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Cotton Gin
In 1794, Eli Whitney created the cotton gin. The cotton gin successfully removed seeds from the cotton. This helped Southerners become the cotton producing part of the country. This was a conflict because it increased slavery in the South. -
Embargo of 1807
The Embargo Act of 1807 was an act forbidding all American eports to Britain and France. This was America trying to persuade Britain and France to respect their rights. The Embargo was sponsored by Thomas Jefferson and enacted by Congress. The Embargo was unsuccessful because merchants, sea captains, and sailors found themselves without income. Britain and France did not change their ways. The Embargo was superceded by the Nonintercourse Act on March 1, 1809. -
Missouri Compromise
In 1819, Missouri wanted to become a slave state, which would alter the balance between slave states and free states. Congress decided to make Missouri a slave state and Maine become a free state. Congress also passed an amendment that drew an imaginary line across the former Louisiana Territory, establishing a boundary between free states and slave states. This was compromise because it let Missouri become a slave state without difficulties. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 consists of five laws that was passed in September. In 1849, California requested to become a part of the Union as a free state, altering the balance between free states and slave states. U.S. Senator Henry Clay brought up multiple solutions to avoid a situation between North and South. As a compromise, California entered the Union as a free state, the Fugitive Slave Act was ammended, and the Slave Trade in Washington D.C. was abolished. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin is a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was about a slave family. It sold 1 million copies in 2 years, and was later turned into a play. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was a bill that mandated "popular-sovereignty", allowing settlers to decide whether they were a free state or slave state. Proposed by Steven A. Douglas, the bill overturned the Missouri Compromise balance of free states and slave states. This led to a period of violence known as the Bleeding Kansas. -
Bleeding Kansas
The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act overturned the Missouri Compromise's boundary between free and slave territory. Proslavery and free state settlers went to Kansas to try to influence a decision. Violence erupted when both sides fought for control. John Brown led anti-slavery fighters. -
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott was a slave who lived with his owner in a free state before returning to the slave state of Missouri. Dred believed that he deserved emancipation. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney disagreed. The court believed that no black, free or slave, could become a U.S. Citizen, therefore they couldn't take this problem to court. The decision angered abolitionists and the tension in the North and South worsened. -
John Brown's Raid
In 1859, John Brown led an army of 18 men into the small town of Harper's Ferry, Virginia. He wanted to instigate a slave rebellion, seize the ammunation and arms in the state arsenal, and arm the slaves. He didn't have rations or escape routes. Unfortunately, the slaves didn't comply. Brown and his men were surrounded by a militia. Brown was arrested and sentenced to be hanged. -
Election of 1860
The nation has been divided for most of the 1850's because of slave rights. The Election of 1860 made it worse. The formerly dominant Demorcratic Replublic was divided between North and South, bringing Abraham Lincoln and the Republican party to power without the support of any Southern states. Not long after, there were declarations of secession from South Carolina and other southern states, which were all rejected as illegal. -
South Carolina Secedes From the Union
December 20, 1860, a secession convention meeting was called in Charleston, South Carolina. By a vote of 169-0, South Carolina enacted a "ordinance" that "the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states, under the name 'The United States of America' is hereby dissolved."
