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Fueled by disputes over federal power, the Nullification Crisis began when South Carolina claimed it could reject the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 as unconstitutional. Led by John C. Calhoun, the state argued for states rights, while President Andrew Jackson insisted the Union must be preserved.
A compromise eventually ended the crisis, but it showed how divided the country was becoming and previewed the states’ rights arguments the South later used to justify secession before the Civil War. -
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Driven by Manifest Destiny and the drive for US expansion, The Mexican-American War was a border dispute over Texas and whether the Rio Grande or Nueces River marked the border. The war ends in an American landslide victory, resulting in the U.S. gaining a huge amount of western land. However, this sparks debate over whether or not slavery would be tolerated in these new territories and this conflict helped to begin the growth of the sectionalism that inevitably led to the Civil War. -
In response to the debate over slavery in the new land gained from the Mexican-American War, David Wilmot introduces a proposal, known as the Wilmot Proviso, to ban slavery in any territory gained from Mexico. The proposal passes through the House due to North population advantage, but fails in Senate due to equal Southern representation. This highlights the growing polarization and sectionalism in national politics that will ultimately contribute to the Civil War. -
Gold is discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California, and word of striking rich spreads, sparking mass migration with tens of thousands of people moving to California from all over the world, and massive boom towns develop quickly. The population grows so fast that it allows California to apply for immediate statehood, they do so as a free state. This disrupts the balance of power between slave and free states in Congress and forces lawmakers to confront the issue of slavery in the new territories. -
In response to national debate surrounding the Compromise of 1850, Southern delegates met at the Nashville Convention to discuss protecting slavery and possibly leaving the Union if it was restricted in the new territories. Although no immediate action was taken, this event shows that Southern leaders were prepared for secession from the Union in the name of protecting slavery. This also displays a rising distrust and how compromise was becoming less and less of a possibility. -
The compromise of 1850 seeks to ease tensions around new-land slavery following California's statehood application, and the Mexican - American War. The compromise states that Cali. will enter as a free state, Utah New Mexico will decide via popular sovereignty, harsher Fugitive Slave Law's will be added, and slave trade banned in Washington, D.C. Neither side is satisfied, as Northerners protest federal support for slavery while Southerners believe political power still shifts against them. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, sought to expose the emotional and moral horror of slavery to a national audience. The novel becomes massively popular, especially in the North, inspiring activism and becoming one of the most sold books of the 19th century. Southerners condemn the book as false propaganda and respond with their own pro-slavery versions, thus deepening the cultural divide. President Lincoln later referred to her as "the little lady that started this great war” -
Following the compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act is aggressively enforced, requiring citizens, even of free states, to assist in the capture/ return of runaway slaves. Many Northerners deem the act unconstitutional and thus exercise their personal liberty laws to block enforcement. Southerners view Northern refusal as a betrayal of constitutional rights and a threat to their way of life. This enforcement turned slavery into a national crisis with riots confrontation across the US -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act creates the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and allows each to decide on slavery via popular sovereignty. This overturned the Missouri Compromise which which had banned slavery north of 36°30’. This becomes the background to Bleeding Kansas as both pro and anti slavery groups rush into the territory to influence the vote, leading to fraudulent and intimidation by both sides. This goes to show the little room left for compromise as violence begins to replace debate. -
Following the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the rush of settlers on both sides of the aisle, two competing governments emerge in Kansas, one free and one pro-slavery. This leads to conflict between the 2, with chaos, intimidation, and physical conflict ensuing. Radical abolitionist John Brown, becomes a national figure after leading violent raids against pro slavery forces. This period of time shows that compromise had failed and political disagreement over slavery had turned to open conflict. -
Following Senator Charles Sumner's provocative anti-slavery speech in which he attacked Senator Butler of South Carolina, Congressman Preston Brooks, Butler’s cousin, entered the Senate chamber and beat Sumner with a cane until he was unconscious. Northerners held vigils for Sumner, and condemned this event as proof that slavery threatened free speech and democracy, while Southerns celebrated Brooks and even sent him more canes. This deepened sectional and political resentment on both ends. -
Following the Kansas-Nebraska act and the seemingly westward expansion of slavery, anti-slavery Whigs, Free-Soilers, and Northern Democrats united into one to form the new Republican Party. The new party strongly opposed slavery, drawing massive support from the north and nearly none in the south. In its wake this essentially destroyed the Whig party and resulted in deepened divides along sectional lines and marked the beginning of a new political era aligned around slavery. -
Delegates from Kanas' pro-slavery capital, Leocompton, created the Leocompton Constitution in an attempt to admit Kansas to the Union as a slave state via a rigged voting process. For as crazy is it sounds, President Buchanan supported it, but Stephen Douglas and other Northerners deemed this undemocratic. Overall, the crisis deepened the divide by showing that at this point even elections and democratic processes could no longer resolve the conflict over slavery.(Kansas Historical Society 2022)