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Missouri Compromise of 1820
The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. The North and the South were competing for new lands in the western territories. Southerners opposed these antislavery efforts. These differences grew into sectionalism. This compromise prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of 36,30. This compromise preserved the balance betweeen slave and free states in the Senate. It also brought about a brief lull in the debate over slavery. -
Nathaniel Turner's Rebellion 1831
Nathaniel Turner saw an eclipse of the sun and thought it to be a sign from God telling him to kill the enemies. Him and six of his friends went from plantation to plantation killing white peple and their families. Him and his friends were caught and executed. This caused slaveholders to live in fear of something else that might happen. -
Wilmot Proviso 1846-1850
David Proviso introduced a proposal called the WIlmot Proviso that would ban slavery in any lands that might be acquired from Mexico. Southerners didn't like this. They wanted California and New Mexico to stay open for slavery. John C. Calhoun made another proposal stating that neither Congress nor any territory government had the authority to ban slavery from a territory or control it. Neither proposal passed, but caused debate betweent the two. -
Compromise of 1850
Leading up to the Compromise of 1850, California applied to become a free state in 1849. Southerners wanted a strong national law that required states to return fugitive enslaved people. The main issue was the balance of power in the Senate. Henry Clay proposed a compromise that stated that California would be a free state, while the rest of the new territories would have no limits on slavery. Congress passed 5 bills. These bills were known as the Compromise of 1850. -
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay pushed for a stronger fugitive slave law. Slavery had little chance in the new territorires because the land was not suited to plantations. Stephen A. Doughlas divided Clay's plan into parts that could be voted on seperately. This was the Compromise of 1850. -
Fugitive Slave Act 1850
The Fugitive Slave Act was an attempt to pacify slaeholders. This required all citizens to help catch runaways. Sometimes they seized African Americans who were not trying to escape and forced them into slavery. The Underground Railroad was an interconnected system that helped African Americans escape to freedom. Northern juries refused to convict those accused of violating the Fugitive Slave Act. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska that was ppen to new land for settlement.. This had an affect on repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820. It allowed white settlers to determine through popular sovereignty, wheather to allow slavery whithin each territory. This would allow many new farms. The result of this was in Kansas with the "Bleeding Kansas". Armed bands soon roamed the territory. They also reffered to this as "the Cival War in Kansas". -
Dred Scott Case 1857
Dred Scott was an enslaved African American bought by an army doctor in Missouri. In the 1830's the doctor moved his houshold to ilinois and then to Wisconsin Territory. Later his family returned to Missouri, where the dodctor died. Scott sued for his freedom. He claimed he should be free becuase he once lived in areas of the North where slaveery was prohibited. Rather than settling the issue, the decision divided the country even more. The Republicans main issue was ruled unconstitutional. -
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
On October 16, John Brown led a group on a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He hoped to arm enslaved African Americans and start a revolt against slaveholders. Brown's raid was defeated by local citizens and federal troops. He was sentenced to Hang. This shook the North. His death rallied abolitionists. -
Lincoln's Election 1860
Lincoln won the election, but wasn't in office yet. James Buchanan's term ran until March 4, 1861. Buchanan sent a messase to Congress saying that the Southern states had no right to secede from the Union. James added that he had no power to stop them from doing so. In Lincoln's Inaugural Address, he said that secession would not be permitted, that "the Union of these States is forever. -
Battle at Fort Sumter 1861
Lincoln didn't want to start a war without trying to take the forts back. The day after taking office, LIncoln got a message from the commander of Fort Sumter saying that the fort was low on supplies and the Confederates demanded its surrender. Lincoln left the decision to start shooting up the Confederates. High seas kept Union relief ships from reaching the fort. They surrendered on April 14. Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas voted to join the Condeferacy. Cival War began.
