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Uncle Tom's Cabin was written and published by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The book was made to speak out against slavery, trying to prove a point that it should be outlawed and should not be something fought over. It's inhumane depictions showed what slaves actually went through in their lifetimes. Northerners now saw what slavery was and continued the push to outlaw it, while Southerners saw it as misrepresentation of who they were and how they treated their slaves.
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Bloody Kansas occurred after the Kansas-Nebraska Act. This lead to conflict on both sides between those who were for and against slavery. People from other states flooded in to sway the popular sovereignty in the territories, leading to more violence.
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Following the creation of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Whig Party slowly fell off and was no longer. By February, the members of the party met and made a new party, that being the Republican Party. The reason for the party was because they didn't want slavery to spread into the Western territories, gathering to try and combat its spread.
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The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise in order to organize the areas of Kansas and Nebraska. This act officially declared Kansas and Nebraska as territories, and following this, the new territories used popular sovereignty to decide whether or not they would allow slavery.
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After the Kansas-Nebraska Act, tensions had been high based on slavery and the decision to allow if it would be allowed within the new territories. In the midst of his two day long speech, Charles Sumner was brutally beat with a cane by Preston Brooks. Regarding the event, Brooks became a Southern hero and was sent many replacement canes by his supporters.
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The "House Divided" speech was given by Abraham Lincoln in Illinois. His argument was that having the country half-slave, half-free would not continue to work for long. Lincoln pointed out things like the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the decision of Dred Scott, leading to him opposing slavery.
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In the Election of 1856, some of the topics and issues up for debate were things such as slavery, Bloody Kansas, and the new rise of the Republican Party. The winner of the election with 174 electoral votes and almost two million popular votes was James Buchanan, a Democrat from Pennsylvania. Buchanan's leadership did not soothe tensions between the North and South, the issue of slavery still causing major divide.
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Dred Scott was an African American male who, with his wife, wanted the right to sue for their freedom. Believing they were free because they lived in where it was a free territory, they thought they would be allowed to be free and sue. After an eleven year long battle, the Supreme Court finally ruled against Scott, saying that because he was from African American descent, he was not eligible to sue in the federal courts.
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Made by pro-slavery citizens in Kansas, the LeCompton Constitution was enacted to ensure that slavery would be legal in Kansas. Eventually was rejected, but it made both the North and South upset.
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The Lincoln–Douglas Debates were between the presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, primarily over the issue of slavery. The candidates met in seven different locations across the state of Illinois, each attracting crowds of up to twenty thousand people.
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Led by John Brown, an abolitionist, Harper's Ferry was raided in order to gain arsenal so that he could arm slaves to fight against their owners. Two days after the attack, he was seized and held for questioning. The North praised Brown for what he did and was seen as a hero, but the South believed he was anything but that, many believing he was a terrorist, and overall increasing the tension in the two areas.
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After Harper's Ferry Raid, John Brown was sentenced to be executed for the conviction of treason and murder. The South was pleased to see him executed, but the North was upset. The death of John Brown further emphasized the divide between North and South, leading to further conflict.
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During the Election of 1860, as it had been for years, slavery was one of the main topics. Abraham Lincoln was the candidate for the Republican Party, Stephen Douglas for the North Democrat Party, John Breckenridge for the Southern Democrat Party, and John Bell for the Constitutional Union. Lincoln won with full support from the North, none from the South.
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Following the winning of the Republican Party, South Carolina believed that slavery would be undermined and unanimously voted to secede from the Union. Believing they had the right to freely join and leave as they pleased, many other states began to leave the Union as well. The states that left the Union became the Confederate States of America, leading to the first shots of the Civil War at Fort Sumter.
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Lincoln's First Inaugural Address was given so that Lincoln could address the people and state what he was going to do in office. Lincoln noted that he would not revoke slavery where it already was, while also enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law. Lincoln also noted that no states should leave the Union, and that secession is illegal.