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Missouri wanted to be added as a slave state however it’s sort of smack dab in the middle of the country, so it was difficult to decide whether or not it should be granted state hood as a slave state. As a compromise, Missouri was added as a slave state and Maine was added as a free state to balance it out
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An enslaved man named Nat Turner and around 70 other slaves in plantations spanning Virginia revolted and killed about 60 white men- while small uprisings were fairly common Nat Turner’s was the bloodiest so it naturally turned more heads. Slaves had some of the few rights they had revoked, which did nothing but create more outrage in the enslaved community
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William H. Seward was a US Senator who was against slavery. In 1850 he delivered the “Higher Laws” address condemning slavery (which, of course, was ill received by the south). However, when the Confederate States left, he still kept them from being taken back by England and was against foreign input
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The Fugitive Slave Act infringed on the rights of those in free states- it declared that runaway slaves must be returned to their owners, regardless of if they are in a Free state or a slave state. This understandably upset people in the Northern states, seeing as some of the free black men and women in the north were then unrightfully imprisoned as slaves, and those in free states couldn’t act as such.
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The book Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe documented realistic treatment of slaves in the US and invoked outrage on both sides- the book humanized those who were enslaved, and many people in the Northern states were horrified by their treatment. On the contrary, the South was outraged by how they were depicted and because to come out with a lot of Anti-Uncle Tom propaganda and media. This is the start of the Abolition Movement
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When the Missouri compromise was overturned and the Kansas-Nebraska act put in place, all hell broke out in Kansas. It was a rush on both sides, both enslaved and free, to try and gain control over the decision on if Kansas was to be a free state or a slave state. It started out with simply being there, and progressed to looting, and eventually violence. This is sorta of the first time the North and South were against each other physically, and it a way that truly caught your attention
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Dred Scott was an enslaved man who tried to sue for his freedom in court- and the case made it all the way to the Supreme Court. Scott did not win the case, as the judges ruled that he was a piece of property and not entitled to the same freedom as the white man. The case threatened the fragile balance that had already been enacted to prevent the civil war, as their classification of property made the federal government’s Authority over institution much more ambiguous
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The debates between Lincoln and Douglas were highly controversial, as they revolved primarily around the topic of slavery. While Douglas won the senatorship, he was further alienated from his Democratic Party (making it difficult to run again), and Lincoln was cast into the spotlight. He became the primary option for the GOP’s next presidential candidate.
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John Brown was an abolitionist who attempted to raid a federal armory and arsenal in an effort to arm enslaved men and lead a rebellion. He and his group were shut down by a small force of the US Marines, and he was tried and hanged for treason. When a white man gets involved, it tends to turn heads and gain more attention.
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The South knew that Lincoln sympathized with the North and also wanted to abolish slavery, so his election use outraged them. I mean that’s basically it, that was the tipping point.
