Timeline 1850-1861 (thru secession) Faith Whitney 9/22/25

  • The Missouri Compromise

    The Missouri Compromise Is an event and act that was passed in 1830, it made two new territories, and it admitted Missouri as an slave state, 36-30 degree territory, and free state, and it prohibited slavery.
  • Nat Turner’s Rebellion / Rebellion of Terror

    Nat Turner, a slave on August 1831 caused and spread a hostile uprising across several plantations, where over seven cohort slaves killed 60 white people. The deployment of militia, stopped and suppressed the rebellion of terror after two days. Over 55 states, went into a violent rebel, over 2 hundred slaves were lynched and killed, in this event.
  • Abraham Lincoln’s Election

    This is the day Abraham Lincoln became the President he got elected, won 45% popular votes, and all 12 of the electoral votes.
  • The Compromise of 1850

    This made California a official free state and didn't regulate slavery at all, for Mexicans it strengthen the Fugitive Slave Act, which compelled Northerners to runaway and escape to the South.
  • The Wilmot Proviso 1846 - 1850

    Legislation that was proposed by David Wilmot, who wanted to outlaw slavery, in U.S. acquired territory, which spread all across America to California, he proposed it to Congress and even attached it to Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which as a result ended up failing but became the first talking point of Secession.
  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin

    Harriet Beecher, female author and free slavery supporter, wrote this book called Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which gave facts and personal story that expose and give insight on how slaves and black people were treated in the 19th century, caused the division with the North and South views on slavery, and overall impacted how both sides viewed slavery, and how slaves were treated.
  • Bleeding Kansas

    This is a violent event in Kanas, Nebraska where anti-slavery and pro-slavery people come together and attacked each other, after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed in 1854, by politician and proposed by John Brown. The violence died down in 1859 after this and the popular sovereignty act were more accepted.
  • Dred Scott v. Sanford

    Court case with Dred Scott Vs Sanford, in Virginia slave who tried to sue for his freedom in court, he ended up losing as he counted as property, and wasn't seen as a person but property.
  • Lincoln-Douglas Debates

    The Lincoln Douglas debates were, if Lincoln should reconcile with Dred Scott when it came to the popular sovereignty, Douglas argues that the territories could ban slavery potentially. The significance of Freeport Doctrine is that it played a role in changing the mindset about the ending of anti-slavery in the Republican party and influenced Douglas’s loss to Lincoln in the Senate election.
  • John Brown’s Raid

    The Raid On Harper’s Ferry, which is John Brown raid where he raided the capital, with slaves, many abolitionists were leading this raid, on the federal armory, to seize their weapons and even start a full on slave rebellion.
  • The Battle of Fort Sumter

    This is the beginning of American Civil War, which began on April 12th 1861, Confederate forces fired shots on the Union-Held fort in Charleston Harbor, which lasted 34 hours in total.