Events leading up to the civil war

  • Missouri Compromise

    Missouri Compromise

    Missouri enters as slave state; Maine enters as a free state
  • Isabella Baumfree writes the narrative of Sojourner Truth

  • William Llyod Garrison Starts anti-slaverly newspaper Liberator

    William Llyod Garrison Starts anti-slaverly newspaper Liberator

    abolitionist newspaper that attacked slavery for years on end until it was eventually outlawed goes by the name of 'Liberator'
  • Wilmot Proviso

  • Douglass begins his North Star Newspaper

  • Compromise of 1850

    Compromise of 1850

    Series of laws meant to ease tensions between north and south over slavery increased the strength of fugitive slave law.
  • Uncle Tom's Cabin Published

  • Kansas Nebraska Act

    Kansas Nebraska Act

    Repealed the Missouri compromise; Allowed settlers to decide whether their state was a slave state or free state (popular sovereignty)
  • The Republican Party is established

  • Lincoln Douglas Debates

    Lincoln Douglas Debates

    Series of Debates over slavery and popular sovereignty, that made Lincoln wide known and helped push him in the presidential election.
  • Confederate States of America are established

  • Dred Scott decision

    Dred Scott decision

    Supreme Court ruling over court case; and declared slaves property and not people, congress can't ban slavery.
  • John Brown's Raid at Harpers Ferry

  • South Carolina secedes from the union

    South Carolina secedes from the union

    South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the union after Lincoln is elected
  • Abraham Lincoln is elected President