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Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe an American novelist and abolitionist. The book tells the story of what life as a slave was like. The book shows Uncle Tom being treated like property instead of as a person. This book caused tension between the North and South to increase. -
Republican Party
The Republican Party was established by the Whig Party to stop the spreading of slavery into the western territories. The new Republican Party helped to create more tension between the North and South. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed into law on May 30th, 1854. It was drafted by Stephan Douglas. The act repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed popular sovereignty. The act allowed the people to vote whether it was a free or slave state. This act would later lead to Bloody Kansas due to the opposite beliefs. -
Bloody Kansas
Bloody Kansas or Bleeding Kansas was a period of time where the pro-slavery and anti-slavery fought. This was caused as a result of the new territory of Kansas. The Pottawatomie massacre was apart of Bloody Kansas. John Brown and five of his sons killed pro-slavery people by slicing and dicing them. Eventually, Kansas became a free state. -
John Brown
John Brown was an abolitionist. He helped to fight in Bloody Kansas and with Harper Ferry. -
Brooks-Sumner Incident
The Brooks-Sumner Incident was when Preston Brooks hit Senator Charles Sumner with a cane. Brooks hit Sumner because of the speech he had given where we insulted Brooks' relative. The south then saw Brooks as a hero for slavery but Sumner was seen as a martyr by the north. -
Election of 1856
The Election of 1856 was between Democratic James Buchanan and Republican John C. Fremont. James Buchanan won the election with 174 electoral votes. Fremont had promised to help end slavery in the south and get rid of Kansas Nebraska Act while Buchanan wanted everything to remain the same. -
LeCompton Constitution
Lecompton Constitution was drafted by southern pro-slavery it included a clause about protecting slaveholding in the state and the bill of rights exclude free people of color. It added to the tension to cause the U.S. Civil War. -
Dred Scott
Dred Scott was an African American who tried to sue John Sanford. Scott argued he was a freeman in a free state but the Supreme Court ruled that if you were descent of African you couldn't be a citizen so he didn't have the right to sue in federal court. It claimed that all slaves are property and that Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. -
House Divided Speech
Abraham Lincoln gave the House Divided Speech on June 16, 1858. The speech was controversial and caused him to lose the election but he would continue to fight against slavery. Later in 1860, he ran again and won. -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
The Lincoln Douglas Debates were 7 debates where they both were running for senate. One of their debates caused the Freeport Doctrine because of a question Lincoln asked. Douglass responded with you elect for officials who support your beliefs so they could vote for officials against slavery. This caused Douglass to loses the election later on. -
Harper's Ferry
John Brown gave the slaves weapons and led them to a slave rebellion. But the soldiers at the armory overpowered his men and took him into custody. Then he was tried for treason, and they found him guilty so they hung him. -
Election of 1860
The candidates were Lincoln, Breckinridge, Bell, and Douglass. Lincoln wins the election but winning the presidency scared the southern states that slavery would soon be abolished so this caused their secession from the Union. -
Secession
Southern states seceded from the union in order to protect their states' rights. The southern states believed that a Republican government would dissolve the institution of slavery, and not honor states' rights. -
Lincoln's 1" lnaugural Address
Lincoln's 1st Inaugural Address's main purpose was to improve the relationship with southern states and help to relieve them from fear that the republicans would attempt to end slavery but it didn't do anything. Later on, the Civil War happens.