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John Brown
John Brown was born on May 9, 1800. He grew up to be an abolitionist who believed that the slaves should be freed all at once. He fought to arm the slaves and free them using revolts. He was executed for treason on December 2, 1859. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was an anti-slavery novel published by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852. The novel sold 300,000 copies in three months. It helped to officially define the American public's opinion on slavery. It became banned in most of the south but continued to be read in the north, helping strengthen tensions between the two regions. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas is the term used to describe the period of violence in Kansas territory between 1854 and 1859. The Kansas-Nebraska Act overruled the Missouri Compromise and left the decision of slavery up to popular sovereignty instead of location and equality of power. This made the northerners angry, because they were sure that the southerners would soon make every new state a slave state. -
Republican Party
Anti-slavery Whigs met up in Ripon, Wisconsin to form a new political party that was strictly against slavery. This meeting is known as the formation of the Republican party. This meeting disintegrated the Whig political party and helped both regions gain support either against or for slavery. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was a bill that changed the formation of slave states from location to popular sovereignty. This split two major political parties (Democrat and Republican), while completely dissolving another (Whig). -
LeCompton Constitution
The LeCompton Constitution was created by pro-slavery settlers in Kansas. It consisted of clauses that protected slavery and a bill of rights that excluded free African-Americans. This angered the north extremely and was revised under Congress. The revision was rejected by Kansas and they were admitted to the Union as a free state. -
Election of 1856
The election of 1856 was between John C. Fremont, the republican candidate, and James Buchanan, the democratic candidate. It was a bitter election that Buchanan won, with 174 electoral votes. As Fremont was anti-slavery, this angered the anti-slavery forces and heightened tensions between the republicans (north) and democrats (south). -
Brooks-Sumner Incident
Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts gave a two day speech titled The Crime Against Kansas which essentially attacked Senator Andrew P. Butler of South Carolina. Butler's nephew, Congressman Preston Brooks attacked Sumner a few days later with a cane, knocking Sumner out of his chair and giving him severe brain damage. Brooks was seen as a hero in the south while Sumner was seen as a martyr in the north. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave from Missouri who had moved to a free state and became a free man. He returned to Missouri and was considered a slave again. Scott argued that his time in a free state entitled him to emancipation. The Court ruled that no black person, free or slave was entitled to citizenship. They also ruled that Congress had no right to limit or promote slavery. This caused abolitionists to become enraged. -
House Divided Speech
Lincoln gave his House Divided speech to try and warn America about the possible civil war. The term 'a house divided' comes from the Bible and was used by Lincoln to describe the political AND geographical divide the United States was experiencing. Lincoln said that a compromise on slavery wasn't possible, making Americans realize the only option left was to fight each other. -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
From August 21st through October 15, Douglas argued that slavery was a dying institution while Lincoln argued that slavery was just waiting to expand to new territory. Douglas also opposed giving African Americans rights, while Lincoln said that they should be equal to every living man in their right to life, liberty, and the fruits of their own labor. Although Lincoln lost the debate, it shot him into the position of a possible presidential candidate for the election of 1860. -
Harper's Ferry
John Brown and a few men he had gathered raided Harper's Ferry in Virginia (now West Virginia) in an attempt to arm slaves and start a revolution. Federal troops caught Brown and his men and arrested them. -
Dates of state's secessions
South Carolina: December 20, 1860
Mississippi: January 9, 1861
Florida: January 10, 1861
Alabama: January 11, 1861
Georgia: January 19, 1861
Louisiana: January 26, 1861
Texas: February 1, 1861
Arkansas: May 6, 1861
North Carolina: May 20, 1861
Virginia: April 4, 1861
Tennessee: June 8, 1861 -
Election of 1860
The election of 1860 was between republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, democratic candidate Stephen Douglas, southern democratic candidate, John Breckinridge, and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell. Lincoln won and became the 16th president of the United States. -
Lincoln's First Inaugural Address
In his inaugural address, Lincoln offers an olive branch to the seceded states, but also made it clear that he intended to enforce federal laws in those states. He said that the civil war would only be started by the citizens' hands, not his. Six weeks later, the Civil War broke out.