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Missouri Compromise
It was created to avoid problems when new states wanted to join the US. This compromise set a line dividing the North from the South, North were free states and South were slave states. This led to the war because it created sectionalism between the North and the South. -
Tariff of Abominations
The government decided to put higher taxes on imported goods, so that national goods were affordable and protected. While this helped the North, it was bad for the south. This led to the Civil War because it made the South feel that the government only helped the North, and start thinking of creating a government that helped them too. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
This was a slave rebellion led by Nat Turner. It basically consisted on going from plantation to plantation killing white slave owners and gathering supplies. The rebels were controled by forces after killing 55 whites, and the slaves were given violent concequenses. This made the North notice how inhumane slavery was and start a rivalry between pro-slavery (the South) and anti-slavery (the North). -
Compromise of 1850
This compromise was proposed by Henry Clay. It accepted California as a free state, but said that new ones wouldn't have limits on slavery. Slave trade would be illegal in Washington DC. A strengthened Fugitive Slave Law was passed, requiring runaway slaves to be brought back to plantations. This led to the war because it angered the south, since they believed the Compromise could slowly end slavery, the North thought that the Fugitive Slave Law gave too much power to the South. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
This best-seller book, is about the reality of slavery: it's violence, inhumanity, evil and cruelty. It changed the view about slavery of many people in the North. It led to the Civil War because people in the North started learning and noticing the reality of slavery and how bad it was. -
Birth of the Republican Party
In 1854, the Republican Party was formed from Whigs that didn’t want slavery and democrats who joined to the Free-Soilers. Their main goal was to ban slavery from new territories, and in the elections of 1854, they chose a candidate to run against the pro-slavery Whigs and Democrats in state and congress elections. The Republican Party was mostly supported by the North, while the Democrats were becoming a Southern party. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Thanks to this act, the people in Kansas and Nebraska had popular sovereingty, meaning that they could decide wether or not to support slavery or not. This revoked the Missouri Compromise. The North didn't like this because states that had always been free could turn to be slave states. Instead the South did support this. -
Bleeding Kansas
In the elections after the Kansas-Nebraska Act, pro-slavery won. They established laws that kept slavery but people against slavery refused to obey. These people armed their own constitution against slavery and armed themselves. By January 1856, Kansas had two rivals. People supporting slavery attacked those who didn't. John Brown led a killing of 5 slavery supporters. This was like a civil war in Kansas. This showed the country that anti-slavery a pro-slavery couldn't live together. -
Dred Scott v. Stanford
Dred Scott was a slave bought by a doctor in Missouri. They moved to Wisconsisn (free state) and then back to missouri. Scott claimed that he should be free since he had lived in free territory. Chief Justice Roger Taney pointed that the 5 ammendment protected his owner andsaid that he was enslaved, and that living in free soil didn't make him free.Scott responded by saying that the constitution protected slavery.Republicans, apart from other groups were surprised by the crime committed in court -
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Lincoln chalenged Douglas to seven debates in which slavery was discussed. Douglas said Lincoln wanted to give slaves the same rights as whites, but Lincoln just wanted them to have more freedom. Douglas responses made him loose supporters from the South, because he said people could refuse to pass laws that benefited slave owners, which was AKA the Freeport Doctrine. Even though Lincoln didn't win elections, he won popularity. This benefited the North, because Lincoln was against slavery. -
John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry
After the elections of 1858, the southerner's felt threat/fear by the Republican Party. October 16, 1859, john Brown, abolitionist, attacked Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He wanted to attack the federal arsenal, arm slaves, and start a revolt against slaveowners. His plan failed and his death sentence scared the North.Some people disliked his use of violence, others believed he was a martyr. Thanks to his death, abolitionists got together again to fight against slavery, which was good for the North. -
Lincoln's Election
In the election of 1860, not only was the country was divided, but so was the Democratic Party. The Northern Democrats, fighted for popular sovereignty, nominated Stephen Douglas. The Southern Democrats, supported slavery, nominated John C. Breckenridge.Lincoln was nominated as candidate by the Republicans, which wanted to ban slavery from some territories.Although Lincoln’s name didn’t even appear in most of the South’s voting ballots, he wonthanks to all the votes he received from the North.
