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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 !850
Henry Clay created the compromise to please both the North and the South. To please the North, California would be admitted as a free state, and the slave trade would be abolished in Washington D.C. To please the South, Congress would not pass laws regarding slavery for the rest of the territories won from Mexico, and Congress would pass a stonger law to help slave holders recapture runawya slaves. -
Fugitive Slave Act
As a part of the Compromise of 1850, the law helped slaveholders recapture runaway slaves. People who were accused of being fugitives under this law could be held without an arrest warrant. They also did not have the right to a jury trial. Alternativly, a commisioner ruled on each case; if they let the slave be free they would get five dollars, but if not and let them return to their owners, they would recieve ten dollars. Furthermore, it placed fines or jail time if they in anyway helped slaves -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin, a book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe helped people in the North understand the moral issues of slavery. The book also helped increase the popularity of drama and abolitionism. Stowe' book was favorited by the people in the North, but people in the South thought that it falsely criticized slavery. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
To organize territorial government, Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois proposed a bill that would divide the Nebraska Territory into two, Nebraska and Kansas. To help the bill become a law, he made it so that the people in the territories would get to decide whether or not to allow slavery in their territory by popular sovereignty. By getting this bill approved, it would be allowing people to vote for slavery where it has been banned by the Missouri Compromise. -
Bleeding Kansas
After the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Proslavery poeple and Antislavery people went to west of Missouri to vote for territorial legislature. Although there were more proslavery people than antislavery, 5,000 Missourians illegally went and voted making the election unfair to antislavey people. The antislavey settlers formed their own government which led to both sides arming themselves. First, the proslavery people attacked, which led to an extreme abolitionist by the name of John Brown to kill 7 people -
Lincoln and Douglas debates
The Lincoln and Douglas debates were a series of 7 debates versus Lincoln and Douglas for the U.S Senate spot for Ilinois. They debated upon the nation's biggest issue slavery. Lincoln felt that slavery should not expand, but he said that he didn't want to abolish it completely. Douglas on the other hand felt that slavery should be decided upon popular sovereignty. Douglas won the reelection, but despite that, Lincoln had become a national figure and boosted his standing in the Rebublican Party. -
The Election of 1860
The Rebublicans had nominated Abraham Lincoln as their candidate, while the Democrats could not agree on who to choose.The northerners wanted their platform to be based on popular soveregnty while the southerners wanted to defend slavery in the platform. Northern democrats ended up nominating Stephen A. Douglas as their candidate.But, the southern democrats nominated John Breckin Bridge as theirs. Lincoln ended up winning the election because there were more people in the North than the South. -
Southern States Secede
Prior to the election of 1860, southern states threatened to secede if Lincoln won the election. Since Lincoln joined they were upset and decided to secede. They supported their seceding based on the fact that they voluntarily joined the Union, therefore they can freely leave the Union. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to Secede from the Union which was followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Lousiana, and Texas.