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Missouri Compromise
This great compromise, brought on via the Louisana Purchase, was thought to be a permanent solution to the growing slave debate. With the agreement set on no slavery north of the 36/30 line, both the north and the south were content, having an equal number of slave and free states. However, this solution lasted only 34 years. -
War With Mexico
With Manifest Destiny in full swing, President James K Polk is inspired to acquire more land, However, Mexico does not wih to sell the regions of California, New Mexico and Texas, thus influencing a war with Mexico. Once having these lands, it will provide the south with more slave territory, which frightens the abolitionist North and could potentially upset the balance bewteen free and salve states. The war results with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. -
David Wilmot's Proviso
In 1849, there wre 15 slave states and 15 free states, the ideal balance amond north and south. However, a congressman named David Wilmot proposed the idea to ban slavery in the newly acquired land. Thes law was passed in the House but blocked in the Senate, leading to hurt relations between the two bickering regions. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act sparked a lot of controversy concerning the north not enforcing the constitutional law and the south over promoting it. The act stated that southern slave owners had the right to pursue runaways that found refuge in the north. These runaways were given no trial by jury, and the prejudice judge would decide their guilt of innocence. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
The tensions between abolitionist northerns and pro-slavery southerns were tightened through the publishing of Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. After reading the best seller, apathetic northerns grew shocked at the truths of slavery and southerners grew angry at the misconceptions. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
With the repeal of the Missouri Compromise's prohibition of slavery north of the 36/30 line, came the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which support popular sovereignty.This gave states the right to vote on the issue of slavery within their borders. This act is said to have divided and destroyed the Whig party, forming the Republican party and splitting the Northern democrats. Its main supporter was an Illinois Senator, Stephen Douglass, who encouraged it on behalf of a transcontinental railroad. -
The Creation of the Republican Party
The event of Bleeding kansas led to the Northerns forming a new political party: the Republican Party. Their main goal was to eliminate slavery in all regions. The southerns viewed this as a threat and almost as a declaration of war. -
The Break Down of the Two Party System
With two distinct views of issues, expecially slavery, the Republican North and the Democratic South clashed even harder. Both sides were growing rapidly radical on promoting their ideas regarding slavery, with the north being abolitionist and the south strongly supporting it. -
Bleeding Kansas
Pro-Slavery Missourians met with abolitionist Northerns in Kansas, which led to a string of violent murders between the two groups. Compormise could no longer settle the issue of slavery. -
Violence Over Slavery Spread to Congress
If common sense isn't present in congress, then where is it? Congressman Preston Brooks, South Carolina, beat Senator Charles Sumner, Massachusetts, with a cane over the issue of slavery. Sumner gave a speech, bashing slavery, and Brooks strongly disagreed, leading to a brawl. The union was falling apart. -
The Dred Scot Decision
This Supreme Court Case mullified the Missouri Compromise and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. With the Dred Scot decision, congress could not control slavery in any territory. Furthermore, in the 1859 case of Ableman v Booth, the court restated that states can't interfere with enforcing federal law. -
Lincoln vs Douglas
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas engaged in some of the most famous debates in history during the Illnois election. Through his "House Divided" speech, Lincoln argued that our nation could no longer continue as half free and half slave. Hhowever, Douglas supported popular sovereignty through his Freeport Doctrine. -
John Brown: Slave Debates
Northerner John Brown outraged southerns through his attempted slave revolts in Harper's Ferry, Virginia, even though he failed. However, many northerners viewed Brown as a martyr, while southerners saw him as an enemy.This scared the Southerners and confirmed their beliefs that Northerners were arming slaves in preparation for revolts. -
Election Year
With slavery being the deciding factor in the presidental race, the regions of North and South were once again pressed against each other. Lincoln, having the support of most of the Republican North, beat out Breckenridge, a pro-slavery Southern Democrat.Thus, The South was torn: suffer the economic pains of losing slavery or succed from the union. -
Crittenden Compromise
The Crittenden Compromise was the final attempt to save the union. It suggested returning to the Missouri Compromise, however, the Crittenden Compromise failed to gain support due to high tensions and paranoia. -
Start of the End of the Union
By Feburary of 1861, many deep south states had already seceded from the Union and following the fall of Fort Sumter in April, when Lincoln took office, many upper south states also seceded. Fighting began shortly hereafter, once Lincoln called for volunteer fights to attempt to keep the union together.
