Compromise & Crisis
Territorial Tension
Legal Landmarks
Voices of Conflict
Political Parties
100

This 1820 agreement established the 36°30' line as the boundary between free and slave territory.

What is the Missouri Compromise?

100

This 1846 proposal was the first time Congress voted on regional lines rather than party lines.

What is the Wilmot Proviso?

100

This 1857 Supreme Court case ruled that Black people were not citizens.

What is the Dred Scott Decision (or Dred Scott v. Sandford)?

100

She wrote the 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Who is Harriet Beecher Stowe?

100

This party was formed in 1854 specifically to stop the expansion of slavery.

What is the Republican Party?

200

South Carolina declared federal tariffs "null and void" during this 1832 event.

What is the Nullification Crisis?

200

The United States gained a massive amount of land, known as this "Cession," following a war in 1848.

What is the Mexican Cession?

200

The Dred Scott decision ruled this 1820 agreement was unconstitutional because Congress couldn't ban slavery in territories.

What is the Missouri Compromise?

200

This radical abolitionist led a raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859.

Who is John Brown?

200

This major political party collapsed in 1854 due to internal divisions over slavery.

What is the Whig Party?

300

This president passed the Force Bill to authorize military action against South Carolina.

Who is Andrew Jackson?

300

This concept allowed settlers in a territory to vote on whether they wanted slavery.

What is Popular Sovereignty?

300

The Supreme Court used this specific Amendment to argue that slaves were protected property.

What is the 5th Amendment?

300

He was the Southern leader of the Nullification Crisis and a major proponent of states' rights.

Who is John C. Calhoun?

300

This "Nativist" party focused on opposing Irish and Catholic immigrants.

What is the Know-Nothing Party?

400

This 1850 agreement allowed California to enter the Union as a free state.

What is the Compromise of 1850?

400

This 1854 Act repealed the Missouri Compromise to make way for a railroad.

What is the Kansas-Nebraska Act?

400

These laws were passed by Northern states to obstruct the Fugitive Slave Act.

What are Personal Liberty Laws?

400

This Illinois Senator was the main architect of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Who is Stephen Douglas?

400

Northerners feared this conspiracy, believing wealthy planters controlled the government.

What is the Slave Power (or Slaveocracy)?

500

This final attempt at compromise in 1860 failed because Republicans refused to allow slavery's expansion.

What is the Crittenden Compromise?

500

These pro-slavery supporters from Missouri crossed into Kansas to vote illegally.

Who are the Border Ruffians?

500

Stephen Douglas formulated this doctrine to explain how territories could still exclude slavery.

What is the Freeport Doctrine?

500

He was the President of the U.S. when the first seven states seceded.

Who is James Buchanan?

500

This Northern Democrat group was considered a threat to the Union by Lincoln.

Who are the Copperheads?