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made all land north of Ohio into one large territory, made freedom of religion and the right to a trial by jury available to all inhabitants of the region, forbade slavery in the territory, laid down rules for how a territory could become a state - minimum population of 60,000; made clear how to become a state -
this act was a part of the Compromise of 1850, stated that escaped slaves that reach the North must still be returned to their Southern masters; Northerners heavily disagreed with this act and tended to ignore it or riot against its enforcement -
created when Missouri applied for statehood, states that fall above the 36-30 line are free states and those below it are slave states; it was a consistent and reliable way to keep the number of free and slave states even -
Nat Turner was a slave preacher who gathered a group of followers who were armed and killed about 60 white Virginians before they were caught by federal troops and many of them were executed; although this was one of the few violent slave uprisings in the South, Southerners were still very fearful of more revolts -
the rule forbade any discussion of slavery in the House of Representatives but was repealed in 1844 because John Quincy Adams argued that it violated the right of free speech granted by the First Amendment; because no one was allowed to talk about slavery, no solutions or alternatives could be suggested and so feelings bubbled over -
Slaves overthrew slave ship Amistad but were caught by US forces, John Quincy Adams argued to the Supreme Court that the slave trade was illegal so they should not be put back into slavery; he won which displeased supporters of slavery -
Americans outnumbered Mexicans in the territory, Santa Anna sent troops to keep them in check, Texans tried to oppose this but had trouble getting unified forces together, eventually captured Santa Ann and made him give them independence; Texas was prevented from joining the Union for a few years because many Northerners were wary of the addition of such a large slave state but it did eventually get to join -
Mexico and the US were fighting over disputed territory, US tried to purchase the territory first but when that didn't work the war started, eventually peace was made and US gained the land; as always, when new land was added there were disputes over how to manage slavery in the new territory -
while the Mexican war was still happening, antislavery Democratic representative David Wilmot made an amendment to the Appropriation Bill not allowing slavery in land gained from Mexico; Southerners were looking forward to moving into the new territories with their slaves but they weren't able to -
gold was discovered in California, people from all over the world came in to get rich, first Chinese immigrants to US, California gained an incredibly large and diverse population; ethnic tensions grew in the area which pushed the US government towards fixing territorial governments and deciding how they would handle slavery -
an attempt made by Henry Clay to solve many issues with one bill, wanted to admit California as free state and form territorial governments in the rest of the land acquired from Mexico without slavery restrictions, also was to abolish slave trade but not slavery in the District of Columbia and make a better Fugitive Slave Law; the bill was heavily debated but was eventually split into 5 pieces so each issue could be voted on separately and a new compromise was made -
a powerful and popular piece of propaganda written by white abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, it was a work of fiction that showed North what was essentially a firsthand account of the cruelty slavery brought to African Americans; Northerners loved the story and got even more fired up in the fight for abolition but Southerners hated it even though Stowe did her best to not attack the South outright -
white settlement was being opened in a new territory and its inhabitants were to be allowed to vote whether they would be a free or slave territory, the Missouri Compromise was repealed which destroyed the Whig party and caused the formation of the Republican party; abolitionists were enraged when slavery supporters swelled the vote and made Kansas a slave state, John Brown was a notable abolitionist who used violence to make a point -
A document sent from US representatives in Ostend, Belgium telling President Pierce to seize Cuba by force after failed attempts to purchase it; anti-slavery Northerners were angry because they didn't want a new slave state to be admitted to the Union -
Scott was brought to a free state with his master and once his master died he sued the man's widow for his own freedom, a circuit court gave him freedom but the widow’s brother claimed ownership and got it from the state court, Scott went to the Supreme Court but was dismissed because he was considered property rather than a citizen; Congress claimed they couldn’t deprive people of their property or do much of anything about slavery which was a blow to abolitionists -
John Brown wanted to seize a Virginian arsenal to arm slaves for a rebellion, slaves didn’t rise up as he had expected and so Brown was attacked by locals and US troops, he surrendered and was tried for treason, he was found guilty and hanged soon after; the Southerners were very wary of the Northerners continuing to make attempts at inciting slave revolts -
this compromise would guarantee permanent slavery in current slave states and keep Fugitive Slave Laws in place, it also wanted to reestablish the Missouri Compromise; the South was happy with this plan but Republicans were not because slavery was still in place, as a result it didn't get passed