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This allowed slaves to be counted as three fifths a person in population counts.
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This prohibited slavery in states north of Missouri, and accepted Maine into the union.
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Admits California as a free state, but Utah and New Mexico as slave territories.
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Slaves who escaped to the North, or to any free state, must now be returned to his or her owner.
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Accepted the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and let popular sovereignty decide whether slaves should be allowed or not.
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In order to determine whether Kansas would be a free or slave state, Free-Staters and pro-slavery "Border Ruffians" got into a series of violent political confrontations.
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The Supreme Court rules that Dredd Scott cannot be free, despite having been taken to a free state, and rules the Missouri Compromise illegal.
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Abraham Lincoln is elected president. Though slavery was not a major issue in the election, slave states believe he will outlaw slavery.
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Afraid of Lincoln, South Carolina seceded from the United States.
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Texas, Florida, Louisianna, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi all secede within months of South Carolina.