important events between 1820 and 1860 that increased sectionalism and led to the Civil War.
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Description: The Missouri
Compromise allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It also
established the 36°30' line, banning slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of this line.
Significance: This compromise temporarily balanced power between slave and free states, but it highlighted the deep divisions and set a precedent for future conflicts over the spread of slavery. -
Description: Nat Turner, an enslaved preacher, led a violent slave rebellion in Virginia, killing about 60 white people. The rebellion was quickly suppressed, and Turner was executed.
Significance: The revolt terrified white Southerners, leading to harsher slave laws and growing fear of slave uprisings. It intensified the national debate over slavery and resistance. -
Description: South Carolina declared federal tariffs null and void within the state, leading to a
confrontation with President Andrew Jackson. A compromise tariff eventually diffused the situation.
Significance: This event showed the growing tension between state and federal authority and foreshadowed the secession crisis by asserting a state's right to reject federal laws. -
Description: Congress passed a rule that automatically tabled (ignored) all anti-slavery petitions, preventing them from being read or discussed.
Significance: It outraged abolitionists and increased their determination to end slavery. It also highlighted the extent to which pro-slavery forces would go to silence debate. -
Description: Texas, an independent republic after breaking away from Mexico, was annexed by the United States and admitted as a slave state.
Significance: This led to the Mexican-American War and raised tensions over the expansion of slavery into newly acquired territories. -
Description: The war resulted in the
U.S. acquiring vast territory from Mexico, including California and the Southwest.
Significance: The new land intensified the debate over the expansion of slavery, as the North and South clashed over whether it would be free or slave territory. -
Description: A series of laws admitting California as a free state, creating territorial governments in the rest of the Mexican Cession with popular sovereignty, and enacting a stricter Fugitive Slave Law.
Significance: Though it delayed war, it angered both sides-especially the North, which resented the Fugitive Slave Law. It increased polarization over slavery. -
Description: This act allowed settlers in those territories to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery, repealing the Missouri Compromise.
Significance: It led to "Bleeding Kansas," a series of violent conflicts, and marked the collapse of compromise, showing that popular sovereignty could not resolve the slavery issue. -
Description: The Supreme Court ruled that African Americans were not citizens and that Congress could not ban slavery in any territory.
Significance: This decision outraged the North, strengthened the abolitionist movement, and further divided the nation by making the federal government seem pro-slavery. -
Description: Abolitionist John
Brown led a raid on a federal arsenal in an attempt to start a slave uprising. He was captured and executed.
Significance: Brown became a martyr in the North but was viewed as a terrorist in the South. His raid convinced Southerners that abolitionists would stop at nothing, pushing the country closer to war. -
American Battlefield Trust. (1970, June 1). https://www.battlefields.org/
Missouri Secretary of State - IT. (n.d.). Missouri State Archivesmissouri’s Dred Scott Case, 1846-1857. Missouri Digital Heritage: Dred Scott Case, 1846-1857. https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/africanamerican/scott/scott.asp#:~:text=Missouri’s%20Dred%20Scott%20Case%2C%201846,Missouri%20Compromise%20to%20be%20unconstitutional.