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Kept the number of free and slave states equal. Tensions were low until the American-Mexican War brought in new land.
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All land won from Mexico is free. Designed to eliminate slavery from land gained. Tensions raised, upsetting the Northerners.
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This determined the status of the land from the Mexican Cession, including California. The Compromise of 1850 eased tension because it gave both the North and South benefits.
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Most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850. It forced Northerners to aid slave catchers and blacks were falsely identified as runaways, denied jury trials, and kidnapped, then sent to the South as slaves. This caused tension to increase because the North and South became more divided.
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Harriet B. Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, a book about slavery. The book was graphic and made slavery look terrible. Northerners who had been indifferent toward slavery began to hate slavery. Southerners banned the book, calling it propaganda and full of lies. Tension raised between the North and South, becoming more divided over slavery.
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By February 1854, anti-slavery Whigs had begun meeting in the upper mid-western states to discuss the formation of a new party. One such meeting is generally remembered as the founding meeting of the Republican Party.
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It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. Tension raised because the act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude.
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Preston Brooks came into the Senate with his cane and started beating Charles Sumner until he was unconscious. This was the first type of violence shown about sectionalism. This increased tension because other people felt that they would be able to do the same.
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The Supreme Court ruled that Americans of African descent, whether free or slave, were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court. The court also ruled that Congress lacked power to ban slavery in the United States territories. This angered northerners, increasing tension.
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Lincoln won the party's presidential nomination. In the Novermber 1860 election, Lincoln faced Douglas, who represented the Northern part of a heavily divided Democratic Party, as well as Breckinridge and Bell.
