* Admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state
* Drew a line across the Louisiana Territory at the 36° 30' parallel
* Prohibited slavery in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territory except for Missouri
* Allowed slavery to continue in the southern portion of the Louisiana Territory
The Compromise of 1850
* Admitted California as a free state
* Organized the New Mexico and Utah territories without specifying whether they would be free or slave states (popular sovereignty)
* Abolished the slave trade in the District of Columbia
* Strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
* Repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820
* Allowed the people of Kansas and Nebraska to decide whether they would be free or slave states (popular sovereignty)
* Led to violence in Kansas, known as "bleeding Kansas"
The Dred Scott Decision of 1857
* Ruled that African Americans were not citizens of the United States and could not sue in federal court
* Further inflamed tensions between the North and the South
John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859
* An attempt by abolitionist John Brown to start a slave rebellion
* Failed miserably, but further increased tensions between the North and the South
The Election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860
* The last straw for the South, which seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America
* Led to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861