Social Studies Timeline

Summary: When Missouri wished to enter the US as a slave state, some compromises had to be made. The balance between free and slaves states were already equal at 11 each, and the Northerners (the anti-slavery states) didn't want the balance to be thrown off, and render them inferior. In order to solve this, it was proposed the creation of a new, free state, Maine, and so on March 3, 1820, the Missouri Compromise was put into place, once more settling the balance between free and slave states in the US.

Northerner's Perspective: After hearing of a new slave state being added to the US, the northerners felt their views and say on slavery were being threatened, and honestly, they were. The north states were anti-slavery, and if Missouri was to be introduced to America as a slave state, the balance between the North and South would shift, with 12 slave states and only 11 free states.

Southerner's Perspective: The southerners knew they would have the upper hand in government if they were to add another slave state, which is why they pressed to hard to gain Missouri. The south would control the senate and be one step closer to legalizing slavery in the US.

Summary: When Texas declared/fought for independence from Mexico, they became a new nation called the Republic of Texas. While president Andrew Jackson refused to do so, president Polk decided to annex Texas. This led to a year long argument with mexico because they disagreed about where the southern border should be, and it caused the Mexican-American War. The war was ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe, Which gave us not just Texas, but Arizona, Nevada, California, and New Mexico. The end result was 1.California would be a free state 2. Utah would decide if they were free by a popular vote 3. Slavery would be abolished in Washington D.C. 4. there would be a stricter slave law.

Northerner Perspective: The Northerners didnt want the U.S. to be extended because then the Southern or slave states would have more land and therefore more power over the northern states.

Southerner perspective: The Southerners wanted the annexation to happen because then they would have more land and power over the North.

Summary: The Compromise of 1850 was a collection of 5 bills in an attempt to preserve the union and solve the issue of slavery when california wished for admission to become a free state. Essentially, The Compromise admitted California as a free state, left Utah and New Mexico to decide who wants to be a free state or a slave state, defined a new texas-new mexico boundary and made it easier for slave owners to recover runaway slaves with the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Northerner Opinion: The Northerners mostly didnt like this compromise because it made it even more difficult for slaves to escape and put the odds against them. But, they did like the fact that California became a free state.

Southerner Opinion: The southerners mostly enjoyed this because the Compromise allowed them to get runaway slaves back easier then befroe.

Summary: 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' was an anti slavery novel published by Harriet Beecher Stowe sometime in 1852. It tells a story of Uncle Tom, a slave who is depicted as saintly, dignified slave who was shipped off in a boat to an auction in New Orleans, where he saves a little girl’s, Eva’s, life, who’s father then purchases Tom. He and Eva then become good friends. As an abolitionist novel, it gained great popularity among white readers in the north by dramatizing that pain of slavery. While it did not spark the war, this book brought up plenty more issues between the north and the south.

Northerners’ Perspective: The northerners read this book and believed that it correctly depicted the south with their slave keepers by and treatments. It was this book that had actually opened many of the northerners eyes to the unjust and cruel ways of slavery.

Southerners’ Perspective: Pro slavery southerners argued that Stowe’s story was just that; a story. It was made to make the south out as the villain, as though the north didn’t also contributed to slavery. They didn’t appreciate how it was made to seem like the all the southerners cared about was money and crops, and thus, they fought for slavery even more n

Summary: The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by Congress in 1854 under President Pierce, it’s actions repealing the Missouri Comprise. It had settled slavery territorial issues between the citizens of the states of Kansas and Nebraska. The act was proposed by Senator Douglas to settle the issue of slavery in Nebraska, which entailed dividing the Nebraska territory into 2 states. Each state would decide on their views of slavery based on popular sovereignty, which is basically just a majority vote. The problem was, they had to send people to the new Kansas territory to have enough citizens to carry out a vote, and instead of doing this through a peaceful election, proslavery and anti slavery forces sent people out to fight for the land. This went just about as well as you’d expect. When elections to choose lawmakers went down in 1855, many men from both sides snuck into Kansas and voted illegally, and when proslavery men were elected, laws were quickly made to further the ideals of the south. The anti slavery settlers resisted this, and ended up making their own government in Kansas. With two governments, both of which at war with the other, Kansas was in shambles.

Northerners’ Perspective: The north was outraged by the Kansas-Nebraska act. The new territories were now open for slavery to spread to the rest of America and throw off the balance of free and slave states, the thing that the Missouri Compromise was specifically to prevent from happening.

Southerners’ Perspective: The proslavery south greatly supported the Kansas-Nebraska act. It undermined the Missouri Compromise, and so long as they could send settlers to the newly opened territory, they could expand slavery to the rest of the unsettled land when the time came.

Summary: The Dred Scott Court Case was when a slave named Dred Scott was taken into 2 different free states with his owner and later went to court explaining that he should be free because he went into free states. This case went all the way up to the Supreme Court, but ultimately decided that it was unconstitutional and that Dred Scot was still a slave.

Northerner opinion: This stirred outrage in the north and some say it was the very start of the civil war.

Southerner opinion: They liked that fact that Dred Scott was still a slave and were mostly happy with the Courts decision, But they hated Dred Scott and how he stared an uprising with their own slaves.

Summary: John Brown was a fugitive slave who organized the first major rebellion, him and his team took over Harper's Ferry, a federal armory (or a place where they store guns). this raid ended up a failure but it left a big impact on the inslaved population and the abolitionist community.

Northerner opinion: This raid inspired the northerners and helped spark the Civil war, and many other rebellions against the slave owners.

Southerner opinion: the Southerners were now cautious of their slaves and even more strict on them, which in turn, caused even more rebellion.

Summary: On November 6 1860, Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election against his main competitor for the North, Douglas, and his main competitor in the South, John Breckinridge.

Northerners opinion: The Northerners liked this change because Lincoln was against slavery and wanted it to be abolished

Southerners opinion: The South hated this because his winning meant that they would always be out-done in terms of political power based on population distribution. They were so outraged by this, that the first seven states seceded and formed the Confederate Union.

Summary: In December of 1860, South Carolina was the first state to declare their secession from the United States and was one of the founding states of the Confederacy in February, 1861. The main cause of the secession was due to the general government, and how after the election of 1860, Lincoln was able to win even though he wasn’t on the southern ballets. SC was the first state to actually realize that the south would always be outnumbered in votes, so they just decided that the only way their going to win is to be their own nation.

Northerners’ Perspective: The north was astounded. The nation was now led by Abraham Lincoln, who we would soon see was a very strong advocate for the Union and very anti slavery. There wasn’t much they could do to stop the south from following SC’s lead and seceding, so they decided if there were states that wanted to break the union, they wouldn’t make it easy for them.

Southerners’ Perspective: The south quickly followed in suit of South Carolina. They were shown that there was an answer to the governmental predicament that they were in, and the answer was to separate from the Union and create the confederacy. The secession of South Carolina was when the civil war truly started.