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Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book written by Harriet Breecher Stowe and was an antislavery book in response to the Fugitive Slave Act. It brought attention to the treatment and lives of slaves and increased the sympathy felt towards them despite being seen as melodramatic and exaggerative of slavery. -
Bloody Kansas
Bloody Kansas was a series of battles in Kansas between 1854 and 1859 as a result of the Kansas Nebraska Act and the legality of slavery in the territory between the proslavery and antislavery people in the area. It is considered to be a smaller version of the civil war and the aggression pushed the tension and sped up the beginning of the civil war. -
Republican Party
The Republican Party came into affect after the Whig party had disbanded and stood for Antislavery and was against the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It quickly gained popularity and became the second largest party. The Party pushed for no westward expansion for slavery -
Kansas Nebraska Act
The Kansas Nebraska Act was an act that created the territories Kansas and Nebraska and gave the new territories the ability to choose if they would allow slavery or not. It was drafted by Stephen Douglas. It reversed the Missouri Compromise and shifted the balance as it was no longer equal between slave states and free states and led to aggression in the form of "Bleeding Kansas' -
Brooks Sumner Incident
Also called the Caning of Charles Sumner, it was when Brooks, a proslavery democrat, attacked Sumner with a walking Cane after Sumner talked bad about a relative of Brooks in a speech he had given days prior. This showed the level that the tension and aggression had gotten to in the states and that it was going to soon reach its limit. -
Election of 1856
The election of 1856 was an election between the Democrat, republican and know-nothing party. The Democrat party won with James Buchanan becoming president. The tensions were high because of the slavery issue that was reammerging after Bloody Kansas and the Kansas Nebraska Act -
Dred Scott
Dred Scott was a man who was featured in the Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sanford. In this case Scott tried to sue and become a free man because of his residence in a free state. He ended up losing the case and it being decided that slaves were property and declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. The case encouraged supporters of slavery and angered abolitionists -
LeComptom Constitution
The Lecompton Constitution was one of four constitution that was proposed for the state of Kansas. It was made by the proslavery and was made to protect slave owners and excluded free blacks. It was rejected and wasn't supported by a large portion of Kansas residents. -
House Divided Speech
The house divided speech was a speech given by Lincoln after he accepted the republican party candidate for the Illinois Senate nomination. It marked him entering politics and spoke on the nation being at odds because of slavery. -
Lincoln Douglas Debate
The Lincoln Douglas debates were seven debates that happened between Abraham Lincoln, the republican candidate, and Stephen Douglas, the Democratic candidate who were both up for the Illinois senate. Despite not winning in the senate, it did bring Lincoln into the spotlight which led to him being the republican candidate for the 1860 presidential election and winning. -
Harper's Ferry
John Brown, an abolitionist, led a raid to a federal arsenal on Harper's Ferry, Virginia to supply slaves and start an armed revolt and to go and destroy slavery. They were surrounded and overran by a group of Marines and captured. Brown was tried and found guilty, leading to his execution. Brown's actions led to heightened tensions between the North and the South with little chance for things to be done peacefully as violence was becoming accepted, so Harper's Ferry pushed the civil war forward -
John Brown
John Brown was an abolitionist who believed that the only way to cause change was through action as speeches and sermons were doing little. He led slave revolts but was captured after trying to raid a weapon arsenal believed to be planning an armed slave revolt. He was executed for murder and treason and led to violence being more widely accepted at the time to push for change and led to the Civil war as aggression continued rising. -
Election of 1860
The election of 1860 was a 4 candidate election between the republican party, Southern Democratic, Constitutional Union and Northern Democratic. It ended with the republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, winning the election. Lincoln didn't allow slavery to continue spreading and led to south secession. -
Lincoln's first inaugural address
Lincoln gave this address when he first entered office in 1861 where he announced he didn't plan to interfere in the already established slave states but was against secession. The southern states soon secession because of the presidency and the civil war soon bean -
Seccesion
Starting with South Carolina, southern states began to secede from the union because of the threat to their slavery and the aggression shown to them. 11 total states made up the seceded states becoming the confederate states
