Antebellum Era

Missouri Compromise

maintained balance of free and slave states, established 36 30 dividing line

Nullification Crisis

South Carolina attempts to secede from the Union over the Tariff of Abominations

Wilmot Proviso

free soil proposal to outlaw slavery acquired in the Mexican American War

Compromise of 1850

added California as a free state, made Utah and New Mexico into territories, abolished the slave trade in Washington D.C., created the Fugitive Slave Act

Uncle Tom's Cabin

best-selling book by Harriet Beecher Stowe to reveal realities of slavery

Ostend Manifesto

attempt to annex Cuba as a slave state to maintain balance

Kansas-Nebraska Act

used popular sovereignty to determined if a state is free or slave

Dred Scott case

Roger Taney ruled that slaves are property and cannot sue, also ruled Missouri Compromise as unconstitutional

Panic of 1857

overproduction in wheat in north created economic panic, but southern economy is unaffected

John Brown's raid

white abolitionist attempt to raid Harper's Ferry and arm slaves

Election of 1860

led to election of Republican Abraham Lincoln

Crittenden Compromis

attempt to extend the Missouri Compromise line to prevent secession