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Uncle Tom's Cabin
A novel was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe exposing the treatment of slaves and slavery during the time. As the South agreed with slavery, the novel angered them and they said her story was a complete lie. In the North, the novel quickly spread. The exposition of slavery and the different interpretations of the novel continued to cause differences between the North and the South. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
The Kansas Nebraska Act passed a bill that created two territories of Kansas and Nebraska. In these territories, they would go by the principle of popular sovereignty, meaning they would decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery. This act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise, which did not allow slavery in Kansas. This caused the North and the South to began a bloody fight as they both wanted to spread their ideas and power. -
Bloody Kansas
Bloody Kansas was the term used to describe the period of violence that occurred while the Kansas territory was being settled. Due to the Kansas-Nebraska Act overturning the Missouri Compromise. It was up to popular sovereignty to determine whether or not Kansas was going to be a free state or a slave state, so each side was flooding into Kansas for control of the state and things got violent. -
Republican Party
As the Whig Party collapsed, it was replaced by a new sectional party, the Republicans, which was created to oppose the spread of slavery. Of course, gaining the support of the North. The Republican party then won the election, and the Southerners soon felt publicly threatened. Since Congress was Republican-dominated, it leads to the civil war between the opposing sides. -
Dred Scott
Dred Scott was a slave that believed that since he lived in a free state he should be free. In April of 1846, he filed a lawsuit for freedom and went to trial on June 30, 1847, where the judge ruled against him, but granted retrial. His owner appealed the case to the Missouri Supreme Court in 1852 and made Scott a slave again. He went to the Supreme Court on February 11, 1856 where he lost his fight for freedom. -
Brooks-Sumner Incident
On May 21, 1856, Senator Charles Sumner gave a speech called "The Crime Against Kansas" that went on for two days and in his bitter speech his personality attacked Senator Andrew Butler. Representative Preston Brooks thought he went too far in his speech and did not like that he attacked his cousin, Butler. So, two days after the speech was over Brooks went into the state chamber and beat Senator Charles Sumner with a gold-tipped cane. Brooks was levied $300 for the assault. -
Election of 1856
The election of 1856 was between Democratic candidate James Buchanan, and Republican candidate John C. Fremont, and the Whig candidate Millard Fillmore with James Buchanan as the winner of the election. At the heart of this election and its campaigns were slavery and popular sovereignty. -
Lecompton Constitution
The Lecompton Constitution was a document created in Lecompton, Kansas. It was developed by pro-slavery advocates in Kansas statehood. It protected slaveholding and created a bill of rights that excluded free blacks. It added to the tensions leading up to the Civil War. -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
During the election for U.S. senator in 1858, many issues were dividing the nation including; slavery, popular sovereignty, and the status of black Americans. These issues caused a series of debates between the candidates Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. The debates increased the growing divide between the North and the South as they both had opposing views on the issues during the time. Their differences in solving more question's through political means also showed signs of the Civil war. -
House Divided Speech
Abraham Lincoln's House Divided Speech was given in Springfield, Illinois after the Republican state convention nominated him to run for the Illinois senate seat against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, In his speech he talked about how a compromise would not be able to be achieved and he said that the U.S. would either have slaves or be free. Many people interpreted Lincoln as calling for civil war when in reality he was just saying that a civil war was a possibility -
Harper's Ferry
John Brown, a Kansas abolitionist, and Fredrick Douglass, a former slave, and black abolitionist drew up a plan to free slaves by arming them. To arm all the slaves, they planned to capture the Federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry. This event heightened the tensions of slavery because Brown was fighting to end slavery, which the Northerns agreed with. Since brown used forced, this caused the Southerners to believe that Northerners wished to free all slaves and incite a war. -
John Brown
John Brown was a Kansas abolitionist who sought to free all slaves by arming them. In order to do this, he leads raids, one being on a Federal personal. After this attack, he was soon captured by Robert E. Lee and executed. Brown believed that his actions were a duty to God and became one of the most famous abolitionists during the time leading to the Civil War. His actions heightened the tensions between the North and the South, once again by the issue of slavery. -
Election of 1860
The election was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860, with Abraham Lincoln receiving more popular votes in the U.S. than any other candidate and won the majority of the electoral votes. It was known as one of the closest presidential elections in history. The election was a leading cause of the Civil War as Lincoln was the first member of the Republican Party elected as president, who opposed the expansion of slavery. -
Secession
The secession of the southern states, due to Lincoln's opposition to slavery, created the establishment of the Confederacy. South Carolina was the first state to secede. The 11 states that seceded and created the Confederate States of America included; Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. -
Lincoln's 1st Inaugural Adress
Lincoln had been elected as president the previous November and give his 1st Inaugural Adress on March 4th, 1861. In his address, he promised not to interfere with slavery where it had already existed and he said he would suspend the federal government's activities in areas where it was hostile. He also took a firm stance and said that the government would "hold, occupy, and posses" Its property and collect its taxes.