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-A group of five laws was passed to reduce tension between the North and South over slavery. -These laws focused on how to manage the new territories gained after the Mexican American War. -The Fugitive Slave Act required that escaped enslaved people be returned to their owners even if they were found in free states. -Escalated tensions rather than resolving them. -
-The Kansas Nebraska Act was a law that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. -It allowed the people in those territories to vote on whether to allow slavery. -The law effectively ended the Missouri Compromise. -
-Violent conflict over whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state. -People who supported slavery fought against people who opposed slavery. -The fighting was violent and happened in many small battles. -
-Brooks was enraged by Sumner’s anti slavery speech.- Sumner insulted Brooks’s relative Senator Andrew Butler.
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-Happened in 1857 in the U.S. Supreme Court. -Said African Americans whether enslaved or free could not be citizens. -Declared that African Americans had no legal rights that white people had to respect. -
-Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debated seven times. -They were running for a U.S. Senate seat from Illinois. -Main topic was what should happen with slavery in the country. -The debates highlighted the deep divide between the North and South. -
-In October 1859 John Brown who wanted to end slavery led a raid on a federal army in Harpers Ferry. -He planned to start a slave revolt by giving weapons to enslaved people. -His plan failed because the enslaved people did not join him. -Intensified sectional division and Fuelled Southern fears. -
-The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 was a very important event in American history. -Helped start the Civil War. -He won the election with less than 40% of the popular vote. -That showed how divided the country was over slavery. -After his victory about seven Southern states decided to leave the United States.