It was a tariff that was a tax on certain imported or exported goods, it was mean to finance internal improvements encouraging manufacturing all across America. It was supposed to protect American manufacturers but many South Carolinians disapproved of this.

Missouri was the first territory in the Louisiana purchase to apply for statehood. The balance of slave and free states was equal. Missouri agreed with the aspect of slavery. People thought the residents should have the rights to decide about slavery.

Polk's priority was the state of Texas. It was apart of Mexican Territory. American settlers there launched their own war for independence in 1835. Mexico did not accept Texas's independence. Us forces entered Mexico city and the Mexican Forces were forced to sign the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo where they agreed to give up all their claims of Texas.

The Compromise allowed California to enter the union as a free state, organized the remaining land from mexico into two bigger territories naming it Utah and New Mexico letting people there decide by popular sovereignty, pays texas $10 million for giving some land to New mexico, discontinuing the slave trade in Washington D.C., and strengthened the fugitive slave act. pleased few but angered many, the northerners were outraged and many refused to comply.

Instead of looking into the souths complaints on the Tariffs they kept on passing the Tariffs in the 1820s. The Tariff of 1828 was bad because it increased taxes up to 50% on some imports. The southern leaders rejected it but could not get enough congress votes to block it. The Vice President Calhoun was afraid that the northern part of the U.S was prioritized over the southern part and that these tariffs are targeting them. He said that an individual state should have the right to Nullify any federal law.

Senator Stephan Douglas made a name for himself in the compromise of 1850. To have a railroad cross the louisiana it was necessary to organize the land. They organized it into two territories, kansas, and nebraska. Since this land was north of the missouri compromise boundary. Douglas suggested the missouri compromise was repealed.The slavery issue in the territories was settled by popular sovereignty.

Dred Scott was an enslaved man in missouri, he lived both in free Illinois and Wisconsin. He and his wife thought they should be free because of the time they spent in the free states. They went to court but it ruled against Dred Scott, even though he was in a free state they said he wasn't a citizen because he was of color, so he had no right to file a lawsuit. In congress they could not ban slavery in territories because it took away the slaves holders' rights to take their property. This was another reason for northerners to think slavocracy would stop to nothing.

The republican party which opposed expanding slavery, nominated abraham lincoln. Many Believed if he won that slavery would eventually be abolished. To white southerners, their way of life was at stake. Abraham Lincoln won the popular vote by 40%. He had dominated the north. The nation had made its decision, Abraham Lincoln was president.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act did not go well and the Kansas question brought serious conflicts. Missouri slaveholders feared that they could lose the enslaved people that they considered property. The Missourians would cross the border to vote for pro-slavery. In 1855 the election resulted in a pro-slavery legislature. Free-soilers rejected it and created their own legislature. The town were founded by free-soilers. Violence then broke out in Lawrence when pro-slavery Missourians blockaded the town from free-soilers. John Brown a deeply religious abolitionist organized a group of men including his sons and went to a town near Lawrence and killed 5-pro slavery settlers

On an october night brown led a group of men who seized an armory. Soon after, troops led by colonel robert e. lee, Recaptured the facility. They killed 10 of browns men and captured brown. He was put on trial and hanged publicly.

Uncle Tom's Cabin was a novel debating over the compromise of 1850, it caused a division between people defending slavery or trying to abolish it. Stowe didn't want to just accuse Southern slaveholders, she also wanted to make Northerners to understand they also play a part in this, she told them that Northern merchants brought enslaved africans into the U.S and sold them as property. She also thought that the Northern politicians were responsible for allowing slavery because they were willing to compromise. Stowe believed they were both guilty.

There was 3 groups the secessionists, Unionists and the cooperationists. The secessionists were known as the fire eaters and they believed that south carolina should secede from the union, with or without the other southern states. The unionists held the opposite view. they were unhappy with the compromise they believed it was a better decision to stay in the U.S and they were the smallest of the three states. The Cooperationists thought that it was only a good idea if other southern states joined south carolina. They wanted to see how events played out.