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Northwest Ordinance (economical and social - red)
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 abandoned the ten districts established under the Ordinance of 1784 and created a single Northwest territory out of the lands north of the Ohio region. This ordinance stated that a population of 60,000 was minimum for statehood, guaranteed freedom of religion and the right to trial by jury to residents of the Northwest and, most importantly, prohibited slavery throughout the territory, leading to an imbalance of slave and free states. -
Missouri Compromise (economical and social - green)
The Missouri Compromise was a combination of two bills that resulted in Maine admitted as a free state, while Missouri would be admitted as a slave state. In addition, territory north of the 3630 would be free, while territory south of that line would remain in support of slavery. -
Nat Turner Rebellion (economical, social, political - red)
Nat Turner, a slave preacher, led a band of African Americans who were armed with guns and axes to Southampton County, Virginia, where they went from house to house on a summer night.In the midst, they killed 60 white men,women,and children before being overpowered by state and federal troops.In the aftermath,over 100 African Americans were executed. This rebellion was the only large-scale slave insurrection in the 19th century South, but fear remained among the people as long as slavery lasted. -
Gag Rule (political - red)
Throughout the United States, the Gag Rule would forbid the House of Representatives from considering antislavery petitions. Since so many signed these petitions, proslavery congressmen felt as if something had to do done in order to halt this support. So, the proslavery congressmen postponed the consideration, printing, and referral of such petitions. The main intention of the Gag Rule was to silence conflict that could potentially harm the Union. -
Amistad Case (political and social - red)
In 1839, Africans destined for slavery in Cuba seized the Spanish slave vessel "Amistad" from its crew and attempted to return it to Africa. The U.S. Navy then seized the ship and held the Africans as pirates. But with abolitionist support, legal efforts to declare the Africans free reached the Supreme Court, where the antislavery position was argued by John Quincy Adams. The court declared the Africans free in 1841, and antislavery groups funded their passage back to Africa. -
Annexation of Texas (economical and social - red)
In the early 1840's, American Texans hoped for annexation by the United States. Though there were supporters of the expansion, American northerners opposed acquiring a large new slave territory.One opponent was President Jackson, who greatly feared annexation as he believed it would lead to a dangerous sectional controversy. Since President Jackson did not support annexation, Texas cast out on its own. In 1844, Texas would reapply for statehood, but the annexation treaty would again be rejected. -
Wilmot Proviso (economical and social - green)
The Wilmot Proviso, introduced by antislavery Democrat David Wilmot of Pennsylvania, was an amendment to the appropriation bill prohibiting slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico that passed in the House, but failed in the Senate. While the Wilmot Proviso would be called up, debated, and voted on for years, in the meantime Southern militants contended that all Americans had equal rights in the new territories, including the right to move their property, in other words, slaves there. -
Mexican War (economical, political, and social - red)
Leading into the Mexican War was the border conflict among the Rio Grande which led the U.S. to numerous victories.Once the war begun, there was much opposition that intensified throughout the war.Many critics argued that hostilities with Mexico were draining resources and attention away from the more important issue of the Pacific Northwest. Victories did not come as quickly as Polk hoped and he ordered other offenses against New Mexico and CA. The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo settled the war. -
California Gold Rush (economical and social - green)
When John Marshall found the first traces of gold on one of John Sutter's sawmills in the Sierra Nevada, Sutter tried to suppress the news, but word got out and eventually spread to the east coast and much of the rest of the world. Gold rush migrants became known as 49ers: individuals who abandoned their families and jobs to flee to CA in the search for gold. The gold rush attracted some of the first Chinese migrants to the U.S.,created a serious labor shortage, and assisted in the growth of CA. -
End of Mexican War
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Compromise of 1850 (political and social - green)
The Compromise of 1850, designed by Henry Clay in the hopes of settling sectional differences, and divided into five separate bills by Stephen Douglas, included provisions that would either benefit or hurt the North or South.The compromise consisted of five bills: the admission of California to the Union as a free state, abolition of slave trade in D.C., new and effective slave laws, popular sovereignty in New Mexico and Utah territories, and the assumption of Texas' debt/cession of western land -
Fugitive Slave Act (social and political - red)
The Fugitive Slave Act was a law passed which required northern states to return slaves back to their owners. As southerners began to appear in Northern states to collect their fugitive slaves, Northerners became enraged and began to form mobs to stop the enforcement of the law. Some northern states even adopted personal liberty laws which protected fugitive slaves from being sent back to slavery in the South. This angered the south as they believed the Compromise of 1850 was being violated. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin (social - red)
Uncle Tom's Cabin was an influential anti-slavery novel published by Harriet Stowe. Within her novel, she critiques slavery based on her belief in the importance of domestic values and family security. She succeeded in bringing the message of abolitionism to a greater, more diverse audience. This novel greatly inflamed sectional tensions and even contributed to the starting of the Civil War, as believed by Abraham Lincoln. -
Bleeding Kansas (economical, social, political - red)
Bleeding Kansas, a symbol of the sectional controversy, was the name of a violence that had occurred in Kansas over the question of slavery.As specified in the Kansas Nebraska Act, the question on slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty, and when the time came to vote, thousands of Missourians had flooded into Kansas to elect a majority of pro-slavery forces into that legislature. So, slavery was legalized in Kansas, sparking the violence between proslavery and antislavery advocates. -
Kansas Nebraska Act (social and political - red)
The Kansas Nebraska Act was a law that served the purpose of organizing the Nebraska Territory. With the Kansas Nebraska Act, Nebraska would be divided into two territories: Kansas and Nebraska. The question on whether the area is proslavery or antislavery would be based on popular sovereignty, and the Missouri Compromise would be repealed. In theory, the region could choose top open itself to slavery. But, the new territory, Kansas, was more likely to become a slave state. -
Ostend Manifesto (social, political, economical - red)
The Ostend Manifesto was when a group of Franklin Pierce's envoys met with Spanish officials in Ostend, Belgium to buy Cuba so they could extend slavery; however, the Spanish had refused to sell it. When the public became aware of the Ostend Manifesto, antislavery northerners became enraged and they charged the administration with conspiring to bring a new slave state to the Union.On the other hand, the South opposed all efforts to acquire new territory that would not support a slave system. -
End of California Gold Rush
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Dred Scott Decision (political - red)
When Missouri slave, Dred Scott was taken to slavery forbidden territory, he sued his master's widow for freedom on the grounds that his residence in free territory had liberated him from his freedom. The claim was well grounded in Missouri law, and in 1850 the circuit court in which Scott filed the case declared him free. But, he appealed the circuit court ruling to the state supreme court, which reversed the earlier decision. Scott had no standing because he was perceived as private property. -
John Brown and Raid on Harpers Ferry (social - red)
John Brown, an antislavery zealot whose bloody actions in Kansas inflamed crisis there, staged an even more dramatic episode, this time in the south. On Oct.16, he and a group of 18 followers attacked and seized control of a United States arsenal in Harpers Ferry,Virginia. But,the slave uprising Brown hoped to inspire did not occur, and he quickly found himself besieged in the arsenal by U.S. troops under the command of Robert E. Lee. He surrendered, was tried in a VA court, & sentenced to death -
Crittenden Compromise (economical and social - red)
The Crittenden Compromise, which was first submitted by Senator John J. Crittenden, called for multiple constitutional amendments that would guarantee the permanent existence of slavery in the slave states,while simultaneously satisfying Southern demands on issues in regards to fugitive slaves and slavery in Washington D.C.He found it necessary to include a proposal that would reestablish the Missouri Compromise line throughout the U.S., prohibiting slavery north of the line but not South of it.
