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John Brown
John Brown was an abolitionist who often chose an aggressive route to stop slavery. Brown made attempts to raid arsenals and would bring weapons to slaves to encourage them to rebel against their owners. While he did make a very large impact on many people, especially northerners who did not support slavery, he was eventually executed for raiding an army arsenal. -
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Republican Party
The Republican Party started with the end of the Federalist Party, Republicans denounced slavery and focused more on the rights of the people over the power of the government. The north was primarily Republican with the South being primarily Democratic, which has switched over time. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
As the abolitionist tension grew, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" which brought light to the injustices that slaves experienced. Over 300,000 copies were sold and the book was even written in different languages. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act put all political parties in to chaos, completely tearing apart the Whig Party, breaking up the Democratic Party, and created the Republican Party. The bill created two new territories, Nebraska and Kansas, and removed the Missouri compromise, which made the attempt to prohibit slavery from spreading. -
Bloody Kansas
During territorial elections over Kansas, the area was very divided between pro slavery and anti slavery, many pro slavery people committed voter fraud or came from other states to vote. Even though there were only 1,500 registered voters, a total of 6,000 actually voted. After a Senator attacked another, Kansas broke out in riots, people raided other's farms and attacked each other. By the end of the massacre, 200 were left dead in Kansas. -
Brooks-Sumner Incident
Sumner went around to Kansas and other states, criticizing the laws and regulations and also criticizing the senators. Sumner insulted Senator Butler, making fun of his ailments. Butler's nephew responded by attacking Sumner, beating him to near death and then leaving. Sumner never fully required but Brooks was commended for this, even being given many more canes as he had broke his. -
Election 1856
Many debates happened throughout 1856 between Lincoln and Douglas, tension was growing through the Union and each candidate took any chance they could to win more votes over the other. One turning point during the debates was when Lincoln asked Douglas how he would deal with the spread of slavery, Douglas responded by stating that not protecting the existing laws over the property of the people would work. Douglas did win but it became clear that he would not support the interests of the south. -
LeCompton Constitution
If the bill were to pass, it would make slavery legal in Kansas and would propose a bill of rights meant to exclude free African Americans, the controversy around this though was the real issue as people came to realize how much voter fraud was involved in the last election. -
Dred Scott
The Dred Scott case was a Supreme Court case where a slave sued a man for his and his family's right to freedom. Dred Scott had been taken to different territories, some of which prohibited slavery so Scott argued that he should have been considered a free man. The Supreme Court ruled that Congress did not have the right to prohibit slavery in the territories. -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
Before Douglas was reelected, Lincoln and him argued in many debates during 1858, discussing mostly the laws around slavery and the rights of enslaved people. The biggest argument ensued when Lincoln asked if the residents of a territory exclude slavery which led to Douglas responding with "Slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere, unless it is supported by local police regulations." This caused southern people to be weary of him as he disregarded the ruling of the supreme court -
House Divided Speech
The House Divided Speech was an address made by Abraham Lincoln in response to being elected by the Republican party. It stated that the United States would not be able to continue to be free with such a divided government and decisions needed to be made and the nation needed to come together. -
Harper's Ferry
John Brown and other men made an attempt to attack a federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry to gain weapons that would be used for a slave uprising. Brown and his 18 armed men fought for two days until eventually retreating and being arrested. -
Election 1860
This election caused many more disagreements between the Union. Douglas ran, Though Lincoln was not popular in the South, Douglas had become less favorable after the presidential debates in 1856, leading up to president Lincolns eventual victory. Lincoln argued that slavery would be restricted and not allowed to spread past the south whereas Douglas argued similar things, but still supported slavery as a whole. -
Secession
Starting with South Carolina, the secession occurred not long after Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Only a few months later 5 other states had already declared their secession from the union. After Lincoln became president he declared the Confederacy void and nonexistent. -
Lincoln's First Inaugural Adress
In Lincoln's address, he promised that he would not prohibit slavery in any pre existing slave states and would only restrict the spreading of slavery. Lincoln also protected federal and personal property.
