# data[].attributes.body
Time- March 2, 1820

Place- 36th parallel

People- Henry Clay, The Senate

Story- in 1818, Missouri applied to be added to the union as a slave state. This outraged the north, who were anti-slavery expansion, and felt it would throw off the slave vs. free state balance. The south felt that, like in the 13 colonies, the new states should be able to choose whether to be free or not. This stalemate led to Missouri having to apply again one year later when it was allowed on the basis of a compromise. Henry Clay proposed that Missouri be allowed as a slave state, but Maine (which was part of Missouri but was also applying for statehood) would be admitted as a free state. In February of 1820, the Senate added a joint to the bill that said, besides Missouri, all states above a line called the 36th parallel would be free. This decision, while keeping the peace for a time, created a literal dividing line between the southern and northern states that was stronger than had already been there.

# data[].attributes.body
Time- Circa July 14th

Place- Charleston, South Carolina

People- Denmark Vesey, Black enslaved of the area

Story- Denmark Vesey, a free black man living in Charleston organized a slave intersection inspired by a successful revolt in Haiti many years before. The plot was for all enslaved blacks to rise up, kill all white people who came in their paths, and get arms. Unfortunately for them, a housemaid heard the plot and told an official of the plan. When the revolt began, the military of the area was ready for them. During the following two months, around 130 rebels were arrested and 35 of them, including Denmark, were hung. This event added fuel to the budding abolitionist movement growing in the north.

# data[].attributes.body
Time- Throughout the 1800s, gained traction in 1830s

Place- The northern states

People- Quakers, Freed blacks, Northerners, William Lloyd Garrison

Story- From early on in American history, Quakers felt that because all humans have an inner light, blacks must not be inferior or held down by slavery. This idea did not really gain traction until 1830 when William Lloyd Garrison, a journalist and social reformer, picked up the movement. Many others, such as Fredric Douglas and the Grinke Sisters joined the cause, publishing newspapers and helping slaves escape. The movement aimed to completely eradicate slavery, which was different than other groups such as the free Soilers who simply didn't want slavery to expand. This idea that had begun as a religious idea quickly became a hot political argument, dividing the north and south. Ultimately this argument led to the succession of the southern states.

# data[].attributes.body
Time- August 21-23, 1831

Place- Virginia, Benjamin Turners Plantation

People- Nathanial "nat" Turner, enslaved blacks of the county

Story- Nat Turner, a fiery preacher and slave, felt he was called to lead the slaves of Virginia to freedom. At the "sign" of a solar eclipse, he felt the time to rise had come. Enlisting 6 other slaves to help, they revolted on the night of August 21st, killing the Turner family who owned the plantation they worked on. They managed to get a hold of horses and fire arms, then gained 75 others to the revolt. Around 55 white Americans were murdered in the intersection. For six weeks, Turner hid in the area until he was found, convicted, and hanged with 16 others that were part of the plot. This incident caused the southerner to become even more antagonistic towards abolition and abolitionist and caused harsher rules to be put in place regarding the education and gathering of slaves. These bad feelings lasted until the civil war and encouraged the south to secede.

# data[].attributes.body
Time- 1832

Place- South Carolina

People- John C. Calhoun, Pres. Andrew Jackson

Story-Driven by John C. Calhoun who felt that the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional, the crisis consisted of South Carolina denouncing the tariff as null and void. He claimed that the constitution gave the states the right to block laws enforced by the federal government. In 1832 SC adopted the Ordinance of Nullification which meant they would pay no regard to both tariffs. President Andrew Jackson responded by releasing a proclamation that reinstated that the federal government reigned supreme. This caused the south to be even further at odds with the North and have more resentful of the Federal government.

# data[].attributes.body
Time- October 2, 1835 - April 21, 1836

Place- Texas/ Mexican Texas

People- Anglo settlers, Mexico, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

Story- By the 1830s, a number of settlers from America had become implanted in the Mexican state of Texas. For 7 years, Mexico did not impose anti-slave legislation or specific tariffs on the settlers. In April 1830, a huge flood of Americans came to settle in the region. This made the Mexican government anxious, causing them to slowly remove the exemptions the Americans had been enjoying. When the question of all laws being put into place came forward, the Texans rose up and fought, winning their independence from Mexico after a 1-year war. When Texas applied to become a state, it made the northern abolitionists more on edge about the balance of slave to free states.

# data[].attributes.body
Time- April 24, 1846- February 2nd, 1848

Place- Texas, Mexico

People- James K. Polk

Story- During the 1840s, America was bitten by the "Manifest Destiny" Bug, meaning that the Americans felt that the new and divine nation was meant to spread from sea to sea. This also meant they wanted to grab as much land as they could on the continent. With the success of the Louisiana Purchase ringing in his ears, President Polk offered to pay the Mexican Government for California and New Mexico. When Mexico said no, Polk sent a group to the borders of Mexico to get them to fire at them, therefore starting a war that lasted 3 years. In the end, the U.S. reigned triumphantly. This produced the treaty of Guadeloupe Hildalgo which handed over Upper California, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Utah, Nevada, and Colorado. This opened up more questions about how far slavery could expand, dividing the south even further from the north.

