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Missouri Compromise
This compromise kept the number of free and slave states equal. It also created a line (36' 30) to designate future free and slave states. The compromise only applied to the Louisiana Territory. This compromise kept sectional tension low until the Mexican- American War brought in new land. -
California Gold Rush
Because of all the gold in California, may people moved there. These towns wee called boomtowns. The people that hunted for gold were 49ers. As more people moved to California, it requested to become a free state. This angered the south and caused tensions to rise even more. -
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Mexican War
Mexico never recognized Texas's independence. Mexicans felt that the US stole Texas. The US wanted California and wanted to buy it from Mexico but they refused. The Mexicans also didn't respect the border of Texas as they thought it was their land. Polk sent troops to march into the disputed territory. The Mexican army killed 11 American soldiers. America declared war. This caused tensions to arise because not everyone agreed with the war. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was designed to eliminate slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican War. Soon after the war began, President James K. Polk sought the appropriation of $2 million as part of a bill to negotiate the terms of a treaty.This caused tensions to arise about slavery because some people felt that what Polk did was wrong. -
Compromise of 1850
This determined the status of the land from the Mexican Cession, including California. It was proposed by Henry Clay. This divided the country even more. It raised tension. -
Fugitive Slave Law
This law became the most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850. It forced northerners to aid slave catchers. Blacks were falsely accused as being a runaway slave. This cause more tensions between the north and south. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, a book about slavery. The book was graphic and made slavery look horrible. This caused the northerners to hate slavery. The southerners banned the book. The North and South became more divided over slavery. -
Republican Party Forms
Anti- slavery Whigs, Democrats, and the Free-Soil party hated the Kansas- Nebraska Act. They joined together to form the Republican party, which existed in the North. Republicans didn't want slavery to expand west. This caused more tensions because the south wanted to expand. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´. This act cause tensions to rise for the south wanted the state to be a slave state. -
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“Bleeding Kansas”
Abolitionists from the North and slave owners from the South poured into Kansas. Kansas has a civil war between the abolitionists and slave owners. Popular sovereignty failed because people in Kansas could not agree over slavery. This caused more tensions between the north and south. -
Charles Sumner caned in the Senate
Charles Sumner made the speech," The Crime Against Kansas", denounced slave states. Preston Brooks, a congressman from South Carolina, nearly beat Sumner to death with a cane. This event caused more tensions to arise. The North saw the south as bad people for doing this. -
Dred Scott vs. Sandford
The Supreme Court ruled that Americans of African descent, whether free or slave, were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court. The Court also ruled that Congress lacked power to ban slavery in the U.S. territories. This case caused tensions to rise among the abolitionist for they felt that blacks should be seen as equals. -
John Brown’s Raid at Harper’s Ferry
Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery. This caused tensions to arise. The south felt as if they needed to retaliate. -
Abraham Lincoln elected President
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was the first president from the Republican party. He was hated by the south and loved by the north. He was against slavery and this was the breaking point for the south. South Carolina broke free from the Union. -
Southern states begin to secede
South Carolina was the first to leave the Union and form a new nation called the Confederate States of America. Four months later, six other states seceded. They were Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana. Later Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee joined them. -
Battle at Fort Sumter
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the first battle of the American Civil War. The intense Confederate artillery bombardment of Major Robert Anderson's small Union garrison in the unfinished fort in the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina, had been preceded by months of siege-like conditions. -
Southern states begin to secede
South Carolina seceded for the United States to form their own country. By the time Lincoln was sworn into office, the seven states in the "lower South" had seceded. The states formed a new government, the Confederacy.
