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Missouri Compromise
As tension grows between the Southern and Northern states about the growth of slavery, Henry Clay comes up with a compromise called the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromise lowered the tension temporarily by having a series of laws that kept the slave and free states in line. -
The Nullification Crisis
Perceiving tariffs to be unfair, Southern states, such as South Carolina thought that it only supported the North. Vice President John C. Calhoun aforementioned that any state could make void of a federal law that they recognize to be unconstitutional. As the federal government denied South Carolina's argument that they had the right to reject a federal law, they intimidated and to secede from the United States. Yet again, Henry Clay came up with another compromise to settle the balance. -
Compromise of 1850
Many debates in congress were fought about the new territories won from Mexico and which states would be admitted to the Union as a free or slave state. Yet again, Henry Clay, the Great Compromiser, came up with the Compromise of 1850 which admitted California as a free state and Congress would not pass laws banning slavery from the rest of the territories acquired from Mexico. -
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
The Legislative branch passed the Fugitive Slave act in 1850. The act authorized the confiscation of any African-American who fled to the North to escape being held as a slave. Because of these laws, tension was intensified and it set the event in stone for John Brown's Raid and the American Civil War. -
Bleeding Kansas1855
Before Kansas was going to be admitted as a free state, there was going to be an election of an official state legislature. When it was election day, 5000 people from nearby proslavery Missouri came over to Kansas and voted for proslavery, therefore overpowering the Union and making Kansas part of the Confederacy. Furious with the Confederacy's actions, John Brown, an extreme abolitionist, executed several of neighboring proslavery individuals. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was a slave that sued for his freedom and it made it all the way up to the Supreme Court. But it did not go well in the end because Dred Scott, a slave, was property of his owner and property could not be taken away from a person without due process of law. -
Attack on Harpers Ferry
John Brown wanted to inspire slaves to fight for their freedom. To make a point he planned to abduct the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia to arm the slaves. The plan did not work, therefore John Brown and his men were captured and 10 of his men were executed. Abolitionists saluted John Brown as he was executed as well as his other men. The issues of slavery had raised the tensions to the limit. -
The Election of 1860
In the Election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln wins. Shortly after Lincoln is elected, Southern States begin to secede from the Union.
