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The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a secret organization of abolitionists that helped slaves escape to freedom. To keep it secret, they used code words that were associated with railroads and biblical references. Using these code words/phrases, many didn't realize that when slaves were talking about 'stealing away to Jesus', they were talking about escape. Some of the most famous 'agents' of the Underground Railroad were Harriet Tubman and Thomas Garrett. -
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Gerrit Smith
Gerrit Smith was an abolitionist. He was from Utica, New York. He helped plan the attack on Harper's Ferry. As a result of this failure, Mr. Smith went somewhat insane for a period of time. Later, after he got his life back together, he was the Presidential candidate for the Liberty Party in 1848. He thought that the US Constitution was an anti-slavery document. -
Missouri Compromise
Beforehand, slaveolders had already moved into the Missouri territory. When Missoui applied for statehood, Congress wasn't sure if it should be a free orslave state. James Tallmage proposed that it should be free (he was from the north) and that all slave children to be freed before age 25. William Pinkeney and other southerners were opposed to this so, the Tallmage ammendment was not passed. To compensate for both the north and the south, Congress created the Missouri compromise. -
Missouri Compromise (continued)
Missouri would become a slave state, however every state above the 36'30' line would be a free state. Every state below would allow the use of slavery. Maine was also added to the union as a free state to keep the balance of power, twelve of each state. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner, an enslaved preacher, lived on the Travis Plantation in South Hampton County, Virginia. On August 22, 1831, he got together a group of 70 opressed slaves and they rebelled against their master's. First, they killed the entire Travis family. Then they went on to kill almost 60 white people. This sent a wave of fear throught the southern plantation owners. Nat Turner and many of his followers were tried and hanged. Other slaves were also punished for his actions, like getting whipped. -
Comprimise of 1850
Shortly after the Mexican-American War, California wanted to join the union as a free state. This sparked a huge discussion in Congress. The southern senators threatened to secede from the union. Henry Clay kept looking for some kind of compromise for the North and the South could live with. Even though he was 73, sick and week, he still managed to somehow come up with a compromise. There weere 4 parts to it. First, California would become a free state. -
Compromise of 1850 - 2
Secondly, California became a free state. Thirdly, the territories of New Mexico and Utah could choose whether or not to become free or slave states, this was also called popular sovreignty. Lastly, the fugittive slave act was added to the compromise. This act would force all people who found or harbored runaway slaves to return them to their rightful owners or be put in jail. This gave the south the upper hand, however, the northerners didn't realize this until it was too late. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act 3
as a state. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Senator of Illinois, Stephen Douglas, wanted two things. One, he wanted to be president. Two, he wanted Chicago to benefit from western developement. For that to happen, Kansas and Nebraska had to become states. However, if he were to push for statehood, then he would lose southern voters. The Missouri Compromise made them both free states. Stephen Douglas made the Kansas Nebraska act to get southern votes while still making Kansas and Nebraska states. What this act did was give popular -
Kansas-Nebraska Act 2
sovreignty and basically got rid of the 36' 30' line of the MIssouri Compromise. Popular sovreignty let the people of the territory decide if they want to be free or slave. When the first vote was held, southern supporters won. The northern supportersaccused them of fraud and violence broke out. President Franklin Pierce sent in federal troops to break up said violence. As a result, congress didn't recognize them as a state. It wasn't until January 29, 1861 that Kansas was admitted to the Union -
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott was born a slave in Virginia. When his owner's, the Blow family, moved to Missouri, they sold Scott to an army doctor named Dr. Emerson. Dred Scott then went with the doctor to the Illinois and Wisconsin territories over a time period of 12 years. During this time period Scott had married another slave. The year after they returned to Missouri, Dr. Emerson passed away, so Scott and his family were left to the care of the doctor's widow. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was series of violent actions in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Many of these rebellious acts were lead by abolitionist John Brown. -
Election of 1860
The Election of 1860 was the presidential election that split the country in half, literally! The two main candidates were Abraham Lincoln and John Breckinridge. Lincoln was a Republican and Breckinridge was a southern Democrat. When Lincoln did end up winning, he won without any Southern votes. The south realized that they would never get into the White house, so South Carolina seceded and soon the rest of the southern states followed suit. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
Shortly after South Carolina seceded from the Union, Fort Sumter, a Union fort, was running out of supplies. This fort was located on an island in the Charleston Bay. With this in mind, Lincoln tried to send in some ships with supplies. Early that morning, Confederate ships attacked the fort under the leadership of General P.G.T Beauregard. In the end, Fort Sumter fell to the Confederacy.
