Will give 15 points! Pick 5 events and rank their importance (1 being the most relevant and 5 being the least).


Western Expansion
After President Thomas Jefferson acquired the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the United States doubled in size. This purchase gave the United States control of the vast lands west of the Mississippi. As Americans pushed west, the issue of slavery came to the forefront. Would the new territories of the United States be slave or free?

Missouri Compromise
The first confrontation over slavery in the West occurred in 1819. Missouri applied for admission to the Union as a slave state.

Compromise of 1850
In 1850, California applied for admission as a free state.

Fugitive Slave Law
The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was very controversial. It required that all citizens were obligated to return runaway slaves.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin
In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This novel told of the story of Uncle Tom, an enslaved African American, and his cruel master, Simon Legree. In the novel, Stowe wrote of the evils and cruelty of slavery.

Kansas-Nebraska Act
In 1854, Stephen Douglas introduced a bill to help solve the problem of slavery in the new Nebraska territory.

Dred Scott Decision
In 1857, the United States Supreme Court made a landmark ruling in the Dred Scott case. Dred Scott was a slave who applied for freedom.


Lincoln Douglas Debates (1858)
The debates between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln were held during the 1858 campaign for a US Senate seat from Illinois.


Harpers Ferry Raid
In 1859, John Brown and a group of followers organized a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, a federal arsenal.

Election of 1860
The United States presidential election of 1860 set the stage for the American Civil War.