Compromise & Expansion (1820–1856)
This early agreement temporarily preserved sectional balance by admitting one free state and one slave state.
Missouri Compromise
This political party opposed the expansion of slavery and rapidly gained support across the North in the 1850s.
Republican Party
This Union strategy aimed to defeat the Confederacy by blockading ports and controlling major rivers.
Anaconda Plan
These laws attempted to restrict the freedom and labor of formerly enslaved people after the Civil War.
Black Codes
This agricultural system trapped many Southern farmers in cycles of debt and dependency.
Sharecropping
This conflict added vast western territory to the United States and forced Congress to confront the future of slavery.
Mexican–American War
This economic crisis deepened sectional tensions by strengthening Southern confidence while undermining Northern industry.
Panic of 1857
This early battle demonstrated that the Civil War would not be short or easily won.
First Battle of Bull Run
This federal agency provided education, legal support, and basic assistance to formerly enslaved people.
Freedmen’s Bureau
These Southern Democrats claimed to restore order by ending Reconstruction and reasserting white elite control.
Redeemers
This multi-part agreement attempted to settle sectional conflict by addressing slavery in newly acquired territories.
Compromise of 1850
This Supreme Court decision ruled that Congress lacked authority to restrict slavery in the territories.
Dred Scott v. Sandford
This battle halted a Confederate invasion and gave the Union a critical strategic advantage.
Battle of Antietam
These laws authorized federal action to protect voting rights and suppress political violence in the South.
Enforcement Acts
This coordinated campaign used violence, intimidation, and fraud to dismantle Republican governments in the South.
Mississippi Plan
Northern resistance to this law convinced many Southerners that federal guarantees for slavery could not be trusted.
Fugitive Slave Act
This violent attempt to spark a slave uprising intensified Southern fears of abolitionist extremism.
John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry
These two Union victories in 1863 marked a turning point that shifted momentum decisively against the Confederacy.
Gettysburg and Vicksburg
This law placed Southern states under military authority to enforce congressional Reconstruction.
Reconstruction Act of 1867
This agreement resolved a disputed election by withdrawing federal enforcement of Reconstruction.
Compromise of 1877
This law shattered an earlier sectional compromise by allowing settlers in new territories to decide the slavery question for themselves.
Kansas–Nebraska Act
This last-ditch proposal sought to preserve the Union by permanently protecting slavery south of an established line.
Crittenden Compromise
This Confederate strategy relied on foreign dependence on Southern exports but failed as the war expanded in scope and purpose.
King Cotton diplomacy
This political crisis revealed the limits of presidential resistance to congressional Reconstruction policy.
Andrew Johnson’s impeachment
This violent episode demonstrated how organized terror could overturn Reconstruction governments at the local level.
Colfax Massacre