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Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe about a slave named Uncle Tom. This tale was meant to emphasize the injustices and harshness of slavery. Many people did not know the true extent of slavery’s horror, because they themselves were not experiencing it. It heightened abolitionist beliefs in the North, while angering the South, as they saw it putting them in a bad light. This increased tensions between the two regions. -
Republican Party
The Republican Party was founded from the former members of the retired Whig Party. These people heavily opposed slavery. The new party quickly gained supporters in the North, and was soon recognized as a major political player. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
The Kansas Nebraska Act was an act proposed by Stephen Douglas, which was meant to settle the dispute over the newly acquired territories, and whether they should be slave states or free states. This legislation repealed the Missouri Compromise, and created two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska. It was determined that popular sovereignty would be responsible for determining the legality of slavery in each territory. This led to the uprising known as Bloody Kansas. -
Bloody Kansas
As a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, proslavery and antislavery forces rushed to populate each of the new territories. This was an attempt to sway popular sovereignty to each respective side in the new land. Northerners wanted Kansas to be a free region, but Southerners, many from the neighboring state of Missouri, wanted the area to allow slavery. Armed Southern forces were sent in to flood the election, and attacked and ransacked the town of Lawrence. -
Brooks-Sumner Incident
Charles Sumner, a Senator from Massachusetts, denounced the newly legalized slavery in the Kansas territory. While making this speech, Sumner made the mistake of slandering Stephen Douglas and Andrew Butler. In retaliation, Representative Preston Brooks, relative of Andrew Butler, entered the United States chamber and located Sumner, who was working. Brooks slammed his walking cane into the back of Sumner’s head, and beat him brutally. Sumner never fully recovered. -
Election 1856
The election of 1856 showcased three candidates: James Buchanan, John C. Fremont and Millard Fillmore. Fremont was the Republican candidate, and opposed both slavery and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Buchanan called the Republican party extremists and radicals. Both Buchanan and Fremont slandered each other during their campaign, which was a new tactic to the political scene. Fremont did not receive a single vote from south of the Mason-Dixon, but won 11 free states. -
Dred Scott
The Dred Scott v. Sanford case was an influential Supreme Court case involving an enslaved man, Dred Scott, and his owner John Sanford. After having resided in the free state of Illinois and Louisiana territory, Scott believed that he should be a free man and sued Sanford. Several issues were called into question here. It was determined that because Scott was of African descent, he was not a citizen and therefore could not sue. He was also still considered to be a slave. -
House Divided Speech
Abraham Lincoln delivered his House Divided Speech in Springfield, Illinois, after receiving the Republican nomination US Senator. The speech discussed slavery, and how dangerous the disunion of the nation would be. Lincoln also opposed the Dred Scott decision, saying that it opened the possibility of slavery being legalized in the North. He claimed that if the United States wanted to be a free country, they needed to act immediately. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were a series of seven debates between Republican nominee for Senator Abraham Lincoln and the incumbent Democratic Senator, Stephen Douglas. Douglas had been one of the contributors to the Kansas-Nebraska act, whereas Lincoln opposed the legislation. Both sides attacked each other for their political opinions and who they supported, and were almost completely contrasting in views. Northerners supported the document, while the Southerners reject it. -
LeCompton Constitution
The LeCompton Constitution was a document drawn up by proslavery advocates for the state of Kansas. If it were approved, slavery would become legal in Kansas. People of color would also be excluded from the state’s bill of rights under this legislation. It was rejected twice, and Kansas was later admitted to the United States as a free state, on January 29, 1861. -
Harper's Ferry
The Harpers Ferry Raid was an attack on a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The attackers were a group of armed abolitionists, led by John Brown. Brown hoped to distribute weapons to enslaved people in the area, who would join their armed revolt against slavery. This raid stirred sectional tensions and raised the stakes of the election of 1860. Southern states realize that they needed to secede from the union. -
John Brown
After his raid on Harpers Ferry, John Brown is charged with treason, murder, and insurrection. As payment for his “crimes”, Brown is sentenced to hanging. -
Election 1860
This election was between Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, John Breckinridge, and John Bell. Lincoln won the election with 180 electoral college votes, though he only received 40% of the popular vote. He did not carry a single southern state. Many states ended up seceding from the Union after this. -
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Secession
After the divide between the north and the south had reached new highs, many of the southern states began to secede from the union. First was South Carolina, then Mississippi, then Florida, then Alabama, then Georgia, then Louisiana, then Texas, then Virginia, then Arkansas, then North Carolina, and finally Tennessee. -
Lincoln’s first inaugural address
In his Inaugural Address,Lincoln tells the people that he will not bother any states who own slaves.He says that he will not even take away the Fugitive Slave Act.He also says that he is extremely against states seceding from the union.He tells them that because all of the states signed the Constitution,then they would be breaking it by seceding,and no northern states would allow that to happen.He tells them that they all need to work together peacefully,but that he would use force if necessary.