timeline 1850 to 1861

  • uncle toms cabin published

    This was an anti slavery novel that highlighted the horror of being a slave and of being taken from your family, which helped bring the horrors of slavery into the light and how it goes against Christian ideals.
  • bleeding kansas

    The position of slavery in the territory rested on the vote of the people, so this led to a lot of tension, and in Kansas, a small war between the citizens.
  • the creation of the republican party

    The Republican Party came to be after the Kansas-Nebraska Act split the Whig Party. Everyone who left the party became a Republican, which led to the Whig Party falling apart.
  • kansas nebraska act of 1854

    Repealed the Missouri Compromise 36 30 line and established the Kansas and Nebraska territories. Senator Stephen A Douglas proposed it.
  • the brooks sumner incident

    A proslavery democrat in the Senate, Preston Brooks, beat the abolitionist Republican Charles Sumner with a cane, which showed how far the tensions were rising over slavery
  • the election of 1856

    The person elected was named James Buchanan, and he was a democrat. He won over John C. Fremont only because the South threatened to secede if he didn't win
  • the dred scott case

    The Supreme Court decided that slaves were property and that Congress could not ban slavery through the Missouri Compromise.
  • the Lecompton constitution

    It was a constitution that fought for slavery in Kansas and protected slaveholding, but it was rejected, and it this divided the nation to the brink.
  • lincoln douglas debates

    These were a series of debates between the two fighting for a seat in the Senate, which led to the freeport doctrine and Douglas giving a workaround to the Dred Scott decision.
  • house divided speech

    Lincoln talks about how compromise was impossible because the issue of slavery is so prevalent, there needs to be no division, and with compromise, not much would be solved.
  • harpers ferry

    John Brown, an abolitionist, led an assault on the military arsenal in West Virginia, and the purpose was to get weapons needed to free slaves.
  • john brown

    He was an aggressive abolitionist who tried to steal weapons in Harpers Ferry to free slaves but failed and was tried and hanged.
  • election of 1860

    Lincoln is elected over 3 other candidates, with most of his support coming from the free states. The South was infuriated and took this as the last stra,w with most states seceding
  • secession

    The states South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas seceded from the Union and started a civil war.
  • Lincoln first inaugural address

    Lincoln's goal with this address was to ease tensions and prevent violence. He said that he will do nothing to take their slaves as he has no reason to.