Slavery

Slavery and Westward Expansion

  • Importation of slaves ends

    Importation of slaves ends
    Political. Economic. A new law passed that made it illegal to bring new slaves into the United States. However, traders could still trade slaves between states.
  • The Missouri Compromise/The Compromise of 1820

    The Missouri Compromise/The Compromise of 1820
    Political. Missouri wanted to enter the union as a slavery state. It was a government compromise to try to keep a balance of slave states and free states. Part of the compromise was creating of the Mason-Dixon line to keep slave states in a certain part of the country.
  • The Wilmot Proviso

    The Wilmot Proviso
    Political. The Wilmot Proviso was an amendment in a piece of legislation that made slave ownership in the new territories illegal. This created more debate and anger about whether or not slavery would be allowed in these territories.
  • The Compromise of 1850

    The Compromise of 1850
    Political. This was several government compromises that were meant to keep the conflict of slave ownership in new territories from causing violence. It delayed the Civil War in America for about 10 years.
  • The Fugitive Slave Act

    The Fugitive Slave Act
    Political. Economic. This act created a new law that captured slaves must be returned to their owners as property. Southern states were happy with the law, but northern states saw it as immoral. This created more conflict between the north and the south.
  • Uncle Tom's Cabin

    Uncle Tom's Cabin
    Social. Political. This novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe is seen a book that spread the problems of slavery to a wide audience in the northern abolitionist state. It motivated citizens and politicians against slavery.
  • The Kansas Nebraska Act

    The Kansas Nebraska Act
    Political. This act was created to try to lower conflict over whether or not new states in the Louisiana Purchase area could be ant-slavery or pro-slavery. The act allowed people in the new territories to vote on whether or not they would be slave states.
  • Bleeding Kansas

    Bleeding Kansas
    Social. Bleeding Kansas was the name given to violence that broke out in Kansas when the state had to decide if it would be a state that allowed slavery. About 200 people died in the violence. It was an early sign of violence over slavery that would come later.
  • The Caning of Charles Sumner

    The Caning of Charles Sumner
    Political. Senator Sumner, a northern anti-slavery senator was attacked in the senate by Preston Brooks, a southern slavery senator. Southerners praised the attack, and this caused more political conflict between the north and the south.
  • The Dred Scott Decision

    The Dred Scott Decision
    Economic. Political. Social. This court decision deepened the conflict between those in the south who wanted to continue slave ownership and the abolitionists in the north.