# data[].attributes.body
Time- August 8, 1846

Place- The House of Representatives

People- David Wilmot, Pres. Polk

Story- Early in the Mexican-American War, President Polk asked congress for 2,000,000 to negotiate peace with Mexico. When this idea was presented to Congress, David Wilmot, a Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania, tried to add to that bill saying that no new territory acquired from the war would be allowed to have slaves. This made the Southerners angry because they felt this law revoked the Equality in laws promised to all new states and the northerners were mad at the southerners for feeling that way, contributing heavily to the sectionalism growing in the country. The bill was never passed, but the damage was done.

# data[].attributes.body
Time- January 29, 1850/ September 18, 1850

Place- Across the U.S., Utah, New Mexico

People- Henry Clay, Stephan Douglas

Story- After the Wilmot Proviso fell through, something still had to be done in regard to whether the new land would be slave or free. The answer to this, at least to them at the time, was the Compromise of 1850 which said that California would be free, but it would be left up to Utah and New Mexico to decide what they wanted to be. Included in this was the Fugitive Slave Law which stated that all slaves, even if they lived in a free state, would be rounded up and returned to their masters. While this made the Free Soilers and the Southerners happy, the Northerners were outraged. They felt this "compromise" negated the Missouri Compromise entirely and opened back up the question of whether any states were safe. This caused an even bigger rift between the two sides of the argument.

# data[].attributes.body
Time- October 18, 1854

Place- Ostend, Belgium

People- Pres. Franklin Pierce

Story- To divert the nation's mind away from the question of expanding slavery to the west, President Pierce proposed the idea of expanding the other direction, knowing that manifest destiny was a good ecumenical rallying point. His idea was to claim Cuba from Spain. Written by a group of diplomats in Ostend, Belgium, the "Ostend Manifesto" stated the U.S.'s intention to buy Cuba, with a few implicit threats of war if they didn't comply. When this dispatch got leaked, the Northerners were unhappy with this because they felt it was a ploy to expand and promote more slavery in the U.S. and side with the south, thus further angering both sides.

# data[].attributes.body
Time- 1846- 1857

Place- Missouri

People- Dred Scott, Roder B. Taney

Story- Dred Scott, an enslaved black, had been moved in and out of free and slave states for years with his family. When they finally got landed in Missouri, he and his wife sued their owner for wrongful enslavement. They said that, according to state rules they had the right to sue and that when they were settled in a free state they became free and could not be enslaved again. They fought for their side up through the levels until they reached the supreme court. After ten years, Supreme Justice Roder Taney declared that Scott would always be a slave by the nature of what he was. Although the ruling was not in Scott's favor, the case drew a lot of attention from the public, adding kindling to the flames of the abolitionists for this inhuman treatment.

# data[].attributes.headline
Kansas-Nebraska Act/ Bleeding Kansas (1854-1859)

# data[].attributes.subject
Kansas-Nebraska Act/ Bleeding Kansas (1854-1859)

# data[].attributes.body
Time- May 30, 1854- 1859

Place- Kansas, Missouri

People- Stephan Douglas, John Brown

Story- By the early 1850s, entrepreneurs had their eyes on the unorganized Nebraska territory but were tentative to move in until they could legally have a claim on the land. This idea though did not appeal to the south because if Nebraska became a state, under the Missouri Compromise it would become a free state. Steven Douglas, a Senator from Illinois with a desire for a railway through Chicago, came up with, in his mind, a fair way to bring in Nebraska as a state. He proposed that when they made Nebraska free, they would also make another state down in the south. This state would be called Kansas. The Kansas-Nebraska act allowed each state to decide according to popular sovereignty whether to be slave or free. When the act was passed, the North was outraged. The decision split political parties and finally broke the last opportunity for compromise. No common ground could be found. The north felt that if the government could ignore the Missouri Compromise, they could ignore the Compromise of 1850. Ultimately, the violent feelings turned into physical violence in a time called Bleeding Kansas. Multiple instances of violent guerrilla warfare broke out across Kansas. Some of the most famous of these were led by John Brown, an abolitionist. Murders also happened on the pro-slavery side. From 1854 -1859, 200 people were brutally killed. Although Kansas eventually applied to become a free state, the Senate refused to let them enter as free. The violent nature of the tension within the country propelled it toward war at an alarming rate.

# data[].attributes.body
Time- October 16-18, 1859

Place- Virginia (now west Virginia)

People- John Brown

Story- In Brown's early years, he attended an abolitionist convention and was so moved that he swore publicly that he intended to destroy slavery. After inciting some violent Guerrilla warfare in Kansas, he moved with his surviving sons to Virginia with a plan to overrun an armory at Harper's Ferry and begin a massive slave uprising. He worked on building an "army" that contained 22 people. When the time came, they succeeded in taking over the arsenal and taking a few hostages. Unfortunately for his group, the word spread and they were surrounded by morning. In the ensuing fight, 10 of Brown's men were killed. He was tried and found guilty of treason and murder. Soon afterwards he was hung. This event made the tension and stakes high for the upcoming election of 1860.

# data[].attributes.body
Time- 1860

Place- Across the U.S.

People- Lincoln, Douglas

Story- During the 1860 elections, the nation was literally at a breaking point. Most of the political parties that had been formed were now split down the center on slavery, which meant that each had a hard time choosing one candidate. The Democrats, after a lot of scratching and biting at each other chose Stephan Douglas to be their champion. In the end, Lincoln won by a landslide by votes from the Electoral College. While Douglas had more popular vote from the people, the north had more people in the Electoral College. The election of Lincoln was the final straw for the southern states. Before his incineration, they finally seceded from the nation. Only weeks after the his swearing in, the Civil War broke out at Fort Sumter.