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Although the 1850 Compromise was designed to temporarily end slavery, it ultimately increased tensions between the North and South. Abolitionist and pro-slavery groups were further divided by the compromise's features, such as the Fugitive Slave Act, which fueled growing hostility and ultimately served as one of the main reasons why the American Civil War broke out. -
As part of the Compromise of 1850, the United States Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. It severely restricted the rights of both enslaved people and abolitionists in the North by requiring the apprehension and return of runaway slaves to their owners, even in free states, and imposing penalties on those who helped or sheltered fugitive slaves. -
The book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" authored by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was first published in 1852. It is a well-known book that clearly captured the brutal realities of slavery, arousing sympathy for slaves across the board and supporting the abolitionist campaign in the US. -
The term "Bleeding Kansas" describes the 1854-1861 period of violent clashes and political unrest in the Kansas Territory. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups argued over whether the territory should become a free or slave act as a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, anticipating the conflicts that would ultimately end in the American Civil War. -
The Republican Party and the American Party both started as new political parties in the United States in 1854. The American Party mainly concentrated on anti-immigrant and nativist views, attempting to limit the influence of immigrants in American politics. The Republican Party was founded in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act and sought to prevent the expansion of slavery. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was a piece of legislation enacted by the US Congress in 1854 that established the boundaries of Kansas and Nebraska and gave the people of those territories the power to decide whether or not to keep slavery. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was repealed by the act, which led to violent battles over the expansion of slavery. -
Abolitionist John Brown and his supporters attacked pro-slavery residents in Kansas Territory in 1856, resulting in Pottawatomie Massacre. The violence and tensions between pro- and anti-slavery factions in the area during the Bleeding Kansas era increased after Brown and his men brutally murdered five pro-slavery settlers. -
An important presidential election took place in the United States in 1856. The three main candidates were Millard Fillmore of the American Party, Republican John C. Frémont, and Democrat James Buchanan. The election highlighted the growing rifts over the subject of slavery and hinted at the looming crises that would spark the American Civil War. Buchanan won the election and took office as the 15th Presidents of the United States. -
An enslaved man named Dred Scott attempted to gain legal freedom in 1857 by claiming that being in a free state had released him. The Supreme Court's decision in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case, which rejected his argument and held that slaves were property rather than citizens, increased tensions around slavery in the United States. -
The pro-slavery groups that drafted it were met with fierce opposition from the anti-slavery groups. Because it did not provide for popular sovereignty and was viewed as democratic by detractors, the constitution, which sought to secure Kansas as a slave state, was fiercely contested and finally rejected -
Seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas about running for the Illinois Senate in 1858 are known as the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. The arguments were centered on the subject of slavery, with Douglas defending the idea of popular sovereignty and the freedom of individual states to decide while Lincoln argued for its restriction and eventual abolition. -
Abolitionist John Brown and his supporters attempted to start a slave insurrection in 1859 with John Brown Raid, also known as the Raid on Harpers Ferry. In Harpers Ferry, Virginia, Brown and his men took control of the government arsenal. However, they were eventually apprehended, and Brown was put to death, further dividing the North and the South over the subject of slavery in the United States. -
A crucial presidential election in the United States occurred in 1860. The election, which featured four prominent contenders and featured Abraham Lincoln as the representative of the newly established Republican Party, resulted in Lincoln's victory, which sparked secession movements in Southern states and ultimately precipitated the American Civil War. -
In 1861, in reaction to numerous Southern states seceding from the Union, the Confederacy, sometimes known as the Confederate States of America, was established. The states that seceded created the Confederacy as a separate political entity with Jefferson Davis as its leader, chiefly motivated by the protection of slavery and states rights. -
A federal fort called Fort Sumter was situated near Charleston Harbor in South Carolina. When Confederate soldiers attacked the fort on April 12, 1861, sparking the start of the war between the Union and the Confederacy, it become historically significant as the location where the first bullets of the American Civil War were fired.