MAJOR EVENTS IN THE SECTIONAL CRISIS
1785 - NORTHWEST ORDINANCE prohibited slavery in NORTHWEST TERRITORY
1787 - Jay-Gardoqui negotiations
1803 - ESSEX JUNTO - Scheme for secession of New England after Louisiana Purchase went through. Fear of change in balance of power.
1812 - Strong opposition in New England to war of 1812. Talk of secession.
1814 - Hartford Convention. Talk of New England secession, but limited to proposed amendments to Constitution calling for states rights and sectional protection.
1820 - MISSOURI COMPROMISE -
1. Sectional balance of power preserved in Senate
2. Congress established precedent of barring slavery from some territories
3. 36o30' line drawn between slave and free territories.
4. Applied only to then-existing territory -- Louisiana purchase.
1828 - RESOLVES OF SOUTH CAROLINA LEGISLATURE deemed tariff of 1828 unconstitutional, oppressive, and unjust. No action taken.
1828 - SOUTH CAROLINA EXPOSITION AND PROTEST - written by Calhoun. Theoretical justification for nullification by a single state and interposition, and argued for secession as a last resort.
1831 - FORT HILL ADDRESS -- Calhoun argued for Concurrent Majority.
1832 - NULLIFICATION CRISIS. South Carolina tried to nullify tariff of 1832. Jackson threatened military force to bring compliance. Compromise.
1837 - GAG RULE. Petitions relating to slavery could not be discussed in Congress.
1839 - Formation of the LIBERTY PARTY -- based on anti-slavery.
1837-1845 Controversy over admission of Texas to the union. It was expected that Texas would become a slave state; thus, the northern states
did not want her in the union.
1847 - WILMOT PROVISO - an amendment attached to many bills in Congress, providing that territory taken from Mexico should be closed to
slavery. Never passed.
COMPROMISE OF 1850
1. Problems
a. Slavery in territories
b. Admission of California
c. Slave trade, "Personal Liberty Laws," Slavery in D.C.
2. Calhoun and "Concurrent Majority," Seward and "Higher law"
3. Provisions
a. California in as a free state, destroying the balance.
b. New Mexico organized as a territory with no restriction on slavery. Texas to give land to New Mexico. Popular sovereignty for New Mexico when it wished to apply for admission as a state.
c. Fugitive Slave Act
1) fugitive slave cases under exclusive federal jurisdiction.
2) special commissioners appointed to enforce slave recovery.
3) affidavit by claimant sufficient to establish slave status.
4) commissioners given $10 if they found a suspect a slave, $5 if they ruled him a free man.
5) fugitives denied trial by jury.
6) heavy penalties for obstruction.
d. Slave trade, but not slavery itself, abolished in D.C.
1848 - Free Soil Party throws election to Taylor
1854 - KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT
a. Kansas and Nebraska Territories organized by popular sovereignty.
b. Repealed the Missouri Compromise.
c. Led to "Bleeding Kansas" and John Brown's Pottawatomie massacre.
1857 - DRED SCOTT DECISION
1. Blacks not citizens of U.S.
2. Missouri Compromise, and any attempt by Congress to limit slavery, unconstitutional.
1859 - John Brown's Raid
1860 - Election of Lincoln
SOUTH CAROLINA SECESSION
FORMATION OF THE CONFEDERACY
FORT SUMTER
LINCOLN'S CALL FOR TROOPS
SECESSION OF UPPER SOUTH
WAR