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Missouri Compromise
In order to keep the balance of power in Congress between slave and free states, congressman Henry Clay had solution wasthe Missouri Compromise. It had Missrouri as a slave state and joined the Union, and Maine was a free state and would leave Massechusetts. This prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30. Thirty years later this was repealed by the Kansas/Nebraska Act. -
Wilmot Proviso
Wilmot Proviso was made to made to end slavery in the lands acquired after the Mexican War. President Polk made a bill to negotiate the terms of the treaty, and being afraid of more slavery in the new territory, Congressman David Wilmot proposed an amendment to the bill. This measure was not appreciated by souther-dominated Senate, and this slavery controversy helped format the Republican Party. Because there was interest in northern free labor, Wilmot had presented his proviso. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo
Resulting from the Mexican War, the United States recieved 500,000 square miles of territorry. Peace commisioner Nicholas P. Trist brought the draft form of the treaty to Mexico in 1847. The treaty had implications between the relations of the two countries and the international law of the two. -
Compromise of 1850
Territories gained from the Mexican War raised questions whether these are slave or free states. Senators Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun discussed the last major affairs. Clay introduced omnibus bill covering the topics, but Calhoun argued that the North should 't limit slavery. Webster agreed with Clay, but Senator Seward and President Taylor opposed the compromise. Senator Douglas split the omnibus proposal into bills and it enabled congress to avoid slavery issues for year. -
Fugitive/Salve Act
The Fugitive/Slave Acts was pair of federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within United States territory. The first act allowed local governments to capture and return runaway slaves to their owners and enforced penalties on those who helped in the capture. The Fugitive/Slave Acts were later repealed by Congress in 1864. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Author Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel helped Americans 's views on how slaves were treated as property than people. The demand was that the United States must deliver a promise of freedom and equality, which this helped the abolition movement in the Civil War, and she was able to get Abraham Lincoln to sigh the Emancipation Proclomation. -
Gadsden Purchase
Tensions were still stirring with Mexico and the United States. In 1853, Mexico evicted Americans out of the Mesilla Valley, the U.S. sent James Gadsen to negotiate with the Presudent of Mexico, Santa Anna. The end result was that the U.S. gave Mexico $10 million dollars for 29,790 square miles of territory and got rid of any mention of Native American attacks. -
Republican Party
In Ripon, Wisconson the former members of the Whig Party met to oppose the expansion of slavery in the Western territories, and oppose the "tyrann" Andrew Jackson, but this proved the Whigs were not able to cope with the slavery crisis. Because of the Kansas-Nebraska Act being introduced, the Whig party started to disband. In Wisconson on March 20, a meeting was held and it became the first meeting of the new political group known as the Republican Party. -
Kansas/Nebraska Act
Kansas/Nebraskk Act allowed people in Nebraska and Kansas to decide whether they believe slavery should or should not be allowed within their borders. Since the Missouri Compromise had prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30, it was then repealed. -
Bleeding Kansas
Since the Kansas/Nebraska act had taken down the Missouri Compromise use of the latitude slave boundary between slave and free states. Using popular sovereignty to decide whether Kansas should be a free and slave state, proslavery and anti-slavery (led by John Brown) settlers went to Kansas and fought each other their. "Bleeding Kansas" became a term describing this event. -
Know-Nothing Party
As immigration increased, so did the competition for receiving jobs. Because the immigrants could not speak English, they required education, and the money needed would come from the American people's tax money. Cities over flooded with immigrants required more police and civil service because of the increase of crime. Most immigrants faced discrimination by a group of people known as the "Know-Nothing Party". People who were Catholic, Jewish, Asian, or black were hated by this political party. -
Election of 1856
An unusually heated election between Rebulican James Fremont, Democtratic James Buchanan, and Millard Filmore. Fremont disliked with Nebraska/Slave Act and wished to end the expansion of slavery, Buchanan said that the Republicans were extremist to get people to vote for him, and Filmore was part of the "Know-Nothing's" Party. Buchanan won the presidential election because no one wanted Franklin Pierce as President again, and because the Democratic Party was split by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
The 1856 debate argued whether the Supreme Court stated that Americans of African decent, either a slave or free, we're not considered Americans and were not allowed to sue in federal court. A slave named Dred Scott sued Eliza Irene Sanford for his and his family's freedom. And because he lived in the Wisconsin territory (which banned slavery), he was declared free in 1857. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
From August 21 until October 15, Sthepeh Douglas and Abraham Lincoln debated around the state for Senate. All seven debates were held in Illinois. Starting in Ottowa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and ending in Alton. Douglas said that popular sovereignty was a sacred right of self-government. Lincoln pointed out that Douglas' position contrdicts Dred Scot's decision, which was that citizens of a territory had no power in government. -
John Brown's at Harper's Ferry
John Brown's plan was to set the slaves free and attack the slaveholders. On October 16, he and 21 men and 5 black men rescued Dangerfield Newby's wife, and 16 white men. But the local militia was able to pin down Brown and his men. Brown's men have been killed and he was captured and taken to Charleston and trailed and executed. Even though he died, Brown's statement in court inspired people to fight against slavery. -
Election of 1860
The Northern Democrats met in Charleston and nominated Stephen Douglas as their candidate, but because he was against slavery, the Southern Democrats instead choose John Breckenridge. The Republicans met in Chicago to choose their candidate and nominated Abraham Lincoln because was a self-made man and the American Dream. Abraham's debates with Douglas had made him a national figure and the third voting ballot, Lincoln was nominated for President. -
Secession
The North and South had disagreements over tarriffs, but mostly over the issue of slavery, which had been legal in the South but has slowly been banned by states North of the Maxon-Dixon line. The first state to secede was South Carolina in Dec 20, 1860. And in four months, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Texas, Missisipi, and Louisiana later seceded.
