2. In September of 1850, Congress passed five of Henry Clays proposals The series of laws became known as the Compromise of 1850 The compromise was designed by giving both the supporters and opponents of slavery part of what they wanted President Fillmore Signed the compromise into Law

3. California would be admitted into the South as free state The slave trade would be banned in Washington D.C.

4. Popular sovereignty would be used to decide slavery in any state formed in the Mexican cession The fugitive slave Act would be passed to stop slaves from running away

5. The act allowed special government officials to arrest any person accused of being a slave Suspects had no right to trial to prove they were falsely accused A slave owner or a white witness had to swear that the suspect was the slave owners property The law required northern citizens to help capture accused runaways if authorities required assistance

6. Many northerners would swear to resist the Fugitive Slave Act Northerners were outraged to see people being deprived of the freedom An Indiana man was torn away from his family and given to an owner because he claimed he escaped 19 years earlier

7. A wealthy tailor was carried back to South Carolina after living in New York for years His friends raised money and bought his freedom Most who were shipped South remained there Thousands of African Americans fled to Canada, including many who had never been enslaved

8. In many cities, residents banded together to resist the Fugitive Slave Law When 2 men came to Boston searching for “fugitives” quickly left after they were threatened by groups When group leaders were arrested, Juries refused to convict them

9. John C. Calhoun had hoped that the Fugitive Slave Act would force Northerners to admit that slaveholders had rights to their property Instead, every time the law was enforced, it convinced more northerners that slavery was evil

10. In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin The Novel follows Uncle Tom, an enslaved man who is abused by the cruel Simon Legree Stowe decided to write “something that will make this whole nation feel what an accursed thing slavery is.”

11. Stow's Book was a best seller in the north It shocked thousands of people who had been unconcerned about slavery Readers began to view slavery not as apolitical issue, but a moral issue White southerners claimed it was propaganda, false or misleading information to further spread a cause They claimed it did not give an accurate picture of a slaves life

12. In 1854 Senator Stephen Douglas helped pass the Kansas- Nebraska Act The act would form two new territories: Kansas and Nebraska To get Southern support he proposed that slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty

13. Southerners supported the Act They believed slave owners from Missouri would move across the border and make Kansas a slave state Northerners were outraged It violated the Missouri Compromise

14. The Kansas-Nebraska Act left slavery to the voters Both proslavery and antislavery settlers flooded Kansas Each side was determined to hold the majority in the territory when slavery came to a vote

15. Thousands of Missourians entered Kansas in March of 1855 to illegally vote to select a legislature Kansas had only 3,000 voters, but 8,000 votes were cast Of the 39 legislatures selected, only 3 opposed slavery Antislavery settlers refused to accept the results and held a second election

16. Kansas now had two governments, each claiming the right to impose their government Violence soon broke out A proslavery sheriff was shot when he tried to arrest antislavery settlers The next month, he returned with 800 men and attacked a town

17. Three days later, John Brown, an antislavery settler, led seven men to a proslavery settlement There, they murdered five proslavery men and boys These incidents set off widespread violence in Kansas Bands of fighters roamed the country side, terrorizing those who did not share their views It was so bad Kansas earned the nickname Bleeding Kansas

18. In a fiery speech, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts denounced slavery and its supporters One man he attacked was Andrew Butler of South Carolina A few Days later, Butler’s nephew, Congressman Preston Brooks, marched into the Senate Chamber and beat Sumner with a cane until he went unconscious

19. Southerners supported Brooks and his actions Hundreds sent him canes in support Northerners were outraged Brooks' violent act was more evidence that slavery was brutal and inhuman