History Events Leading to the Civil War Quiz

Kansas Nebraska Act

1854 - Created Nebraska and Kansas as states and gave the people in those territories the right to chose to be a free or slave state through popular sovereignty. Created hard feelings in the South

Constitutional Convention

Slavery was discussed at this event and required the 3/5 Compromise to smooth things out

Declaration of Indpedence

The inclusion of the words, "All Men are Created Equal" seems hypocritical but efforts to ban slavery were met with a threat by the South to walk out

Dred Scott Decision

The end determination of this event was that slaves were said to not be citizens

Quaker's Position Paper

This was the first spiritual resistance to slavery when a particular religious group decided that slavery was not compatible with their faith

Freeport Doctrine

During his debate with Lincoln, Douglas proposed this idea that territories could keep slavery out of that territory by just not passing laws to support it

Gag Rule

This prohibited Congress from discussing the issue of slavery because it was too explosive

Invention of the Cotton Gin

This is often referred to as the "lock-in" of slavery because it increased the demand for cotton, land, and slaves

Fugitive Slave Act

Law that provided for harsh treatment for escaped slaves and for those who helped them. It was the part of the Compromise of 1850 that made the South feel like they were getting something in return for California coming in free.

Personal Liberty Laws

pre-Civil War laws passed by Northern state governments to counteract the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Acts and to protect escaped slaves and free blacks settled in the North, by giving them the right to a jury trial.

Charles Sumner

Radical Republican against the slave power who insults Andrew Butler and subsequently gets caned by Preston Brooks

John Brown

This man was involved in many violent incidents in his quest to end slavery such as Pottawatomie Creek and Harpers Ferry

Nat Turner

The man believed he was instructed by God to lead a slave revolt in Virginia

William Lloyd Garrison

An editor of The Liberator who published accounts of freed slaves in hopes that people would start to push for abolition

Positive Good Theory

Idea that slavery was not, actually a "necessary evil," that it was a beneficial thing for both blacks-and whites; whites get cheap manual labor and blacks benefit from the civilizing effect of being under the guidance of benevolent whites, and exposure to Christianity, said by John C. Calhoun

American Colonization Society

Formed in 1817, it purchased a tract of land in Liberia and returned free Blacks to Africa.

Wilmot Proviso

1846 proposal that outlawed slavery in any territory gained from the War with Mexico, it never became law but set off sectional tensions

Mexican War

One of the outcomes of this event was that many of the later leaders of the Civil War got to know each other and each other's strategies.

Abraham Lincoln

Won the Presidential election of 1860

Miilard Fillmore

Took over after the death of President Taylor

James Buchanan

Elected President in 1856

Franklin Pierce

Won the presidential election of 1852.