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Compromise of 1850
This compromise consisted first of California being admitted to the Union as a free state. The south, in exchange, was guaranteed that no federal restrictions on slavery would be placed in Utah and New Mexico. Slavery was also maintained in Washington DC., but the slave trade was outlawed. Lastly, a fugitive slave law was passed, which required northerners to return runaway slaves under penalty of law. Overall, this compromise didn't allow the federal government to control slavery. -
Fugitive Slave Law
This law required that escaped slaves would be returned to their masters. Anyone helped a runaway was under penalty of the law. This angered northerners because even the common man, who could have just seen a runaway slave and not reported it, was involved in the slavery dispute and at risk. This further increased the divide between the north and south. -
Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" contributed to the outbreak of the war. It personalized the polical and economic arguments about slavery. Due to this novel, people started picking sides based on their views on the future of the US. The North supported the novel while the South saw it as an unrealistic depiction of southern slavery. Overall, it sharpened the divide in the US. -
Birth of the Republican Party
The creation of the Republican Party officially divided the nation politically, with the south mostly of the Democratic Party. The Republicans eventually held most of the seats in the House of Representatives. This party was opposed to the spread of slavery, but were not for complete integration of blacks with whites. They did not want to competition against unpaid labor in the west. Overall, this politically divided the north and south. -
Sumner attacks Brooks in Senate
Controversies broke out over the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner blasted three of his colleagues by name, speaking of the "crime against Kansas". A cousin of one of the colleagues, named Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina, took his cane and attacked Sumner at his desk. Brooks became an instant hero in the South, and became a symbol of an uncompromising representative of slave power in the North. This increased hostilities between the North and South -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Created by Senatory Stephen A. Douglas, the Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed each territory to decide on the issue of slavery on the basis of popular sovereignty. If slavery was voted for, it would nullify the Missouri Compromise, which put the North in outrage. This act split the Whig Party, with northerners opposing it and southerners supporting it. Most southerners found themselves in the Democratic Party while northerners eventually became the Republican Party. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
In this court case, the Supreme Court ruled that Americans of African descent, free or a slave, were not American citizens. Therefore, they could not sue in federal court, Also, it ruled that Congress lacked the power to ban slavery in the US, and it declared that the rights of slaveowners were protected by the 5th Amendment, as slaves were categorized as property. This rose tensions between the North and South over slavery by validating Southern power. -
John Brown's Harpers Ferry Raid
John Brown and his abolitionist supports went to the town of Harpers Ferry, capturing citizens and seizing the federal armory and arsenal. Brown hoped that the local slave population would join the raid, however, that did not happen. Soon, US Maries arrived and killed the raiders and captured Brown. He was then hanged in December. Brown's rebellion was admired in the North, while the South was shocked and outraged. Tensions were increased with Lincoln's victory in 1860. -
Election of 1860
Lincoln won the electoral vote, carried the northern states, but won less than 40% of all votes cast. The south, in response, felt that they lost their political voice. They feared and hated Lincoln's view against slavery, and they felt that they lost their strength in the government. In response, South Carolina secceded in December, and met with other secessionist states to form the Confederate States of America. Davis was elected president. The Civil War then began in April at Fort Sumter -
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Battle of Fort Sumter
South Carolina and a few Southern states made declarations of seccesion, creating the Confederates. President Lincoln refused to acknowledge this and sent a ship to resupply the US Army in Fort Sumter, in Charleston. The Confederates attacked this ship and bombarded the fort. These were the first shots of the American Civil War. After, support for military action was from both the North and South.
