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The Compromise of 1850 banned the sale of slaves in Washington, DC. It also setttled a boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico.
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The Fugitive Slave Act required all citizens to help capture runaway slaves. People who helped slaves to escape could be fined and jailed.
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Uncle Tom's Cabin was a best selling book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The book was very popular in the North but Southerners felt it was wrong.
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Stephen Douglas proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
It divided the unorganized territory into two parts: Kansas and Nebraska. It angered northerners because it allowed the possibility of slavery in areas where it had been banned before. -
Dred Scott and his family sued for freedom from their former master's estate. The supreme court ruled that Dred Scott could not sue because African-Americans were not citizens. Northerners were horrifed by the decision.
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John Brown was an abolitionist who was against slavery. He lead a group in Harper's Ferry Virginia to revolt against slavery and end it forever.
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Lincoln opposed the expansion of slavery. Because of the larger population in the north, Lincoln won the election. The results of the election showed the country was no longer able or willing to compromise.
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South Carolina was the first state to secede. They felt they had voluntarily joined the union and had the right to voluntarily leave.
