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Henry Clay
Henry Clay was named the great compromiser because he was the one who made up the missouri compromise but did not have a part in the compromise of 1850 because he was to old. Instead Stephen Douglas did that. He was important because the missouri compromise was the first thing to lead into the civil war. -
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809 but eventually moved to Illinois with his family. He served as a state legislature for 8 years and senate for one year as a republican. He and Douglas debated for senate. Douglas won but later on Abe became president. He made a very gutsy decision that started the civil war -
Missouri Compromise
Maine becomes a free state and Missouri becomes a slave state. Split the Louisiana Purchase along the 36 30 with the north being free and the south being slave. This caused more of a division in the country, which helped lead to the civil war. -
The Trial of Dred Scott
Dred Scott was a slave owned by John Emerson. He spent a few years in free territory and when he moved back he wanted to be free in missouri. 5 of the 7 justices were southern so obvioulsy they voted him property and not a free citizen. This made many people mad -
Fugitive Slave Law
Required all Citizens to help catch runaway slaves. People who helped the slaves run away on the other hand, would be fined $1,000 and would be sent to jail. Judges would recieve $10 for returning a man to slavery and $15 for setting them free. people ignoring this and runaway slaves made people very angry and didnt help stop the civil war from happening. -
Compromise of 1850
California was a free state. Popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico. Bans slave trade in Washington D.C. Fugitive slave act was going on. Settled border disputes between Texas and New Mexico. This added another free state and made the south feel outnumbered -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
Nebraska applied to become a state. It should have been a free state but the southerners did not want to add another free state. They divided Nebraska into nebraska and kansas. This made people angry and further increased the tension because it overturned the missouri compromise. -
Bleeding Kansas
On may 21 a posse of 800 proslavery men lay siege to the town of lawrence. After this happened, John Brown, a 56 year old abolitionist led seven men, 3 of which were his sons and killed 5 innocent proslavery men by pulling them from their cabins and splitting open their heads with a broad sword. This made people in the south angry and they hung him but the people in the north named him a martyr -
Secession
The South got so mad at the north that they decided to secede and separate the north from the south. The first state to secede was south carolina. By late feb. in 1861, 6 other southern states had also seceded. They set up their own government and elected Jefferson Davis as the president. This split up the nation into the north and the south. -
Fort Sumter
Southerners wanted the fort from the Federal Government. The administration decided to just wait and see what would happen. After a while, the fort started to run low on supplies so Abraham Lincoln sent them supplies but no men so the south got mad and attacked the fort on April 12, 1861. This was the beginning of the Civil War
