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Missouri Compromise
an agreement in 1820 between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States concerning the extension of slavery into new territories -
Gag Resolution
Between 1836 and 1844, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a series of resolutions and rules that banned petitions calling for the Abolition of Slavery. Known as gag rules, these measures effectively tabled antislavery petitions without submitting them to usual House procedures. -
Caroline incident
The Caroline affair was a series of events beginning in 1837 that strained relations between the United States and Britain. -
Canadian rebellion
armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province -
"American Slavery as It Is" published
American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses is a book written by the American abolitionist Theodore Dwight Weld, his wife Angelina Grimke and her sister Sarah Grimke, which was published in 1839 -
Antislavery Liberty party organized
The Liberty party was the first antislavery party. It was formed in Albany, New York, in April 1840. The party sought to achieve abolitionist goals through political means. -
Treaty of Wanghia
a diplomatic agreement between the Qing China and the United States, signed on 3 July 1844 in the Kun Iam Temple. Its official title name is the Treaty of peace, amity, and commerce, between the United States of America and the Chinese Empire. -
Election of 1844
The United States presidential election of 1844 was the 15th quadrennial presidential election.Democrat James K. Polk defeated Whig Henry Clay in a close contest that turned on foreign policy. -
Mexican War
armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S. -
Walker Tariff
set of tariff rates adopted by the United States in 1845. The Walker Tariff was enacted by the Democrats, and made substantial cuts in the high rates of the "Black Tariff" of 1842, enacted by the Whigs. It was based on a report by Secretary of the Treasury Robert J. -
Battle of Buena Vista
also known as the Battle of Angostura, saw the United States Army use artillery to repulse the much larger Mexican army in the Mexican-American War. Buena Vista, a village of the state of Coahuila, is seven miles south of Saltillo, in northern Mexico. -
Free Soil Party
a former political party in the United States; formed in 1848 to oppose the extension of slavery into the territories; merged with the Liberty Party in 1848 -
California gold rush
began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. -
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
peace treaty signed in Guadalupe Hidalgo between the U.S. and Mexico that ended the Mexican–American War. -
Compromise of 1850
package of five bills passed in the United States in September 1850, which defused a four-year confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War. -
Fugitive Slave Law
The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. -
Gadsden Purchase from Mexico
a 29,670-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed by James Gadsden, the American ambassador to Mexico -
Kansas Nebraska Act
Controversial 1854 legislation that opened Kansas and Nebraska to white settlement, repealed the Compromise of 1820, and led opponents to form the Republican party. -
Nicaragua legalizes slavery
President Walker legalized slavery due to manifest destiny