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Wilmot Proviso
This was a bill that would ban slavery in the territories aquired after war with Mexico. If this was passed it would have outlawed slavery. Wimot tried everything to pass the law but all attempts failed. -
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 were different actions taken to settle the arguments between the slave states and the free states. Even though an agreement was reached, it did little to help the division of the United States. It then led to the Fugitive Slave Act. -
Fugitive Slave Act
This was a law that provided harsh treatment for slaves that tried to escape and anyone who helped a runaway slave. This law became more strict from the Compromise of 1850. This law made the northerners angry so as a result they passed the personal liberty laws. These laws banned the imprisonment of escaped slaves. -
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Events Leading to the Civil War
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Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe is the author of the famous antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The novel exposed the horros of slavery. Southerners denied the truth and said the author exaggerated. Northerners eyes were opened to what slavery was really like. -
Kansas- Nebraska Act
This act became law in 1854 due to the debates in congress from Frederick Douglass's bill. This law split Nebraska into the territories of Nebraska and Kansas. Each state would then decide whether or not to allow slavery (popular sovereignty.) Since these states were able to make their own decisions, this led to more problems. -
Bleeding Kansas
Due to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, proslavery and antislavery people fled to Kansas. Both sides wanted to have enough people to vote for the way they wanted it. Violence then erupted. John Brown killed five proslavery people, this then triggered other violent actions to take place. About 200 people were killed and the name 'Bleeding Kansas" is due to the fact on how bloody and violent the situation was. -
New Political Parties form
The three perties formed are the Know- Nothing Party, Free-Soil Party, and Republican Party. The Know- Nothing party wanted to extend the time needed before immigrants could become citizens. Both the Free- Soil party and Republican party were formed to oppose extending slavery in the territories. The Republican party winded up gaining more power that eventually got their own first candidate for president. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was a slave living in a free territory that sued his owner for freedom. Roger B. Taney ruled that Scott was not a could never be a citizen, he was property. Southerners supported the decision and northeners did not. They believed it allowed slavery to be extended into all the Western territories. -
John Browns Raid
John Brown killed 5 people in the Bleeding Kansas events. Senator Douglass issued the Freeport Doctrine which was the idea that any territory could ban slavery by simply refusing to pass laws supporting it. Federal soldiers then captured John Brown and hung him. He was praised by northerners for his actions against proslavery people. -
Abraham Lincolns election to presidency
Abraham Lincoln was a republican who ran for president and won in 1860. His received no votes in the south bu all from the north. His victory of being president convinced Southerners that they had lost their political power. They feared and end to their ways of life. -
Secession of the Southern States
As a result of Abraham Lincoln's presidency, Southern states began seceeding from the union. The first state to seceed was South Caroline. Six other states followed the same path by February of 1861. These states then formed the Confederate States of America which led to a divided country.
