1. The Missouri Compromise
1.1. 1820
1.1.1. Missouri Compromise
1.1.1.1. Adding Missouri as a slave will upset the balance of the 11 free states and the 11 slave states. In 1820, Senator Henry Clay persuaded Congress to make Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. The Louisiana Territory north of Missouri's southern border was also free. But the Southern slave owners also had the right to keep fugitives into free regions.
2. The Wilmot Proviso
2.1. 1848
2.1.1. Wilmot Proviso
2.1.1.1. The Missouri Compromise did not apply the territory gained from Mexico. Representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania proposed that Congress ban slavery in all territories that might become part of the U.S as a result of the Mexican-American War. The proposal passed in the House but failed in the Senate.
3. Free-Soil Party
3.1. 1848
3.1.1. Free-Soil Party
3.1.1.1. In the election of 1848, both the Whig and the Democratic Party hoped to win by not taking a stand on the issue of slavery. Anti-Slavery Whigs and Democrats joined forces to create a new political party. It called for the territory gained in the Mexican-American War to be "free-soil", a place where slavery was banned.
4. Election of Zachary Taylor
4.1. 1848
4.1.1. The controversy over the spread of slavery led to the development of the Free-Soil Party. Democrats nominated Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan, the Whigs nominated Zachary Taylor, and the Free-Soil Party nominated former Democratic President Marlin Van Buren. Senator Cass suggested that the people in each new territory should decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery. Zachary Taylor won the election.
4.1.2. Election of Zachary Taylor
5. The Compromise of 1850
5.1. 1850
5.1.1. The Compromise of 1850
5.1.1.1. When gold was found in California it was enough people to be admitted as a state. People felt it would be a free state due to the Missouri Compromise line. This angered the South and they were threatened to leave the Union. The compromise was proposed by Henry Clay of Kentucky who hoped it would end the debate over slavery permanently. President Taylor opposed the compromise but died and Millard Fillmore who became president, supported it. California was admitted to the Union as a free state. Slave trade was banned. Congress declared that it could not regulate the slave trade between slave states. Popular Sovereignty would be used to determine the issue of slavery in the rest of the Mexican Cession. The South received a new tough fugitive slave law.
6. The Fugitive Slave Act
6.1. 1850
6.1.1. Fugitive Slave Act
6.1.1.1. Special government official were allowed to arrest any person accused of being a runaway slave. Suspects had no right to trial to prove that they had been falsely accused. All it took was a slaveholder or any white witness to swear that the suspect was a slave holder's property. The law also required northern citizens to help capture accused runaways if authorities requested assistance.
7. Uncle Tom's Cabin
7.1. 1852
7.1.1. Uncle Tom's Cabin
7.1.1.1. A book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe about Uncle Tom, a kind enslaved man who got abused by Simon Legree. To the North, it was a bestseller. The book caused people to view slavery as a human, not just a political issue. The white Southerners were outraged.
8. The Kansas-Nebraska Act
8.1. 1854
8.1.1. The Kansas-Nebraska Act
8.1.1.1. Senator Stephen Douglas pushed through the Act that led the nation closer to war. He wanted to see a railroad built from Illinois through Nebraska territory to the Pacific Coast. He suggested creating two new territories the Kansas Territory and the Nebraska Territory. Both were above the Missouri Compromise Line and would become free states which would upset the Southerners. To win southern support, he suggested that the issue of slavery be resolved by popular sovereignty. This would undo the Missouri Compromise.
9. "Bleeding Kansas"
9.1. 1855
9.1.1. Bleeding Kansas
9.1.1.1. Both pro slavery and antislavery settlers flooded to Kansas to try to win the majority. People from Missouri went to Kansas on March 1855 to vote illegally in the election of a territorial legislature. Kansas had 3,000 voters but almost 8,000 people voted. Of the 39 people elected, all but 3 supported slavery. Antislavery settlers refused to accept the results and held another election. Kansas had two governments. Violence broke out. John Brown let seven men to a proslavery settlement near Pottawatomie Creek and murdered five proslavery men and boys.
10. Bloodshed in the Senate
10.1. 1859
10.1.1. Senator Charles Sumner Attacked
10.1.1.1. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was the leading abolitionist senator and made fiery speeches denouncing the proslavery legislature in Kansas. In one his speeches he singled out Andrew butler who was an elderly senator from South Carolina who was not present when he gave his speech. A few days later, his nephew, Congressman Preston Brooks, marched into the senate chamber and beat his uncle with a cane. Sumner never recovered from his injuries.
