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Invention of Cotton Gin
Eli Whitnety invented the cotton gin to help farm and produce cotton. The cotton gin is a machine that speeds up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. His idea when inventing the cotton gin was that farmers could use his invention to reduce the use of slaves. However, southern farmers took the cotton gin and started producing mass amounts of cotton and increasing the amount of slaves they owned. This will create a high demand for slaves. -
Gabriel Prosser Rebellion
Gabriel Prosser was the leader of an unsuccessful slave rebellion in Richmond, Virginia. No whites were killed in the attempted rebellion. However, the state of Virginia executed 27 slaves, including Gabriel, in a public hanging. The south responded to this rebellion by tightening the laws around slavery in the south.This event will lead to tighter laws on slaves and more slaves wanting to rebel. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
Nat Turner’s Rebellion was a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia. Nat and his men end up killing between 55-65 people, most of them being white southerners. This was a very important rebellion because it proved the south's myth that “slaves enjoyed being slaves” wrong. His rebellion also strengthened the pro-slavery beliefs of southern white farmers. It led to prohibiting education and movement of slaves. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was a proposal to prohibit slavery in the war the U.S. gained when winning the Mexican War. David Wilmot tried to get the south to agree to this Proviso several times, each time was unsuccessful. The main reason why this was so important was because it was the beginning of the Republican Party. This would lead to being the land would be fought over and one of the reasons the south wants to succeed. -
Fugitive Slave Act (pt.1)
The Fugitive Slave Act was passed by Congress in 1850. This meant that the southern bounty hunters could seize and return any runaway slave, even if they ran into a free state. However, there was a huge flaw in this system. The description of the runaway slaves were very vague, so bounty hunters could go up to any African American and accuse them of being a runaway slave. -
Fugitive Slave Act (pt.2)
The accusation was enough to bring that freeman back into the state “they came from”. They didn't get a jury, and the judge determining whether they were runaways was not paid twice as much to say they were a runaway rather than say they weren't a runaway. This law causes the number of slaves in the south to double in size. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, it created two new territories, and it allowed popular sovereignty. Popular sovereignty means that the people living in that state can decide weather it is a slave state or a free state. The Kansas-Nebraska Act caused several southerners and northerners to settle in the new land. This causes lots of tension and even some fights in settling towns. -
Brown and Harpers Ferry (pt.1)
John Brown and his five sons attacked the small town of Harper's Ferry in Virginia. They wanted to seize their weapons and give them to slaves to hopefully start a rebellion. The group gained control of the arms but were surrounded by General Lee's men. After they killed all of Brown's men, and sons, he was captured and tried for treason. He was sentenced to death. -
Brown and Harpers Ferry
The North viewed him as a hero fighting for the rights of slaves. The South viewed him as a terrorist and was outraged with the North. This was a major part of what lead to the Souths hatred for the North and began their thinking about forming their own nation, with slaves.