Major Events Leading to the Civil War

By Qwazhere1

  • The Mexican War Ended

    "9 Key Events That Led to the American Civil War." About. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.With the end of the Mexican War, America had finally ceded all the western territories. This had posed a huge problem: as these new territories would be admitted as new states, would they be all free or all slave? To deal with this situation, Congress had now passed the Compromise of 1850 which basically had made California a free place and allowed the people to pick in Utah and New Mexico. This pure ability of a state to decide whether it would allow slavery was called popular sovereignty.

  • The Fugitive Slave Act

    The Fugitive Slave Act was then passed as part of the big Compromise of 1850. This act fhad orced any federal official who did not arrest a fugitve or runaway slave liable to pay a fineor fines. This was the most controversial part of the big Compromise of 1850 and had caused many abolitionists to increase all their efforts against slavery. This act increased the Underground Railroad activity as fleeing slaves made their way to Canada.

  • Uncle Tom's Cbin was Released

    Uncle Tom's Cabin or the Life Among the Lowly was written in 1852 by a woman named Harriet Beecher Stowe. Stowe was an abolitionist who wrote this book to show all the evils of slavery. This book, which was a big best seller at the time, had a huge impact on the way that all the northerners viewed slavery. It helped further the big cause of abolition, and even Abraham Lincoln recognized that this book was one of the big events that led to the outbreak of the Civil War.

  • Bleeding Kansas Shocked Northerners

    In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed allowing the Kansas and Nebraska territories to decide for themselves using popular sovereignty whether they wanted to be free or slave. By 1856, Kansas had become a giant hotbed of violence as pro- and anti-slavery forces had fought over the state's future to the point to where it was nicknamed 'Bleeding Kansas'. The widely reported group of violent events were a small taste of the violence to come within the Civil War.

  • Charles Sumner is Attacked by Preston on the Floor of the Senate

    One of the most publicized of the events in Bleeding Kansas was when on the date of May 21, 1856 Border Ruffians ransacked Lawrence, Kansas which was known to be a staunch free-state kind of area. One day later, violence occurred on the floor of the U.S. Senate unexpectedly. Pro-slavery Congressman Preston Brooks had attacked Charles Sumner with a large cane after Sumner had given a speech attacking the pro-slavery forces for the violence that was occurring in Kansas.

  • Dred Scott Decision

    In 1857, Dred Scott lost his case proving that he should be free because he had been held as a slave while living in a free state. The Court ruled that his petition could not be seen because he did not hold any property. But it went further, to state that even though he had been taken by his 'owner' into a free state, he was still a slave because slaves were to be considered property of their owners.

  • Lecompton Constitution Rejected

    When the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed, Kansas was allowed to determine whether it would enter the union as free or slave. Numerous constitutions were advanced by the territory to make this decision. In 1857, the Lecompton Constitution was created allowing for Kansas to be a slave state. Pro-slavery forces supported by President James Buchanan attempted to push the Constitution through the US Congress for acceptance.

  • John Brown Raided Harper's Ferry

    John Brown was a radical abolitionist who had been involved in anti-slavery violence in Kansas. On October 16, 1859, he led a group of seventeen including five black members to raid the arsenal located in Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). His goal was to start a slave uprising using the captured weapons. However, after capturing several buildings, Brown and his men were surrounded and eventually killed or captured by troops led by Colonel Robert E. Lee. Brown was tried and hanged.

  • Abraham Lincoln Was Elected President

    With the election of Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln on November 6, 1860, South Carolina followed by six other states seceded from the Union. Even though his views about slavery were considered moderate during the nomination and election, South Carolina had warned it would secede if he won.