Road to Civil War

Front

Led by groups that wanted to outlaw slavery throughout the U.S. Proslavery Southerners were forced to either leave the state or keep silent. Publications of antislavery literature like The Liberator and Uncle Tom’s Cabin fueled the group’s objective.

Back

Abolitionist Movement

Front

Allowed California to enter the Union as a free state, outlawed the slave trade in Washington D.C., gave popular sovereignty in New Mexico & Utah, & created a new tougher Fugitive Slave Law.

Back

Compromise of 1850

Front

An abolitionist led his men to an arsenal in Virginia with plans of starting a slave rebellion. They seized federal arsenal but his plan did not work; he was captured & executed.

Back

John Brown

Front

admitted one slave state and one free state to the Union; prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the 36 30’ latitude line; the North was concerned with the expansion of slavery and the South learned the importance of maintaining a balance of free and slave state Senators.

Back

Missouri Compromise

Front

Lincoln campaigned on a platform of ‘free soil’ & won the electoral votes in the North; South Carolina seceded. What event does this describe?

Back

Election of 1860

Front

An alleged planned slave rebellion resulting in harsher slave codes; it fueled the abolitionist movement in the North and caused Southern opponents of slavery to be less vocal.

Back

Denmark Vesey Plot

Front

Supreme Court case that ruled African Americans were not citizens of the U.S. and slaves were considered property. The court also ruled that Congress could not pass measures limiting the expansion of slavery into the territories.

Back

Dred Scott decision

Front

In 1832, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina argued states had the right to refuse to enforce a federal law if they felt it was unconstitutional; argued that a tax on imported goods would benefit the North only and hurt the South.

Back

Nullification Crisis

Front

As the country spread west, ‘popular sovereignty’ was granted to new territories, fueling the debate over the expansion of slavery which led to deadly arguments between proslavery and antislavery activists.

Back

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Front

time period before the Civil War

Back

Antebellum