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Eli Whitney
he receives patent for the Cotton Gin. The machine greatly increased the production of cleaned cotton thus making cotton a profitable crop for the first time and increasing the need and production value for slaves. -
Period: to
Events leading to the Civil War
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The Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was only a temporary solution to the slavery issue in unorganized territories -
War of Mexico and Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1846-1848)
The northerners were upset with the War of Mexico because they accused it of just southerners seeking more land to spread slavery into. The northerners also hated Polk for supporting it with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. -
Wilmot's Proviso
Wilmot's Proviso showed just how strongly opposition to slavery was in the north. It suggested to ban slavery in all the land aquired from Mexico. It separated the north and the south because the south feared that as soon as northerners gained control of the Senate, slavery would be restricted, then abolished. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Fugitive Slave Act denied accused runaway slaves trial by jury. Sometimes even freed slaves would be taken south because special commisioners were paid five dollars to say they were free and ten dollars to say they were not. Therefore, northerners were very upset because southerners could claim slaves in the north back down to the south. This was when the peak of the underground railroad to Canada occured as well (1850-1860). -
Publishing of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin upset northerners and southerners because it was a story of about slavery in the south. Southerners thought that it was a very exagerated story and depicted a slave's life worse than it really was. Northerners became more aware of the life of a slave and pushed more for abolition. -
Supreme Court Ruling in Dred Scott Case
When the southern-dominated Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott case that Congress could not restrict slavery in any territory, it nullified both the Missouri Compromise and the Kansas Nebraska Act. This really upset the northerners because their growing fear that southerners would legalize slavery everywhere if they could was confirmed.
