A border skirmish along the Rio Grande that started off the fighting was followed by a series of U.S. victories (this sentence might not be finished).

When the dust cleared, Mexico had lost about one-third of its territory.

The Wilmot Proviso attempted to ban slavery from any territory captured from Mexico. The Proviso would extend to the Pacific Ocean across 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude. (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California was too much land for slavery.)

Slavery wasn't banned in any territory until 1862.

Compromise of 1850

The compromise of 1850 was made up of five bills that attempted to resolve disputes over slavery in new territories added to the United States in the wake of the Mexican-American war.

California was a free state, Utah and Mexico would decide for themselves, made it easier for slave owners to recover runaways under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

The compromise of 1850 said that for every free state North, there would be slave states South.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe never saw slavery first hand. She had heard about it from other sources second hand. The book was written to raise money for the abolition society. It was sold in every Methodist Church.

Popular sovereignty would decide it the territories would be free or slavery (might be unfinished).

Kanas-Nebraska Act

In 1854, senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois proposed a bill to organize the Territory of Nebraska, a vast area of land that would become Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, and the Dakotas.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act, raised the possibility that slavery could be extended into territories where it had once been banned.

Douglas hoped this idea of “popular sovereignty” would resolve the mounting debate over the further of slavery in the United States.

Douglas needed pro-slavery votes to pass his “Nebraska Bill”, he added an amendment that repealed the Missouri Compromise and created two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska.

Settlers in each territory would vote on the issue of whether to permit slavery or not, according to the principle of popular sovereignty.

The senate passed the Nebraska bill. President Franklin pierce signed it into law on May 30th, 1854.

Pro-slavery and anti-slavery activists flooded into the new Kansas territory, each side seeking to turn popular sovereignty to their own advantage. (Border Ruffians)

The two sides traded outbursts of violence and intimidation, “Bleeding Kansas” would generate national headlines, further inflaming sectional tensions over slavery’s future.

Lawrence→ anti-slavery capital

Lecompton→ pro-slavery capital

Formation of the Republican Party

Formed because Republicans were in the North. They said the democratic form of government doesn't work; decisions should be made by the public (everyone works for the benefit of the whole) and slavery should be done away with. Fredrick Douglass was the first to join.

Dred Scott Decision

-States that slaves were not citizens and could not sue in court

-Chief Justice Roger Taney

Dred Scott first went to trial to sue for his freedom in 1847, Ten years later, after a decade of appeals and court reversals, his case was finally brought before the United States Supreme Court.

John Brown Raid

-Attempted to overthrow the south through armed conflict and end slavery

-Harper's Ferry Virginia is the site of the federal armory

John Brown and his men would raid the armory, take the weapons and give them to slaves. He wanted the slaves to start a rebellion (this failed because he was informed upon) John Brown was convicted of treason and sentenced to death.

Lincoln’s Election

-Elected in 1860. Abraham Lincoln said, “If I could save the union without freeing slaves, I would. If I had to free the slaves, I would. If I could free some and not others, I would.”

Note