Key Events of the Antebellum Era

Key Events of the Antebellum Era The Road to the Civil War

US Constitution-1787 • Protected slavery with 3/5 Compromise. • Allowed slave trade to continue until 1808. • Ordered that fugitive slaves be returned to owners.

Missouri Compromise-1820 • Admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. • Made Missouri’s southern border the future dividing line for slave and free territory.

Mexican American War and Wilmot Proviso-1846 to 1848 • Added new land to the US with slavery question to be answered. • Congressman Wilmot failed in his attempt to close this land to slavery.

Compromise of 1850 • Admitted California as a free state. • Slave question in other Mexican Cession lands would be decided by people who lived there. • Slave trade ended in Washington, D.C. and new fugitive slave law would be enforced. Henry Clay

Uncle Tom’s Cabin-1852 • Harriet Beecher Stowe novel sold two million copies and described the terrible conditions of southern slavery.

Kansas-Nebraska Act-1854 • Divided large piece of west into two regions that would decide on slavery for themselves under “popular sovereignty”. • This idea replaced the Missouri Compromise. Stephen Douglas

“Bleeding Kansas”-1856 • People from both sides of the slavery issue came to Kansas to vote. • Fights, raids, and questionable elections resulted. • Abolitionist John Brown led a raid that killed five men who favored slavery.

Bully Brooks Attacks Sumner in the Senate-1856 • Things came to a “head” in the Senate when Representative Brooks (SC) beat Senator Sumner (MA) with a cane over insults made with respect to the slavery issue.

Dred Scott Decision-1857 • Scott, a slave, sued for his freedom because his master had taken him to free territory. • Supreme Court disagreed, stating that slaves had no right to sue and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.

Lincoln vs. Douglas Debates-1858 • Abraham Lincoln ran for Senate in Illinois against Stephen Douglas. • Though Lincoln lost the election, he became a national figure as several debates highlighted the issues of popular sovereignty, slavery, and states’ rights.

John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry-1859 • In hopes of starting a slave revolt, John Brown broke into an army warehouse to steal weapons. • Though captured and executed, it scared southerners to hear how far some northerners were willing to go to end slavery.

Lincoln Elected President-1860 • With Democrats split, Republican Lincoln won presidency. • Though he said he would not challenge slavery where it already existed, South began to break away from the Union.

Southern Secession-1860 • Seven states seceded from the Union after Lincoln’s election. • Formed Confederate States of America. • Elected Jefferson Davis their president. • Wrote Constitution that protected slavery. Jefferson Davis

Attack on Ft. Sumter-1861 • Lincoln refused to give up federal lands to CSA and Ft. Sumter (SC) was attacked in April. • Four more southern states joined the Confederacy. • The Civil War, a test of federal vs. state power over the slavery issue, had begun.

Key Events of the Antebellum Era