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The Missouri Compromise
In the growth years following the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, Congress was considering to create a policy to guide the expansion of slavery into the new western territory. Missouri’s attempt for statehood as a slave state sparked a bitter national debate. In addition to the deeper moral issue posed by the growth of slavery, the addition of pro-slavery Missouri legislators would give the pro-slavery faction a Congressional majority. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
In August of 1831, a slave named Nat Turner sprung an uprising that spread through several plantations in southern Virginia. Turner and about seventy followers killed around sixty white people. The deployment of militia infantry and artillery suppressed the rebellion after two days. 55 slaves, including Turner, were tried and executed for their role in the conflict. Nearly two hundred more were lynched by mobs. Although small-scale slave uprising was controlled it was a major event. -
The Wilmot Proviso (1846-1850)
The Wilmot Proviso was a piece of legislation proposed by David Wilmot at the end of the Mexican War. If passed, the Proviso would have outlawed slavery in territory acquired by the United States as a result of the war, which included most of the Southwest and extended all the way to California. As a result of this slavery necer could reach Texas, California, or New Mexico -
The Compromise of 1850
The compromise prevented further territorial expansion of slavery while strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act, a law which compelled Northerners to capture and return escaped slaves to the South. This compromise led to further tension between the North and the South leading into Bleeding Kansas. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the second-best-selling book in America in the 19th century, second only to the Bible. Its popularity brought the issue of slavery to the eyes of the public opinion for those few who remained unmoved after decades of legislative conflict and widened the division between North and South. By showing the country the slavery still is expanding. -
Bleeding Kansas (1854-1861)
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, narrowly passed while Congressmen wielded weapons and uttered death threats in the House chambers, overturned parts of the Missouri Compromise by allowing the settlers in the two territories to determine whether or not to permit slavery by a popular vote. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery agitators flocked to Kansas, hoping to shift the decision by sheer weight of numbers. -
Dred Scott VS Sanford
Dred Scott was a Virginia slave who tried to sue for his freedom in court. The case eventually rose to the level of the Supreme Court, where the justices found that, as a slave, Dred Scott was a piece of property, therefore he had no rights as a human being.
