Road To the
Civil War
End of the Mexican War- 1848
When the war was over, US gained many new states, with the addition of new states there posed a problem
Would they be free or slave states?
Fugitive Slave Law- 1850 Package of five bills, passed on September 4,
1850, lessening a four-year confrontation between the slave states of the south and the free states of the North
Made police liable if they didn’t arrest runaway slaves
“slave power”- slaves numbers would become to powerful, take over the South
Kansas-Nebraska Act- 1854 Created the states of
Kansas and Nebraska Debated to allow/not
allow slavery
Bleeding Kansas- 1854
200 people died in a miniature civil war over slavery in the states
Dred Scott Case-1857 Scott was a slave who’s master brought him to the free state
of Illinois and then to free Wisconsin Territory, then back to Missouri.
Scott sued for his freedom because he was living on free land and was a free man.
He lost his case because blacks were not citizens and so they could not sue in a federal court, and the court declared the Missouri compromise unconstitutional.
Lecompton Constitution Rejected 1857 When the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, Kansas was
allowed to determine if they were a free or slave state The Lecompton Constitution was installed to make Kansas a
slave state The people tried to push the constitution through congress ,
but in 1858 it was sent back to Congress for another vote It was a delayed statehood but Kansas voters rejected the
constitution and Kansas became a free state
Harper’s Ferry Raid- 1859 John Brown- radical
abolitionist that was involved in anti- slavery violence.
Lead a group of 17 men to raid the arsenal kept in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia
Wanted to start a slave uprising using the captured weapons
Lincoln-Douglass Debates-1860 Neither candidate wanted
slavery in the states, but they disagreed on how to keep it out
Douglass tried to show that Lincoln was a abolitionist
Lincoln refuted that statement and said he does not want to make blacks and whites equal even though he knows slavery is morally and socially wrong
Failing Economy National banks suffer a depression Depression greater in north then the south Southerners said that the greedy and self
invested manufacturers from the north caused the depression
Bibliography http://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/tp/secessi
onevents.htm http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2932.html http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h83.html http://www.principlesofwar.com/scenarios/19thc/USmexinde
x.htm http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASfugitive.htm
THE END
Hope you enjoyed this Mr. Magnuson!
Top Related