Key Events of the Antebellum Era

1
Key Events of the Antebellum Era

• The Road to the Civil War

2
US Constitution-1787

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

3
Missouri Compromise-1820

• Admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a
  free state.
• Made Missouris southern border the future
  dividing line for slave and free territory.

4
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.

5
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
6
Uncle Toms Cabin-1852

• Harriet Beecher Stowe novel sold two million
  copies and described the terrible conditions of
  southern slavery.

7
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
8
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.

9
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.

10
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.

11
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.

12
John Browns 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.

13
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.

14
Southern Secession-1860

• Seven states seceded from the Union after
  Lincolns election.
• Formed Confederate States of America.
• Elected Jefferson Davis their president.
• Wrote Constitution that protected slavery.

Jefferson Davis
15
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.