PRESENTATION OUTLINE
NORTHWEST ORDINANCE (1787)
Guaranteed basic rights and banned slavery for settlers in the territory. Created a three-step process for admitting states. The territory being in the north gave the north more political power and the territory would become free states. With different options on slavery this angered the south.
MISSOURI COMPROMISE (1820)
Maine and Missouri applied to join the union. The Missouri comprise allowed both to become part of the union, Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. Louisiana territory north of the southern border of Missouri would be free. Allowed slave owners to peruse escaped slaves in the north. Southerners were angered that congress gave itself the power to make laws about slavery. The north didn't want slavery but the south did and when congress allowed another state to be a slave state the north were angered.
TEXAS ANNEXATION (FEBRUARY 1845)
Congress voted Texas to become a state. A convention of Texan delegates then met and voted for annexation. Being under Missouri's south border, Texas became a slave state. With different options on slavery, the north was angered at the south.
MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR (MAY 1845)
The U.S. Offered to buy California, New Mexico, and land at the rio grande border. Mexicans refused. The U.S. Provoked Mexico to go to war with them. Northerners didn't want the war to happen arguing that the U.S. Provoked the war while southerners wanted to go to war to get more land.
WILMOT PROVISO (AUGUST 1846)
The provision was proposed by David Wilmot and stated that territory gained in the Mexican-American war would not become slave states. This was not successfully passed by the senate. The north feared the south would get too much power and wanted to stop slavery from spreading while the south thought of the Wilmot proviso as an attack on slavery by the north.
FREE-SOIL PARTY IS FOUNDED (SUMMER OF 1848)
Antislavery Whigs and democrats from together to from a new party called the free-soil party. They wanted the territory gained in the Mexican-American war to be "free soil", where slavery is banned, thus the name of their party. The north, in favor to antislavery, probably supported this political party heavily while the south, against antislavery, probably ridiculed the free-soil party for its beliefs and didn't give the party much support if any.
COMPROMISE OF 1850 (SEPTEMBER 1850)
The compromise is a series of multiple bills, that hopefully would please both the north and the south, that were signed into law. To please the north, California was added to the union as a free state and slave trade in the nation's capital was banned. To please the south the compromise stated that popular sovereignty would be used to decide if the remaining territory gained in the Mexican-American war would become free or slave states and the fugitive slave law was put into place. This law out raged the north but was possibly viewed in the south.
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW (SEPTEMBER 1850)
This law allowed special government officials to arrest any person accused of being a runaway slave and required that people in the north help capture runaways if need be. Some African Americans were convicted even when innocent. This law caused out rage in the north. Groups banned together to resist the special government officials. Even when the mob leaders were arrested, local juries refused to convict them. The south, however, was glad the law was put into place.
KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT (1854)
Stephan Douglass wanted to develop land in the west and suggested to form two new territories. These were the Kansas and Nebraska territories. The south didn't like this because both territories would enter the union as free states if admitted. To win southern support Douglass proposed that slavery in the two territories be decided by popular sovereignty. The north were out raged that Douglass reopened the issue of slavery and they felt Douglass had betrayed them.
BLEEDING KANSAS (1855)
Both proslavery and antislavery settlers went to Kansas. Thousands of people went to Kansas to illegally vote to see if the territory would be come a slave or free state. Devision between proslavery and antislavery broke out into violence and bands of antislavery settlers would attack proslavery settlers, sometimes killing them and vice versa. This shows the south and north represented by the proslavery and antislavery settlers. Kansas eventually joined the union as a free state.
DRED SCOTT DECISION (1857)
Dred Scott was a slave that lived in territories were slavery was illegal. Dred sued for his freedom and the court case escalated to involve the Supreme Court. The court ruled that living in a free territory did not make a enslaved person free and that slaves were property and property rights were protected by the U.S. Constitution. The court also ruled that congress did not have the power to stop slavery in any place meaning the Missouri compromise became unconstitutional. The decision swept throughout the nation for this meant slavery was legal in all territories. The south became happy because slavery was now legal in all territories while the north were angered and outraged because they hoped slavery would one day come to a stop but now it can spread through the west.
ELECTION OF 1860 (NOVEMBER 1860)
Abraham Lincoln was a republican candidate who ran for the election. He was popular in the north because of his Stan on antislavery. The Democratic Party was split. Southern democrats supported slavery while the northern democrats did not. Lincoln won the election and became president. The south was angered and southern states seceded from the union. The north was glad that Lincoln won the election.
SOUTH CAROLINA SECEDES FROM THE UNION (DECEMBER 20, 1860)
After Lincoln's win in the election the south felt that they no longer had a voice in the government and that congress and the president were set against the south's interest, especially slavery. South Carolina was the first to seceded rom the nation. 6 more southern states quickly followed and formed the confederate states of America. However not all southerns liked the idea of seceding from the union such as a Tennessee senator and the Texas governor during the time. With the south seceding the north most likely took it as an insult and the south left because of how they felt the north held more political power than the south and they felt how there slavery involved way of life was threatened.
