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The Underground Railroad
www.pbs.orgThe underground Railroad was a network of people who helped fugitive slaves escape to the North to Canada. The South didn't like that very much so they issued a fugitive slave act. Which made the North take back slaves. This caused a lot of tension between the North and South. -
Compromise of 1850
www.encyclopedia.comThe Compromise was given a series of congressional statutes to resolve longstanding disputes over slavery. Southern slave owners had long demanded a fugitive slave law, while the Northerners insisted that slavery should be abolished in the District of Columbia. The debate over slavery intensified. Concern grew over the possibility that some southern states might secede, leading to the dissolution of the Union. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
www.monacorarecoins.comIs a novel that was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It had a big effect on the Civil War and was part of the conflict that led to the Civil War. The Northerners thought that the South were treating slaves like animals and the South tried to deny it. The South wrote an anti-Tom literature book saying that Uncle Tom's Cabin was a lie and this is how they were really treated... -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
www.historyplace.comWas passed by the U.S. congress. It allowed people to decide for them whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. Missouri, a slave state, became a political and literal battle ground for proslavery and antislavery forces. -
Bleeding Kansas
www.monacorarecoins.comBleeding Kansas was known to some as "Bloody Kansas" or "Border War." This event helped inspire the Civil War. These dark times included massacres, Political uprisings, murder, and shadow governments. Southerners would occupy Kansas and make it a slave state, while free states would settle for Nebraska. Outsiders decided to make an example of Kansas, the North funded several thousand settlers to move to Kansas to later vote to make it a free state. -
Caning of Charles Sumner
www.senate.govA member of the House of Representatives named Preston Brooks entered the Senate's chamber and beat Charles nearly to death. Brooks walked calmly away like nothing happened. The North didn't approve of this, they thought "we can't even reason with the South without them going to out of control." Brooks was reelected and died soon after at age 37, Sumner recovered slowly and returned to senate where he remained for 18 more years. -
Dred Scott Decision
www.pbs.orgDred Scott went to trial to sue for his freedom. His case was finally brought before the United States Supreme Court. The court decided that all people of African ancestry, slaves and those who were free could never become citizens of the United States and couldn't sue in federal court. The decision made the South happy but the North was outraged and it greatly increased the nomination for Abraham Lincoln. -
John Brown's Raid
www.wvculture.orgJohn Brown and several followers seized the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. The actions of Brown's men brought national attention to the emotional divisions concerning slavery. Brown and his sons murdered five men who supported slavery. Brown and his sons escaped, Brown spent the next three years collecting money from wealthy abolitionists in order to establish a colony for runaway slaves. -
Secession and Sumter
www.about.comThe attack on Fort Sumter marked the beginning of the American Civil War. The secession crisis gripping the country escalated into a shooting war. Once Fort Sumter was fired there was no turning back, the North and South were at war. -
The Election of 1860
www.history.comAbraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States, becoming the first Republican to win the presidency. Lincoln received only 40 percent of the popular vote but handily defeated the three other candidates. Southern Democrat John C. Breckingridge, constitutional Union candidate John Bell, and Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas, a U.S. senator for Illinois.
