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The Missouri Compromise
This allowed MIssouri to come in as a slave state as long as Maine came in as a free state. This helped maintain the balance between slave and free states in Congress. The Southerners were unhappy with the compromise because the line at 36°30′ north left all new territories to be free states. This only solved the tensions between the states temporarily. -
Wilmot Proviso
This act banned all slavery from the newly aquired Mexican territory, This angered the South because they felt like they were getting unfair treatment from the government and that it was biased. This led to the tensions between the North and South because Southerners felt like they weren't recieving equal treatment, and they felt slavery was essential to the economy. -
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
This was the final treaty fromt the Mexican-American war, It gave us otu final borders and all of the land that makes up Texas, Nevada, California, Utah, Arizona, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oaklahoma, and New Mexico. -
The Compromise of 1850
A series of bills passed by President Filmore to keep the Sotuhern states from seceeding from the Union. It eased tensions over slavery temporarily. This was a result of the Gold Rush in California. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
This helped Southern slaveholders capture escaped slaves in the North, and required everyone in the North to help, This angered the Northerners because they wanted nothing to do with slavery. People who really didn't care about slavery were now outraged at the fact that it was legally required of them not to help escaped slaves have a new life. This helped to greatly grow the Underground Railroad, -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
This book was published by Harriet Beacher Stowe about hardships in slaves lives. This book was fictional, but became popular very quickly, telling Northerners about the trials slaves generally had to go through. The Southerners who held slaves were outraged by this book caliming that they weren't that bad and some sates even tried banning the book's sale in the book stores and libraries. -
Republican Party Formation
This was a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It was an opposition to the slave state supporters. Lincoln was the first Republican politician to come out of the party, and eventually ran for president and won, creating more tension between the two sides. The South felt this meant a victory for abolitionists. This caused many to seceed. -
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Bleeding Kansas
Popular sovereignty split the state of Kansas into two groups. One wanted to be a slvae state and the other half wanted to be free. This caused brutal murders between the two groups until Kansas was admitted as a free state in 1861, three months before the battle at Fort Sumpter which started the Civil War, This built tensions between the North and South because of the blood shed between the two sides. This bloodshed came in a result to the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. -
Gadsden Purchase
The purchaced land got us the land south of the Gila River and west of the Rio Grande. It was going to provide a trade oppertunity for the Southerners, but debates against the treaty prevented the railroad being built. The Civil War also prevented this. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This act repealled the Missouri Compromise, and eventually led to an internal Civil war in Kansas. The purpose of this act was to open up land for farms around a new train line. The disput about Kansas becoming a free or slave state increased tensions between both sides because people from both sides moved to Kansas to try and sway the decision about what the state should become, -
Know-Nothing Party
This party was an Anti-Catholic, nationalist party. They disliked the Catholic religion, and didn't any immigrants in the country. They only wanted "native" Americans in the country. Millar Fillmore was a candidate for this party. They were part of the major discrimination of the new Irish and German immigrants flooding in because of the famine. Membership was only limited to Protestant males. They became violent and prominent in Kansas during 1854, and caused many deaths due to immigration. -
The Election of 1856
This established Lincoln as an insightful man as he questioned Douglas about how to deal with slavery. This created a tension because Douglas was put in the position of giving his opinion and loosing the Southern supporters. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave in a free state who sued his owner for keeping him as property even though slavery was banned. He won the court case angering Southerners who felt that because he was from African decent he shouldnt have the same rights as whites. This was a stab in the Southerners side, adding to the tension that was already there. -
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
They debated mostly about the slavery issues. Lincoln kept putting Douglas in difficult positions that could make him lose supporters on either side depending on his answers. It showed how easily things could explode into turmoil, and it it showed Lincoln as a wise and insightful man. -
John Brown's Raid on Herper Ferry
John Brown was a revolutionist who led an armed slave result for four days. It was an attack on the people of Harper Ferry. He was trying to capture the arsenal in the town. His plan was unsuccessful. This angered Southerners because it wad an action against slavery. -
The Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln won the election as the first Republican president, and this led to the succession of several southern states. They were outraged that an 'abolitionist' came into office, when Lincoln was okay with slaver just staying where it was at and not spreading. -
Succession
The Southern states weren't happy with Lincoln being president. They thought they would be neglected and their slaves taken away. The seceded from the Union and created a government called the Confederacy.
