-
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe was a novel that described the lives of slaves. She wrote it in response to the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act. It shows its brutality and its immorality and the emotional challenges that it causes. She argued that it went against the principles of Christianity, and it helped spread anti-slavery sentiment towards slavery and showed those who had not experienced slavery what it was like. Southerners believed that it lied about how bad slavery was. -
The Republican Party was formed by former Whigs to stop the spread of slavery as they believed that the U.S. was founded on the principles of free society, so having slavery was against our principles. Its creation was fueled by the Nebraska-Kansas Act as it allowed for popular sovereignty. The election of their presidential candidate in the 1860 election, Abraham Lincoln, sparked the succession of Southern states and the resulting Civil War. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act, proposed by Stephen Douglas, organized two new western territories, Kansas and Nebraska, implemented popular sovereignty to decide if slavery was to be permitted, and it repealed the Missouri Compromise. It caused "Bleeding Kansas" helped fuel the Republican Party, and lead to more divide between the South and the North as each side saw how the other treated them over an issue like slavery. -
Bloody Kansas was a period of violence between pro slavery and anti slavery settlers. It began because of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed for the settlers of the territories to decide using popular sovereignty whether they wanted slavery or not. Those for and against slavery would harm and kill one another in order to sway the voting in their favor, in order to give their side the majority in the Senate. The violence helped to further divide the nation as it showed the hate each side had. -
The Brooks-Sumner Incident was a violent attack on Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts by Congressmen Preston Brooks after Sumner had given a speech on what was happening in Kansas and against slavery and in it he verbally insulted fellow Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina, Preston Brook's uncle. This caused Congressmen Brooks to find Sumner in the Senate chamber and beat him repeatedly with his cane to the point that it took Sumner 3 years to recover. This further divided the union. -
The Election of 1856 featured three main presidential candidates, with this being the first one that the Republican Party had a prominent standing in. Republicans nominated John Fremont, a young explorer, as their candidate and their motto was "Free Speech, Free Soil, and Fremont." This election featured the most prominent sectional lines yet as Fremont did not receive a single vote south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The election resulted in the victory of President Buchanan and the Democrats. -
The Dred Scott v Sanford case was very important regarding slavery and the rights of black people. The Supreme Court ruled that Congress had no authority to make laws regarding slavery in any state or territory. They deemed the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, and that slaves that escaped to free states were still slaves that had no rights, so those like Scott could not sue in federal courts because they are not United States citizens. The courts decision further grew sectional divide. -
The LeCompton Constitution was proposed by pro-slavery settlers in Kansas, that wanted to make Kansas a slave state. The document was passed due to intimidation and violence at the voting booths. The constitution was boycotted by "free-soilers", but was still endorsed by sitting President James Buchanan, which enraged northern Democrats, further dividing the party. Those in favor of Kansas becoming a free state with the help of Republicans passed their own constitution which would later work. -
Abraham Lincoln's House Divided Speech was about the institution of slavery, specifically now that Dred Scott v Sanford case had gotten the result that it did from the Supreme Court. Lincoln stated that the decision had opened the way for slavery to make its way North, and that in order to stop the complete spread of it, the Union had to act. His main argument was that the United States was not going to last with one half slave and the other half not, it was going to have to be one, or none. -
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were Illinois Senate debates between Democrat Stephen Douglas and Republican Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln warned slavery could spread nationally, while Douglas claimed it was dying and limited to its current borders. The key moment was Douglas’s Freeport Doctrine, arguing that states could bypass the Dred Scott decision by not passing laws protecting slavery. This angered Southern Democrats, splitting the party in 1860 when they nominated their own candidate. -
Abolitionist John Brown, who had previously participated in Bloody Kansas and killed five pro-slavery settlers to try and get Kansas to be a free state, led a group of raiders to attack Harper's Ferry to steal weaponry to arm slaves in Virginia, to spark uprisings and the freeing of slaves. He later wanted to reach Tennessee and Alabama and incite more rebellions later, but his plan was cut short after the townsfolk and local militia trapped him and his men in the armory. It fueled more divide. -
John Brown, who had previously led massacres in Kansas against pro slavery settlers, was executed for leading the Harpers Ferry Raid, convicted of treason, conspiracy, and murder. He framed his death as being a martyr for freedom, insisting he only sought to free slaves. In his final note, he wrote that slavery’s sins could only be purged with blood, signaling war was inevitable. His execution deepened North-South divisions, showing the South how far Northerners would go to abolish slavery. -
The Election of 1860 had four candidates, including two Democrats as the party was split by Douglas’s Freeport Doctrine. Republican candidate Lincoln won the presidency with an electoral majority despite not appearing on 10 Southern ballots or campaigning in the South. Douglas was the only nationwide campaigner, while Breckinridge carried most of the South against Constitutional Party nominee John Bell. The outcome, which the South saw as a threat to slavery, directly led to the Civil War. -
As a result of the election of 1860 and Abraham Lincoln becoming the President, South Carolina becomes the first state to formally secede from the Union in fear of their rights to own slaves. The succession convention justified their decision by using earlier arguments from John Calhoun stating that states are their own entities that can leave the Union when they see fit. This would start a domino effect in which other Southern states would secede as well, leading to the Civil War. -
During his first inaugural address, Lincoln attempted to calm the South's worries and to try and keep the Union together by reassuring them that he was not going to mess with the institution of slavery where it was already established, and that what they were doing was not legal and it was void. He stated that if property of the Union was attacked then he would be forced to use measures to defend itself, and the preservation of the Union. This was one of Lincolns last attempts at preventing war.