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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri to the union as a slave state and divided the remainder of Louisiana Purchase into free and slave territory. -
The Expansion Of Slavery
With the victory in the Mexican War it added more than 500,000 square miles to the United States. It also cause a bitter debate over slavery in the west.Some northerners wanted to prohibit slavery in all parts. -
The California Questions
They were deciding if they should make it a free state or a slave state. Most people wanted it to be a free state. It would upset the balance between free and slave states. -
The Free-Soil Party
The debate over slavery in the Mexican Cession played a role in the presidential election. Democrats nominated Senator Cass, the champion of popular sovereignty, but the platform avoided a definite position on slavery in the West. The new party won 10 percent of the popular vote, beating Cass in three northern states. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act made it a federal crime to assist runaway slaves and allowed them to be arrested even in areas where slavery was illegal. This act offended many northerners, most of them indifferented the struggles of slaves in the south. Many slaveholders took advantage of the act immediatly -
Nebraska-Kansas Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act is a plan that divided the Louisiana Purchase into two territories-Nebraska and Kansas. Popular sovereignty woukd decide if there would be slavery.Antislavery northerns were outraged, some called the proposal a "gross violation of a scared pledge" and a terrible plot to turn free territory into a "dreary region inhabited by masters and slaves." -
Kansas Divided
Antislavery and pro-slavery groups scrambled to get people to Kansas as quickly as possible.Northern and southern politicians recognized that a contest had begun. Eli Thayer helped northern families to move to Kansas. Southern families poured into Kansas as well. -
Bleeding Kansas
Kansas had two governments and a hostile population that was divided into two armed camps.Many of pro-slavery settlers had bought guns. With both sides heavily armed, violence soon broke out. -
The Raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown had a plan to help more slaves escape to freedom. He preposed to raid a arsenal in Virginia and seizing the weapons stored there. He urged his abolitionists to give him money to recruit, train, and supply a small army. After he seized the federal arsenal there, several of Browns men went into the countryside to urge slaves to come to Harpers ferry. -
Leaving The Union
Many whites in the south thought that once in power, Lincoln would move to abolish slavery in the south. They feared this action would destroy the social and economic fabric of the region. After Lincolns election, South Carolina's legislature called for a speacial convention to consider the question of secession, the act of formally withdrawing from the Union.
