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In the election of 1848, Zachary Taylor, a war hero from the Mexican-American war, was elected president. This is the first time in US history that a whig has been elected president.
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The gold rush was the time when tons of Americans traveled to California hoping to strike it rich through gold. Very few of these people got lucky and the most of the gold in California was gone within a few years.
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When his master took him to the north states, the slave Dred Scott declared himself a free man. The case went all the way to the supreme court. The court decided that slaves were property, and like property, they could be taken anywhere by their masters.
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The compromise of 1850 was a very important compromise that determined how slavery would be in the west. It entered California as a free state, gave Utah and New Mexico popular sovereignty (people decide if they want slavery), banned slave trade in D.C., and a strong fugitive slave law was set up. The fugitive slave law upset the north because it meant that slavery could reach the north.
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The Kansas Nebraska act allowed the people of Kansas to chose if it entered as a slave state or free state (popular sovereignty). This reversed the compromise of 1820 because Kansas was above the 36 30 line.
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Bleeding Kansas was the time where slave supporters and abolitionists fought over Kansas after the Kansas Nebraska Act. This only made the north and south hate each other even more.
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The abolitionist Charles Sumner talked bad about senator Andrew Butler behind his back. Andrew Butler’s nephew Preston Brooks heard the speech and beat Charles Sumner with a cane.
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John Brown's raid was an attempt made by John Brown to get weapons for abolitionists and slaves. John Brown died but he became a martyr and inspired many abolitionists to take up arms.
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The election of 1860 was very important because Abraham Lincoln won the election. Many southerners were even angrier because Lincoln was a republican.
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South Carolina was the first state to secede from the union. This wasn't surprising because they had tried to secede before during Andrew Jackson's presidency.
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Seven southern states seceded from the union and formed a new country, the confederacy. This was the event that officially split the union in half.
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Soldiers at Fort Sumter were running low on supplies so they asked Lincoln for supplies. It was a difficult decision, but Lincoln sent Ft Sumter supplies. South Carolina thought the fort was preparing for war and fired upon it, starting the civil war.
