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Period: to
Pre-Civil War Timeline
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Missouri Compromise
A series of laws enacted in 1820 to maintain the balance of power between slave states and free states. The Nation became divided by the question of Missouri. -
Wilmot Proviso
An 1846 proposal that outlawed slavery in any territory gained from the War with Mexico. This led to the creation of the Free Soil Party, a political party dedicated to stopping the expansion of slavery. -
Compromise of 1850
A series of Congressional laws intended to settle the major desagreements between free states and slave states. This caused tension to increase between the sections. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
A novel published by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 that portrayed slavery as brutal and immoral. A play based on the book increased its popularity as well as abolitionism. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
An 1854 law that established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and gave their residents the right to decide whether to allow slavery. This led to "Bleeding Kansas" in which many people died because of their veiws on slavery. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
An 1856 Supreme Court case in which a slave, Dred Scott, sued for his freedom because he had been taken to live in territories where slavery was illegal. The Court decided against Dred Scott and went with what Southerners favored, making the Northerners angery. -
Sack of Lawrence
zin May, a proslavery mob attacked the town of Lawrece, Kansas. Atackers destroyed offices and the house of the governour of the anti slavery government. The town was destroyed, causing even more tension about whether Kansas should be a free state or slave state. -
Pottawatomie Massacre
John Brown and seven other men killed five of his proslavery neighbors to avenge the Sack of Lawrence. Southerners saw John Brown as a terrorist, but Northerners saw him as a martyr, creating yet another dissagrement between the sections. -
Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln and John Breckinridge were the main competitors in the election of 1860, Lincoln for the North, and Brickinridge for the South; Lincoln won. Southerners believed Abraham Lincoln and other Republicans would move to abolick slavery. -
South Carolina Seceding from the Union
South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, followed by many others. The Nation had become completely divied over the issue of slavery.
