Key Events and Figures in Pre-Civil War America

Wilmot Proviso

Proposed banning slavery in territories from Mexico.

Calhoun Resolutions

Response advocating for slavery's protection in territories.

Popular Sovereignty

Allowing territories to decide on slavery themselves.

Zachary Taylor

12th U.S. President, opposed expansion of slavery.

Free-Soilers

Opponents of slavery's expansion into new territories.

Free-Soil Party

Political party opposing slavery's extension into territories.

California Gold Rush

Mass migration to California for gold in 1849.

Forty-Niners

Gold seekers who flocked to California in 1849.

Compromise of 1850

Series of laws to ease tensions over slavery.

Millard Fillmore

13th U.S. President, supported Compromise of 1850.

Franklin Pierce

14th U.S. President, endorsed Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Fugitive Slave Act

Law requiring return of escaped slaves to owners.

Stephen A. Douglas

Senator who promoted the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Law allowing territories to decide on slavery.

Know-Nothings

Anti-immigrant political party in the 1850s.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Author of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' anti-slavery novel.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Novel highlighting the horrors of slavery.

Republican Party

Political party formed to oppose slavery's expansion.