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Nat Turner's Rebellion
In August of 1831, Nat Turner started a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia. Turner and 75 other slaves armed themselves and attacked. They ended up killing 51 white slave owners and their families. As a result of this rebellion, harsher slave laws were enforced -
Gag Rule
The gag rule which was enforced by the congressmen that were pro slave, was put in place to postpone all topics of discussion when it came to slavery. This rule made it so that no petitions could be passed or signed by congress that involved the topic of slavery. The gag rule took away citizen's rights to have a say in what is going on in the government. -
Fredrick Douglass escapes
In 1838, Fredrick Douglass managed to escape slavery by dressing up as a sailor and getting on a train that eventually led him to his freedom. After Douglass escaped from slavery, he created an anti slavery newspaper called the North Star. The North Star talked about slavery issues and helped slaves escape to the north. -
Revolt on Creole
This slave revolt ended up being the most successful in history. A ship of slaves and goods was getting transported. The slaves took over the ship and went to the Bahamas. One hundred and twenty eight slaves received freedom from this event. It was British territory, and under British law they were then allowed to be free people. -
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad which was founded in 1849, was a series of safe houses and and people that helped slaves escape to the north so they could become free. Harriet Tubman was one of the slaves that helped many escape to their freedom. She repeatedly made trips back to the plantation she came from to help rescue other slaves. -
Compromise of 1850
The compromise of 1850 decided which parts of the new territory were slave states and which ones were the non slave states. The Mexican American war resulted in America gaining new land. It allowed California and Oregon to be a slave state or a free state. It established the fugitive slave act, which allowed slave owners to get their slaves from the northern states. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. It was an anti slavery novel that described the experiences slaves had while in slavery. This novel became the most popular of its time second only to the bible. Supposedly, this book helped lay the groundwork for the civil war. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
The Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854 made it possible for the people of Kansas and Nebraska to choose whether they wanted to allow slavery within their state. Pro slavery and anti slavery people fought over the fate of Kansas in terms of slavery, this fight ended very violently and was named bleeding Kansas. -
Dred Scott Decision
A legal case in 1857 that dealt with the issue of Dred Scott's freedom. Scott was taken by his slave owner back to the north, even though he had been in a free state at the time. He brought this case to the court to try to sue for his freedom. The court did not give Scott his freedom in the end. -
Lincoln is elected
Abraham Lincoln was elected as the president of the United States in 1860. Many of the southern states were mad and wanted to secede from the union. Lincoln was against slavery and wanted to stop slavery from spreading to the western territories.
