A House Divided

By zanecabell

  • Compromise of 1850

    A set of laws meant to ease tensions between slave and free states. It included the Fugitive Slave Act, which angered abolitionists in the North.

  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin is Published

    Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book exposed the cruelty of slavery and helped grow the abolitionist movement.

  • Kansas-Nebraska Act

    Allowed settlers to vote on whether they wanted slavery, leading to violence in “Bleeding Kansas.”

  • Creation of the Republican Party

    A new party was formed to oppose the expansion of slavery into the western territories.

  • Bleeding Kansas

    Pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers fought in Kansas. The town of Lawrence was attacked, showing how violent the debate over slavery had become.

  • Caning of Charles Sumner

    Senator Charles Sumner was attacked on the Senate floor after speaking out against slavery.

  • Dred Scott Decision

    The Supreme Court ruled that African Americans were not citizens and that Congress couldn’t stop slavery in the territories. This made many Northerners angry.

  • Lincoln’s “A House Divided” Speech

    Lincoln said the U.S. couldn’t survive half slave and half free. He believed slavery would either spread or end completely.

  • Election of Abraham Lincoln

    Lincoln won the presidency. Southern states saw this as a threat to slavery and began to secede from the Union.