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John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859)
American abolitionist leader that wanted to abolish slavery, he believed it was his mission for God to do so. He fought in the "Bleeding Kansas" and set up the Harper's Ferry raid where he was captured and killed, and became a martyr. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
This book was wrote by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and became controversial because of the ideas and stories about the injustice of slavery and going against beliefs about physical and emotional capacities of African Americans. Though the book did its job to rally sentiments from white people, Uncle Tom was seen as someone with servility and hated himself. -
Republican Party
This party emerged after the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed to combat the expansion of slavery. This split the parties into groups that were pinned against each other. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
This was sponsored by Stephen Douglas and it repealed the Missouri compromise, and mandated popular sovereignty allowing settlers of a territory decide for themselves whether or not they would allow slavery in their state. This later produced a revolt called "bleeding Kansas" which divided the states between anti-slavery and pro-slavery. -
Bloody Kansas (1855-1861)
This was a time of repeated and recurring outbreaks of violent fights between the anti-slavery groups and the pro-slavery groups after the new territory in Kansas was created. Its called the bloody Kansas from the blood spilt, around 55 people were killed during this time. This time created a lot more tension over slavey. -
Brooks-Sumner Incident
This was what the event was called when Preston Brooks used his walking cane to attack Senator Charles Sumner due to Sumner's speech in which he attacked the idea of slavery and pro-slavery senators. This contributed to the country's polarization over the slavery issue. -
Election 1856
This election was held in Texas, and James Buchanan won the election and became president of the U.S. As president he angered not only republicans but also Northern Democrats by acceding to South's attempts to enter Kansas as a slave state into the union. -
LeCompton Constitution
This was created by pro-slavery advocates to protect slaveholding and exclude free colored people from its bill of rights in Kansas. This added to the conflicts leading up to the Civil war. -
Dred Scott (1799- September 17, 1858)
Dred Scott was a slave that traveled with his master to free states and after his master died he and his wife sued for their freedom since they resided in a free territory where slavery was prohibited. He was denied the right to be free and in turn the Supreme Court said that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and had no right to abolish slavery in territories. This decision caused the slavery expansion debate to reopen. (This happened March 6, 1857) -
House Divided Speech
This was a speech from Abraham Lincoln. He warned that "A house divided against itself cannot stand" which meant that we as a nation needed to create a firm dedication to the equality of our people and that the political divide over the slavery issue can't continue being the way it had been. This said that the Dred Scott decision already had opened up the doors for slavery to be legal in the North and if they wanted to be free they had to act now. -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
This was when the question of slavery was reopened because of new territories added to the U.S. and Douglas's bill repealing the Missouri Compromise. Douglas and Lincoln debated over the slavery issue multiple times for three hours long each time. Even though Douglas won the state legislature, the Democratic Party was diminished, and Lincoln lost but won acclaim as a spokesman for the Republican cause. The conclusion they came to didn't satisfy one of the regions which divided them further. -
Harper's Ferry
An armed band of abolitionists led by John Brown assaulted the federal armory at Harper's Ferry. Fighting took place there for two days until federal troops following under Col. Robert E. Lee subdued Brown and his companions. Out of 21 of Browns people seventeen died during the fight and the rest including Brown were hanged. This made the South fearful of slavery rebellions and they were all sure that people would stop at nothing to to end slavery. -
Election 1860
This election election Abraham Lincoln as the President of the United States, this decision resulted in a secession, changed relationships between the government and states, and changed slavery because of the division of territories. -
Secession
This was the withdrawal of 11 slave states from the Union after the election of Abraham Lincoln as the president of the United states. The Compromise of 1850 did ease some of the sectional strife but after debates and arguments over the permitting or prohibiting slavery in the West, Southerners threatened to withdrawal from the union. After Abraham was elected president he called a convention in South Carolina and unanimously passed an ordinance of secession. -
Lincoln's 1" inaugural Address
In this address Lincoln promised that he wouldn't interfere with the organization of slavery and suspend hostile activities of government but he stood against secession, he wanted a peaceful resolution but he would not back down from not condoning secession.