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Introduction
This timeline explains the historic events of some of the 1800s. It shows people how slavery back in that time was a huge controversy and was difficult to make compormises. You will see how the issue of slavery brought this country to a civil war through many different historical events. -
The Missouri Compromise
Henry Clay of Kentucky crafted The Missouri Compromise of 1820. It admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state. The power between slave and free states was balanced because of this. The Missouri Compromise kept the Union together. But several people disliked it. In the South people didn't like the ban on slavery in territories that might later become states. In the North people were just waiting for the ban on slavery to happen. Whispers of war began. -
The Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay had an idea, a compromise to please just about everyone. California was to be admitted to the Union as a free state which would please the North. It also allowed the New Mexico and Utah territories to decide whether to allow slavery, which would please the South. The compromise also ended the slave trade in Washington, D.C. Many Southerners thought the compromise was unfair, and did nothing for them. It was to please the Northernors only said the people in the South. -
The Kansas- Nebraska Act
Senator Stephen Douglas created the Kansas-Nebraska Act which created two new territories, Kansas, and Nebraska. It also abolished the Missouri Compromise by leaving it up to the settlers to vote on whether to permit slavery in the two territories. Northerners were frightened by the image of slavery marching across the plains. After the act was passed things started to turn violent leading to the question of war. Proslavery settlers called "border ruffians" burned buildings etc. -
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott a slave from Missouri, who had traveled with his owner to Wisconsin (a free state), went to court to win his freedom. He said that spending time in Wisconsin made him a free man. It was a huge controvery for years, until the Dred Scott Decision was delivered. It said that no black man is a citizen nor ever will be so he can't sue for his freedom in a federal court. So Dred Scott remained a slave and this infuriated Northernors calling this a wicked and false judgement. -
Election of 1860
President Lincoln was elected in 1860, but it was an odd victory. He won by 40% with all Northern votes, and with his name not on a single ballot in the South. The South was now the minority, and was worried about slavery being abolished for good. A month later South Carolina seceded from the Union, and six more states followed. -
Attack on Fort Sumpter
Confederates in Charleston, California opened fire on Fort Sumter, a federal court in Charleston Habor. The news unleashed a wave of patriotic fury in the North. The time for xompromise was over. The issues that had divided the nation for so many years would now be decided by a civil war.
