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Missouri Compromise
In late 1819 Missouri requested to be part of the Union making them a slave state. If Missouri was made a slave state there would no longer be a balance between free states and slave states. Congress created a compromise that allowed Missouri to become a slave state and make Maine a free state. Southerners did not like the Missouri Compromise because it allowed congress to make laws regarding slavery. This was one more reason why the South felt they would be better off as their own country. -
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Abolitionist Movement
The goal of the abolitionist movement was the immediate emancipation of all slaves and the ending of racial discrimination and segregation. Abolitionist were different than the average anti-slavery advocate. Abolitionist wanted all slaves to be free now, while others wanted to slowly emancipate and restrict slavery from spreading. Slavery was prominent is the south and abolitionist ideas were prominent in the north causing a significant divide that lead to the civil war. -
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The Wilmon Proviso
David Wilmot proposed a piece of legislation called the Wilmot Proviso. The goal of this Proviso was to outlaw slavery in any new land acquired by the US during the Mexican American war. The bill was never passed giving Southerners the freedom to take more land and use more slaves. This could have potentially made the South much stronger which could affect the North's efforts in abolishing slavery completely. -
Fugitive Slave Act/Underground Railroad
The Fugitive Slave Act was passed by congress as part of the compromise of 1850. These laws allowed runaway slaves to be captured, taken back to their owners and punished. A number of slaves were able to run away during this time because of the underground railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses to be used by runaway slaves. The FSA and the UR caused more tension that lead to the Civil War because more slaves were escaping, and more laws were being put in place to capture slaves. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe that showed the country what slavery was really like. This book was a bestseller country wide. The North agreed with her anti-slavery views and got a personal look into the life of a slave, while the South disagreed and saw it as an exaggeration. This novel exposed slavery and made people choose sides, which is how it contributed to the Civil War. -
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John Borwn and Bleeding Kanas
The Kansas-Nebraska act overturned the use of latitude as a boundary dividing free states and slave states. KS was now neither a free state or a slave state. Proslavery southerners and antislavery northerners rushed to KS to influence the decision on whether it should be a free or a slave state. John Brown was an abolitionist who helped lead anti-slavery fighters in KS. In a way this was a small preview of what the civil war would be like. Northerners fighting Southerners because of slavery. -
Dred Scott Decision
Scott was a slave in IL, a free state. In 1850 he went to court where the St. Louis circuit court ruled him and his family free. Later the MO Supreme court reversed the decision. Scott took the case to the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided that Dred Scott had no right to sue because he was a slave not a citizen. No slave or free black person living in the US was condisdered a citizen. This caused for more tension between the north and the south. -
The Election of 1860
Upcoming to the election, republicans came together to find the best candidate for president, they decided on Abraham Lincoln. John Bella was one candidate running against Lincoln. Lincoln won 40% of the popular vote and 180 electoral votes. Lincoln was against slavery and because he was president he was very influential in the civil war. -
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Southern Secession
The southern secession was when seven states seceded from the union. Soon a total of eleven slave states became the Confederate States of America. This lead to the civil war because now it was not only about slavery but also about staying one country.
