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Wilmot Proviso
This bill aimed to outlaw slavery in territories taken from Mexico. The bill passed in the House of Representatives but was defeated in the Senate thus causing a division in Congress. Although, not a success it led to the formation of the Free Soil Party. -
Compromise of 1850
A plan to please both the North and South. To please the North, California would be admitted as a free state and slave trade would be abolished in Washington D.C. In order to please the South, no laws would abolish slavery in territories won from Mexico and Congress would pass stronger laws to help slave holders recapture runaway slaves. The laws were meant to settle problem of slavery, CA becoming a free state, and new fugitive slave law passed. -
Kansas - Nebraska Act
The Kansas - Nebraska Act was a law to organize Kansas and Nebraska Territories. It overturned the Missouri Compromise and caused violence in Kansas. Stephen A. Douglas drafts bill for governing the Nebraska Territory. He then divided the territory into two: Nebraska and Kansas. Also, slavery was to be decided by residents vote- Popular Sovereignity. -
Bleeding Kansas
Proslavery and antislavery settlers rush into Kansas Territory to vote for territorial legislation. The Missourians voted illegally in the election. During this time, antislavery settlers boycott official government and form own government. The provslavery mob attacked Lawrence, Kansas. Abolitionist John Brown retaliates by murdering five proslavery people. This was what led to the civil war that broke out in Kansas, calling it Bleeding Kansas. -
Caning of Sumner
Senator Charles Sumner's speech attacks proslavery forces in Kansas and makes fun of A.P. Butler. As a relative of Butler, Preston Brooks attacks Sumner in the Senate. As a result, Southerners cheer Brook's defense of the south. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri taken by an owner to a territory where slavery is illegal. Scott later returns to Missouri and sues for freedom. His case, Dred Scott versus Sanford reachers the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney states that Scott is not a U.S. citizen so he cannot sue the U.S. courts. He states that Scott is bounded by Missouri's slave trade because he lived in Missouri. The result of this case was allowing slavery to spread anywhere in the U.S. territory. -
Election of 1860
The Election of 1860 turns into two races, one in the North and one in the South. Abraham Lincoln wins the North and John Breckenridge wins in the South. Lincoln recieves the most electoral and popular votes and as a reslut wins the election. At the end, Southerners view republican victory as a threat to their way of life. -
Secession
On December 20, 1860, South Carolina scedes withdrawals from the Union. An addition of six other states follow. The states' argued that if they had the right to enter the Union voluntarily, then they had the right to leave the states'. The reason of this secession was to form the Confederate States of America and name Jefferson Davis as president of confederacy. The draft confederate constituion supported the state rights and protected slavery in confederacy and territories it might acquire.
