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Missouri Compromise
This compromise was enacted to create a balance between slave states and free states. As part of the compromise, Missouri was admitted as a slave state where Maine was admitted as a free state. This law also prohibited slavery in the Louisiana territory and anywhere above the 36,30 latitude line (excluding Missouri). -
Indian Removal Act
This act was passed by President Andrew Jackson and it allowed state officials to override protetion of Indians by the federal government. This act negotiated the removal of Indians from their homelands in the Southern States to territories West of the Mississippi River. -
Publication of The Liberator
The Liberator was an antislavery newspaper started by WIlliam Lloyd Garrison and continued for 35 years with it's popular weekly issues. He ended part of his first issue with the line "AND I WILL BE HEARD." Garrison showed the evils of slavery and thought of it as an awful sin. His beliefs were heard and acknowledged. -
Trail of Tears
The nickname given to the path the Indians were forced to march by the Cherokee Indians from their land in Georgia, to the Indian Territory West of the Mississippi. This action was the result of the Indian Removal Act. -
Battle of the Alamo
The texans completely surprised their enemy, Saint Anna's Army by attacking them at a time they decided to rest. Just after that, Saint Anna signed a treaty fixing the Southern boundary of the new Republic of Texas. -
Gag Rule
The "gag rule" passed with a vote of 117 to 68 and pro slavery forces rejoiced. It states that it was unconstitutional to bring up slavery in Congress. -
Mexican War
The American War with Mexico lasted for 2 years. It began with an attack on American troops on the border of Texas. Mexico protested that the territory belonged to them, not Americans. Driven by the idea of manifest destiny, James K Polk sought out to control New Mexico, part of Texas, and California. The Northern States were against this because they believed the Southerners wanted more slave states to be admitted. The US captures Mexico City, forcing them to give up their Northern Territory. -
California Gold Rush
The news of gold in California brought 300,000 people flocking to the state in search of riches. San Francisco grew from a small town to an economically booming city with a large population. -
Seneca Falls Convention
This convention was the first women's right convention in American history. Every year after this, conventions for equality gathered and continued to support their cause. This paved the way for freedoms that will be later given to women. -
Compromise of 1850
This compromise was an attempt by Henry Clay to keep the unification of the nation intact after the Missouri Compromise. He proposed that texas should be given $10 million for the land in question, and these territories be added without the mention of slaves. The problem was that California wanted to join as a union state which would offset the balance. He propsed that California could join as a free state and that Texas and New Mexico could choose if they wanted slaves. -
Figitive Slave Act
This Act was passed as part of the Compromise of 1850. This was an extremely controversial act of the time. It declared all run away slaves to be returned to their owners. This greatly upset the North because free slaves were being sold back into slavery without any question or trial by jury. -
Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin
This anti- slavery novel, written by Harriet Beacher Stowe, was the second best selling novel of the century behind the bible. It depicted the harsh realities of slavery and stirred up abolitionist thoughts throughout the US. -
Creation of the Republican Party
The republican party, also referred to as the GOP for "Grand Old Party", was established in an effort to combat the Kansas Nebraska Act. On June 17, 1856, The republican Party announced itself as a unified political force. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
This act created the Kansas and Nebraska territories which opened new lands for settlement. This act supported the idea of popiular sovereignty which allowed states to decide whether or not they wanted slavery. With this act, the part of the Missouri Compromise that disallowed slavery above the 36, 30 latitude line was repealed. -
2 Party system falling apart
The breakdown of the 2 party system highlighted the loosening ties between the North and the South. The Southern Democratic Party wanted slavery whereas the Republican party of the North wanted it abolished. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was a slave that demanded his freedom he felt was deserving because he lived in a free state. It took eleven years for the case to reach th supreme court. The case was dismissed based on the conclusion that black people were not citizens and could not be citizens. This ghightened angry feelings in both the North and the South. -
Panic of 1857
The Panic was a banking crisis that caused a great hubbub in the North but had a much smaller impact in the South. Since the South was mainly dependable on cotton, the quick recovery of cotton prices helped them a lot. -
John Brown's Raid
Abolitionist John Brown, organized the event which was an armed slave revolt which tried to seize a United States arsenal at harper's Ferry, Virginia. The raid was defeated by a detatchment of U.S. Marines. -
Lawrence Massacre
This attack was based upon the controversial subject of slavery. A group of about 800 pro- slavery men stormed Lawrence, Kansas in hopes of making it a territory that allowed slavery. This massacre was one of the bloodiest ever in Kansas history.
