but it instilled fear in Southerners.
Vesey had also previously bought his freedom by winning the lottery. This creates even more fear in Southerners because Vesey became a free person and then went on to plan an uprising (that never happened). -
North Carolina vs. Mann
John Mann had a slave named Lydia and, after she tried to escape a lashing, he shot and wounded her. Mann's local town found him guilty and he was given a five-dollar fine. The North Carolina Supreme Court overruled this sentence, saying that slaves were the absolute property of their owner, therefore, the owners couldn't be declared guilty of harming their slaves. -
Nat Turners Rebellion
Nat Turner was a slave that caused a rebellion. He and seventy other slaves killed sixty whites. The rebellion lasted for two days and fifty-five slaves (including Turner) were executed. This event caused a lot of cutbacks on slaves' rights, and education and other things were prohibited. -
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The Wilmot Proviso
At the end of the Mexican-American war, David Wilmot proposed this act to prohibit slavery in any territory seized through the war (if passed, this would've extended all the way to California).
Wilmot spent almost two years trying to get his proposal accepted, even suggesting adding it as a part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It was never passed but it definitely added a lot of discussion about slavery. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 did many things, but of those, these are the most noticeable;
- Accepted California as a free state
- Banned slave trade in Washington D.C., though still allowing slavery
- The territories of Utah and New Mexico were opened to Popular Sovereignty, meaning that they would come into the US as either slave or free states, depending on votes from the citizens living there.
- $10 million was given to Texas for annexed land that stretched from Texas to New Mexico. -
Reinforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Constitutional Convention (1787) and stated that all citizens had to help with bringing escaped slaves back to their masters. It also denied slaves the right to have a jury trial.
The Fugitive Slave Act was not used that much until, in 1850, the Compromise of 1850 reinforced it. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was a major turning point for the US as it dealt with anti-slavery topics and really sensationalized the concept. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This act revoked the Missouri Compromise, which, in turn, ended the 36º30' line rule, meaning that states above this line could have slavery. It also made two new territories (Kansas and Nebraska).
The Kansas-Nebraska Act also started a violent rebellion known as "Bleeding Kansas" (due to the bloodiness of the rebellion). -
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Bleeding Kansas
This was a time when Kansas was filled with revolts between pro- and anti-slavery people. It began when the Kansas-Nebraska Act was signed. The act caused people to get angry because some of them wanted slavery and others didn't. -
Charles Sumner Attacked at Senate
Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery congressman, attacked Charles Sumner, an anti-slavery senator, with a cane on the floor of the Senate. This was right after Sumner delivered a speech criticizing pro-slavery people and addressing the violence in Kansas. Brooks almost killed Sumner.
This had a very big effect on people because it was a very publicized event and it stirred a lot of thoughts. -
The Pottawatomie Massacre
After a group of pro-slavery people destroyed a newspaper office (and more), John Brown was very angry and retaliated. He and several others (including four of his sons) persuaded five pro-slavery men (telling them that they wouldn't be harmed) to come out of their houses, and Brown and his men stabbed and slashed them, and then shot them in their heads. -
Dred Scott vs. Sandford
Dred Scott was born into slavery and when his master moved to a free state, he filed a lawsuit for freedom. There was a trial in 1857 where Chief Justice Roger Taney decided against him, stating that blacks were "so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect".
This caused a lot of upset and anger in the anti-slavery Northerners because it signified that blacks didn't have any rights that whites had. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Stephen Douglas (Democratic Senator) and Abraham Lincoln ran for senator of Illinois in 1858. Though Douglas won, he and Lincoln had seven public debates about slavery. These debates brought fame to Lincoln and put him in national spotlight. It also allowed him to run for president in 1860. -
Kansas Re-votes
After the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, Kansas voted and the pro-slavery forces won. In 1857, the Lecompton Constitution was made, allowing Kansas to come into the US as a slave state. People that supported slavery (led by President James Buchanan) tried to get it accepted in Congress. It was sent back to Kansas for a vote. Voters rejected the Lecompton Constitution and Kansas entered the US as a free state. -
Harpers Ferry Raid
John Brown and 21 others stormed Harpers Ferry (they picked it because of the strategic location and the plentiful weapon stock) from October 16th to the 18th. It was planned to be the first of a complicated plan to create a stronghold of freed slaves in Maryland and Virginia. Brown was captured and him and the six survivors were hanged for treason. -
Abraham Lincoln's Election
Even though Lincoln didn't appear in many Southern ballots, he won the 1860 election. Lincoln being a Republican and, in turn, against slavery, his party was "scary" to the Southerners and their ways. -
South Carolina Secedes
Unhappy with the new president and the party's views on slavery, South Carolina formally withdraws from the US. This sparks a lot of tension. -
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana Secede
Following the example of South Carolina, several states decided to leave the Union. This decision was met with bonfires and parades. -
The CSA is Formed
The seceded states (Mississippi, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana) conjoined and form the CSA or Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis (from Mississippi) becomes the first and only president of the Confederate States of America. -
Texas Secedes
Seeing the newly formed Confederate States of America, Texas pulls away from the US and joins the CSA, becoming the seventh state of the newly formed Confederation. -
The Battle of Fort Sumter
This was basically the beginning of the Civil War. On April 12th Confederate armies bombed Fort Sumter, which eventually surrendered two days later. The bombing lasted 34 hours. -
Lincoln Calls for Volunteers
Following the Battle of Fort Sumter, Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers. This causes many other states to secede. -
More States Join the CSA
After Lincoln's call for volunteers, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee, secede from the Union and join the CSA. There are now 11 states in the Confederate States of America.