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.