What Led To The Civil War Flashcards
Missouri Compromise
1820
As part of the Missouri Compromise, Congress made an imaginary line across the southern border of Missouri at latitude 36° 30 North wher anything above in the Louisiana Purchase excluding Missouri is free.
Missouri is made a slave state
It made the number of slave and non-slave states remain equal
Maine is made a free state
Wilmot Proviso
1845
If passed would have made all territory bought from Mexico slave free
Mexican-American War
1846-1848
The war ignited when Texas was incorporated into the U.S. as a state after Texas had left Mexico 10 years prior
Resulted in selling of Mexican territory to the U.S.
Compromise of 1850
1850
California to enter the Union as a free state
Divided the rest of the Mexican Cession into territories of New Mexico and Utah
Voters in both territories would decide if they wanted slavery or not
Ended skave trade in Washington, D.C. (Congress declared it had no power to stop the slave trade)
Made a strict fugitive slave law
Settled border dispute between New Mexico and Texas
Kansas-Nebraska Act
1854
Split the Nebraska Territory into Nebraska and Kansas Territories
Gave them popular sovereignty on slavery
This Act led to an event called Bleeding Kansas which occured after Kansas got 2 governments, one proslavery one antislavery. Bleeding Kansas is when proslavery forces went against antislavery forces in a bloody civil war
The Dread Scott Case
1857
A case filed by a slave, Dred Scott
His owner lived in Missouri then moved to Illinois then the Wisconsin Territory where slavery was not allowed. After returning to Missouri his owner died. Antislavery lawyers helped Scott to file a lawsuit they argued that he lived in a free state he is a a free man. The court’s decision was that Scott was not a free man because he is property. They said because of this he did not even have a right to file a lawsuit.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
1858
Lincoln Challenged Douglas to seven debates in total during the Senate campaign. A big part of the debates was slavery. Douglas wanted popular sovereingty to decide the slavery issue. Lincoln thought it was morally wrong and could not be decided by just a yes or no vote. Lincoln was not interested in taking slavery away from the south.
Henry Clay
Clay was known as “the Great Compromiser”
His compromises played a role in the conflict because his compromises were causing the north and south to become more divided because in the end no one was satisfied
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Wrote a book call Tom’s Cabin
It help spread the want to destroy slavery and increased tensions between the north and the south
John C. Calhoun
Someone who fought with Clay a lot
Would not compromise creating tensions against the North
Stephen Douglas
Made the Kansas-Nebraska Act which lead to Bleeding Kansas which created a lot of tension between the North and South
Dread Scott
Filed lawsuit for freedom because he used to live in free territories
Supreme Court denied him that
Scott was set free by his new owner (previous owner died before lawsuit)
Died a year later to consumption/Tuberculosis
Made tensions because the case of his showed the Supreme Court’s bias towards the south making the north anger
Abraham Lincoln
A Republican, challenged Democrat Stephen Douglas for his seat in the senate. Challenged Slavery creating tension
John Brown
Abolitionist, He and his sons went down to Kansas right before bleeding Kansas (they caused the beginning of bleeding kansas) then kill 5-6 slaveowners, mutilated, and put on to show. He created the tension for bleeding Kansas that caused a huge rift to form between the North and South
Fredrick Douglass
Wrote the Fredrick Douglass Papers, former slave, it created tension because the papers he wrote talked about how awful slavery was which south did not like.
