Events Leading to the Civil War

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    Missouri Compromise of 1820

    Main is admitted to the US as a free state, and to balance it out, Missouri was admitted to a slave state. The compromise states an invisible line through the US at the 36-30 line above the Arkansas territory. Every new state South of that line would be slave, and every new state North of the line would be free. Missouri would be the only exception. To make Southern states happy, Congress said that slaves that had escaped to states in the North could still be brought back from non-slave states.
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    Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion 1831

    This was a slave rebellion that spread fear throughout the South. It killed 60 white people and resulted in retaliation for the rebellion, even to those who were not involved.
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    Compromise of 1850

    California was admitted as a free state, while all other territories could decide if they wanted to be slave or free, which was popular sovereignty. The slave trade was outlawed in D.C. This compromise included the Fugitive Slave Act, which said it was now a crime to help slave that had ran away, even in the union. People in the North were furious. Texas gave up its claims to New Mexico in exchange for 10 million. Texas paid off its debt, and we ended up getting our present-day borders.
  • Uncle Tom's Cabin

    Uncle Tom's Cabin

    Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, this is a book about the horrors of slavery. The south viewed it as propaganda.un
  • Kansas Nebraska Act

    Nebraska was split into two territories; Kansas and Nebraska. Slavery in each territory would be chosen/decided by the voters, or popular sovereignty. The results were the Bleeding Kansas war, which included lot of violence, The Democratic Party losing support in the north but gaining it in the South (they were pro-slavery), and the Republican Party was created and supported by those agaunst slavery.
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    Bleeding Kansas

    A war full of violence that resulted because of the Kansas Nebraska Act.
  • John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry

    John Brown led a raid on Harper's Ferry that failed. He was captured during this anti-slavery riot and hung after being convicted for conspiracy and treason.
  • Dred Scott Decision

    In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that people of African ancestry were not citizens, but considered property. They could not sue in a federal court for anything, including freedom. They also ruled that the Missouri Compromise was illegal. They stated the government could not tell states to be slave or free. Anti-slavery voters were furious and voted for Abraham Lincoln for president 1860.
  • 1860 Presidential Election- Abraham Lincoln

    Republicans promised to give free land in the South to settlers and end the spread of slavery. Abraham Lincoln is elected as president. He is republican. Southern states seceded from the U.S, or the Union. Lincoln's first act as president is to make secession illegal. First shots are fired at Fort Sumter.