Road to Secession timeline by Marina Gao and Claire Kent

Summary: This compromise determined the concession of Maine and Missouri. Maine would be accepted in the US as a free state and Missouri would be a slave state. This conserved the balance of power between the North and South. This compromise also determined the line between the free and slave states.
Northern Perspective: The North opposed the compromise because it added another state that allowed slavery.
Southern Perspective: The South was against the compromise because it implied the idea that Congress was able to make laws about slavery.
CLAIRE

Summary: Texas belonged to Spain before Mexico claimed it. Texans fought for independence from Mexico because of the disagreement over strict laws. One battle was the Battle of Alamo on March 6, 1836. Mexican troops invaded the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas and defeated the Texans. After a few more battles, Texans won their independence and became an independent nation called the Republic of Texas. President Polk annexed Texas in 1844. This led to the disagreement between US and Mexico about borders. They eventually fought a war between 1846-1847. The US won the war and signed the Treaty of Guadalupe. The treaty gave the US land which is now California, Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico.
Northern perspective: the Northerners did not agree and like the annexation of Texas because they thought that since more land was being added, there would be more slave states. So, an unbalanced senate with more favor in slavery. It would go against the Missouri Compromise since it kept states balanced.
Southern perspective: the Southerners liked the idea of the annexation of Texas because Texas would be a slave state to keep the amount of slave and free state equal. Texas would be a good slave state because its an excellent region to grow cotton.
MARINA

Summary: The Compromise of 1850 is the agreement that settled the issue of slavery in land received from Mexico as a result of the Mexican-American War. This also set Texas’s western and northern borders. It was made in an effort to settle issues with slavery and to stop the Union from separating. The Union (North) wanted California to be a free state that prohibited slavery, and eventually wanted the land gotten from the Mexican-American War to be too. The president at the time, Zachary Taylor, opposed any kind of legislative plan that would address the problems which made the North and South angry.
Northern Perspective: The North gained the most from it, but still lost a little. The North got California as a free state and the slave trade wasn’t allowed in Washington D.C.
Southern Perspective: The South got $10 million to Texas, slaveholding was allowed in Washington D.C. In Utah and New Mexico territories, there were no slavery restrictions and the South also got the Fugitive Slave Law. The Fugitive Slave Law required that any slaves found (even in a free state) must be returned to their owners.
CLAIRE

Summary: This book was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was written about slavery and how it was un-Christian. It’s a story about slaves that fled to the North to find freedom before she was sold to a disrespectful slave-owner.
Northern Perspective: The North was against slavery but didnt know the extent of how slavery affected people. This book helped the North learn the reality of slavery and evoke emotions in those people to create an even bigger movement against slavery.
Southern Perspective: The South claimed the book was full of lies because of the outright abolitionist belief in it. They believed that slavery was a good thing for the blacks and the book caused them to defend slavery even more. Stowe even released another book, The Key, to Uncle Tom's Cabin, that gave proof to every thing she said in the original book.
CLAIRE

Summary: In 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas introduced this act in hopes of settling the slavery issue in Nebraska territory. The territory was divided into two states, Nebraska and Kansas. Each territory would decide slavery by popular sovereignty. Violence erupted. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces came from around the country to flood to Kansas to vote illegally. The two sides elected two different governors and governments. 200 people were killed and newspapers referred to it as the Bleeding Kansas.
Northerners Perspective: The North was outraged. The act made Kansas and Nebraska open to slavery. The Missouri Compromise prevented this from happening. They considered the Missouri Compromise to be a long-standing agreement.
Southerners Perspective: They supported the act because granting popular sovereignty would give them a chance to establish slavery there. They wanted Kansas to be counted as a slave state for slave reasons and political reasons.
MARINA

Summary: Dred Scott was a black man living with a white man and traveled to Missouri. Instead of escaping to become free, he decided to sue and his case went to the Supreme Court. He addressed that since he and his wife lived in free states for 12 years, he would be considered free. Since he was free, he would be a citizen too. The court decided that even if he was free, he still wouldn’t be a citizen because African Americans weren’t citizens, they were property. Since he’s property, he cannot sue. Soon, the Supreme Court ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because it could not limit slavery.
Northerner’s perspective: They thought that the Southerners were greedy and declined Dred Scott because they wanted to extend slavery throughout the nation and continue slavery.
Southerner’s perspective: Southerners approved it because they believed Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in the territories. And, they wanted slavery to continue growing and being used.
MARINA

Summary: John Brown was an extreme American abolitionist who believed in using aggression and violence to overthrow a government. He thought this belief was the only way to remove the institution of slavery. Brown disagreed with the current abolitionist movement of his time, which was all about peace and non-violence. The John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry was something Brown planned to influence an armed slave revolt. He tried to overthrow Harper's Ferry, which was a United States Arsenal.
Northern Perspective: The North was very divided over what they thought about the raid. Some abolitionists saw John Brown as a hero and others disagreed with the violence of what Brown did. This event caused the tensions between the North and South to get worse.
Southern Perspective: The raid proved to the South that it was possible for slaves to cause a violent revolt against them. The South was so dependent on slavery that the idea of slaves protesting violently against their owner was enough to cause fear in them.
CLAIRE

Summary: On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to succeed from the Union. In 1861, it became one of the founding members of the Confederacy. South Carolina representatives sent a letter to House of Representatives stating they will no longer be connected to them. The Secession of South Carolina would later cause 10 more states to succeed in the winter of 1860 and the spring of 1861. The Confederate States of America was formed in February of 1861 under the leadership of former US Senator, Jefferson Davis.
Northern Perspective: The Northerners were more willing to make compromises to end the problems. For example, they made the Fugitive Slave Law, which required all Northerners to assist in returning runaway slaves. But, it caused more protests from abolitionists.
Southern Perspective: The Southerners of coursed agreed about this event. More and more conventions were held and then the Confederacy was formed. Within three months of Lincoln’s elections, seven states have decided to leave the Union.
MARINA

Summary: Abraham Lincoln was a representative of the Anti-Slavery Republican party in the 1860 presidential election, with his running mate, Hannibal Hamlin. Lincoln gained attention from a debate against the democratic leader, Stephen Douglas. He won in all the states except the slave states. He wasn’t even on the ballot in some states! After he was elected, Abraham Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation, which granted slaves freedom. He was an important symbol in the Civil War, and he used the Anaconda Plan to round up the Confederates.
Northern Perspective: The Northerners were happy about Abraham being elected because they actually voted for him. He shared the political ambitions the North had. He had one big goal to end slavery and stop the Union from separating, and people in the North also supported that.
Southern Perspective: The Southerners were mad because they didn’t vote for him. They believed that if a president could win the election through votes from only one side, then it isn’t giving an equal representation of the whole nation. Abraham Lincoln didn’t believe in the same things the South thought they needed to survive. Lincoln was against slavery, but the South’s economy depended so much on slavery then they wouldn’t go without it. This showed the southerners that the country was so divided so they had to break away from the Union.
CLAIRE