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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise kept a balance between the free and slave states. The southern border of Missouri and below the state would enter the union as a slave state, but above that border the state would enter as a free state. This futher brought tension because in later years this border would not be followed and there would be an inbalance between the states. -
Tariff of Abomintions
Congress passed a protective tariff for the northern industry. It was named this way by the southerners because it did not appeal to their economy. This angered the south because now they had to pay higher prices for goods that were not from the region, and reduced the importation of British goods made it harder for Britain to pay for the cotton that they imported from the South. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner with a group of men went on a violent rampage starting with the Travis household and then going on from house to house killing everybody they encountered, and killed at least 55 white men. This angered the South because they couldn't allow for slave to strike back because they couldn't allow them to think that they had a chance at an uprising with their slaveholders. Also this encouraged the North to support the slave uprisings. -
Texas Annexation
The annexation of Texas was to expand the the United States even more because of the Manifest Destiny. They believed it was their destiny to conquer the whole territory. This was an event that lead the United States to war with itself because it was a vast land for the southerners, which meant more land, more slaves for labor. This angered the North because they did not want the expansion of slavery to grow. They wanted Texas to be a free state. This upset the balance the states. -
Mexican American War
After Mexico did not want to sell the land that is New Mexico to California, the US pressured Mexico into taking the first shot, and Mexico did by attacking Zachary Taylor's forces. Congress passed the declaration of war. Then in 1848, Mexico passed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave the region to the US. Even more tension was created because most of the land entered as a slave state, and California was supposed to be half & half but entered the union as a free state. Another inbalance. -
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay proposed a plan, which would allow California to enter as a free state, and other new territories would have no limits on slavery, slave trade would be illegal in Washington D.C., and he also pushed for stronger fugitive slave laws. This compromise left the boundaries of slave states to popular sovereignty, which did not benefit them at all. Also California didn't help the South gain more slave states. This created further disputes. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
This book was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This book was popular in the anti-slavery group because it showed the life of a slave in the South, and made the slaveholders look like cruel people. This angered the South because this book didn't make them look good, it made them look as they were performing an unecessary evil to the slaves. This was not a good image for them. -
Birth of the Republican Party
After the Kansas - Nebraska Act, the Democratic Party began to split, the Northern Democrats left the party. The Whig Party also started to split. The Anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats joined with the Free-soilers formed the Republican Party. Their main goal was to ban slavery. This was not popular amongst pro-slavery groups. They did not want people to remove the slavery laws, making the nation even more delicate. -
The Kansas - Nebraska Act
Senator Douglas planned on settling the issue of slavery in the territories. He repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed the people to vote on whether to be a slave or free state. Then during the vote the South sent more supporters than the North and the South won and Kansas beccame a slave state. This enfuriated the North. -
Bleeding Kansas
After the pro-slavery supporters won the election, the anti-slavery supporters created another government and by January 1856, Kansas had two rival governments. Then in May 1856 slavery supporters attacked a anti-slavery stronghold and they retaliated. Soon enough Kansas was having a civil war. This is an important event that led up to the great civil war because it was the first time that blood was spilled in the dispute between the North and the South. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave under the "property" of John Emerson. Emerson moved with Dred to states that slavery was banned but then moved back to a slave state. When Emerson died, Dred Scott and his family was left to Emerson's wife, Eliza Irene Sanford. She refused to let Dred go, and he sued her at state court. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court, Dred Scott said he had lived in a place where slavery was banned, he was free. This angered southerners, because they wanted slavery. -
Lincoln - Douglas Debates
The main- topic was slavery. They argued whether African Americans should enjoy rights and freedoms. Douglas said that people could vote to outlaw slavery. This cost him supporters in the South. Lincoln lost but didn't go empty-handed, he gained a positive national reputation. This was more tension ontop of everything else because people were seeing who to chose as the better man because their idea on slavery. -
John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown an abolitonist led a group of people on a raid. His target was a federal arsenal, to arm enslaved African Americans and start a revolt against slaveholders. The abolitionists had paid for the raid. This brought fears to the South, because this confirmed that the North was against them and, the nation was on the brink of disaster. -
Lincoln's Election
The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln, because they wanted to leave slavery where it existed but ban it in new territories. With the Democrats divided, Lincoln won a clear majority of the votes. He was not so popular in the South, but very popular in the North, the North outvoted the South. This angered the South because they knew the Republican beliefs and they did not want for slavery to be banned in new territories, they wanted slavery to expand.