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The Missouri Compromise was a law passed to maintain the balance of power between slave and free states in the U.S. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, and it drew a line across the Louisiana Territory, establishing a boundary for slavery.
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Nat Turner, an enslaved man, led a violent slave revolt in Virginia, which resulted in the deaths of many white people. The rebellion led to harsher laws on slaves and free blacks.
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Part of the Compromise of 1850, this law required that escaped slaves be returned to their owners and that officials and citizens assist in the capture of runaway slaves.
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This series of five laws aimed to resolve tensions between slave and free states, admitting California as a free state and implementing the Fugitive Slave Act, among other provisions.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, which depicted the horrors of slavery, played a significant role in galvanizing anti-slavery sentiment in the North and abroad.
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This act created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and allowed the settlers there to decide whether to allow slavery, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise.
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A series of violent clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in Kansas after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It marked the breakdown of law and order in the territories.
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South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks attacked Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner on the Senate floor after Sumner gave an anti-slavery speech. The incident shocked the nation and increased tensions between the North and South.
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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott, an enslaved African American, was not a citizen and could not sue in federal court. The decision also declared that Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in U.S. territories.
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A series of seven debates between Illinois Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, where the issue of slavery's expansion into the territories was a central topic.
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Abolitionist John Brown led an unsuccessful raid on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry in an attempt to start a slave rebellion. He was captured and executed.
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Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States, leading Southern states to secede, believing his presidency would threaten the institution of slavery.