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Wilmost 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 divsion in Congress. Although, not a success it led to the formation of the Free Soil Party. -
Compromise of 1850
A series of Congressional laws intended to settle major dissagrements between free states and slave states. To please the North, California would be admitted as a free state and slace trad e would be abolished in Washington D.C. To please the South, Congress wouldn't pass laws from Mexico, and Congress would also pass a stronger law to help slaveholders recapture runaway slaves. Some people celebrates the compromise while other believed it would not bring peace. -
Kansas- Nebraska Act
This law established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and gave their residents the right to decide whether to allow slavery or not. Southerners supported the Missouri Compromise while Northerenrs who were against slavery were angered. -
"Bleeding Kansas"
After the attack known as the Pottawatomic Massacre, violence started to spread. Civil War eventually broke out in Kansas. It continued for three uears, and the territory would soon be called "Bleeding Kansas". "Bleeding Kansas" was also the key to the Republican Rise. -
Caning of Sumner
Senator Charles Sumner of Massachuesters delivered a speech attacking proslavery forces in Kansas. Sumner also made fun of A.P. Butler, a senator from North Carolina. Preston Brooks, a relative of Butler, attacked Sumner who was siting and his desk and hit him over the head with his cane until the cane broke. -
Dred Scott V. Sandford
A Supreme Court case in which a slave, Dred Scott sued for his freedom because he had been taken to live in territories where slavery was illegal. The Supreme Court ruled against Scott. Southerners supported the Court's desicion while Northerners were outraged and looked to the Republican party to halt the growning power of Southern slaveholders. -
Attack on Harpers Ferry
John Brown and his followers captured the Harper Ferry arsenal. They killed four people in the raid. Brown sent out the wald to rally and arm local slaves however no slaves joined the fight. Brown was captured and then tried for murder and treason. He was convicted and sentences to hang. Southerners were engraged by Brown's action and the North was horffied by his death. The issue of slavery raised sectional tensions to the breaking point after the attack on Harpers Ferry. -
Election of 1860
Lincoln and Douglas were the only canditates with much support in the North. They were considered to have the most extreme views on slavery. Lincoln opposed expansion of slavery unlike the other canditates. Because the North had more people than in the South, Lincoln won the election. Southerners saw the republican victory as a threat to the Southern wau of life and they thpight Lincoln would ban slavery. Southerners warned that if Lincoln won, the Southern states would secede and they did.