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Once Missouri asked for permission to enter the Union as a slave state, it upset the balance between slave and free states. To keep Missouri and the rest of the states happy, the Union also admitted Maine as a free state.
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The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Compromise of 1850. It required citizens to help catch runaway slaves and allowed any government official to arrest anybody thought to be a runaway slave. Unfortunately for runaway slaves, there was no right to trial.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852. The book became very popular in the North and influenced peoples' views on slavery.
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Bleeding Kansas was violence between proslavery and anti-slavery settlers that lasted for eight years. The Kansas- Nebraska Act overturned the Missouri Compromise meaning that popular vote chose whether a state was a free or slave state. Both types of settlers travelled to Kansas to influence the decision and fought for control.
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Dred Scott lived with his owner in a free state for a certain amount of time. When they moved back to a slave state, Dred Scott still believed he was free. This miscommunication sent his dilemma into court where the judge declared Scott was a slave living in a slave state.
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John Brown and supporters attacked a town called Harper's Ferry in West Virginia. Their goal was to seize the guns the U.S. army stored there. Brown was captured and convicted of murder and treason.
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Abraham Lincoln ran for president against John Breckinridge, John Bell and Stephen Douglas. Although he was elected as the first Republican to be president, he didn't win by much.
