-
Compromise of 1850
This was proposed by Henry Clay to please both the North and South. This was the allowing of the admission for California to be a free state. This was an attempt to get a compromise between the North and South. While admitting California as a free state, it created Utah and New Mexico territories with the question of slavery and this settled the Texas- New Mexico boundary. This compromised also strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act. -
California enters the Union
This was a cause of the war because it was considered "two states" the north was free and the south of a slave state. Southerners were very upset and many people feel that the entrance of Califorina marks the real beginning of the Civil War. This also unbalanced the ratio between the slave and free states. The Gold Rush had an effect on this because it made free African-Americans come for gold and slave owners who brought their slaves to labor in the gold fields. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom's Cabin
This was anti-slavery novel, that sold 300,000 copies in the first three months. The book had a major influence on the way people look at slavery. The book established Stowe's reputation as the woman of letters. When Abraham Lincoln met her in 1862, he reported, "So this is the little lady who made this big war. -
Republican Party is Formed
This began in Ripton, Wisconson when former Whig party members met to form a new party to oppose the spread of slavery into the western territories. The Republicans rapidly gained supporters in the North. Republican, Abraham Lincoln was elected after a divided Democratic party. They opposed the Kanas- Nebraska Act as well. The party was considered a strong party because of the hardships of slavery. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas or the Border Wars was a violent period during the settling of the Kansas Territory. This overturned parts of the Missouri Compromise by allowing settlers in the two territories to determine if they should permit slavery by a popular vote or not. This involved duplicate constitutional conventions, separate elections and constant violent attacks. Some of the constitutions for the future state of Kansas are pro and anti- slavery. -
Charles S.'s Caning
This all started when Senator Charles Sumner, a Massachuetts antislavery Republican, adressed the Senate with the decision of whether Kansas should be admitted a free or slave state. He gave the speech "Crime Against Kansas Speech" and after was beaten by Preston Brooks with a cane. He was elected into the U.S Senate as a Free-Soiler when he campaigned against what he saw as South aggression on the slavery issue. -
Dred Scott vs. Stanford
Dred Scott was a slave to an owner while they were living in a free state before returning back to the slave state Missouri. Scott argued that his time spent in these locations entitled him emancipation. The Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that Scott was not, and never will be, a citizen. The Dred Scott case led to divisions that helped lead to Abraham Lincoln’s election and the Civil War. -
Lincoln- Douglas Debate
This was the Illinois race for U.S Senate between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. The problem with this was that neither wanted slavery territories, but disagreed on how to keep it out. The debate was a series of seven, although Douglas won the debates, Lincoln won the 1860 election. They debated on the important issues of the time like popular sovereignty and the territories. -
Harpers Ferry
This was John Brown's way to invade the South with armed slaves. The South saw the act as treason and was encouraged to separate from the North. The ending of this was that local troops and Robert E. Lee killed ten men, white and black, and hanged John Brown for an attempt to start a slave uprising. -
Lincoln Elected
He was the 16th president and is the first Republican president to win. He only received 40 percent of the popular vote but handily defeated the three other candidates. Again facing Douglas, but when announced that he won that signaled the secession of the southern states, He is hailed as one of the greatest American presidents when he brought an end to slavery.
