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Wilmot Proviso
David Wilmot, a congressmen from PA, added the amendment. It meant that California, as well as all the territories of Utah and New Mexico would be closed to slavery forver. This was significant in that it added to the rising tensions of the North and South. -
Popular Sovereignity
Allowed residents of the territories of New Mexico and Utah to vote for, or against slavery. Appealed to both Notherners and Southerners in trying the reach a compromise on the issue of slavery. -
Free-Soil Party
The Free-Soil Party opposed the extension of slavery into the territories. In the election of 1848, it sent a strong message: even if some Northerners did not favor abolition, they definitely opposed the extension of slavery to the territories. Some thought the extension of slavery threatened the free labor system which made tensions rise. -
Underground Railroad/Harriet Tubman
Free African Americans and white abolitionists developed a secret network of people who would hide fugitive slaves. This system of escape routes became known as the Underground Railroad. The "conductors" hid fugitives in secret tunnels and false cupboards providing them wth essentials for survival. One of the most famous conductors was Harriet Tubman. She became a conductor shortly after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act. She is said to have helped 300 slaves reach freedom. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Under this law, alleged fugitives were not entiled to a trial by a jury under the sixth amendment and also could not testify on their own behalf; meaning they had little rights. Northerns opposing slavery became infuriated with the ideas of the law and organized vigilance commitees to send endangered slaves to the safety of Canada. This law was significant in that it helped add to the disagreeing tensions of the North's and South's views on slavery. -
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay hoped the compromise would settle the controversy between free slave states. The significance was that it tried to solve the issues between the North and South's slavery issue. -
Stephen A. Douglas
When Henry Clay withdrew, Stephan A. Douglas a senator from Illinios, continued with the ideas set forth by the Compromise of 1850. In January of 1854 he introduced a bill to Congress to divide the area into two territories: Nebraska and Kansas. If it was passed, it would repeal the Missouri Comrpomise and establish popular sovernignty for both territories. Some thought the bill was a plot to turn the new territories into slave states, but the South strongly backed it. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin/Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet B. Stowe published the book Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852. It delivered the strong message that slavery was not just a political contest, but also a great moral struggle. Northern abolitionists were quick to react on this subject in that they increased their protests against the Fugitive Slave Act, while Southerners critized the book as having an attack on the South as a whole. This was significant in that it may have criticized the South for what they believed in when it came to slavery. -
Presidency of Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce was part of the Whig party and was elected president as opposed to General Windfield Scott because he opposed slavery and a non-pro Union -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephen A. Douglas introduced this bill to Congress to divide the area into two territories: Nebraska and Kansas. If it was passed, it would repeal the Missouri Compromise and establish popular sovereignty for both the territories. Some thought passing this bill was a plot to turn the land into slave states, but the South strongly backed the plan. It contributed to the disagreeing thoughts on slavery between the North and South. -
Republican Party
Was united in opposing the Kansas-Nebraska Act and in keeping slavery out of the territories. Attracted many groups which provided the party with the strength it needed to win a political tug-of-war with other parties. This was signficant in the fact that it was a politcal force in the North against the South. -
Bleeding Kansas
After the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, the race for the possesion of the newly added land was on. Settlers from areas all around the land had traveled to claim it for reasons such as new farming lands etc. The fraudulent territorial legislature election of March 1855 led to a series of proslavery and abolotionist problems which was significant in leading to the Civil War. -
Know-Nothing Party
Nativists (or native-born people) formed the American Party in 1854. These nativists supported a longer naturalization period for immigrants, thus delaying the time when these new residents would be able to vote. This led to disagreements between the North and South at the polls. -
Presidency of James Buchanan
Democrats nominated him for the election of 1856. He neither sided with the North or South since he was out of the country because he was an embassador to Great Britain.The significance of the event was that it was a preview to the turmoil that would divide the nation by the end of the decade. -
Preston Brooks and Charles Sumner
Senetor Charles Sumner delieved a speech in the senate verbally attacking his colleuges for their support of slavery. Sumner was known for verbal abuse towards the men he encountered. On May 22nd, Preston Brooks stood up to Sumner and his speech. With that he lifted his came and started beating him. Sumner didn't return back to the senate for more than three years. Northeners condemded the incident as another example of Southern brutality and antagonism towards free speech. -
John Brown
An antislavery fanatic who believed that God had called upon him to fight slavey. His actions led Kansas to become known as "Bleeding Kansas" because of the massacre he led. He and his followers recieved false information which angered him into going to the proslavery settlement of Pottawatomie Creek and brutally killing five of the men during the night. The massacre triggered dozens more of incidents throughout Kansas. This was significant in that it angered the South. -
Dred Scott vs. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave whose owner took him from the slave state of Missouri to the free state of Illinois, to the free state of Wisconsin territory, then back to Missouri. Scott sued his owner and argued that being taken to free grounds meant he was a free man. The Court had then made the decision that being on free lands did not make a slave free. This Court case contributed to many more numerous problems between the North and South and their ideas on slavery. -
Freeport Doctrine
Stated that setters could not vote against slavery in a territory that would come a state. If people of a territory were free-soilers, then they simply just had to elect representatives who would not provide legal enforcement of slave property laws in that area. This doctrine furher split the Northern and Southern wings of the Democratic Party. -
Raid on Harpers Ferry
On this night, John Brown led his band of 18 men both black and white, to Harpers Ferry Virginia trying to seize the fereal arsenal there. He planned to distribute the captured arms he obtained to slaves in the area and start a general slave uprising. No uprising had occured do to some of Brown's men being caught and killed. Brown's plan is significant to the start of the Civil War in that he tried to arouse Northern furry and start a war of abolition against the South. -
Election of Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln's victory convinced Southerners that they had lost their political voice in the national government on the issue of slavery. North Carolina (in the south) then seceded from the Union on December 20th. This lead to a domino affect in that other states began to secede as well. This election led to the Civil War by the Union being spilt in the North and South on the issue of slavery. -
Formation of the Confederate States of America
The most important point of the Confederate Constitution was that it "protected and recognized" the slavery in new territories. It also stressed that each state in the Confederacy was to be "sovereign and independent". This would hope to help unify the South in the future. This lead to the beginings of the Civil War in that the North would'nt allow the South to leave the Union without a fight. -
Presidency of Jefferson Davis
Elected the president of the confederate states in the souh that broke away from the union in 1861. This breaking of the North and South was one of the causes of the Civil War.
