Timeline, 1850s

Date	Key Events
February – September 1850	Compromise, Compromise, Compromise The three great Senate stalwarts of compromise on the issue of the expansion of slavery into the territories—Henry Clay of Kentucky, John Calhoun of South Carolina, and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts—use their eloquent oratory one last time (they will all be succumb to age with 2 years) to prevent the Union from fracturing over the issue of admitting California as a free state. (Wagner 109-111)
September 1850	Compromise of 1850 Congress votes on the Compromise of 1850. Rather than being one “omnibus” bill as envisioned by its author, Henry Clay, it is split into five separate bills to allow Members of Congress political cover as the issue of the expansion of slavery into the territories becomes more fractious. Those Senators who favor continued compromise fall into disfavor while extremist on both sides of the slavery issue flourish. (Wagner 110) Despite the increasingly heated debates on the subject of slavery, it has been on its expansion into the territories, not on its existence in the South that has created the conflicts to date. In the six decades since the founding of the nation, not one bill pertaining to the abolition of slavery in the South has ever been introduced or debated on the floor of Congress.
March 1852	The Little Woman Who Caused. . . Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The debate over the total abolition of slavery begins in earnest throughout the nation. (Wagner 110-111)
January 1854	The Transcontinental Railroad The debate over the placement of a transcontinental railroad pits North against South as Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois champions a Great Plains route while Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi favors a route through the South. Douglas proposes a compromise that would allow the future residents of Nebraska and Kansas—territories north of the Missouri Compromise line—to vote on slavery, the belief being one would choose slavery and the other would ban it. (Wagner)
May 1854	The Kansas-Nebraska Act Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act despite its virtual repeal of the tenuous Compromise of 1850—specifically the prohibition of slavery north of the 36-30 line. Northern states threaten to stop enforcement of another provision of the Compromise of 1850 in retaliation—the toughened Fugitive Slave Act. (Bowman)
October 1855	Popular Sovereignty Pro- and anti-slavery factions are increasingly drawn into armed conflicts as violence erupts in Bleeding Kansas. The concept of “popular sovereignty” in which the residents of a territory would peacefully decide for themselves the issue of slavery turns out to be a fallacy. (Bowman)
May 1856	Charles Sumner Incident Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts is severely beaten by a cane-wielding Member of the House, Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina. Brooks objected to Sumner’s speech condemning the position of Southern senators over the tariff and state’s rights.* (Bowman) Charles Sumner Incident (con't) *Seriously, it had nothing to do with tariffs or states’ rights; it was about slavery.
March 1857	The Dred Scott Case The Supreme Court in the Scott v. Sandford rules that a black man “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” The ruling also finds the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional and that slave owners may take their property anywhere, as Congress has not the authority to interfere with slavery. It is with this ruling that Chief Justice Roger B. Tawny believes the issue of slavery in the United States has been resolved once and for all since Congress can no longer debate the issue short of an amendment to the Constitution. (Wagner 114-16)
August 1858	Lincoln-Douglas Debates Republican Abraham Lincoln squares off against incumbent Democrat Stephen Douglas for the Illinois’ U.S. Senate seat. Douglas, in a bid to keep the Democratic Party from breaking into Northern and Southern factions, adopts a right to choose position over the issue of slavery while Lincoln comes out in opposition to it. While Lincoln looses the race to Douglas, his conduct gains him a national following. (Bowman 39)
May 1859	African Slave Trade Revisited To promote economic growth in the South, a Southern trade organization proposes the reestablishment of the African slave trade. (Bowman 39)
May 1859	Historical Sketches: 10th S.C.V. Infantry Citizens of Georgetown, South Carolina, organize the Georgetown Rifle Guards, a volunteer infantry company to provide a militia for Georgetown. Residents voice concerns about the “disturbed conditions” between the North and the South. This unit would later form the core of Company A, Tenth South Carolina Volunteer Infantry. (Emanuel 5)
October 1859	John Brown seizes the Federal armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. He captured by a Federal force led by Major Robert E. Lee. (Bowman 39-40)
May 1860	Republicans meeting in Chicago nominate Abraham Lincoln to be their candidate for president. They adopt a moderate platform calling for the prohibition of slavery in the territories but not its abolition. Lincoln endorses and supports the policy. (Bowman 40)