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Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was a proposed law that banned slavery in the new lands gained cfrom the Mexican-American War (New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Texas, and western Colorado). This was proposed by David Wilmot in 1846 and passed in the House, but it eventually failed in the senate. This was brought up a few more times and was under great debate until the Compromise of 1850 was created. -
The Mexican War ended
After the end of the war and the signing of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. There were plenty of conflicts on whether the new states gained by this war would be free states or slave states. This also led to the creation of the compromise of 1850 -
The compromise of 1850
The compromise consisted of giving popular sovereignty to Utah and New Mexico, Stricter rules on the fugitive slave law, The abolition of slave trade in D.C., the federal assumption of Texas’ debt, and the admission of California as a free state.
This gave benefits to both the north and the south with the north getting California and the south getting the Fugitive slave act. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The most controversial part of the compromise of 1850. This forced officers from the north to capture any runaway slaves or they would pay a fine. The fleeing slaves couldn’t be free until They are in Canada. This act also increased the Underground Railroad activity instead of slowing it down. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
The release of this book by Harriet Beecher Stowe was to show the evils of slavery. This impacted the people of the north greatly because before reading this book, most northerners knew only a little about what slavery was actually like. This book greatly helped further push the cause of abolition. Abehaham lincoln recognized this book as one of the events that lead to the cause of the Civil War. -
Charles Sumner attacked by Preston on the Floor of the senate
Preston brooks attacked Charles Sumner on the senate floor after Charles gave a speech attacking the pro-slavery forces for what is happening in ‘bloody Kansas.’ This act showed how strongly these people believed in their point of view. This showed that people will use violence to get their point across. Foreshadowing the civil war in a way. -
The Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott was a Slave that said he was free because he was in a free state. Because he was still considered a slave, he started a court case and argued that he should be free. He lost this court case because the court considered him a slave and therefor he was property of his owner. -
Bleeding Kansas
Once the Kansas-Nebraska act was passed to have these two states to have popular sovereignty, the conflicts of the two groups for and against slavery grew in Kansas and people actually got killed from these conflicts. These reported conflicts gave the name ‘Bleeding Kansas.’ This was a type of foreshadowing to the terrors of the civil war. -
John Brown and Harper's Ferry
John Brown lead a group of anti-slavery rights people to raid the arsenal located in Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His plan was to get a slave uprising with the guns that he would take from this arsenal. His plan backfired after he and his men were surrounded and eventually killed or captured by troops led by Robert E. Lee. Brown was hanged for treason. This event eventually helped lead into open warfare in 1861 -
Lincoln getting elected President of the United States
Before his election, there was such controversy that if Lincoln was elected, South Carolina was going to Secede from the Union. After he was elected, S.C. and six other states seceded from the Union. Lincoln agreed with the Republican party that the south was getting too powerful and needed to make it where slavery wouldn't be extended to any other territories or states added to the Union.
