The road to civil war

  • The compromise of 1850

    The compromise of 1850

    -A group of five laws was passed to reduce tension between the North and South over slavery. -These laws focused on how to manage the new territories gained after the Mexican-American War. -The Fugitive Slave Act required that escaped enslaved people be returned to their owners even if they were found in free states. -Escalated sectional tensions rather than resolving them.
  • The Kansas-Nebraska Act

    The Kansas-Nebraska Act

    -The Kansas-Nebraska Act was a law that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. -It allowed the people in those territories to vote on whether to allow slavery. -The law effectively ended the Missouri Compromise.
  • Bleeding Kansas

    Bleeding Kansas

    -As the violent conflict over whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state. -People who supported slavery fought against people who opposed slavery. -The fighting was violent and happened in many small battles.
  • Preston Brooks vs Charles Sumner

    Preston Brooks vs Charles Sumner

    -Brooks was enraged by Sumner’s anti-slavery speech.
    • Sumner insulted Brooks’s relative Senator Andrew Butler.
    -Brooks struck Sumner repeatedly with a cane. -Sumner was unable to return to work for three years due to his injuries. -The attack shocked the nation and highlighted the deep divisions between the North and South before the Civil War.
  • Dred Scott v. Sanford

    Dred Scott v. Sanford

    -Happened in 1857 in the U.S. Supreme Court. -Said African Americans, whether enslaved or free, could not be citizens. -Declared that African Americans had no legal rights that white people had to respect.
  • Lincoln-Douglas Debates

    Lincoln-Douglas Debates

    -Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas debated seven times. -They were running for a U.S. Senate seat from Illinois. -Main topic was what should happen with slavery in the country. -The debates highlighted the deep ideological divide between the North and South.