Key Events Leading to the Civil War

Date

Event or Legislation

Description

Significance – How might this event lead to rising tensions between the North and South?

1820

Missouri Compromise

A two-part compromise reached in 1820. Missouri would be allowed to join the Union as a slave state, but at the same time, Maine which had been part of Massachusetts would be admitted as a free state. This preserved the delicate slave-free balance in the Senate. Second, a line was drawn across Louisiana Territory at the latitude of 36 degrees, 30 minutes. With the exception of Missouri, slavery would not be allowed north of the line.

Although it allowed tensions to ease for a time, it foreshadowed the struggle that would continue as free and slave states competed for control of the Senate.

1846-1848

Mexican-American War

Between 1846 and 1848, the United States and Mexico went to war. By the war's end, Mexico lost nearly half of its territory, the present American Southwest from Texas to California, and the United States became a continental power.

The US gained a tremendous amount of land in the war with Mexico.  This new territory would challenge the balance of free and slave states in Congress, creating new opportunities for the two sides to clash

1846+

Wilmot Proviso

On August 8, 1846, David Wilmot, a young Democratic representative from Pennsylvania serving his first term in Congress, attached to an appropriations bill a provision that slavery be excluded from any territory acquired from Mexico. It carried in the House of Representatives along sectional lines but died in the Senate. The Wilmot Proviso would be brought forward in subsequent sessions of Congress where it often passed in the House but not in the Senate.

Although it never passed, the fact that it was introduced into Congress, both the House and Senate created tensions between the North and South as the issue was debated again and again.
It demonstrated the North’s dedication to limiting the spread of slavery to new territories and the South’s dedication to protecting their political and economic interests
Countered by the Calhoun Resolutions in the State -  5th Amendment protection of property

1850

Compromise of 1850

A compromise reached in 1850 where California would be admitted to the Union as a free state. Other territories in the Southwest would be organized without mention of slavery. The slave trade in the District of Columbia would be abolished, but the federal government would pass a strong fugitive slave law to prevent escaped slaves from being declared free. The federal government would also assume the debts Texas incurred before it was annexed to the United States.

The admittance of California as a free state would upset the balance of free and slave states in the Senate.  To gain statehood for California certain concessions would have to be made to the South.  As far as the North was concerned these concessions made them unwilling participants in slavery – the Fugitive Slave Act

Date

Event/Legislation

Description

Significance

1850

Fugitive Slave Act

The Fugitive Slave Act mandated the return of runaway slaves,   regardless of where in the Union they might be situated at the time of their discovery or capture. It required citizens to assist in the recovery of fugitive slaves.

The Fugitive Slave act made Northerners unwilling participants in slavery by requiring the participation in the return of runaway slaves and making it easier for slave owners to get their runaway slaves.  Watching as chained runaway slaves were led away gain brought Northerners face-to-face with the evils of slavery

1854

Kansas-Nebraska Act

When the territories of Kansas and Nebraska applied for statehood in 1854, Congress repealed the Missouri Compromise, and passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Kansas-Nebraska Act left the question of slavery up to the “popular sovereignty” of the settlers of the two territories to decide.

Because the slavery question was left up to the states through the use of popular sovereignty, it created the opportunity for the issue to surface again and again.  It also created to the opportunity for slave and free forces to try and manipulate or shape the outcome of any vote.

1857

Dred Scott Decision

Dred Scott was a St. Louis slave trying to win his freedom from the courts because he was a citizen of Missouri and because of his travels with his master in free territory like Illinois and Wisconsin until his master’s death in 1846. When the state court decided against him, he and his lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled first that neither free blacks nor enslaved blacks were citizens so could not sue in federal courts. The Justice also ruled that the Illinois law banning slavery had no force over Scott after he returned to Missouri, where slavery was allowed. Also the Court ruled that the Wisconsin Territory laws had no force either, because the Missouri Compromise that outlawed slavery in the territory was unconstitutional based on the 5th Amendment, which prohibits the government from depriving people of property and liberty without due process of law.

Slaves were property.  Property was protected by the Constitution.  Therefore laws limiting the spread of slavery or a slave owners right to take his slaves with him anywhere in the US were unconstitutional.

1859

John Brown and Harper’s Fairy

On October 16, 1859, the radical abolitionist John Brown led a raid with twenty-one followers against Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, in and effort to obtain arms for a slave rebellion. Federal troops took control of the arsenal on October 17th and Brown was charged with treason, conspiracy and murder. He was convicted and hanged by the state of Virginia. Brown became a martyr.

Because the North view John Brown as a martyr, it was proof to the South that the North hated them – did not care if they were murdered in their beds.

1860

Lincoln’s Election

Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate is elected President of the United States.

It demonstrated the split in the nation as Lincoln’s name failed to appear on ballots in the South and Lincoln failed to win any southern votes.

April 1861

Fort Sumter

Decades of growing strife between North and South erupted in civil war on April 12, 1861, when Confederate artillery opened fire on this Federal fort in Charleston Harbor. Fort Sumter surrendered 34 hours later. Union forces would try for nearly four years to take it back.

The first shots in the war – it showed that the South was serious and the time for negotiation and compromise had passed.