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Abolition Movement
Social reformers started the Abolition Movement in the North to end slavery. One of the leaders of this movement was William Lloyd Garrison, who founded the American Anti-Slavery Society and created the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator.. -
Nullification Crisis
This was a confrontation between South Carolina and the federal government. South Carolina declared that the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional and did not apply within the boundaries of the state. -
Frederick Douglass and the North Star
The North Star was an anti-slavery newspaper published by Frederick Douglass, who was a former slave. Douglass had escaped from slavery and became a leader of the Abolitionist Movement. -
Compromise of 1850
This was a package of five separate bills passed by the U.S. Congress. The status of territories gained in the Mexican-American war was resolved and California was admitted as a free state. Popular sovereignty was also established. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act & Popular Soveignty
The territories of Kansas and Nebraska were created. This Act basically repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by creating popular soverignty, which allowed settlers in the territories to decide whether their states would be free or slave. -
Bleeding Kansas
This was a series of violent political confrontations between pro-slavery and anti-slavery citizens. This took place in the Kansas territory and also in Missouri and it was mainly causes by popular sovereignty. Over 50 people were killed. -
Dred Scott Decision
This was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. It said that slaves were property and not citizens so they did not have a right to sue. Dred Scott was a slave who was moved from a slave state to a free state. He argued that he should then be free, but the decision said that he could not even sue for this right. -
Election of Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was elected as a Republican President and he vowed to keep the country united and the new Western territories free from slavery. Many people in the South considered this the last straw, as far as their issues with the North. The South began contemplating secession soon after hte election. -
South Carolina Secession
South Carolina General Assembly passes a resolution calling the election of President Lincoln a hostile act. They also stated their intention to secede from the U.S. The state began preparing for military action from the government and began calling for other states to secede. -
Formation of Confederate States of America
The Confederacy was originally formed by seven slave states in the South, soon after the election of President Lincoln. This new Confederate government was considered illegal by the U.S. government. The Civil War began in April of 1861.
