Crisis of the Union Timeline

The Wilmot Proviso was proposed by David Wilmot. It was supposed to outlaw slavery in any territory the United States acquired after the war (Most of the Southwest to California). The legislation was never passed.

-This helped lead to the civil war because it just supported slavery anymore and it prevented the outlaw of slavery.

This act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves. This made it even harder for slaves to escape their harsh realities, leaving even less hope for slaves.

The compromise admitted California as a free state and did not regulate slavery in the remainder of the Mexican cession all while strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act, a law which compelled Northerners to seize and return escaped slaves to the South.

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" was the second-best selling book in America, and it opened up people's eyes to slavery and how it really was. Southerners tried to protest that it wasn't even true. It brought the issue of slavery out into the open where it couldn't be ignored.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 established Kansas and Nebraska as territories and helped start “Bleeding Kansas” by its adoption of popular sovereignty. Under popular sovereignty, it is the residents of the territories who decide by popular referendum if the state is to be a free or enslaved. Settlers from the North and the South poured into Kansas, hoping to swell the numbers on their side of the debate. Passions were enflamed and violence raged. Nearly 50 settlers were killed.

Representative Preston Brooks used a walking can to attack Senator Charles Sumner who was an abolitionist. The attack nearly killed Sumner and it drew a sharp response from Americans on the matter of expansion of slavery in the United States.

Scott was a slave from Virginia who fought for his freedom by trying to sue in court. The Supreme Court said that because he was a piece of property he had no legal rights that a human does. Scott threatened to recast the political landscape that had been keeping civil war from happening. As a result Southerners renewed their challenges to new territorial limits on slavery and polarization intensified.

Kansas voters, had the opportunity to reject the constitution altogether in the referendum, but they overwhelmingly rejected the Lecompton proposal by a vote of 10,226 to 138. Antislavery voters boycotted the convention. They argued that the delegates were actively creating electoral conditions whereby the supporters of slavery would have excessive political power.

In 1858, Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas faced a challenge for his seat from Abraham Lincoln. Their debates mostly consisted of slavery. Lincoln lost the senate race but enabled him to be nominated for president.

Brown supported violence against the South in order to stop slavery. He led the raid of an arsenal and supplied slaves with weapons so they could rebel armed. This played a big role leading to the civil war.