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Missouri Compromise
On March 6, 1820, President James Monroe signed the Missouri Compromise. This compromise gave a peaceful resolve to the conflict over whether Missouri should be admitted as a free state or a slavery state. In the end, it was settled that Missiouri would become a slave state and Maine would join as a free state to provide temporary relief on the strain between the northern and southern states. It would be short-lived, however. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
On this day, Nat Turner led a group of slaves in a violent revolt against whites. They killed about 60 people, only to be stopped by the militia of Virginia.Nat escaped, only to be catpured.Nat Turner was a religious man. He supposedly had visions leading up to the attack, and it was said that he based the day of attack based on these visions. -
The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a group of people that worked to help slaves escape to freedom durning while the country was still growing and before the Civil War. The organization consisted of sympathetic whites who were against slavery and freed and escaped blacks. They used train terminology to keep it a secret. The exact start date is not known, but what is known is that Tice Davids escaped during 1831, which was where the first mention of the name was used. -
Frederick Douglas
This was when Frederick Douglass, a former slave and influential speaker and editor escaped. Although an exact date is not given, this is a good estimate due to the fact that he escaped by ship. -
Compromise of 1850
This compromise was an attempt to settle unrest between the north and south. It gave Texas $10 million dollars to pay back Mexico, and allowed California to join the Union as a free state. In exchange for giving California to the Norrth, the South got the Fugitive Slave Act. This said that all esca[ed slaves must be returned to their owners, even from the north. There are now heavy penalties for helping slaves, and rewards for turning them in. However, it didn't stop the Underground Railroad. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
The Kansas Nebraska act gave Kansas and Nebraska the right to choose for themselves whether or not they would allow slavery. This caused many people, from both sides to move into these states and try to shift the votes. It upset the North because they felt that they should have been free states because of the Compromise of 1850.This is the event that caused the Bleeding Kansas as well as well as futher unrest that inevitably caused war. -
Bleeding Kansas
Though unrest occured in Kansas starting in 1853, this was a major date in the undertaking of Bleeding Kansas.The term " Bleeding Kansas" is appropriate to the bloody carnage that took place, and was a preview of what was to come in the Civil War.This was one of the final events that led up to the war. -
Dred Scott Case/Ruling
The Dred Scott Case took place when a slave made an appeal for freedom. He did this after his mater had died, and he said that since he had spent time in free states he should be free. The country was not on his side, however. The Supreme Court ruled that since he was African American, he would never be a citizen of the United States and that he didn't have any rights. Furthermore, the resutls of this case further weakend Congress and voided the Missouri Compromise. Slavery had won for now. -
Presidential Election of 1860
In 1860. a Presidential election took place. It was between Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican canidate, John Bell of the Constitution Union Party, and Stephen Douglas and and John Breckenridge who were both of the Democratic Party. Abraham Lincoln won by a landslide. Even though Breckenridge carried all of the southern states, the electoral votes were minisule compared to that of the largely white male populationed north, of which Lincoln carried all of the votes. -
Presidential Election of 1861
On February 13th, 1861, the results of the Election of 1861 were finalized. This outraged the south because a president had been elected even though every southern state had voted against him. This led to many southern states, the first being South Carolina, to secede from the Union and form the Confederacy, which was the start of the Civil War. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
At 4:30 AM on April 12 1863, General Beauregard fired on Fort Sumter. After South Carolina secedes from the Union, they demand that Major Anderson gives up the fort. When they tried to ship in supplies and refuse to evacuate the fort, Gen. Beauregard fired upon him as promised the fired Maj. Anderson into submission, obliterating the fort. However, the only casualty of the attack was a Confederate horse. However, this was still a vital piece in the Civil War.
