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First Africans in Jamestown
In 1619, a Dutch ship brought about 20 Africans to Jamestown, Virginia for the first time. Even though the colonists sought the Africans to be no more than servants to be held for a couple of years and then freed, the use of black labor was the first step toward enslavement of Africans. The enslavement would then cause disagreement in the United States, cause Southern states to secede and cause the civil war. -
Eli Whitney's invention of the Cotton Gin
The invention of the cotton gin increased the cotton production in the South therefore increasing the need for African slaves. Southern planters used the cotton gin as justification to keep and expand slavery, so Southeners became more dependent on slave labor. This lead to the civil war because if the cotton gin wasn't made, Southerners wouldn't have have been so pro-slavery and wouldn't have seceded. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
In Virignia, Nat Turner along with other slaves, revolted on white people and killed dozens of them in two days. This fear of the rebellion and killing spread through out most of the South and made them tighten their restrictions on slaves. If Turner's rebellion didn't occur the South wouldn't have treated slaves more badly and the North wouldn't have seen slavery as bad to see that many differences as seen in the civil war. -
Fugitive Slave Law
Congress passed this law in which escaped slaves, or those who were thought to be escaped slaves, were arrested without warrant and then sent back to be a slave in the South. Some Northern officials did not follow the law of arresting blacks because they didnt want them to go back to slavery.This made the South really upset. If the fugitive slave law wasn't passed, there wouldn't have been so many anti-slavery events so it wouldn't cause the civil war. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin published
Harriet Beecher Stowe, an American abolitionalist, wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin", which sold more than 300,000 copies the first year it was published. Northerners realized the devestating realities of slavery in the South, while hostility had risen in the South. When Abraham Lincoln met Stowe, he said, "So you are the little lady that has brought this great war." So the North and South had great tensions before the civil war due to "Uncle Tom's Cabin". -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Congress passed this act, so the territories from the Loisiana Purchase decided if they were a free state or slave state. In Kansas, both pro-slavery and anti-slavery advocates sent teams of people to settle there. Kansas then became a battleground of both sides known as "Bleeding Kansas.' This event led to the civil war because it caused the proslavery supporters and anti-slavery supporters to show how they feel about each other for the first time, leading to the civil war of both sides. -
The Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott, a slave, was taken by his owner to a free state. Scott sued the owner's wife after he died, and the case was taken to the Supreme Court where they ruled that Dred Scott would always be a slave no matter where he was located. Antislavery people disliked the court's decision on the case because they feared slavery would spread everywhere intensifying the conflict between the North and South. -
John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown, along with 18 followers, went to Harpers Ferry, Virgnia in hopes of starting a slavery rebellion in the South and during the raid of the U.S arsenal, weapons would be given to slaves. Brown and his men were caught and his raid was unsucessful. White Southerners were then convinced that they would never live safely in the Union, and incorrectly believed it was an act suggesting the North wanted a slave rebellion. The South wouldn't have seceded if the raid didn't occur. -
Election of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln won the Presidential election in 1860, opposed to slavery but not an abolitionalist. The South, however, thought that this would lead to the abolition of slavery, so they started seceding beginning with North Carolina. When Lincoln took office in March, 7 states had seceded, "knowing" what Lincoln was going to do about slavery. -
South Carolina Secedes
Once Abraham Lincoln was elected President, the South began seceding, beginning with South Carolina, to put an end to the Union and free states. South Carolina then causes the rest of the Southern states to secede, which led to the civil war. If the states wouldn't have seceded, there wouldn't have been a civil war against the Northern and Southern states.
