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Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book written by abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe. She wrote this book to show the life of slaves in slavery. It grew very popular across the nation. It created many backlashes towards Stowe. It consisted of Tom a slave on a terrible plantation. People didn't like the book because they thought it was a misconception about slavery. Stowe responded by creating another novel that she can read and get how you really feel. -
Republican Party Emerged
This party emerged after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed. This political party consisted of anti-slavery people and northerners. The leaders of this party were Horace Greeley, Salmon Chase, and Charles Sumner. They were against slavery and didn't want it to cross the Missouri Compromise line. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This was introduced by Stephen Douglas. This act repealed Missouri Compromise and allowed slavery to be allowed no matter where the state was located. It also created two new territories out of the rest of the Louisiana Purchase. There were Kansas and Nebraska. With this new act in place, people of states trying to join the Union could vote and decide if the State should be free or enslaved. This caused the "Bloody Kansas" where people fought over whether Kansas was free or not. -
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Bloody Kansas
Bloody Kansas was a series of violent events that took place in Kansas. It started when Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Act allowed popular sovereignty to allow or ban slavery in their state or territory. People in Kansas went on a rampage. Antislavery and pro-slavery people went head-on. In Lowell proslavery burned down Newspaper buildings and walls built by antislavery to be safe from the threats of proslavery people. Many people died and Kansas was a free state. -
Election of 1856
Due to the series of violent events called Bleeding Kansas, Democrats did not select the incumbent Franklin Pierce due to him being associated with the events. Instead, they chose James Buchanan as their nominee due to him being far from those events. The Republicans took a strong antislavery stance in their campaign. However, the Democrats discussed the possibility of secession from the Union which antislavery could prevail and this gave the win to the Democrats and Buchanan took office. -
Brooks-Sumner incident
This incident was caused by Charles Sumner's speech called Crime Against Kansas. Here is addressed South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler as the cause of Bloody Kansas. Sumner characterizes Butler as "not a proper model for an American Senator." Butler did not like the criticism. After a Senate meeting, Preston Brooks went into the Senate Chamber where Sumner was sitting. Brooks took a can and hit Sumner in the head and kept going until leaving Sumner bleeding on the floor. -
LeCompton Constitution
The Lecompton Constitution was written by pro-slavery advocates in Lecompton, Kansas. It was an attempt to turn Kansas into a slave state. It consisted of slaveholding and a bill of rights that did not include free blacks. It was rejected however it was taken into consideration. -
Dred Scott
Dred Scott believed he was supposed to be free since he lived in free territories. He sued Irene. He took this case all the way to the US Supreme Court. The Court decided that blacks cannot get citizenship because of a federal law that prohibited it. The Court can not make Dred Scott a free man because that would be taking someone's property without trial. Nothing in the constitution does it give the power to prohibit slavery to Congress, making the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
These were seven debates that took place around Illinois between Republican Abraham Lincoln and Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas. They were fighting over the issue of slavery and if it should spread to the new territories. They were both candidates for the US Senate from Illinois. -
House Divided Speech
The House Divide Speech was given by Abraham Lincoln after being nominated to be the Republican Candidate for the upcoming election. The House Divide Speech was a warning as well as directed at his opponent, Stephen Douglas. He was saying how the country can not be half free and half slave. The issue of slavery will divide the nation. He was saying how a person is either proslavery or antislavery and there is no middle ground like Douglas wants. -
Harper's Ferry Raid
On the day of the raid, Brown said a prayer and outlined his plan to his army of 21 men at Kennedy Farm. Around 8 p.m., Brown and 18 of his men went to Harper's Ferry. His army took the US Armory and Arsenal and the US Rifle Works. He kidnapped slaveowners Lewis Washington and John Altstadt and freed their slaves. They held hostages and set off an alarm of slave revolt. The town set up a militia, surrounded Brown's army, and captured a raider; this is where Brown gave in and asked for a truce. -
John Brown
John Brown was an abolitionist. He wanted to rebel and free slaves. On October 16, Brown planned to raid Harpers Ferry with 20 men. They had weapons but wanted to get more weapons to start a rebellion among slaves. He believed it was his duty that was given to him by God to free all slaves and end slavery. He called the proslavery people crazy for doing something so inhuman. He was sentenced to death at his trial. He died on December 02, 1854. -
Election of 1860
This election split Northern and Southern Democrats. The first Democrat convention was held in Charleston, SC. The democrats were torn between candidates as well as the party's policy on slavery. Northern Democrats held another convention in Maryland where they decided Stephen Douglas to be their candidate. The Democrats had two candidates running for president. -
Succession
After Lincoln was elected into office, many southerners were angry and afraid. They thought Abraham Lincoln was going to get rid of slavery, so many southern states started to secede from the Union. South Carolina was the first to secede from the Union and many followed after that. -
Lincoln's First Inaugural Address
After obtaining office, Abraham Lincoln promised that the federal government will not interfere with states that already allow slavery. He will still however enforce federal laws in the states that had seceded from the Union.