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Missouri Compromise
Missouri Compromisean agreement made by Congress in 1820 under which Missouri was admitted to the Union as a state with slavery and Maine was admitted as a state without slavery -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner's Rebellion, also known as the Southampton Insurrection, was a rebellion of enslaved Virginians that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831, led by Nat Turner. The rebels killed between 55 and 65 people, at least 51 of whom were White. -
Gag Rule
In Congress, the House of Representatives used the “gag rule” to prohibit discussions and debates of the anti-slavery petitions. In the late 1830s, Congress received more than 130,000 petitions from citizens demanding the abolition of slavery in Washington, D.C. and other federally- controlled territories. -
Wilmot Proviso
Wilmot Provisoa proposal made in 1846 to prohibit slavery in the territory added to the United States as a result of the Mexican-American War -
Harreit Tubman escapes slavery
Tubman herself used the Underground Railroad to escape slavery. In September 1849, fearful that her owner was trying to sell her -
Compromise of 1850
Compromise of 1850the agreements made in order to admit California into the Union as a state without slavery. These agreements included allowing the New Mexico and Utah territories to decide whether to allow slavery, outlawing the trade of enslaved people in Washington, D.C., and creating a stronger fugitive slave law. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin published
Uncle Tom's Cabin, in full Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly, novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, published in serialized form in the United States in 1851–52 and in book form in 1852. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Kansas-Nebraska Actan act passed in 1854 that created the Kansas and Nebraska territories and abolished the Missouri Compromise by allowing settlers to determine whether slavery would be allowed in the new territories -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas describes the period of repeated outbreaks of violent guerrilla warfare between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces following the creation of the new territory of Kansas in 1854. In all, some 55 people were killed between 1855 and 1859. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott decisiona Supreme Court decision in 1857 that held that African Americans could never be citizens of the United States and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of seven public debates in 1858 between Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln and incumbent ... -
John Brown raids Harpers Ferry
Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia -
Abraham Lincoln elected
The 1860 United States presidential election was the 19th quadrennial presidential election, held on November 6, 1860.