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Missouri Compromise
Tensions increased after Missouri request for admission to the Union as a slave state, which could upset the balance between slave states and free states. Congress passed an amendment establishing a boundary between free and slave regions. Later the Missouri Compromise was declared unconstitutional. The compromise was criticized by many Southerners because it established the principle that Congress could make laws regarding slavery. Northerners, condemned it for acquiescing in slavery expansion. -
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Abolitionist Movement
From the 1830s until 1870, the abolitionist movement attempted to achieve immediate emancipation of all slaves and the ending of racial segregation and discrimination. It emerged as by-product of religious revivalism popularly known as the Second Great Awakening. Their propounding of these goals distinguished abolitionists from the broad-based political opposition to slavery’s westward expansion that took form in the North after 1840 and raised issues leading to the Civil War. -
Fugitive Slave Act/Underground Railroad
The Fugitive Slave Act allowed local governments seize and return escaped slaves to their owners and levied harsher punishments for ones helping them. The Fugitive Slave Act was enforced on white northerners, who had to hunt slaves unwantedly and Northerners could see slavery personally for the first time. They saw African American men, women, and children dragged away in chains. This display of cruelty made more people opposed to the Southern institution of slavery and the Fugitive Slave Act. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
It was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The novel featured Uncle Tom, an African-American slave whose long-suffering story touched millions. It illustrated slavery's effect on families, and helped readers empathize with enslaved characters. It talked about causes of slavery, the Fugitive Slave Law, the future of freed people, what an individual could do, and racism. Uncle Tom's Cabin contributed to the outbreak of war by personalizing the political and economic arguments about slavery. -
Dred Scott Decision
In 1846, after his master died, Scott was helped by Abolitionist lawyers to sue for his freedom in court, claiming he should be free since he had lived on free soil for a long time.The court held that Scott was not free based on his residence because he was not considered a person under the U.S. Constitution–black people were not considered citizens when the Constitution was drafted in 1787.The decision inflamed regional tensions, which burned for another four years before exploding into the war -
John Brown and Bleeding Kansas
Kansas had great internal divisions over the issue of slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed decreeing that the residents would determine whether the area became a free state or a slave state. Proslavery and free-state settlers flooded into Kansas to try to influence the decision. Abolitionist John Brown led anti-slavery fighters in Kansas before his famed raid on Harpers Ferry. After this small skirmishes escalated into even larger problems causing nation to be divided even more. -
The Election of 1860
Lincoln, first president from Republican Party, was responsible for many large changes in American History. He stated in his presidential inaugural address that he would not interfere with the institution in any state where it existed. Still, Lincoln vehemently opposed the expansion of slavery into new western territories and served as one of the most influential advocates of "free soil”. For this reason, he posed a significant threat to the economic and political interests of the south. -
Southern Secession
After Lincoln was elected, one by one states called for a convention to secede from the Union. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas all left the Union by February 1.The people of the seceded states elected Jefferson Davis as president of the newly formed Southern Confederacy, causing the battle of Fort Sumter. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
On April 12, 1861, knowing that resupplies were on their way from the North to the federal garrison at Fort Sumter, provisional Confederate forces in Charleston demanded the fort’s surrender. The fort’s commander, Major Robert Anderson, refused so Confederate forces opened fire on the fort with cannons. Later, the following day, Major Anderson surrendered. And the war had officially begun.