11. Republican Party
11.1. 1854
11.1.1. Republican Party
11.1.1.1. The Whig party split and many northern Whigs formed a new political party called the Republican Party. Their main goal was to stop the spread of slavery into the Western territories. It attracted many northern Democrats and Free-Soil members. At least 105 of 245 candidates were elected to the House of Representatives. Democrats also lost control of the two northern state legislatures. Two years later the party ran its first candidate for president, John C. Fremont.
12. The Election of 1856
12.1. 1856
12.1.1. The Election of 1856
12.1.1.1. First Republican candidate John C. Fremont waged a strong antislavery campaign and won 11 of the 16 free states. Democrat James Buchanan won the election.
13. Dred Scott vs. Sanford Case
13.1. 1857
13.1.1. Dred Scott
13.1.1.1. Dred Scott was an enslaved person who once been owned by a U.S. Army doctor. They lived in Illinois and Wisconsin Territory where slavery was illegal. With the help of an antislavery lawyer, Scott sued for his freedom because he argued that he was free because he had lived in an area where slavery was illegal. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote the decision for the Supreme Court. Scott was not a free man for two reasons: 1. Scott had no right to sue in federal court; 2. Living in free territory does not make an enslaved person free. Slaves were property and property rights were protected by the U.S. Constitution. Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in any territory. Southerners were happy that slavery was legal in all territories. Northerners were upset now that slavery could spread to the west.
14. The Lincoln and Douglas Debates
14.1. 1858
14.1.1. Lincoln and Douglas Debate
14.1.1.1. Lincoln was chosen as a rival candidate for Senate against Senator Stephen Douglas. Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of public debate. Douglas defended popular sovereignty and said each state had the right to decide for or against slavery. Lincoln took a stand against the spread of slavery. He predicted that slavery would die out on its own but in the meantime Americans had an obligation to keep it out of the western territories. Stephen Douglas won the elections
15. John Brown Attacks Harper's Ferry
15.1. 1859
15.1.1. John Brown attacks Harper's Ferry
15.1.1.1. John Brown was driven out of Kansas after the Pottawatomie Creek Massacre and returned to New England. Brown and a small group of supporters attacked a town of Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His goal was to take control of the guns that the U.S. Army had stored there. He gained control of the guns but troops commanded by Colonel Robert E. Lee surrounded Brown's force before they could escape. Brown was wounded and captured. The court found him guilty of murder and treason. He was hung in Virginia. The Northerners called him a hero. Southerners were shocked that Northerners thought this about a person who tried to led a slave revolt against them.
16. Political Parties Divide
16.1. 1860
16.1.1. Political Parties
16.1.1.1. The Democrats Party split into two parties during the election of 1860 because Northern Democrats refused to support slavery in the territories. Some Southerners wanted to fix the problems between the North and the South and formed the Constitution Union Party. They wanted to protect slavery and keep the nation together.
17. Election of 1860
17.1. 1860
17.1.1. Election of 1860
17.1.1.1. Republicans choose Abraham Lincoln to run for president in 1860. Northern Democrats choose Stephen Douglas. Southern Democrats chose Vice President John Breckinridge of Kentucky. The Constitutional Union chose John Bell of Tennessee. Lincoln won every free state and Breckinridge won all slave states except four. Bell won Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Douglas won Missouri. Lincoln received 40% of the popular vote but received enough votes to win the election.
18. Southern States Secede
18.1. 1860
18.1.1. Southern States
18.1.1.1. Lincoln's election made the South feel they no longer had a voice in the national government. They believed that the president and Congress were against their interests, including slavery. South Carolina left the U.S. first when news of Lincoln's election reached the state. On December 20, 1860 the convention passed a declaration that "the union now subsisting between South Carolina and the other states,under the name of the U.S. is hereby dissolved. Six more states followed South Carolina out of the Union.
19. The Confederate States of America
19.1. 1861
19.1.1. The Confederate States of America
19.1.1.1. In February of 1861, the leaders of the Seven Seceding states that left the Union met in Montgomery, Alabama to form a new nation that they called the Confederate States of America. By the time Lincoln took office in March, they had written a constitution and named former Senator Jefferson Davis as president.
20. The Crittenden Plan
20.1. 1861
20.1.1. Crittenden Plan
20.1.1.1. A plan developed by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky to compromise with the government one last time. It was presented to Congress in late February, 1861 while the South was forming its new government but it did not pass.