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Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe about a slave named Uncle Tom. This tale was meant to emphasize the injustices and harshness of slavery. Many people did not know the true extent of slavery’s horror, because they themselves were not experiencing it. It heightened abolitionist beliefs in the North while angering the South. This increased tensions between the two regions.
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The Kansas Nebraska Act was an act proposed by Stephen Douglas, which was meant to settle the dispute over the newly acquired territories, and whether they should be slave states or free states. This legislation repealed the Missouri Compromise and created two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska. It was determined that popular sovereignty would be responsible for determining the legality of slavery in each territory. This led to the uprising known as Bloody Kansas.
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The Republican Party was founded by the former members of the retired Whig Party. These people heavily opposed slavery and created the Republican party as an abolitionist group. The new party quickly gained supporters in the North and was soon recognized as a major political player. The Republican and Democratic Parties would soon become opposing sides, dividing the country once again.
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The Scott v. Sanford case was a Supreme Court case involving Dred Scott and John Sanford. After living in free territories, Scott, a slave, claimed his freedom and sued Sanford, his owner. It was determined that because Scott was not a citizen and could not sue, and that he was a slave. The court stated that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional, but limited popular sovereignty. The North was angered but the South was supportive of the decision, causing even more of a divide.
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As a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, proslavery and antislavery forces rushed to populate each of the new territories. Northerners wanted Kansas to be a free region, but Southerners wanted the area to allow slavery. The new territories became a battleground between the conflicting sides. Armed Southern forces were sent in to flood the election and ransacked the town of Lawrence. Slavery was legalized in Kansas, and the violent attacks further divided the North and South.
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Charles Sumner, a Senator from Massachusetts, denounced the newly legalized slavery in the Kansas territory. While making this speech, Sumner made the mistake of slandering Andrew Butler. Representative Preston Brooks, a relative of Andrew Butler, entered the United States chamber and located Sumner. Brooks attacked Sumner and beat him brutally. Sumner never fully recovered, and Brooks resigned. This reflected negatively on the Southerners and portrayed the brutality of the proslavery forces.
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The election of 1856 showcased three candidates: James Buchanan, John C. Fremont, and Millard Fillmore. Fremont was the Republican candidate and opposed both slavery and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Both Buchanan and Fremont slandered each other during their campaign, which was a new tactic to the political scene. Fremont did not receive a single vote from south of the Mason-Dixon but won 11 free states. This harsh election further divided the union both by region and by political party.
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Abraham Lincoln delivered his House Divided Speech in Springfield, Illinois, after receiving the Republican nomination of US Senator. The speech discussed slavery, and how dangerous the disunion of the nation would be. He claimed that if the United States wanted to be a free country, they needed to act immediately. This speech rallied many Northerners and abolitionists against the South’s slavery, and this campaign launched Lincoln into being a prominent political figure.
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The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were a series of seven debates between Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln and the incumbent Senator, Stephen Douglas. Both sides attacked each other and who they supported. During the second debate, Douglas stated that new territories could avoid the rulings of the Dred Scott decision if there was no one who enforced it. This is known as the Freeport Doctrine. Northerners accepted the Doctrine, but many Southerners opposed it.
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The LeCompton Constitution was a document drawn up by proslavery advocates for the state of Kansas. If approved, slavery would become legal in Kansas, and people of color would be excluded from the state's bill of rights. It was rejected twice, and Kansas was later admitted to the United States as a free state, on January 29, 1861. This new constitution was supported by many people of the South but opposed by many people from the North, creating another area of disagreement between them.
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The Harpers Ferry Raid was an attack on a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The attackers were a group of armed abolitionists, led by John Brown. Brown hoped to distribute weapons to enslaved people in the area, who would join their armed revolt against slavery. This raid stirred sectional tensions and raised the stakes of the election of 1860.
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After his raid on Harpers Ferry, John Brown is charged with treason, murder, and insurrection. As payment for his “crimes”, Brown is sentenced to hanging. He was the first person to be executed for treason in the United States. His death raised tensions and fears across the country.
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This election was between Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, John Breckinridge, and John Bell. Lincoln won the election with 180 electoral college votes, though he only received 40% of the popular vote. He did not carry a single southern state. Many states ended up seceding from the Union after this.
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After the divide between the north and the south had reached new highs, many of the southern states began to secede from the union. First was South Caroline, then Mississippi, then Florida, then Alabama, then Georgia, then Louisiana, then Texas, then Virginia, then Arkansas, then North Carolina, and finally Tennessee.
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In his Inaugural Address, Lincoln tells the people that he will not bother any states who own slaves and that he will not remove the Fugitive Slave Act. He also says that he is extremely against states seceding from the union. He tells them that because all of the states signed the Constitution, then they would be breaking it by seceding, and no northern states would allow that to happen. He tells them that they all need to work together peacefully, but that he would use force if necessary.