-
package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850, which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican–American War
-
Congress finally accepted California as a free labor state under the Compromise of 1850
-
novel, first published serially, by Harriet Beecher Stowe; it paints a grim picture of life under slavery
-
the incumbent president was a Whig who had succeeded to the presidency upon the death of his war-hero predecessor
-
agreement between the United States and Mexico, finalized in 1854, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico
-
ended the peace established between the North and South by the Compromise of 1850; The act enforced popular sovereignty upon the new territories but was opposed by Northern Democrats and Whigs
-
a series of violent political confrontations in the United States involving anti-slavery "Free-Staters" and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian", or "southern yankees" elements in Kansas between 1854 and 1861
-
United States Senate Preston Brooks beats Charles Sumner with a cane. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was an avowed Abolitionist and leader of the Republican Party. After the sack of Lawrence, on May 21, 1856, he gave a bitter speech in the Senate called "The Crime Against Kansas."
-
Democrats nominated Buchanan, Republicans nominated Fremont, and Know-Nothings chose Fillmore. Buchanan won due to his support of popular sovereignty
-
Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott was a black slave and not a citizen. Hence, he could not sue in a federal court
-
series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858, when both were campaigning for election to the United States Senate from Illinois. Much of the debating concerned slavery and its extension into territories such as Kansas
-
raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery
