-
John Brown was an incredibly controversial and esteemed radical abolitionist during the Crisis Decade. He became involved in the abolitionist movement following the murder of Elijah P. Lovejoy, a Presbyterian minister and abolitionist, in 1837. He led multiple violent attacks against pro-slavery forces, becoming involved in Bleeding Kansas and leading a failed raid on Harpers Ferry in which he met his demise. -
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is a novel about slavery and its atrocious, anti-human nature. This book received mixed reviews throughout the nation, with Northerners applauding it and Southerners frowning upon it, really emphasizing the growing divide between these two regions. -
The Republican Party was brought to life by ex-Whigs and abolitionists in order to oppose the expansion of slavery and the dominant Democratic Party. The Democratic Party felt threatened by the Republican Party's anti-slavery agenda, causing discontent between Northerners and Southerners to grow -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was an act passed in order to solve sectional issues in the United States. This act split the remaining Louisiana Purchase territory into the Kansas and Nebraska territories, gave these territories the right to popular sovereignty (residents of the state would decide whether the state would be admitted as a free or slave state), and repealed the Missouri Compromise. This territory was split into two, with the vision that one section would become free and the other slave. -
Following the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Congress expected Kansas to enter the Union as a slave state and Nebraska as a free state. This, however, did not end up being the case. Both Southern and Northern forces gathered in Kansas in order to draft a state constitution, with both factions having many violent encounters. Although the pro-slavery faction drafted a constitution first, the anti-slavery faction's constitution was the one adopted by Congress, upsetting the sectional balance. -
On May 22, 1856, A pro-slavery Democrat Representative from SC, Preston Brooks, heavily beat Charles Sumner, a Republican Senator from Massachusetts with a walking cane following the controversy going on in Kansas. This was another event that really shed light on the torn relationship between the North and the South. -
The Election of 1856 was the first election with a Republican candidate, John C. Fremont. Although this election helped the Republican Party gain popularity, Fremont lost to James Buchanan Jr. an incompetent Democrat who did virtually nothing to preserve the Union, with his policies (specifically allowing his cabinet members to send weapons to the South) only contributing to war. -
Scott v Sanford was a landmark Supreme Court case, whose decision claimed that slaves were not citizens but merely property, exterminated popular sovereignty, and deemed the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. This case stated that Congress nor any government had the right to restrict slavery, as that tampered with the rights of citizens to own property, a power not granted to Congress. This decision enraged Northerners and was applauded by Southerners, another nudge to the fractured Union. -
One of the first constitutions drafted for the state of Kansas, this constitution stated that Kansas would enter the Union as a slave state. Congress did not approve this constitution, later favoring and adopting the Wyandotte Constitution in which Kansas entered the Union as a free state. This upset the sectional balance that the nation had kept for the last few decades, as now there were more free states than there were slave states, intimidating and enraging slave states. -
One of Lincoln's most famous speeches (and one of my personal favorite speeches), the "House Divided" speech was given as a counter to Dred v Scott, in which Lincoln claimed that the US division on the topic of slavery would cripple the nation. Many Democrats viewed this as Lincoln proclaiming an end to slavery, with Douglas attacking Lincoln, deeming him "radical" because of this speech. -
The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of 7 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephan Douglas, two opposing candidates running for the position of Senator in the state of Illinois. The debates were primarily centered around slavery, with Douglas supporting popular sovereignty and Lincoln exposing the moral implications of slavery. Lincoln slimly lost against Douglas but these debates tore the Democratic party and helped Lincoln and the Republican party gain popularity. -
Early on October 17, John Brown alongside 18 other men raided Harpers Ferry, in an attempt to steal weapons and protest slavery. Brown was quickly taken down, with ten of his men being killed, including 2 of his sons and one of George Washington's great-nephews, Lewis William Washington. Brown was found guilty of committing treason and later executed on December 2nd. This enraged abolitionists, as they saw Brown as a martyr because he claimed he was fulfilling God's work with this raid. -
Lincoln and the growing Republican Party dominated the 1860 election, beating out the popular Democratic Party due to its division on the policy of popular sovereignty. This was the final straw for the Southern states, who feared that the Republican's win in the 1860 election would mean the end of slavery. This was the spark that led to war after several decades of bottled-up resentment. -
While many states had threatened to secede from the Union, never had something serious occurred, until South Carolina became the first state to officially succeed from the Union following the 1860 election. South Carolina was followed by 10 more states, which together, formed the Confederate States of America, the opposing faction of the United States during the Civil War. -
By the time Lincoln gave his inauguration speech, several states had already seceded from the Union. Lincoln promised the American people he would do everything in his power to protect them and carry out his presidential duties. He hoped for the Union to be United diplomatically once again.