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The Compromise of 1850
There were a series of laws made to settle the war with Mexico. One of the new territories from the war, California, wanted to be part of the U.S., but that would upset the balance. So when California joined, the government made the Fugitive Slave Law. Other laws abolished trading slaves, and created the territory of New Mexico, which was neutral at the time. -
The Fugitive Slave Law
The Fugitive Slave Law was a law created in response to California becoming a Free State in 1850. It stated that all fugitive slaves were to be turned in regardless of their location. Violators could be jailed or fined. Northerners were outraged at the government forcing the to do something so far against their beliefs. -
Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin is one of the best selling books of all time, extremely popular in the North. It depicted slavery extremely honestly, and turned many neutral Northerners to anti-slavery. -
The Rise of The Republican Party
The Republican Party emerged in 1854 to oppose the Kansas-Nebraska Act and to protest and fight the expansion of slavery into American Territories. After 1866, it contained many freed slaves as well. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was an act allowing Kansas and Nebraska to choose whether or not they wanted slavery inside of their states. This Act was meant to bypass the act that disallowed slavery past a certain latitude. -
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Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was a series of violent civil confrontations in the new territory of Kansas, due to many citizens of both halves wanting to support their side in the slavery vote. -
The Dred Scott Case
The Dred Scott case was a ruling in the Supreme Court that said living in a free state did not mean that Dred Scott was a free man, and argued that, as property, Scott could not sue in a court of federal law. -
John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown was a radical abolitionist who was very involved in the violent Bleeding Kansas conflict. He led a team of 22 to cause a slave revolt in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown was defeated by a team of U.S. Marines. -
Lincoln Elected President
On November 6th, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States. Many of the Southern States were not pleased by this development, because Lincoln disproved of slavery, dispite him saying he was not intending to dispose of it.
