-
After the end of the Mexican War, America was ceded western territories. This created a new question for these territories that were turning into new states. Should they be able to decide whether to have slavery or not?
-
Being one of the five bills that were passed in the Compromise of 1850, this bill made any federal official who did not arrest a runaway slave liable to pay a fine. This was the most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850, causing abolitionists to increase efforts against slavery.
-
Written and published through a book in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Uncle Tom's Cabins' became a bestseller across the nation and eventually the world advocating anti-slavery. A new wave of anti-slavery sentiment moved across the US.
-
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed in 1854, allowing the Kansas and Nebraska territories to decide for themselves using popular sovereignty whether they wanted to be free or slave. By 1856, Kansas had become a hotbed of violence as pro- and anti-slavery forces fought over the state's future to the point where it was nicknamed 'Bleeding Kansas'.
-
Pro-slavery Congressman Preston Brooks attacked Charles Sumner with a cane after Sumner had given a speech attacking the pro-slavery forces for the violence occurring in Kansas. Even the congressmen had tensions tight enough to resort to violence.
-
During the Pre-Civil War time period, many disagreements arose regarding slavery in America. The famous Dred Scott decision came from an African-American slave who sought citizenship through the American legal system and ended up getting his case in the Supreme Court. The official Decision denied citizenships for African-Americans and also overturned the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had restricted slavery in certain US territories. This event alone caused many tensions to arise.
-
In 1857, the Lecompton Constitution was created allowing for Kansas to be a slave state. Pro-slavery forces attempted to push the Constitution through the US Congress for acceptance. However, there was enough opposition that in 1858 it was sent back to Kansas for a vote. Kansas voters then rejected the Constitution and Kansas became a free state.
-
Radical abolitionist John Brown led a group of seventeen including five black members to raid the arsenal located in Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His goal was to start a slave uprising using the captured weapons but his men were eventually killed or captured by troops led by Colonel Robert E. Lee. John Brown was then tried and hanged for treason.
-
After Lincoln won the presidential election, South Carolina along with six other states seceded from the Union after many warnings that they would if Lincoln won. This was due to Lincoln's agreement with the majority of the Republican Party that the South was becoming too powerful and made it part of their platform that slavery would not be extended to any new territories or states added to the union.
-
Known as the first battle of the Civil War. in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, provisional Confederate forces in Charleston demanded the fort’s surrender. The fort’s commander, Major Robert Anderson, refused. On April 12, the Confederates opened fire with cannons. At 2:30 p.m. the following day, Major Anderson surrendered.
